Chapter Text
Zayn woke up Saturday afternoon to a buzzing phone and to find Quinn in his bed. She looked so peaceful; he had never seen her so beautiful. Realizing he was creepily staring, he got out of bed and slipped on a pair of boxers. Checking his phone, he saw he had received over thirty texts from Katie, Harry and Liam since last night.
From: Katie
Nialler is in Lenox Hill. Come when you can!
From: Harry
Put the drinks down :( Niall needs you
From: Liam
Care to show up and support your fucking friend?
"Oh fuck," Quinn blurted as soon as she realized whose bed she had just woken up naked in. She had seriously lost here virginity to Zayn drunk? It was a cruel world they lived in.
"Not to rush you, or kick you out or anything, but Niall's in the hospital. I should really see if he's ok," Zayn explained. "Take all the time you need, I don't think I'll be back for a while." He quickly threw on jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket. Not wanting to waste time by styling his hair, he slipped a grey beanie on his head. Quinn was getting dressed more slowly, not wanting her and Zayn to be leaving at the same time. At this point, she was just feeling a little dirty. Just another on a long list of people Zayn has slept with. Great.
Zayn left after brushing his teeth. Quinn, took more time. She wanted to minimize the walk of shame look. After brushing out her honey blonde hair, she slipped last night's dress on and left through the service elevator. The less number of people who saw her, the better. She slipped a cab driver fifty dollars and told him to get her home fast.
+ + + +
Niall felt groggy. Where the hell was he?
"Nialler?" Liam's voice sounded shocked but happy.
"Where am I?" He asked. His throat was a little soar, which you could tell just by listening to his voice.
"Hospital. You were pretty messed up. I'll be right back to get a nurse, ok?" Liam responded.
"Anyone else here?"
"Liam, me and Katie went home cause she has a photo shoot, but will be back later if it doesn't go too late. Avery Levine, not sure how well you know her, but she was here until her mother called and demanded she get home," a voice that sounded like Harry told him.
"Hazza. Come cuddle me, please?" Niall asked, still not wanting to open his eyes. Harry chuckled as he climbed in next to Niall. Niall fell back asleep almost instantly.
Liam had just finished talking to the nurse when he saw him.
"Nice of you to finally show up," he said sarcastically.
"Is he ok?" Zayn asked, completely ignoring Liam's tone. He just needed to know Niall was ok.
"Yeah, he just woke up. Is a bit groggy though," Liam responded, heading back to Niall's room. Zayn followed, so thankful that his friend was ok.
"He's already dropped back asleep," Harry was still in his spot beside Niall. He was snuggled right into Harry's side, his head resting on Harry's chest. Liam sat back down on the uncomfortable, sandy coloured couch he had just spent the night on, pulling out The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to read. Zayn was unsure if Liam would be ok with him sitting beside him, but decided fuck it and sat anyway. He was there for Niall, not to make Liam happy.
+ + + +
Louis returned to his place at about six o'clock that morning with the number of the sophomore or whoever he had hooked up with. Her name was Lacey or something. He honestly had no intention of calling her and didn't give a shit. Hooking up with other people was probably not such a good idea if he wanted to get back with Harry, but Louis didn't see much hope with that anymore. The universe was just constantly shitting on the opportunities, and he took that as a sign.
Checking his phone, Louis realized it was mid-afternoon and maybe he should get out of bed. He strolled into the kitchen wearing his comfiest pyjamas. A cotton set his previous step-mother had gotten him for Christmas a while ago. He hadn't liked her much, but she had excellent taste. Many of his favourite clothing items had been purchased by her. She had been a personal shopper before she married Seth though, so obviously she had and eye for buying other people stuff.
"Oh, you're up!" Belle greeted him, smiling. "Do you want breakfast or lunch?"
"Pancakes and bacon, please," Louis responds, getting some pain killers out from the cupboard. His head was killing him and Belle's cartoon-esque, high pitched voice was not helping. Belle began prepping his meal. The fact that she cooked still surprised Louis; she didn't give off the chef kind of vibes. But she was very talented in the kitchen, Louis would give her that.
"My brother loves pancakes when he's hungover too," Belle smiled. He just smiled back and sunk down into the dark black-brown living room sofa.
"If you're really feeling shitty, you can go back to bed. I'll bring this up when it's done?" He gave her a quick "thank you" and trudged back to his room. Maybe having a step-mother young enough to be your sibling would be kind of nice. She seemed to still remember the young partying life - hell, she was probably still living it until she started dating Lou's father.
Either way, Belle would be around for a while. Might as well attempt to see the positive side of things.
+ + + +
After getting home, Quinn took an hour long shower. She scrubbed yesterday off and felt rather renewed afterwards. Strangely this feeling extended to everything in her life. She's done with last month's drama. She pulled her phone out and decided to send Louis a text.
Come with me to visit Niall?
She decided to wear just a simple cozy sweater - that might actually be Louis's - and some skinny jeans. She only bothered with putting mascara on for make up because she was hungover and didn't give a shit. When she checked her phone again she had a come over when you're ready? response from Louis. She let him know she was on her way and started the five minute walk to the Tomlinson's townhouse.
By the time Louis and Quinn arrive at the hospital, Harry had been called away to assist at Katie's photo shoot. The photographer was Fiona and she had almost demanded that Harry be there again. Claimed he was "better than any damn assistant could dream of being." He originally hadn't wanted to leave, but Niall forced him out, saying "he'd get up and kick his ass if he didn't leave." Liam had run home to shower and change out of his suit from last night, promising to come back as soon as possible. Niall just wanted everyone to stop babying him.
"I'm sorry this happened, Nialler," Quinn said to him as soon as she entered the room. It had been a party that she organized; she felt some responsibility for what happened.
"Don't fret, Quinn. I'm fine now," Niall smiled at her. He really wasn't that upset about being in the hospital. He had started eating again - just while he's here - thinking it would be ok. The hospital has a set portion, he won't be able to over eat. Plus the look on some of the nurses' and doctors' faces told him he needed to act 'normal.' The itch to puke it all up was there, but he was ignoring it for now. Zayn mumbled his greetings to Quinn and Louis, not meeting their eyes.
"Zayn, have you had anything to eat yet?" Louis asked. Zayn shook his head.
"Well then," Louis said as he pulled Zayn up off Niall's bed, "we need to get some lunch into you. You want anything, Niall?"
"I'm good. Just ate lunch." Louis gave him a smile as he dragged Zayn out of the room. Niall was a bit sad. Zayn was the only one who wasn't asking questions about his condition or whatever. He treated this as any other visit, like he could tell Niall was sick of answering the same questions over and over. That's the thing about Zayn, it's like he could read what Niall was feeling and wanted. It was kind of creepy at times, but nice too.
"So," Quinn began once they were alone, "I'm sure you've answered this a hundred times, but what happened?" Niall told her how he had been drinking, having a good time when all of a sudden things just weren't right.
"I'm just so thankful Liam and Avery saw me," he finished. Quinn nodded, thankful too. Niall was one of the sweetest guys she knew, he didn't deserve this. Not that anyone really did.
"When are you getting out?"
"This afternoon. They just wanna make sure they've flushed most of the drugs outta my system." Zayn and Louis came back in shortly after, each with a burger in their hand. Zayn crawled into bed next to Niall, carefully not to make a mess. Louis had told him that Quinn had asked him to join her on this visit while they were in line for the burgers. A spark of jealousy went through Zayn after hearing those words, and he really didn't want to deal with that. He'd much rather cuddle with Niall and forget about everything for a while.
A couple hours later, Quinn and Louis left. Not long after, the doctor came and signed Niall's discharge papers. By then, Liam had shown up and offered to take Niall home. The bitter smile Liam had given him told Zayn he should probably leave.
He went back to his penthouse suite at the Tribeca Star and drank himself into oblivion.