End Up Here [Niam]

The Morning After

Maybe it was the lighting in the room. The curtains were white, the bed sheets were white and the duvet was white. The only furniture here was the bed and the dresser which brought the only color in the room. It was a very light shade of beige and the knobs were black. I stared at it for a long moment, thinking of how little space my clothes took. I turned and lay on my back, stretching like a dog and made a weird noise in my throat. I woke up ten minutes ago and I felt good, better than I have ever felt in a long time because I had been extremely exhausted yesterday.

The smell of bacon raised me from my slumber and I inhaled it deeply, my mouth watering from the scent. I listened quietly to the sound of my new roommate, probably in the kitchen; I heard the clink of dishes and the sound of water turning on and off. I suddenly felt guilty and ashamed for feeling good, I mean, I shouldn’t be feeling good about myself after what happened yesterday. I got up from my comfortable bed and the coldness of the room attacked me. I shivered and got up, grabbing my sweater that I carelessly threw on the floor last night.

I opened the door and let the scent of bacon and burnt and buttered toasts fill my nose. I head to the kitchen where the commotion was going on and I stopped in the foyer when I heard my roommate sigh out loud. He stopped what he was doing and before I was caught, I walked in. Niall had a cup in his hand and a cloth in the other. The kitchen looked freshly clean, the counters still a little wet but drying. Bubbles covered the whole sink. “You didn’t have to do that.” I said taking the cup from him and drying it off with the cloth I took from him as well. I put it back it in the cabinet where the other cleaned cups stood and turned around to face him.

He sat himself on the counter and pointed at the two plates beside him. “I made you breakfast.”

I smiled and took a bite of a piece of bacon. “Thank you but Niall you’re my guest. I should be the one doing things for you.”

He shook his head and returned the smile, only it didn’t reach his eyes like it always did. I tried not to flinch when I looked at him; instead I looked at my plate. “It’s the least I can do.” We ate our food in silence, ignoring the perfectly good seats only five feet from where we stood.

I pulled myself up beside him and grabbed the plate and placed it on my lap. “Did you sleep?” I said and I winced at how careful I said my words.  

“I had an hour of sleep.” He said eyes lowered.

“Oh.” Was all I said, normally I would say more but the way Niall looked made him like glass. If I wasn’t careful, I’d drop him.

“I’m fine, you know.” He muttered, softly. I reached for his hand, a little hesitant, stopping him from playing with his food and held it. He shook his head and pulled away. “I should not have been alone, I know that. It was my fault that I ran away from Paul and I get it, it was a stupid joke.”

I could hear the breaking in his voice and I panicked. I don’t think Niall’s ready to talk about this – it only happened less than twenty four hours ago – and I wasn’t comfortable. What kind of a friend am I? I should be helping Niall to sort things out. I should be calling up Louis, shouting or not, and telling him to come over to help me help Niall. But instead I asked Niall if he wanted to watch a movie. “Anything of your choice,” I said jumping down and putting the finished plate in the sink. Niall followed, placing his plate with mine and we sat down on the couch.

I watched TV while Niall went through my DVD collection. Finally Niall picked Ice Age the one with the dinosaurs and that seemed to cheer him up a little. We laughed at the part where that weasel flew in from the vine; he shouted a battle cry and the vine suddenly snapped. Half way into the movie, I looked over to Niall. He had fallen asleep.

I immediately ran for my phone that I left upstairs, trying to make minimal noise as possible and dialled the first person I thought of. “Hello?” a Cheshire voice came from the other line. That was not who I expected to answer.

“Harry?” I lowered my voice.

“Liam?” Harry said. “What’s up?”

“Where’s Louis?”

“He and Zayn went out for lunch.” I could tell he was busy in the other line. I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair. “What is it, is Niall okay?”

“He’s fine.” I said. “He’s asleep.”

“Then what is it?” He asked.

I was walking down the stairs and into the living room. I didn’t know what to say to Harry other hang up the phone on him. He’s no help in this situation at all. I stared down at the peaceful body draped across the couch. If you ignored the bruises and his busted lip, he is the most beautiful human being someone could ever lay eyes on. How could anyone do this do another person? Niall is the most down to earth, kind, beautiful, wholehearted person in this world. If I was not looking down at him right now I would not be able to picture him so broken.

He suddenly opened his eyes, fully aware that I was staring at him. “Liam?”

I panicked, but I quickly formed the words in my mouth.“Sleep, I’ll wake up in the afternoon. We still need to go down to the police station.”

He nodded and closed his eyes. I watched him in silence until my phone beeped and I went to the kitchen. I opened the text and it was from Louis.

‘How is he?’ it said.

‘He’s tired.’ I replied.