Seeing Blind |NH|

Chapter Twenty

I woke up the next day and the side of the bed she had been on was empty.  Scared she had disappeared, I scrambled to my feet and ran out of the room.  I tripped and fell, only to hear the sound of her giggle fill the room.

"You okay, Niall?" She asked, helping me to my feet.

Relieved she hadn't pulled a disappearing act, the sound of her voice was all I needed.

"Yeah, I am," I said.

She stood there, still dressed in what she had been wearing when she crawled into the bed last night. Her hair fell down over her shoulders and she had a light smile on her lips.  But, this time, she didn't fool me.  I knew this was an act.  But, I'd rather have the act than the girl who cried herself to sleep.

"Wanna get breakfast?" She asked.

"Yeah, let me get a quick shower first," I said.

After my shower, we both went down to the lobby for breakfast. 

"Hey, guys!" She said, as we saw them all gathered around a table, eating.

"Esta!" Liam said, shocked to see her so cheery.  "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said, smiling as she placed her stuff in a chair at the table before walking off to get some breakfast.

"She seems..." Liam started.

"Cheerful," Harry finished for him.

"Yeah, cheerful," he said.

"Don't let her fool you.  I found her crying in the middle of the night, blaming herself for everything," I said, watching her walk back with a plate full of food.

She sat down as I went to go get my own breakfast.  When I returned to my seat, she was playing with the food on her plate, but not eating it.

"We've got a day off.  Anyone want to attempt to do anything?  Get out of this hotel?" Louis said, breaking the deafening silence that had fallen on us.

"I'd love that," I said.  "We could all use a view that doesn't consist of four walls.  What do ya think, Esta?  Be a daytripper with us?"

She looked up at us all watching her, waiting for her answer.  I'm sure she knew what we were trying to do and she luckily, accepted it, "Sure.  Why not?  Who wants to be cooped up all day, right?  Think I will finish getting ready."

She stood up and started to pick up her plate, "Leave it!" Louis shouted.  "If you aren't going to eat it, I will."  We gave him a look.  "What?  I'm still a growing boy."

He reached over to get her plate as the rest of us let out small laughs as she wordlessly turned to go back up to the room.

"She didn't do this when she and Jace broke up," I said, watching her figure get smaller and smaller.  "She acted as if nothing had happened."

"Well, from what you've said, it sounds like Jace was an ass, so maybe this time, she thought it was different," Harry said.

"Maybe."

When we left the breakfast room, we saw Esta sitting in a chair, waiting for us.  We could all see she was crying.  She saw us before she wiped her hands across her eyes and face, standing up. 

"Well, lads, we've got some cheering up to do!" Louis said.  "All of us could use it but we all know what it feels like to be broken up with, so let's give her a good day.  Let's give us all a good day.  Before shit really hits the fan."

"Is that a pun for all of our situations?" Liam asked.

"No.  Why?"

"Well, I realize it's a idiom, but it could also apply to how our own fans are going to feel whenever we tell them that we are now a foursome."

"Well, shit, Liam, I didn't think of it like that.  Thanks for being the one to take my words and use them against me at this fragile moment," Louis said, throwing his hands into the air as we all walked out into the lobby.

We all laughed lightly.  We knew our situation sucked but Louis was right, we had several problems on our hands but the one we all seemed to agree was the most important was getting a smile back on her face.  A real one.