Nialls View:
I lay staring at her, sleeping. I couldn’t believe what I had done. In a way though, it almost helped. I thought back to her falling into my arms and embracing her small body, she had kissed me, even if it was on the cheek. I couldn’t even begin to explain how that makes me feel. After she passed out they stitched up her head and my lip. I had sprained my knee and cracked a rib. They wrapped me up and gave me some medicine to reduce the pain. I wanted to sleep more than anything, I was overly exhausted, but I didn’t want to leave her side. She was still holding on to my hand. The nurse came in to change her IV bag. We’d been in the hospital for a couple hours and we had yet to contact any of the guys or Justin and Jess.
“I really need you to try and sleep Niall. It would be the most effective in helping you recover. Don’t worry about Claire, she’s in good hands, we’ll take care of her.” I looked at her and nodded. But instead of sleeping in my own bed, I lowered the metal bar on my gurney. I used my good leg to push off from the wall and line my gurney up right next to hers. I curled up next to her and sighed. In normal circumstances I would keep my distance just considering our small past together, but these weren’t normal circumstances. It’s sort of like a small child that has a nightmare. You wouldn’t stand off to the side and watch them cry in fear; no you’d lie next to them and comfort them. Compassion, after all, is most felt and understood through human touch. I lay on my side and wrapped my arm around her waist, trying to be gentle around her bruises. I quickly drifted to sleep after that and I dreamt of the attack again. Except in my dream I wasn’t able to save her. I woke up sweating and breathing heavily. I looked over and she was still sleeping, one of the nurses must’ve put a blanket on us. I felt warm and secure next to her. I focused on her breathing, one inhale and exhale after another. I started falling back to sleep when she stirred. My eyes snapped open and I waited for her to wake up.
“Niall, are you awake?” I leaned over and watched as she realized where she was. Her eyelids were shaded a light purple and she sounded like she had strep throat. I assumed it was from screaming. She was bruised terribly and it only made me want to hold her closer.
“How are you?” I wanted to make sure she didn’t need anything.
“My head hurts really badly, how long have I been asleep?” She furrowed her brow in confusion.
“About...” I took my phone out of my pocket. There were dozens of texts and calls from the guys and Justin. “...four hours. The guys have been trying to reach us, we should probably call them. It’s eleven at night, but I know they’re still up.” I called Justin first, he’d be less angry then Harry would.
“HELLO? Niall thank God you called, we’ve been trying to reach you for hours. We saw on the news what happened, is Claire okay, is she hurt? What hospital are you in?” I took a deep breath and tried not to get emotional. My voice was rough, it probably didn’t’ sound great since I was trying to calm Justin.
“We’re fine. They’ve put us in a hospital room together, we’re hurt but we’ll be okay. Claire and I should be getting back to sleep. I don’t think either of us should be picked up tonight. I really should be going now. We’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I looked at Claire, she had her head turned and I saw her wipe a tear from her eye.
“An accident and you’re at the hospital? We’re coming to see you now, if she’s hurt I need to be there and…” I didn’t hear the rest of what he said because Claire grabbed the phone out of my hand. She pushed herself up on her elbows and I sat up with her.
“Justin, its Claire, I’m…I’m fine,” She started to get choked up. “We’ve been emitted to the hospital, so we have to stay here until the morning. Nialls with me, he...Listen, I can’t talk about it now because I’m probably going to start crying.” My heart started breaking and I put my arm around her and squeezed her. I put my head on her shoulder, she smelled like the outdoors and shampoo. Her hair was tangled and her face was dirty. She turned and smiled at me, a little tear ran from her eye and I wiped it away.
“I really need to go to sleep. Please don’t let any of the guys come see us, and don’t let Jess or Nan come either. I’ll see you tomorrow…okay… love you too. Bye.” More tears slipped from her eyes, I wish I could just make her stop crying. She handed the phone back and I slipped it in my pocket. I turned on my back and took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Claire turned on her side and looked at me.
“I don’t understand.” She sounded confused.
“What don’t you understand?” I tried to figure out what she was talking about but my mind was too fuzzy to think.
“You risked your life for me, and we’d just met. I never talked to you, yet you kept your feelings for me, even though Harry and I were kind of together. Why would I deserve you, as a friend or anything else?” She seemed so unsure of everything between us. I saved her because I care about her, deeply. So of course I would risk my life to save hers. What was I thinking? I could never tell her that, she’d hate me. Harry would hate me, so I had to stay true to the both of them. I didn’t want to get in the way anymore. I wanted to have a relationship with Claire, but I wanted to be friends with Harry. And the only way to do that is to forgive Harry. Claire inspired me to do that. If she could forgive me for kidnapping her drunk, then I can forgive Harry for backstabbing me and stealing my girl.
“I’ve been a jerk, an idiot, and I’ve acted like an immature child. But through all of this, you’ve been constant, so true to yourself. You’re caring and compassionate, people like that inspire me to do better. I want to be like you. You’re… well, my role model.” I looked down, embarrassed to admitting my feelings so boldly. I shifted my eyes and noticed her cheeks turning shades of pink and the dimples at the corners of her lips where a smile started to appear. I couldn’t help but smile back, it was contagious.
“I don’t know what would’ve happened without you there tonight Niall. Well, I know what would’ve happened, I’d be dead. But, I’m glad I met you, I’m glad you followed me to the park. I feel bad for kissing you though. It was completely unnecessary but you saved my life and I was…so scared. That was my initial reaction.” I didn’t know why she was apologizing when she probably knew I liked it. Even in those circumstances, holding her made me happy. Just being so close to her, right now I was happy, man, Harry didn’t deserve her; I wished she knew the truth. Maybe, if our relationship as friends kept progressing like that, I’d get up the courage to tell her, but only when the time was right. I went back to her funny apology and thought of what she said earlier that night.
“Claire, its fine, what’s in the past is in the past. I’ve already forgiven you, so there’s no need to apologize. Besides, I’m pretty sure in those circumstances anybody would’ve done what you did. So, it’s okay.” She laughed a little before holding onto her stomach. I stopped laughing too and realized how much pain she must be in. I gently took her wrist in one hand, looking at all the bruises that the man gave her. I lifted the bottom of her shirt to find a black and purple band around her waist where his arm had been tightly wrapped. I was pissed, I was glad that man was dead. He hurt her and I’d never forgive him, ever.
“Claire!” I was shocked at the damage. Just then a doctor came in to check on us.
“Hello Claire, hello Niall. My name is Doctor Troyer. I’ve been assigned to take care of you both while you’re here. I want to say how sorry I am for these unfortunate circumstances. The hospital offers therapeutic sessions for these types of situations. If you ever need anything while you’re here, just let us know and we’ll get right on it. Have you been able to contact your family? We did let your parents know, Niall. But Claire we weren’t sure of whom to call for you.”
“Thanks, but I already called my uncle, I told him we’d be home tomorrow afternoon, if that’s alright.” Claire spoke softly. He nodded with a smile and turned around to a small table off to the side of the room. He got out a tube of ointment for her welts. He reached for her shirt, but just as Claire realized what was happening she wigged out.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” She pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned against me. I wrapped my left arm around her, shocked at her reaction even though it didn’t surprise me why she didn’t want him touching her. I put my mouth to her ear and asked if I could put it on her, she nodded. I stretched out my hand to have the doctor give me the medicine.
“Can I do it? I think it would be a bit easier for her.” The doctor looked at Claire sympathetically. He handed me the orange tube, I put a pea size dot in my hand. Claire relaxed her legs while keeping her eyes on the doctor, who turned and walked out. I lifted her shirt and gently rubbed the medicine over the bruised and swollen area. It was cold and she winced a bit at the pain. Her stomach was cute, it wasn’t totally flat and skinny like some girls I’d seen in the past, it was filled out, not chubby, but just...her.
“Sorry love.” She shot me a glance. I looked at her oddly. I wasn’t flirting, saying ‘love’ was just my Irish-British influence coming out in me. I’ve been a mentor, a friend, and a hero to her, and sadly that’s all that’s going to come of it for now, I didn’t want her thinking I thought any different just because I saved her life.
“Thanks, again.” She quickly put her shirt down and put a blanket over her stomach.
“Why’d ya do that?” She stared back at me awkwardly.
“What do you mean?” She looked at me but not into my eyes. She was looking past my face.
“You’re not self-conscious are you?” I questioned her. Everything about her seemed perfect to me. She wasn’t too skinny and she wasn’t chubby. She had muscle and was shorter. I liked her build. It fit her and her personality.
“Ugh, let’s not bring that up, please.” She rolled her eyes and lay back down on her side. An idea flashed in my head, I started laughing.
“I know you’ve never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile, you never loved your stomach or your thighs, the dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine but I’ll love them endlessly. I won’t let these little things slip out of my mouth, but if I do, it’s you, oh it’s you they add up too, I’m in love with you, and all these little things.” That’s the best I could do. She started shaking, at first I thought she was laughing, until I peeked over at her face and realized she was crying, but she was smiling.
“Niall, you’re such a charmer.” I lay back down and pressed against her; she turned around and burrowed her face in my shoulder. I put my arm over her and pulled the blanket around us. I was bursting with joy, although I knew she needed the comfort and support, we both did. We fell asleep like that, and when I woke from bad dreams in the night, she was still next to me. This is how we slept the rest of the night, until the morning when we were awoken by a rather good and bad surprise.
Claire’s view:
I had bad dreams all night, all of me being kidnapped and raped. Throughout all those dreams, every time I woke up, Niall was still beside me. I felt weird thinking about how comfortable we were around each other, but it wasn’t awkward. These were my thoughts before I woke up to Niall shifting quickly and leaving my side. My eyes opened slowly, I felt a hand move across my head, and I winced as it moved too close to my stitches.
“Niall, is that you?” I tried to see who it was, but I was still half asleep. Finally my eyes adjusted to see a very angry, very worried looking curly headed boy. Two green eyes looked at me with concern. I sat up quicker than I should of. My eyelids popped right open. I turned to my right and saw Niall sitting in a chair breathing heavily. His shirt had to big wrinkled circles where it seemed Harry had grabbed him. Niall looked ticked off and tired and Harry just looked pissed. My head went dizzy and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“It’s not what you think, Harry. Please, just…” I tried to be calm. I didn’t want Harry getting any preconceived ideas. It probably didn’t look good, but Harry would have to understand that what we went through, we went through together, and it was a terrible thing, but we were closer because of it. I prepared to take the blame for all of it. After all, Niall was just being kind to me, more like a brother than anything.
“What am I exactly supposed to think? Coming here to find my girlfriend curled up to…” Before I let him finish I interjected.
“I’M NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND! Alright, so let’s get some things straight before we start talking and…and naming off titles to one another.” I yelled too loud and one of the nurses came in and told us to be quiet and walked away. I didn’t want to hurt Harry’s feelings, I did care about him. We’d shared so much in the past, I still liked him. But now that I’ve come to know Niall for who he truly was, I almost viewed Harry… differently.
“What do you mean? I thought that, well I thought we were…” I was getting irritated. I was about to snap, I didn’t want to but I felt it coming. I was in such a bad place, physically, emotionally, and mentally to try and have a serious argument or conversation right now.
“You thought what Harry? You thought because you stayed the night at my house and took me to a special place that all of a sudden we’re soul mates?” I was over exaggerating my anger, but I was cranky, I couldn’t help it. “I’m so sick of everyone wondering who I’m dating, who I’m talking to. All of this crap. It has to stop, like now. I’m just done Harry. God, I’m sorry alright? I know that we can only be friends, even though it seemed like we were more, way more. I knew you liked me, but I was trying so hard to not fall into all of this. I’m trying to focus on my career, not who likes me and who doesn’t. Now, if you’d just listen, I’ll try to explain what happened last night.” I finished talking and watched Harry, wide eyed sit down in the chair across from my bed. He looked so confused, I felt bad but I needed to get this out before I got too tired again. I took a deep breath and a drink of water from the small plastic cup sitting on the table to my left. I looked at Niall and gave him a little smile before beginning.
“I lied to you last night. Niall was there, at the beach. But I never had talked to him before. I mean he’d kidnapped me but I didn’t hold that against his reputation. I’ve always wanted to get to know him, all of you guys. So, when Niall came looking for me, he found me, and we talked. We just figured some things out that needed to be talked about. It made it easier for the both of us. We were joking around in the water, just being silly, and that’s when you came. Niall made a dash for the trees while you and I talked. He wasn’t hiding as if he’d done anything bad, but he didn’t want you getting even more upset with him then you already were. So I covered for him. I thought I saw him in the trees, so I walked over after you left to look for him. I got over there and realized he wasn’t there, and I went to turn around and run...” At this point my eyes became glossy with tears. As I talked I spaced out into an empty space between Harry and the door, focusing on telling the story and not crying.
“There was a man, he started dragging me away into the woods. At this point I figured he was going to hurt me in ways I can’t even imagine. I really thought I was going to die. He kept touching me, and then he punched me...Niall couldn’t see us. I couldn’t get away!” I stopped talking a little bit to focus in on both of their expressions. Harry looked at me with an expression I couldn’t even put to words, he was completely shocked, traumatized, and I could tell. Niall had his head in his hands, rocking back and forth. “I heard Niall searching for me, I cried and cried. The man wrapped his arm around my face. Niall came running just as the guy hid behind a trashcan. I hit it as hard as I could with my knee.” As I said the last part, I rolled my jeans up to my knee and showed him my cut and bruising. I showed Harry my stomach and wrist. I bruised easily, which probably made it all seem more severe than it actually was, but it still hurt. I continued finishing the story.
“Niall tackled the guy. But he was so strong; he threw Niall off of him and pulled me away. His arms wrapped around my neck, he was going to break it and he said he was going to kill me. He pulled out a gun and pressed it to my temple. Niall begged him to let me go, he said he’d pay him. The police came just in time. They shot the man as he was trying to run away. And then…” I couldn’t go on. I was bawling, heaves of emotion and fear escaping me. I curled up in a ball and hid my face. I heard one of them get up and felt them wrap their arms around me, it was Harry, and I was sure. I made a hole between my arms; I saw an empty chair where Niall was sitting. I lifted my head, Niall was hugging me. Harry just sat there in shock from my story and clenching his jaw in anger because of Niall. Niall sat down beside me, his left arm right behind my back, his shoulder touching mine. Normally, if someone did that, I would’ve been uncomfortable, but when Niall does it, it’s pure compassion. He was being sincere in his fear from the situation from last night. I thought of all the compassion Harry’s ever shown me, it doesn’t really add up to much. I don’t like comparing the two, but when I determine who would make a better friend; it’s just not that hard to choose. Niall continued the story, I couldn’t keep going.
“We were put in an ambulance, on two gurneys. Claire was completely out of it. She was so scared, shaking like mad. Once we got to the hospital they gave us both stitches and some medicine. The nurse told me to go to sleep, I wanted to stay awake to make sure Claire was okay and didn’t need anything but I ended up passing out anyway.” I smiled weakly at his concern for my needs. “So, I got in her bed, just to make her feel secure. I didn’t want anything from her and I didn’t expect anything from her. Then the morning came. That’s how it went, we promise.” He looked at me and back to Harry reassuringly. I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and looked at all the texts I had from Jess and Justin and Harry. I looked at the ones from Harry first; it was all panic and questions. In one text he asked if Niall had taken me, Niall saw that but didn’t react, smart decision. I texted Harry back with a smiley face and said, ‘I’m right here.’ I sent it. He looked at his phone and smiled. I was trying to ease the tension a bit before Harry said anything he might regret. He took a deep breath and looked at me, not at Niall, which irritated me since they needed to just get over this whole situation, it was so stupid.
“First of all, I’m beyond sorry you both had to experience that. It’s a horrible thing, and neither of you deserved it. I’m also sorry for doubting your actions, I know you’re not like that Claire, and Niall’s not either.” He turned to Niall finally, who was playing with the case on his phone. He didn’t bother looking at Harry. I elbowed his arm. He looked to me and then to Harry. He stood up and walked over to him.

Notes