If You Ever Come Back

Niall placed two plates on the sleek, black counter, waiting for the timer to go off. He leaned against it and ran a hand through his hair, checking his watch again. The smell of the store-bought lasagna was wafting through the house, causing his mouth to water. Feeling impatient, he grabbed some silverware and napkins to set the table with. Before he could fix them nicely on the table, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He quickly reached for it and answered without checking the caller ID, “Hello?”

“Is this mister Niall Horan?” A woman with a melodic voice asked.

“Yes, it is. Why?” He questioned, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“We have just received word that a mister Louis Tomlinson has been escorted to our hospital. He is in critical condition, and we need you down here immediately. I’m so sorry.”

Niall clutched the phone, fighting back tears as he responded, “Is he going to be alright? What happened?”

“He was in a car accident a little over an hour ago. Once you arrive we can give you more details.” She answered.

“I-I’m on my way now.” He stammered, “Thank you for calling. Goodbye.”

“Good-” He hung up before she could finish and ran to the door, dialing a taxi cab service while doing so. He waited outside in the pouring rain for about twenty minutes before the cab pulled up. He shouted directions at the driver and told him to step on it while flinging a very large bill at him.

As soon as he arrived, he found his way to the front desk and asked for Louis’ room. Instead, he was told to go sit in the waiting room. When he finally made it there, he could see the rest of his bandmates and Louis’ family all sitting together.

“Oh, Niall…” Jay sighed, rushing up to hug him.

He wrapped his arms around her, still in a daze and looked over to the boys, “Have you heard anything yet?”

All of them shifted their gazes away from him as if at once before Harry spoke up, “You mean…they didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” He asked. As if on cue Jay sobbed into his shoulder.

Harry ran a hand through his curls, keeping his eyes cast down, “Lou is in a coma, Niall.”

He felt his heart stop, and dropped his hands, stepping away from Jay and getting close to Harry,

“What?!”

“I’m so sorry…” He shook his head and sat down, leaning it in his hands.

“I can’t…I don’t believe it.” Niall muttered.

“He suffered some pretty bad blows to the head, but they said there was a chance that he could wake up.” Liam added.

Niall nodded and took a shaky breath before sitting down in the gray chair next to Harry.

What seemed like days, but was probably only a few minutes, later, there was a knock on the door.

“Are you all here for Louis Tomlinson?” A man in blue scrubs asked.

“Yes, why?” Jay replied.

“As of right now, there is nothing we can do for him. I suggest you all go home and rest and we will call you tomorrow if anything changes.” He informed before turning and walking away.
Niall stared at the doorway, dumbstruck. Doesn’t he know that we can’t just leave, knowing that Louis is so hurt?

“If you want to stay over at my place tonight, Niall, you’re more than welcome to.” Liam patted his shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed that he was standing in front of him now.

“Thanks, but I think I’m just going to go home and sleep.” He informed, standing up.

“I’ll give you a ride home, if you want.” Harry stated.

“Sure, thanks.” He nodded, walking out without muttering a goodbye to anyone.

He made his way to the parking lot and quickly found Harry’s car. He sat down in the passenger seat and waited for Harry to wander over.

“Sorry I took so long, mate, I had to say goodbye.” He said before pulling out of the lot.

“Its alright. I just remembered that I left something in the oven and wanted to make it back quickly.” Niall responded with a shrug.

“You got it.” Harry nodded and said nothing for the rest of the way.

Niall said his thank-you when they arrived and jogged to the door. He opened it and stepped in, cursing himself for being so careless about leaving the flat unlocked and his lasagna in the oven.
He grabbed some mitts and pulled the burnt lasagna out of the oven, coughing from some of the smoke. What was in the pan didn’t even look like lasagna anymore; instead, it was a black, shriveled up nothing. Niall sighed and tossed it into the trash, before heading to his room.

He flopped down on the bed and closed his eyes, hoping to drift off to sleep and wake up to a normal day, where Louis was fine. He found that he couldn’t, and sat up. On his nightstand, there was a frame with a photo of the boys at the beach where they filmed the “What Makes You Beautiful” video; he picked it up and stared at them. How happy they all were. How perfect Louis looked sitting there next to Harry. He sighed, feeling the memory of that day drifting back to him.

All of the boys were sitting around on the beach, between takes, except for Louis. He was standing up, practically bouncing around them.
“Ay, Horan…I’ll race to the water.” He called with a smirk on his lips.
“You’re on!” Niall yelled back, hopping up from his seat and sprinting off right away.
“And back!” Louis announced, trying to catch up.
Niall threw his head back in laughter and concentrated on making it to the water’s edge. He ran full speed all the way there, not even bothering to look back. He fumbled to slow down before he could reach the fast approaching foam and clumsily turned around when he saw that Louis was not as far behind him as he previously thought. He kept his eyes on Lou as he turned back, and couldn’t help but laugh. Louis was flailing his arms from side to side, and running on his toes as if he was trying to shake the sand off. Niall thought he looked ridiculous and practically doubled over in laughter.
“Gotcha!” Lou screeched, speeding up.
“Damn you, Tomlinson!” Niall cursed, watching him run all the way back to the other lads. “I should have known.” He shook his head, plopping down next to Harry.
“You should have, but you didn’t.” Lou laughed, “I like to keep people on their toes.”
“Even more so than you were?” Niall raised an eyebrow, smirking back.
“I still managed to beat you, though. Now didn’t I?” Louis grinned.
“You got lucky this time.” Niall shrugged.
Later that night, the boys were all getting ready to head home after a long day of shooting. Niall noticed that Lou was down at the water all by himself, so he walked over.
“Care for a rematch?” Lou asked.
Niall shook his head, “No, but I’d like to know what you expect as your prize.”
A smirk danced its way onto Louis’ lips, “Oh, so now that all the boys are gone you can admit that you lost?”
“Yeah, yea. What do you want?”
“I want a kiss, and for you to be mine when we get back to the hotel.”
Niall bit his lip and nodded in agreement, “You got it.” He said before placing a light kiss on Lou’s lips and heading back.

Niall thought back to the early days, how he and Lou had to sneak around during, and laughed when he remembered Harry’s face as he walked in on the two of them that night. It was only their second night together, but it was just as awkward as the first, only the night before. Both boys were blushing red the whole time, sloppily kissing each other, gripping onto anything they could, and biting their lips to keep from calling out too loudly.

Niall shook the memory away, it only made him long for Louis more. He closed his eyes again and willed himself to fall asleep. He spent all night tossing and turning, only to wake up at the crack of dawn to the same horrible nightmare.