Dizzy Up the Girl

At first, walking away from Niall felt like a horrible decision as I made my way down the halls of the first floor. But I still had a mission to accomplish: find out what caused the mob outside. The faint shouting that I could hear from my room earlier seemed to be unavoidable down here. Making my way past the front lobby and taking a look outside, the crowd had only grown since I had left my room, and police were now outside keeping them from blocking the hospital’s entrance. There were still a few workers outside of the hospital, but it looked like they were now just taking a smoking break. Inside the hospital seemed no different than usual. The receptionists were checking in patients, nurses and doctors were still making their rounds, and life was still functioning within the halls of the hospital.

“Seriously? There’s got to be something going on here,” I said as I kept walking around, looking for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. I had nearly covered the entire first floor in hopes for some excitement but nothing came up. The only entertaining thing I came across was a hefty, built man trailing a couple of boys about my age, but that was about as interesting as it got. However, their conversation that I overheard nearly had me in stitches...

I made the whole loop of the first floor without hearing anything about what was going on outside. I had no friends who could tell me the inside scoop, and I can only imagine what one of the nurses would look like if I asked them to tell much such “confidential” information. At a loss, and hearing my stomach rumble one too many times, I decided to just head towards the cafeteria. If I wasn’t going to get dinner and a show, I was at least doing to get a meal out of my efforts.

The food put out looked great, but as soon as the servers saw my hospital bracelet, I was handed my usual meal. Grimacing at jello pudding, I took my tray and headed towards the seating area that was scattered with only a few people. Choosing a spot towards the back of the room, I sat my tray down before letting out a long sigh. I picked at my food lightly, trying to decided whether it was actually edible or not before giving up. A weight settled in my stomach as I took a look at my food and to my hospital bracelet. The room I was in wasn’t the kitchen back at my apartment, but instead, it was one made of white concrete blocks. There were posters hung up all along the walls, depicting happy families and others enforcing the importance of colonoscopies, but it certainly wasn’t home. Pushing my tray away from me, my shoulders slumped as I breathed out. This place was anything but home.

“Uh, excuse me, but are you alright?” I jumped at the voice, whipping my head around to see who had spoken to me. Looking up, I saw Niall standing next to another boy who looked to be about our age as well.

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t hear you come up,” I said lamely.

“That’s fine. I didn’t see you earlier today, so I’d reckon we’re even,” Niall said evenly, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Is anyone sitting here?” I shook my head, taken back by his question, only to find that the two boys were taking a seat in front of me. Niall didn’t say much, preoccupied with eating the delicious looking hamburger he’d gotten from the cafeteria. The other boy, however, seemed distracted.

If I were to compare the two boys, it is easy to say that this boy was much tanner than Niall. His hair was longer and far more curlier. As for his eyes, they were a dark shade of green, and he was every bit as attractive as his friend. But his face was taut as he stared off at the wall behind me. His hands were clenched on top of the table, save for when he would run his fingers through his hair anxiously, trying to make the mess of his hair stay in place, before he would go back to staring dully. The only noise I could hear was the faint clanging of pots and pans being washed in the back room, the dulled screams of the crowd outside, and ticking of Niall’s fingers against the table as he finished up his meal. As discreetly as possible, I turned around just enough to see what Niall’s friend was so interested in before speaking up.

“I’m sorry if this seems a little nosey, but are you okay?” The two looked at me, but I kept my focus on Niall’s friend who seemed taken back by my question. He kept quiet for a moment, unclenching his hand, before speaking up.

“Yeah, no worries. Just thinking, that’s all,” he replied slowly, stretching each word in a distinct accent as well. My lips tipped into a grin as I leaned forward.

“Well, you were staring so intently at that poster for sexually-transmitted diseases that I was beginning to get worried,” I said lightly, nodding towards the poster that was on the wall behind me. Niall’s face crumpled immediately as he laughed loudly, pushing his tray away from him, and his friend’s face turned a lovely shade of red.

“Wha...no...I wasn’t...I wasn’t look at that,” he stuttered far more quickly than he had earlier with an incredulous tone. And I finally couldn’t bite my tongue any longer. I began to laugh, partially at his stuttering comeback and partially at just how unexpected my night had become. I guess if you can’t find one thing you’re looking for, you’ll come across it in a way that you wouldn’t have imagined. Getting to talk to these boys may not have been what I came down for, but it wasn’t definitely more entertaining than sitting in my room. After a few moments, though, I managed to pull myself back together. Niall was looking at me with a careful look while his friend seemed to have focused his attention on me rather than the poster for now.

“Well, that was brilliant, if you ask me,” Niall said after I managed to gather my wits. Too sidetracked to think of a decent reply, I simply nodded towards him with a wide smile. I heard a cough come from my left, and I looked up to see Niall’s friend staring at the two of us expectantly. It was quiet for a moment before I realized that, while Niall knew how I was, his friend didn’t.

“I’m Elizabeth, by the way,” I introduced myself before pointing towards Niall. “I met this one in the elevator earlier. I figured you might as well get a proper introduction as well.” The boy laughed, his eyes much more focused than they had been earlier. He looked towards Niall, obviously asking him something that I couldn’t quite understand, before he looked back to me.

“You met him in the lift, you say? He was probably coming down to get some food, but I caught up with him first. Don’t see why he was so eager. The food seems, uh, appetizing,” he said as he gestured towards my uneaten food, complete with my stale jello pudding.

“Oh, you have no idea. Stick around for tomorrow, and you’ll see. It’s fish taco friday.” The boys laughed, and I leaned back, before realizing something. “So, are you going to tell me your name or not? It’s only the polite thing to do after giving you the pleasure of my name.” From my other side, I heard Niall let out a short laugh as his friend smiled widely, and those damn butterflies in my stomach went mad.

“I'm Harry, and believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”