𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙊 𝙔𝙊𝙐 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

I WANT TO WRITE YOU A SONG

[FOUR MONTHS LATER]

A lot can change in four months. This is something I knew, of course, but it was crazy to see just how much could really happen in the span of sixteen weeks.

For starters, the boys finished recording Made in the AM. The five of us went on a short three-week promo tour after they completed it. It was dropped a few weeks ago, but there was no tour to follow it. The boys had a handful of shows left, and then the hiatus would officially begin.

While all of this was going on with the boys, I was wrapped up in my case against Donte. The last four months have been me reliving the same thing over and over again. In interviews with police and talk show hosts alike. Everyone had questions to ask, and I had an obligation to answer them.

The court date grew closer, and closer, until it was finally the day of.

"Hey," Niall said quietly. He poked his head into my room and I made eye contact with him through my reflection. "We've got an hour until we need to leave here."

"Okay," I said. I turned back to face him. He was looking at me expectantly, like he wanted me to say what I was thinking about saying. "I'm scared to see him, Ni," I whispered.

Niall walked over to my bench and sat down next to me. "He's not gonna hurt you again."

"I know, it's just... Della said that he would probably just dodge the questions and tell everyone the secrets I told him. I'm scared that he's gonna mess everything up."

"No one is going to believe anything he says," Niall said slowly. "And hey? You're going to be alright regardless. In a few hours, he's going to be in prison and you're going to be walking away. You just have to get through the hard part," he reasoned. I nodded my head because it made sense.

"Are the other boys coming here or meeting us there?"

"I think they're meeting us there. Have you talked to them?"

"I talked to Harry a couple of days ago and to Liam last weekend," I said. There was a time that we only went a few hours without speaking, and now it was days or weeks. "Lou and I haven't talked since we were all together last month."

"Zayn?"

"Still radio silence," I said.

I knew Zayn was talking to the other boys a bit, but he still was yet to reach out to me. I couldn't decide if it bothered me or not.

It had been eight months since I had seen him or talked to him.

"I'm gonna change, okay? Maybe we can get there early to avoid some paps."

"Okay, Mick," Niall said. He ran a finger through my hair, that I had recently started to straighten. I thought it made me look older. He stood up and kissed the crown of the head before leaving me alone in the quiet of my bedroom, with my own thoughts.

I sat and stared at myself for just a moment. I looked tired, but that was only because it was hard to sleep with no one to keep me safe from my nightmares. Niall had Cameron in his bed. I couldn't crawl into bed with him like I used to. So, instead of doing that, I would lay on my back and stare up at the ceiling until sleep pulled me under again.

I walked over to my closet and pulled out the outfit that Della Diaz, my lawyer, had told me to wear. She said it was important that the jury saw me as a person. Which apparently meant a collared shirt under a simple gray dress and my same beat-up sneakers.

A knock at the door made me jump.

"You're good, Ni," I said. I looked through my closet for a pair of socks, ignoring my brother for just a second. "Hey, are my gray socks out there?" I turned around to look at Niall before I froze in shock.