“What was that all about?” Louis asked as soon, as Paul returned to them. This had been really weird, and a bit terrifying.
“I’ll tell you later. Now go up there.” Paul shoved them in the direction of the few steps that led up to the “stage”. Liam shot him a concerned look, but immediately put on a smile and nearly ran Niall over in his seat.
When Harry and Niall got down and reached Paul, Harry asked: “What’s up with Lilly? Louis said she was crying? Where is she?”
Paul heaved a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest, before he said: “I sent her back to the hotel. She needs some rest.”
“Why? What happened?” It was Niall who asked this time.
“I really think she should tell you herself if she wants to. This is not my –“
“Bullshit, Paul.” Harry mimicked his position and crossed his arms as well. “You better spill the beans, or you’ll have to deal with a lot worse than Lilly could possibly come up with.”
Paul had to smile at that. It was so like Harry, so like the boys, that he just had to smile despite the situation. Eventually, he gave in: “Her mother told her that her father died in an accident two days ago. She hadn’t told her, because she didn’t want to spoil NYC for her. Apparently he drove straight into a tree, completely drunk.”
“What?” Both men exclaimed in unison, unable to comprehend what had happened. They had just talked about her father a few days ago and now this?
“We should go after her,” Niall said, getting his phone out to call her.
“Don’t.” Paul put his hand on top of Niall’s. “She said she wanted to be alone, and you have a full afternoon and the premiere later. You don’t have time to look after her. She’ll call me if she needs anything.”
The sad thing was, that he was right, but that didn’t stop the guys from planning something for when the movie premiere was over. It had been a fun premiere with all the people there, but they were all worried about Lilly, especially Harry and Louis, because they’d spent a bit more time with her than the other ones.
They wanted to cheer her up, or let her talk, whatever she wanted, but they wanted to be prepared, so they made Paul get them a couple of things since they weren’t allowed to go to a supermarket. Niall, Zayn and Liam waited in Louis’ and Harry’s room while they went to Lilly’s room to get her.
When they knocked for the first time, there was no response. The waited a moment, and then knocked again. This time they heard something inside the room, but they were not sure what it was.
When the door opened, Lilly stood in front of them, dressed in a rugby jersey from John’s former team and black sweatpants. The boys had already changed into something more comfortable, so they didn’t look that much different from her. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her eyes were even puffier than when Louis had seen her earlier.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in confusion. She hadn’t thought she’d see them until the following day when they would travel back to England. She felt awful for abandoning them at the presser and the premiere, but she’d needed some time to be alone.
“We’re here to kidnap you,” Louis said, holding up a smile when all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. Her father had left her early in her life, but that didn’t mean that his death didn’t hurt. He was still her father.
“Come on,” Harry held out his hand to her. “We have chocolate!”
Their words and behavior made one corner of her mouth turn up, and she said: “Well, in that case…” She only turned around to grab her keycard before she put her hand in Harry’s. Louis got hold of her other hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. She didn’t look at either of them, just straight ahead.
She was not prepared for what opened up in front of her when they entered the room. The queen-sized beds had been pushed to the sides, and all the blankets and pillows had been put on the ground. Zayn, Liam and Niall were already seated there, chocolate, popcorn, and a couple of kids movies were in front of them .
“Come on down. It’s really comfy,” Liam grinned at her, patting the space beside him. Harry let go of Lilly’s hand, but Louis held on to it, leading her to her place, the one with the most pillows. Once she was seated, she slowly let go.
“You shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble,” she said pushing her glasses up.
“We wanted to,” Zayn assured her. “And after these busy days, I think we all appreciate a film night and sweets.” He held the bowl of popcorn right beneath her nose, nearly forcing her to eat something. She probably hadn’t eaten anything since this morning.
“You only have to choose the film.” Niall held out the DVDs to her.
“Okay, let’s see.” Lilly took them and looked through them. It wasn’t hard for her to decide. “Can we watch Mighty Ducks? I haven’t seen that this year so far and I usually watch it at least once a year.”
“Mighty Ducks it is.” Harry took the DVD and put it in before he settled down next to the rest of the group.
“Look, she’s smiling!” Liam said enthusiastically when he looked at Lilly. The title of the film was shown on the big TV screen, but that wasn’t her reason to smile. It was these boys, who’d made the effort to brighten up her day a bit.
“Thank you. Really.” Lilly said, blinking back the tears, this time happy ones.
“Have some chocolate,” Harry said and handed her some.
As much as she loved the film, and as much as she tried to concentrate, she couldn’t keep her eyelids from drooping down. Not even an hour after they’d started, she’d fallen asleep, too exhausted from all the tears she’d cried during the day.
She woke up, when she felt her body being moved. Slowly she opened her eyes to see Louis’ face in front of hers.
“What happened?” she mumbled, eyes half-open.
“You fell asleep,” Louis said, pulling the comforter over her. He’d put her down on his bed, and made sure that she wasn’t cold. Harry was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, and the other boys had gone back to their room. “We watched another film and let you sleep, but now we’re tired as well.”
“I should go to my room.” When Lilly tried to get up, Louis gently pushed her back down.
“No, you can stay here. I’ll just share a bed with Harry. We already discussed that and we won’t take a no for an answer.”
As if she suddenly remembered it, Lilly said: “My father is dead.”
“I know,” Louis sighed. “I’m really sorry.”
“I’ll have to go to Doncaster. And plan the trip. I’ll have to take days of.” She was talking herself into a panic.
Louis said out loud: “Doncaster?” It was partly to distract her, but more because he wanted to know what she had to do with Doncaster.
“Yes,” she yawned and rubbed her eyes. “That’s where he’s from. And me and my Mom. His parents want him to be buried there.”
Louis tried to process what she’d just said. She was originally from Doncaster. Where he was from. He took a deep breath to not ask her any more questions. They could talk about this some other time.
“You should try to go back to sleep.” Slowly he got up. Lilly didn’t say any more, she simply nodded and drifted off to surprisingly sweet dreams.

Notes

When your gone, your gone, without no bye,
Because only a judge can give you life.
This is my advice,
Trust me, I nearly lost my life.

Ed Sheran ft. P Money - Family