“Louis! Stop! You’re gonna make her pass out or something!” I laughed while Louis continued to tickle Rosie,
“HEEEHEEEEHEEE!!” She screamed while laughing,
“NEVER! And I’m not “Louis” I’m the TICKLE MONSTER, and you must always address me as “Sir Tickle Monster”,
“Excuse me, Sir Tickle Master, Ms. Rosie needs to go to bed” Liam interrupted,
Rosie frowned as Louis removed his hands from her stomach,
“Hey, hey. It’s Sir Tickle Monster, but Ellie and I have to leave now anyways” Louis said as he stood up,
Rosie had a sad look on her face, and was reaching out her hands as she wanted Louis to pick her up,
Louis picked her up and she instantly smiled again, “I’ll be back tomorrow, wouldn’t want to leave you with boring old Liam for too long” he smiled as he whispered to her.
Liam took her out of Louis’ arms and was heading for the door to put her to bed, when Rosie began to cry. He looked down, and Louis and I looked over to see her reaching out for me.
“Looks like someone needs to say goodbye to you” Liam laughed as he handed Rosie over to me,
“Bye Rosie baby. I’ll miss you” I said and I handed her back to Liam. She began to cry again as she went back into Liam’s arms.
“She’s never done this before, this is really strange...” Liam said, “Maybe she misses Harry or something” He said.
The name stung when he said it. I don’t want to think about Harry right now, let alone hear his name. I wasn’t going to get in a bad mood whenever I think about him, not around Rosie. It wouldn’t be fair to her.
“Do you wanna call Harry, El? See if he can come over and put her to bed?” Liam questioned,
“I..uhh......”
“I’ll call him” Louis interrupted, and he left the room with his phone,
“Is everything alright with you?” Liam asked as he walked over with Rosie,
“Not really, but I’m working things out. Hopefully everything will be back to normal at the end of the week” I told him. I honestly think that I could work things out, my mind’s made up about what I’m going to do.
“Good, I hope everything works out for you, El. You’re a great girl, the boys need to realize this, and they need to give you some space. If you need to talk, come to me, or Danielle, we’ve been through a lot” He said,
“Thanks Liam. That’s really nice to hear, I’ll be sure to keep you updated” I smiled as I walked over and gave him a hug. We pulled apart, and Louis came back in the room,
“So is he coming?” Liam questioned eagerly,
“No. He’s not feeling too well” Louis lied, “He said it be alright if Ellie put her down” he told us.
“Me? Alright, let’s go” I said as I reached out for Rosie from Liam. I left the room with the small baby in my arms, and headed upstairs to her nursery. I walked into the room, taking in all of the little details that were in the room. The boys all spent a day making the room once they found out that Rosie and Jack were born. They invited me over the next day, but I couldn’t manage being around all of the boys after everything that happened. This was my first time being in the room, and it was so adorable how each of the boys contributed to the room.
I looked around at the pale yellow walls, decorated with little cartoon animals, flowers and plants. There was a whole outdoors scene on the wall, Zayn drew that. There was a toy box in the other side of the room, filled with dolls, action figures and other toys, Liam bought those. There was an open closet against the other wall, filled to the brim with clothes, for both Jack and Rosie, which Louis gave. There was an old rocking chair in the corner of the room, which I moved my way towards. I sat down and began rocking back and forth, with Rosie still in my arms, wide awake. Harry had told me about this chair, how his mum used to sit in it, and rock him to sleep when he was younger, and he wanted to share that with his children. Next to the chair, I noticed a guitar and a notebook, so I picked it up. Inside the notebook were these songs, from songs on the album to songs that I had never heard of before, there were also pages of just writing, almost like a diary.
“These must be Niall’s...” I thought to myself,
I began skimming through the pages, reading the occasional song and note, but nothing had really caught my eye. I looked down and saw that Rosie was looking up at me, with her big blue/green eyes. Her long eyelashes were batting, and I smiled down at her. She smiled back, and reached out to grab my hand. Her eyes started to close as she slowly fell asleep. I picked her up, and put her in her crib, and covered her up with her blankets.
I went back to the chair, and grabbed the notebook, putting it in my bag. I walked over to the crib once again,
“Sleep tight baby girl. I wish you the best, and if your daddy won’t give you that, I will. Goodnight beautiful” I whispered as I kissed her forehead and walked out the door. I slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where I heard voices. Louis and Liam were having some tea, talking about Danielle, and what Liam should do for their anniversary.
“Hey El, that was relatively quick! Usually takes me like an hour or so!” Liam laughed,
“I guess I have that special charm of putting people to sleep” I said,
“Would you like to join us for a cuppa?” Louis asked politely,
“I would, but I really need to get going” I said, “Work in the morning”. This was a complete lie, I just wanted to go home and look at the journal,
“Since when did you, the second laziest person I know, get a job??” Louis questioned while practically in stitches,
“Since I want to get out of the house, get some money so I can move” I said honestly,
“YOU CAN’T LEAVE US!” The boys shouted in unison,
“I’m not. Not yet, but I have to leave eventually” I told them. They looked as if I had just told them a whole truck of new born puppies was hit by a bomb. They both got up and hugged me,
“Can’t. Breathe” I said, and the released me,
“Why are you leaving? Did we do something wrong?” Liam asked, very concerned,
“No, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just want to explore, I’ve been here for so long, I want to get out” I told them honestly,
“Oh, alright then” Liam said, turning back to the table suddenly quiet,
An awkward silence fell over us, and I looked down at the floor, thinking of the least strange way of leaving,
“Come on El, I should drive you home, it’s getting late” Louis pipped up at the perfect moment,
“That’d be lovely, thank you” I replied, “See you later Liam!” I yelled as I walked out the door, with Louis right behind me. We got in the car, and the ride was silent, except for the few passing cars that whizzed by. We came to a stoplight, and it had just changed to green, as we sped up again. We turned into the development in which I lived, and I was about to open my door. I felt someone grab my hand,
“What’s up?” I asked Louis as I turned to face him,
“Are you leaving because of me?” He asked, his face looking broken, his voice cracking as tears threatened to drop from his eyes. I couldn’t stand to see him so distraught. He never got his answer, I left the car and ran up the stairs into my flat.
Was I leaving because of him?
