Disastrous

Thirty Eight

Songs:
G-Eazy - Lets Get Lost
Tyler Farr - Whiskey In My Water
Nicki Minaj - Grand Piano

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"The toilet is overflowing again!" Arabella yells from down the narrow hall, and I quietly rush towards her voice. She looks extremely irritated when I see her, standing in a puddle of toilet water with yellow rubber gloves over her hands.

"This bullshit needs to be taken care of. I'm going to find the maintenance guy, he has to be around here somewhere."

She storms by me and I hear the front door of our house slam. It's not much, but it's enough to get us by.

I nearly squeal when I see Rory crawl up outside the bathroom. I lift him into my arms quickly and he grunts in annoyance, but I'm so happy to see him moving some more on his own that I kiss and kiss and kiss his chubby cheeks. He had been crawling for a few days now, more and more each day, getting stronger and quicker.

"This is ridiculous! It's overflown three times in the last day!" I hear Arabella yell outside the door, and I roll my eyes. The maintenance man barely understood English as it was, yelling at him wasn't going to help.

"Lo siento." I smile politely and apologize to the man when he walks in the door looking irritated. He smiles back, nodding his head, and squeezing past me into the bathroom.

"God, you have to baby these people to get them to do anything." She rolls her eyes, before smiling widely and making a strange monkey face at Rory. He squeals and smiles and holds his hands out to her.

I hand him over to Arabella and take my hair back into a pony tail. It's warm over here, a lot different from the snow back home.

"I ordered lunch," she smiles without looking at me, staring at Rory perched in her arms. I know he'll get restless soon and want to crawl around some more. I couldn't believe my wee little baby was over 6 months old.

Before I can say anything a buzz is heard at the door, and I take my wallet out of my purse and move to answer it. The door opens easily but the screen sticks and squeaks when you do manage to pry it open.

I hand the man the money owed and he leaves without a word. Bringing the bag inside, I get excited, until I set it on the kitchen table and open it. The smell of chicken nauseates me and I push it away with haste before I get sick.

When Arabella comes in, she sets Rory in his high chair and frowns at me. "What's the matter?" She asks skeptically, eyeing me wearily and then the brown bag of food on the table. Rory whines hungrily and I stare at Arabella.

"I'll feed him." She offers, and I quietly thank her, making my way down the hall to the bedroom Rory and I share. I lay down on the bed and stare up at the ceiling. Sweat coats my forehead and I can feel my shirt sticking to my chest. It's too hot.

I flick the overhead fan on and lay down again. I think of home and my parents, who were probably worried sick even though I said I was alright. I think of my brother, and my friends, and everything I left behind like my job and my car and my clothes. And then Austen. And Niall. My head pounds and I close my eyes. No. I wouldn't let any of that get to me. Nothing or nobody would. I would be okay here, for now. We would be okay.

Niall's POV

Smoke billows out above my head, pooling out of the window and into the chilly night air. The music is louder than necessary, but the smoke and the booze and the blaring bass seem to be the only things that blur my mind enough to stop me from thinking too much.

"Niall? Niall!"

"Christ, what?" I snap, keeping a hand on the wheel as I glare over at Chelsea. She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes.