Saving Grace.

“If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.”
― Marilyn Monroe

***

One thing I've never enjoyed was hospital visits. Not to have it mentioned, not to visit someone, and especially not to be in one. The thought of even having to be near one terrified me to the point of wanting to faint. The nurses were never nice, the food always made me lose too much weight, the weight loss provokes them to keep me longer to make sure I’m not starving myself. The list of how terrible hospitals are is endless. And, thanks to my ever weakening immune system, I always end up in one every time I’m taken over seas on a business trip with my father. I’m surprised at the fact that I don’t have a permanent hold embedded into my forearm from all the needles I’ve been poked with. It was only February and I had just checked out of the hospital for the third time this year, the first two being from a nasty cold and strep-throat.

The rental car my father had rented was hurrying its way towards the nearest airport so we made it home in time for the next meeting. I always thought America was a beautiful country, all the historical places, all the monuments. Everywhere I go is beautiful, but nothing can compare to England. I haven’t been home since Christmas and I miss it dearly. Speaking of not being home, I should probably call my friends back.

As we climbed out of the rental car and dropped our bags off with my father’s assistant to take care of, I searched for the nearest pay phone to make the call. Excusing myself as my father sat down to wait for our flight to be called, I quickly made my way to the payphone and started rummaging through my pockets for loose change. After turning up empty handed for anything American except for a couple of dollar, I searched for my next option. My eyes landed on a small snack bar and smiled to myself. Change.

“Excuse me?” I politely asked the tired looking man behind the counter. He looked up from his book to me and raised an eyebrow.

“Could I please have some change?” I questioned, only to have him point to a sign telling me I had to buy something regardless. I sighed and quickly scanned the small snack stand for something to purchase for change. The title of a magazine caught my eye and I silently giggled to myself.

“Here.” I handed the magazine to the man. I man muttered something incoherent and rang me up. He handed me my magazine and change back and returned to his position and continues his reading. Sighing, I made my way back to the payphones and started dialing a very familiar number to a shared flat between my two best friends: Louis and Harry.

“Ello?” a tired voice answered and then yawned.

“So when did Harry have a nipple transplant to help the nippleless?” I read the headlines and laughed.

“Grace! It’s you!” a high-pitched voice suddenly shouted, more awake. Not long after, there was rummaging around in the background and muffled noises. “How have you been?”

“Pretty okay, Lou. Had to go back to the hospital again.” I sighed to myself. I looked around the airport at all the people meeting and saying goodbye to each other. It is true what the movies say, airports have actually seen it all.

“Really, Grace. You must take care of yourself better. What would I do without my best fri- what? Do you not want to talk to Grace?” Louis started but then suddenly sounded further away. There was suddenly more rummaging in the background and a yell or two.

“Louis? Are you okay?” I raised an eyebrow, even though they couldn't see. I started picking at what little nail polish I had left on my fingernails. I really needed to kick this habit. As the rummaging and yelling continued on the other end, I decided to lean out of the half-enclosed area of phones at my dad. He was reading the paper and checking his watch every so often.

“Guys?” I asked again.

“Grace!” a deeper voice suddenly boomed through the speakers. I laughed to myself and how awake Harry sounded when it had to be no earlier than 3 am in England.

“Hey, curly. What’s this I hear about nipple transplants?” I smiled to myself as he let out a laugh. He began to answer but quickly let out a grunt as I heard Louis yell behind him, “I wasn't finished talking!”

I laughed as their antics and decided to peak out at my father once again. He was now folding his paper up and standing up. He looked around for a bit before sending a small smile my way and tapped his watch, signaling that it was time to go.

“Guys, I have to go. My flight is about to start boarding. I’ll see you in a few hours, yeah?” they both started shouting incoherent things at the same time and I just shook my head. “Goodbye, boys.” Before I put the phone back in its place, I heard them shouting I love you’s and to be safe. I smiled to myself because of their behavior and made my way back to my dad.

-

"Okay. I love you, too. Goodbye."

I sighed as I hung up my phone. I looked around my new apartment and all the boxes occupying its large space. My dad was supposed to be coming to help me unpack and sort things out, but, as usual, had to go to an important business meeting for his company.

I walked into my new bedroom and looked for the box labeled 'Electronics' and pulled out my old and beat up iHome. Walking back into my kitchen, I plugged it up and started my music. Dad insisted that I bought a new one, but what was the point when this one worked perfectly fine.

I got to work on my living room. Having my entertainment system already set up for me by the moving men, I started organizing my movies by genre and rating of how great or how pathetic they were. I always had a thing about that and couldn't stand when anyone would ruin their placement.

"You really shouldn't leave your doors unlocked, love." A deep British accent mumbled in my ear as a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, while behind many other voices could be heard from the kitchen. I smiled at the sound of my best friends and before I could turn around, I was thrown over a shoulder and carried towards the kitchen.

"So, now that our favorite girl is back in town, how about a movie night!" Zayn yelled, more as a statement than a question. The other boys yelled in agreement as I just laughed.

"I would love to let you guys wreck my place with food and movies, but unfortunately, I have to unpack all of my stuff." I said, gesturing with my hand at all the boxes still lying around.

"We can help!" Louis yelled and quickly hopped off my counter top where he was looking for food. He quickly ran out of my kitchen and out of sight followed by Harry and Zayn.

"Graaaaaace." Niall whined and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"I already ordered a few pizzas and they're on their way." I replied, smiling at him. He threw his fist in the air and ran out of the kitchen, yelling a quick 'thank you' over his shoulder. I shook my head and looked to Liam.

"Well, better start helping." He casually said with a small smile and strolled out of the room. I shook my head and started to follow when I heard a loud crack.

"LOUIS WILLIAM TOMLINSON."

-

"Well, since you guys worked so hard on misplacing all of my things, I think you guys deserve a break." I announced loudly so everyone could hear. I sat all the pizzas down on the kitchen counter and started pulling out plates and drinks. I quickly heard four sets of feet running towards my kitchen and yelling about who go first slice.

"Hold on, where's curly?" I said, blocking the pizza. As soon as those words left my mouth, Harry strolled in with a pair of my underwear on his head. Everyone busted out laughing and holding their stomachs.

"Harry Edward Styles, take that underwear off your head right now." I threatened stepping towards him.

"But Louis said I had to keep my curls under control!" He yelled, pulling the underwear down further over his curls and glancing at Louis. I groaned and quickly ran towards him, trying to get the pair off his head. He quickly ran away and out of the room as I chased him.

"Oi! Styles, get back here!"

"Never!" He screamed, running further down my hallways.

I quickly tackled him to the floor and jerked the under wear off his head and threw it into the opened bathroom door close by. He laughed at me and quickly put his hands in my hair and started messing it up. I groaned and quickly tried releasing his grip.

"Dog pile on Grace!" Louis yelled and joined us on the floor. I laughed as the others quickly joined in and started attacking each other's hair as well.

-

After almost half an hour of attacking each other mercilessly, Niall was quick to remind everyone of the pizza waiting in my kitchen and we were now all gathered around the kitchen talking of anything and everything. Louis and Harry were across from me sitting on the counter while Niall, Liam and Zayn all occupied my small table.

“So, lads. Who’s up for some football tomorrow?” Louis suggested to the group.

“Lou, it’s supposed to be like, 15 degrees tomorrow. You expect us to really want to get out in that?” Harry laughed beside him.

“So? That’s never stopped us before!” He quickly announced, spitting and throwing pizza everywhere.

“Lou! Watch it, I just moved in here and you’re already making it a mess!” I quickly grabbed a paper towel and started to clean the mess he had made. He mumbled a small apology and quickly finished his pizza before he could throw it anywhere else.

“How about we go camping again?” Liam suggested.

“Did you not hear the part about it being 15 degrees?” Harry quickly piped in.

Liam laughed, “Hazza, we’ve done it before, remember? Right before Grace left the last time with her dad on a business trip.”

“Oh yeah, when she had promised the one before that would be the last.” Harry complained while grabbing me around my shoulders and pulling me close. He kept his arm around my shoulders and quickly started messing my hair up again.

“Hey, I just fixed my hair from last time! C’mon, you’re ruining my curls!” I groaned, quickly swatting his hands away.

He quickly pulled me back, his smile growing bigger, “What? They’re nothing special, not compared to these beautiful locks.”

Everyone started laughing as he started pretending to flip long curls that weren’t there off his shoulders and batting his eyelashes and going on about how precious his curls were. I rolled my eyes at his actions and started cleaning up the small mess all the boys had managed to make.

“So, it’s decided then, yeah? Camping this weekend?” Liam said, washing his dish in the sink.

“Sure, a few of us will go shopping for food tomorrow while the others find a good place to camp.” Louis said, now occupying the chair Liam was previously in.

“What about the place from last time? It was beautiful and had a lake nearby, maybe we could go fishing, too. See if there are really fish in there.” Zayn suggested, shaking his head and Louis almost falls backwards out of his chair.

“Me, Harry and Louis will get the food tomorrow while you three make sure we still have all of our camping equipment together. I left my pack and tent at your place last, didn’t I, Harry?” I asked looking to the curly haired boy. By now he had jumped off the counter and started whipping it down with a cloth. He nodded his head and threw me a sweet smile before going back to cleaning.

After everyone helping clean up their mess, we all piled into the living room for movies until it was time for bed, the boys deciding they would stay the night so we could get everything ready tomorrow. Harry had sat between me and Zayn while Louis and Liam took the loveseat and Niall sprawled out across the floor. Harry had picked the movie, so no doubt it would be a love story, and it played in the background as everyone continued talking about the weekend. Liam argued about whether or not the whole camping thing should happen, quickly finding out about my hospital stay in America. He was always the first to find out about my stays. No wonder everyone called him ‘Daddy Direction’.

“Grace, you really shouldn’t being going out in the cold after just being released from the hospital for a previous sickness.” Harry worried. He had his eyebrows knitted together in thought as he stared at me. I sighed and shook my head, quickly trying to dismissing any worries.

“Guys, I’ll be fine. I promise. We’re make a big fire and I’ll wear a lot of clothing. Come on, I haven’t seen you guys in weeks and soon you guys will be in the studio recording and then off on tour and then I definitely won’t get to hang out with you guys for at least a year and a half.” I pouted and slouched down more into the couch.

“It’s just we care about ya, Grace. We don’t want anything serious happenin’ to ya.” Niall frowned and leaned back onto the couch Louis and Liam occupied.

“Yeh, you’re like a little sister to us. We've gotta protect you as if you were our own.” Zayn added nodding in agreement with Niall.

Harry threw his arm around me and pulled me into his side, “You can come, but if we hear one cough from you, we’re coming home. Deal?”

“Deal.” I smiled proudly and hugged him and Zayn, then moving on to Niall, Liam and Louis.

After that we all quieted down and finished watching the movie. By the end of it, almost everyone was asleep and snoring softly. I was slowly drifting off as I felt a pair of arms pick me up and carry me to my bed and tuck me in. I mumbled a quiet thank you, felt a kiss being laid atop my head and then the sound of my door being closed softly as I fell asleep.

***