Room 317

Chapter 6

45 minutes later, after the mini-argument

“Can you hear anything?” Liam whispered nervously.

Niall shifted his position against the door, sliding his ear more to the left. He shook his head, “Nothing,” he whispered back, “it’s completely silent.”

They shared a look of concern, “You don’t think…” Liam began, searching Niall’s face for an immediate negative to his unfinished question.

“What, that they’ve killed each other?” Niall replied before shaking his head, “Nah… they can’t even shout at each other properly…”

“Yeah, but what if Louis collapsed and Harry thought he was dead and, because he can’t live without him, he cut his wrists and is dead too?”

Niall’s mouth fell open as he stared at his friend, wide-eyed, “Liam… you have got to stop reading those cheap paperback thrillers. You’ve always been angsty but now it’s starting to scare me.”

Liam pulled a face, “Well, what else do you think they could be doing that requires the need of silence?”

Niall grimaced, “Actually, I’m beginning to think I don’t want to know…”

Rolling his eyes, Liam brushed past him and, with a deep breath, slowly pressed the handle and pushed the bedroom door ajar. Tentatively, he poked his head around the jamb, bracing himself for whatever horror he might see.

The walls were not splattered in blood. Good. That was a relief. He glanced around, seeing no movement and his gaze fell to the bed. At once his eyes softened, Harry and Louis were curled up together and seemed to be asleep. He grinned; it was an adorable sight; like two cute puppies snoozing in a pile.

“I can hear you grinning from over there Payne, stop it.”

Well maybe they weren’t both asleep, “But you look so adorable,” he chuckled, “We really need a picture!”

“Do it and die,” Harry hissed, “and shush. Don’t wake him up.”

“What’s going on?” asked Niall, teetering on his tiptoes as he tried to peer around Liam to see.

Harry rolled his eyes and hissed, “He fell asleep on me, that’s all, and when you’ve finished gawping don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Hey,” Liam held his arms up, “you don’t need to get so defensive. It’s really sweet he trusts you like that.”
”Whatever,” Harry muttered.

Liam sighed, “Look, we’re going to get a start on dinner. Wake him up in an hour or so – he’ll need to take his tablets, even if he isn’t hungry.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Liam and Niall started to leave but, at the last moment, Liam popped his head back around the door, “Oh, and Harry?” Harry looked up. “Maybe you should take a leaf out of Louis’s book.”

The door closed quietly and Harry sighed in relief, idly playing with some silky strands of Louis’s hair. He could feel his friend’s steady breathing brushing warmly against his neck and couldn’t help but smile.

It hadn’t taken long after their ‘bromantic moment’ for Louis to go heavy on his chest.

“Louis?” He had asked, momentarily alarmed that his friend may have passed out or gone into cardiac arrest. Yeah, he was still having problems with controlling his overreacting to certain situations – automatically fearing the worst despite the unlikeliness of the worst actually happening.