Somewhere In Between

“Oof…” I whisper breathlessly as I feel my body kicking slowly into gear, every inch of me feeling heavy – as if someone had filled my arms and legs with a metric ton of lead. I carefully peel my eyes open, wincing painfully at the bright, fluorescent light that invades my sight.

“M-Maribel…?” a soft, gentle voice questions from beside me. I know that voice… I’d know it anywhere. “Babe..?”

Forcing my eyes to open against the light, my vision comes slowly into focus, my chest rising and falling slowly with my quiet, tired breaths. I lay on a hospital bed, in an entirely white room that smells of disinfectant and cafeteria food. A boy sits beside me, a boy whose face for so long appeared in my dreams and gave me hope for a love that I didn’t ever believe I could have. His eyes are the same, incredible aqua marine blue that I remember, but they’re glazed over with unshed tears. Streaks run down his cheeks, tears dried into his skin and circles forming just under those beautiful pools of blue. His lips are pursed with hope, uncertainty, as he stares down at me. Dark brown strands of his natural hair hide beneath a thick layer of dirty blonde, curling tiredly over his forehead and hanging just slightly into his eyes. A crimson sweater hangs loosely on his shoulders, the sleeves rolled up just past his elbows and his watch rests tightly around his wrist.

And his hands are wrapped softly around one of mine beside me on the bed, tightly and lovingly. His thumb caresses my skin back and forth and my heart instantly jumps up into my throat. What the hell is going on? I can’t bring myself to believe that…Niall Horan is really sitting beside me; much less that he’s holding my hand.

“Maribel! Oh my god!” he exclaims, relief and joy suddenly radiating from him in waves as the tears that were waiting to fall immediately begin sliding down his cheeks. This time, though, they’re accompanied by a beautiful, happy smile; one that takes my breath away. “I can’t believe it…! Guys, get in here! She’s awake!”

I can only watch in excitement and confusion as several people come running into the hospital room where I lay, their eyes wide as they meet with mine. I feel my heart contract with emotion at the sight of Harry, Louis, Zayn, and Liam as they come bounding in, followed closely by my parents and two brothers, and three other people that I recognize as Niall’s parents and brother. “Maribel!” my dad sputters as he hurries to the opposite side of the bed from Niall, his arms immediately, but gingerly, lifting me into his hold as he hugs me tightly to his chest. “Oh my god. I thought I was gonna lose you.”

“God, please don’t ever do that again…” Niall mumbles softly from beside me as he lets go of my hand, instead resting his gentle touch to my shoulder as I weakly wrap my arms around my dad, hugging him and feeling tears well up in my eyes. Reluctantly, he pulls back from me, allowing my mom and my brothers, AJ and Thomas, to come and hug me as well.

“Wh-What’s going on? I don’t understand…” I murmur, my voice hoarse from not being used as I stare up at all of them. At the foot of my bed, Niall’s four bandmates stand with their eyes all on me, soft smiles on each of their faces. “What are you all talking about…?” Zayn and Liam both look to Niall to explain, and I follow their suit, biting down softly onto my bottom lip.

Gently, Niall takes my hand in his once more. He sighs softly and carefully begins to speak, his eyes locking onto mine. “Babe, we were in a car accident a few months ago… And, y-you’ve been..in a coma, ever since.” I take in a shaky gasp of air, my free hand moving up to cover my mouth in shock.

“What do you mean?” I mumble tearfully, the sound muffled slightly by the palm of my hand. Niall stands up and leans forward, biting back more of his tears as he lets his forehead rest gently against mine.

“I missed you so much,” he whispers, “I’ve been w-waiting for you, and I’ve always been here, and I’ve just missed you…so bad…”

“Yeeaahh, he definitely has been here,” Louis cuts in, smiling teasingly at the two of us as he pretends to grumble his words, “We had to put off all our concerts and tour work so that Niall could stay in this room, day in and day out, waiting for you to wake up. He wanted to make absolutely sure that he was here when you woke up.” I feel my eyes go wide and I look up at Niall, missing him as he pulls back to stand beside me. He gently brushes my hair off of my forehead, his fingertips stopping to caress my cheek.

“You stopped tour just to stay with me…?” I ask him in disbelief. He slowly nods his head, his cheeks turning a warm hue of pink as he sheepishly ducks his head.

“Yeah, baby… We put everything on hold until you were feeling better again. I just wanted to make sure that I was here when you woke up… That I was the first face that you got to see when you opened your beautiful eyes,” he replies softly, slowly sitting beside me on the bed.

“C’mon, everyone, let’s all go down to the cafeteria and get some food for these two. Niall hasn’t eaten in days, he’s going to need a bear,” Zayn cuts in, smiling softly and ushering everyone out of the room.

“But, I-" Thomas interjects, pouting pitifully and jutting out his lower lip.

“No buts, Thomas, c’mon buddy,” Liam chuckles, following him out of the room and shaking his head.

I smile lovingly after my brothers and parents, inhaling shakily and looking up at the handsome boy beside me. “I can’t believe all of this, Niall. It’s amazing,” I mumble hoarsely. His lips curl up into a happy smile as he leans down towards me.

“I love you so much,” he whispers, ever so softly pressing his lips to mine. My eyes flutter closed and I reach up, the palms of my hands cupping his cheeks as he kisses me. “Truly, madly, and deeply, Maribel…”