Moments (Being Edited)

Four

I held Lacey tightly as I helped her through the front door into the bungalow. She was still a little wobbly, but she was capable of walking. After the nurses had cleaned her up a little, she looked better, but not much. The blacks and purples of deep bruises were starting to appear across her face and down her arms. 

Harry had called Louis when we were in the car and told him the basics, but mainly that Lacey would be coming and staying with us for a little while and to get him to clean up my room for her. There wasn't actually a spare bed in the bungalow; Harry and Louis shared and so did Zayn and Liam, because there were only three beds, but I was more than willing to give up my room for Lacey. The couch wasn't uncomfortable, so I could sleep on that without any trouble.

"Hey, how's she doing?" Louis asked, leaping off the couch which had a comforter thrown over it and a pillow resting on the far end.

"She's doing okay," Lacey answered which made my lips twitch.

"I cleaned up Niall's- uh the spare room, so it's all ready for you if you want to go straight to bed," Louis told her gently with a warm smile.

"I'd really like to sleep," Lacey sighed.

"Okay, I think I will too, I'll see you two in the morning, and we're really glad that you're here with us Lacey, and that you're okay," Harry said sincerely, giving Lacey a small smile before he led himself up the stairs, Louis' eyes following him.

"Yeah, I think I'll go to bed too. Night guys, we'll see you in the morning," Louis told us, his mind clearly elsewhere as he hurried up the stairs after Harry.

"You've got the only downstairs room," I informed Lacey as I helped her towards the room that I'd been staying in.

I pushed open the door and led her over to the bed where she slowly sat down. Louis had cleaned it up nicely, packing my things back into my suitcases and stacking them in the corner, and getting rid of all the rubbish that had previously littered the floor. He'd tidied up the bed and pulled back the covers, leaving the bedside lamp on so we wouldn't be blinded by the overhead lights.

"This is your room, isn't it?" Lacey asked, reaching down to take off her shoes but grimacing from the pain it must have inflicted on her bruised ribs.

"I'll get your shoes," I said, crouching down to unlace the converse hugging her feet.

"You didn't answer my question," she told me quietly.

I looked up at her and sighed. She was looking at me with a tired but expectant expression, and I knew I wasn't getting away with not answering her.

"Yeah, I was staying in this room, but you need a bed more than I do, so.." I trailed off, shrugging.

"This is your bed, I don't want to take it off of you. You sleep here, and I can sleep on the sofa," Lacey suggested, trying to stand, but she couldn't because of the grip I had on her ankles from getting her shoes off.

"Lacey, this is your bed now. I honestly don't mind sleeping on the couch," I told her firmly.

"I don't want to kick you out of your own bed, Niall," she said quietly.

"You're not, I'm willingly leaving it," I smiled.

"No, I feel bad taking it from you . . I'm not that big, you can fit in here too," Lacey breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

My head snapped up and my eyes locked with hers, completely shocked by what she said. Not shocked in a bad way, but shocked that she wouldn't mind sleeping in the same bed as me. I didn't want her to think I was trying to take advantage of her, because that was absolutely not the case, but I wanted to take her up on her offer, really badly.