Canon

‘Are you ready to get out of here? I am dying to get you alone right now.’ Niall murmurs lowly into my ear, sending a shiver over my body. With a nod, I grab a hold of his hand to pull him towards Rose.

‘Hey, we’re about to leave.’ I call out over some Chainsmokers song. Niall silently hovers with our crowns and coat in his free hand.

As fun as prom was, it was nearing midnight, so everyone was already dragging themselves to the parking lot. The others were pushing through the pain and lazily dancing to the music. I was pretty sure the playlist had started over for the third time at this point. I just wanted to see what Niall had planned already.

‘Us too!’ Rose shouts out, louder than necessary. ‘Let’s go.’

Rose slips her arm through mine, abandoning Zayn with Niall. Everyone waits around on the steps for their dates to pull around the cars. ‘Finally, someone else with common sense around this damn place.’ Zayn stifles out a laugh, gesturing towards the Rolls Royce near his jeep, both sat far away from the train of cars.

Niall throws his coat over my shoulders, slightly trailing behind. He offers a smile that made my stomach tighten. ‘Detroit, here we come!’ Rose beams excitedly turning in her heels to face Zayn. ‘Lizzie, Sunday, I’m coming over. Do not make plans with your boyfriend.’ She speaks, pointing a finger over at Niall.

‘Sunday.’ I confirm, throwing an arm over her shoulder. ‘Prom was amazing. The endless weekends and your rant-filled text messages were worth it.’

‘Liz.’ Niall speaks up, looking at the bright rectangle lights directly ahead of us.

Before I could open my mouth, the SUV peels through the parking lot, straight for Niall. My body freezes and my voice vanishes. Zayn shoves Niall, sending him flying out of the way. We all watch silently as Zayn’s body flips over the car before smacking against the concrete. ‘What the hell did you just do?!’ Niall scrambles to his feet, yanking his skinny black tie loose. ‘Why the fuck would you do that?!’

‘Z.’ Rose croaks, sliding down in front of him, ‘Z. C’mon get up. Babe, get up.’

The rest of senior class wordlessly huddled around Zayn. Someone yells out to call the police. It felt like a distorted mutter with all of the voices. Almost like in Charlie Brown how all the adults would just say wah wah wah wah. The oncoming sirens crash into the wah wah’s and I was grateful. Blue and red lights bounce off of everyone’s faces. A single expression graced every person. Soon the cops came, each of them rushing throughout the parking lot to get eyewitness reports. Zayn’s put into the back of the ambulance and Rose scurries in behind the paramedics.

‘Lizette.’ My dad calls out before pulling me into his chest. ‘Are you okay?’

I nod in return, trying to get my body to stop trembling. Niall explains what happened and I hear Damon’s name a few times. Of course, it was him. They were aiming for Niall. I overhear Niall telling my dad that we were going to the hospital to see if Zayn’s okay. Surprisingly, he agrees. He places a kiss on my head before directing his attention to the officers on the scene. We get into the car, the driver anxiously looking on. The moment the door shuts, it feels like I could breathe and hear again.

‘Just take us to my apartment instead of the earlier destination.’ Niall chimes as he settles in his seat, his eyes solely focused on the chaotic parking lot. When we reach his apartment’s parking lot, Niall leads the way to his car. I open my mouth to close it again. Not sure where to start. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t sure either. In the silence, he reaches over and opens his hand on my lap. I easily slide my fingers between his and he gives me a firm squeeze. ‘I can’t believe through all the shit Zayn and I’ve been through, he actually chose to save my life.’ Niall forces out an incredulous snort. ‘How do you even thank someone who saves your life?’

‘You can be there for him.’

Niall drops me off at the entrance before circling the parking lot for a decent space. As I walk through the hospital, a few of the nurses give me a double take as I hold the ends of my dress to navigate through the halls. Rose stands against a wall, I could see her hands shaking the closer I got. ‘Rose.’ I whisper, wrapping my arms around her as tight as I could. ‘I’m so sorry this happened. How is he?’

‘They won’t let me see him yet. The doctor said he has a concussion, three cracked ribs, and his left leg is broke. One of the nurses said he’s already joking though.’ She speaks through a sniffle, running a hand through her hair. ‘The police were here. They want us to come to the station in the morning to give reports.’

‘Yeah, I talked to them for a little before coming here. My dad was there, you can talk to him if it’s easier.’

‘Do you really think that Damon did this?’

‘I do.’

‘What are you doing here?’ She narrows her eyes at Niall and he nervously glances down at me. ‘It’s your fault that he got hit by that fucking car.’

‘Rose.’ I start, reaching for her but she yanks away.

‘Zayn told you that you put a target on everyone’s back and then you had to make it worse by going to the cops. Louis corned Zayn a week ago about it. He’s in that goddamn hospital room right now because of you. I don’t want you anywhere near him.’

‘Rose, that’s not fair.’ I chime as Niall places a hand on my back. ‘This is Damon’s fault. Sooner or later it would’ve been Zayn, me, you, anyone. He was bound to pick us apart, this is what he wants.’

‘Of course you would defend him. You should sit in front of Zayn with a straight face and tell him what is and isn’t fair.’ Rose scoffs, brushing past, making sure her shoulder collides with mine when she does.

I try to follow behind her, but Niall grabs a hold of my arm. ‘Just give her some time.’ The moment that we make it to Niall’s apartment, I practically rip the dress from my body. I help myself to one of his tee shirts and find him on the couch. I kick my legs over his lap and rest my head on his chest. ‘I should’ve known that Damon would try something like this.’ He cuts into the silence, taking his eyes from the TV. ‘I think that I forced myself to not think about him and let my guard down. I should’ve paid more attention. I should’ve noticed the damn car before I did.’

‘Don't do that. You will drive yourself insane trying to figure out what you could’ve done differently. I could’ve been paying more attention too. With all of excitement, I was blind to the idea of him showing up.’

Niall doesn’t say anything in return, he coyly slips away to his room, searching for his “in case of emergency” pack of cigarettes before opening the patio door. I debate on following him, but I decide against it. Just like Rose, he needed the time. Just to be mad at himself, at Damon. Just to breathe. Instead, I grab my phone from my purse and settle into the side of his bed that I claimed to be mine. My Instagram feed and Snapchat were full of stories and posts about prom. A bunch of blurry shots of the ambulance and halfhearted captions saying to pray for Zayn. Half of these people never even talked to him. Did it really take some broken bones for people to care? Even further down there were moments of Niall and I dancing and getting crowned on stage. I steal Niall’s charger and connect my phone. Eventually, he comes in and unbuttons his dress shirt.

‘Maybe I should go. My dad may check the hospital and I don’t see Rose covering for me tonight.’

Niall nods in response, placing his large hands on each side of my face. ‘I’m sorry about tonight, about your friend.’

‘For what it was worth, you were the best prom date I could have ever asked for, Mr. prom king.’

‘Do not remind me.’ He scrunches his nose with a loud laugh, ‘My mom might actually pass out when she hears that.’

‘I would pay to see her reaction,’ I burst out into a fit of giggles. The room already felt lighter. ‘Please tell her at graduation so that I can see.’

‘Whatever you want.’ He smiles, pulling me up from the bed after throwing a sweatshirt over his head. ‘C’mon.’

In the elevator, I slip my arms around Niall’s neck. He felt warm, just like always. I wanted to know his secret. ‘I love you.’

‘Still?’ He stifles out an unsure laugh, wrapping his arms around me in order to pull me towards his chest. ‘After everything?’

‘Always.’ I confirm, filling the remaining gap between our lips. ‘So, so much.’ Niall grabs a hold of my hand before leading the way to his Mustang, perfectly parked. ‘I hope that you didn’t spend too much money renting the Rolls Royce. Especially since we just got dropped off here.’

‘Not too much, don't you worry about that.’ He shrugs, opening the door and closing it once I’m inside. ‘It was for a good cause, right?’

‘Well, since we’re not going anymore – can I know what we were going to do tonight? What did you have planned?’

‘Absolutely not,’ He immediately interjects, the classic car roaring to life.

‘Why not?’

‘We’re gonna do it still. Maybe not tonight but soon.’

‘A little hint?’ I plead, unbuckling my seatbelt to nestle against his collarbone. ‘Please.’

‘No, I’m not giving hints and that pouting doesn’t work on me. It’s like you don’t know me at all.’ He muses but doesn’t meet my gaze.

‘Fine.’

‘You’re cute when you pout but it’s even better when you pretend to pout.’

‘Ha ha.’

I lean against the front door as Niall rocks back and forth on the heel of his shoes. His hands stuffed into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. The light in the living room was on, I knew my dad was somewhere in the house pacing. Probably demanding every single person in the precinct search for Damon. I could practically smell the fresh coffee brewing beyond the wood. ‘I better get in there before the door swings open. He’s probably freaking out that I’m not in my room by now, especially with what happened with Zayn.’

‘I definitely don’t want a gun pointed at me tonight, so I’ll let you go. I love you.’

‘I love you.’ I repeat, sneaking in one more kiss before watching as he slowly walks back towards his car.

Just as predicted, my dad sat at the kitchen table with dozens of papers from one end to the other. Coffee filled my nostrils as I got closer to him. He looks up at me with relieved eyes, setting aside his pen to throw his arms around me. ‘Thank God.’

‘I’m fine, dad.’ I reassure, ‘I’m really sorry that I made you worry tonight, but I’m here, in one piece.’

‘Listen, I don’t want you to worry about this guy for one minute. We’re going to bring him in, I promise. If I have anything to say about it, he’ll be in a cell this time tomorrow.’

If we could be so lucky.