Affection | N.H

Chapter 5

("You don't get that many people in your life that you can just tell anything to." -Lauren Conrad.)

Niall positions himself on the ground and clutches onto Louis's collar. Louis still flares with anger while trying to get rid of Niall's tight grip. Niall's fist flies in the air and doesn't hesitate to connect with Louis's jaw once more. I stand there with shock and unsure of what to do, I push Harry towards the boys. Harry pulls Niall by his shoulders but falls back on the floor after a shove of elbow from Niall. I have to take things in my hand before the situation worsens. What is the goddamn reason for this fight anyway? "Niall please stop!" I scream. I don't even know how to get between the fight!

Louis punches at Niall's chest but those assults seem like baby touch for Niall. He is tough, too tough for Louis to keep alive any longer. Niall has his full grip over the poor guy. I wave my hands around in the air but there is no one else in the classroom except for Harry who can help me. Harry however stands up on his feet and just stares at the fight in amazement.

That's it.

I take in a deep breath and put my hand forward to get ahold of Niall's shoulders. I use all the little bit of remaining strength inside me to pull him away from Louis. I hear a light laugh from Harry behind me. I feel like kicking him at his nuts right now. What is so amusing? But as soon as Niall feels my hands on himself, he jerks me away by shoving me back by my shoulder. With a thud and a killing pain, I fall back on the ground and grab onto my aching elbow. "Ouch." My funny bone and my butt keep sending pain waves through my body while Niall looks back at me by the thudding noise.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to-" He bends down and tries to touch my arm.

"Don't touch me!" I yell and jerk my arm away from his touch. My stare falls on Louis who is laying there on the floor with a hint of blood at the corner of his mouth. His eyes are shut and he is silent wincing in pain. I get on my feet slowly and the pain shoots through my body. Getting shoved by someone who is as dangerous like Niall, will give me pain for sure. I kneel down in front of Louis and help him up by his shoulders. "Let's go. Can you stand up?" I ask frowning at the purple shade underneath his eye. I refuse to look back at Harry or Niall.

"Yes I am fine. You don't have to come with me." Louis says limping up.

"I will. Lets go." I take Louis's bag from the ground and walk past the two boys. Harry is smirking, a smile playing on his lips and Niall is standing there emotionless with busted knuckles. I hope someone helps him out of that.
..
Louis lets me drive and gives me directions to his apartment. I have to help him go through this. I cannot help but blame myself for everything. I don't think I will make it to my very first lesson of music this afternoon. Looking after Louis is more important at the moment, especially when I was partly the reason behind his injury.

As we reach the high rise building of Louis's apartment, he asks me to stop the car and park in the garage. I help him afterwards, to walk up the stairs. Louis reaches down to his pockets and pulls out a pair of keys and hands it to me.

His apartment is small but clean. A guy who lives on his own can definitely not have such a tidy apartment. I think his girlfriend comes by and does the cleaning for him. I quickly come back to the real world and help Louis sit on the sofa. "Where is the first aid box?" I ask him.

"The first drawer above the first cabinet." Louis says while slowly lifting his leg up on the small table before him. He winces in pain and grabs his sides. I quickly follow his directions and grab the bright red first aid box from the drawer.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" I say while gently tapping the corner of his mouth with a cotton.

He nods. "Niall is not a pleasant man."

"I am pretty sure about that." I sigh.

"He is very cruel and a heartless human being." Louis continues. I nod for him to keep speaking. "Last year, before Christmas, he spread rumours about me in the whole damn campus of MSC. He knew I had a girlfriend but he still told everyone that I was sleeping with a new girl every night.Whereas, he is the one who messes around with girls everyday." Louis's voice is full of disgust and pity. His words don't surprise me. I had already guessed Niall to be someone like this.

"Oh" is all I manage to say. I put some cream over the injured areas on Louis's face, arms and his knees where his jeans are torn.

"Why do you live in the dorms?" He asks as I pack the first aid box.

"I don't have a job and I don't want to waste my savings behind an apartment when I am getting a dorm to stay in as a part of my scholarship. I am also underage." I shrug.

"Wait, what scholarship?" Louis raises his brow. "You're here on a scholarship?" His voice is full of excitement. His busted lip turns up into a smile. "Why didn't you tell this to me before?"

"I don't know...I didn't know how to tell it to you." I shrug.

"When is your 18th birthday?" Louis asks.

"17th April of this year."

"It's coming!" He squeals. It doesn't seem like I just met him this morning. It seems like we were related since ages.

"Yea totally. Like two months away you mean?" I roll my eyes. "I don't do my birthday anyway. When is your birthday?"

"I will pretend I didn't hear your first sentence. I love celebrating birthdays and I will celebrate your birthday even if You don't want to celebrate it. And by birthday is on Christmas Eve." Louis grins proudly, tapping on the table beside him.

I give him a smile. "I don't think we should go out for lunch. I think you should take some rest you know. Maybe I can cook something?" I offer.

"You're right. But don't worry about it. Eleanor is on her way. I texted her and she is panicking badly." Louis's cheeks turn a bright shed of pink at the mention of his girlfriend.

"Then my job is done here. I will leave." I tell him in amusement. I pat down my sweats after standing up on my feet. People have been laughing at me all day because of the coverage of my body in autumn. Only if they knew..

Louis asks me to stay but I decide to leave because I know he might want some time alone with Eleanor.

It's 2:30pm. Music class has started already and half way through. By the time I reach the campus, the lesson will be over. I drove here in Louis's car but now I have to take a taxi. Oh wow.
..
The taxi driver was so damn rude. He wouldn't stop singing in the cab. When I asked him to stop because I got a phone call from Caitlin, he cussed me out. Thank goodness the drive is over. I couldn't stand him any longer.

As I walk into my room, Sophie is on her bed, laying on her stomach. The room smells like alcohol which makes me feel even more nauseous than before. I am sure she is passed out because she is still in her barely existent clothes from last night. She must have been drinking too much.

I need a shower. I look at my elbow and it is smeared with a little bit of blood. My skin had scratched against the ground when Niall pushed me. I didn't realise the cut there. This kind of pain is nothing new to me anyway.

After taking a long shower, I come back to my shared dorm room. Thank goodness there weren't many people in the bathroom. Sophie is sitting on her bed with her phone in hand. I don't speak because I Know she will throw a rude comment at me if I do. I don't know how she is dating Niall. Well she is as mean as him so I guess they go along well. I am surprised she didn't cuss at me for cleaning the room and putting her stuff into place last night. She has changed her outfit into a different non existent clothing. Without a word, she slides on her sandals and jogs out of the room. I didn't expect her to tell me where she is going anyway.