Niall’s P.O.V.

“Get up!” Liam exclaimed, shaking my shoulders frantically.

I opened my eyes and shoved Liam’s chest.

“I’m up, you cunt.”

Liam staggered back, shocked by my outburst, but quickly his face softened.

“We’re in Washington.”

I sat up straight, back alert since my five minute phone call with my mother .She demanded to know everything, and was clearly pissed at me that I had kept this from her. She told me at least five times to turn around and come back home, but I declared her crazy. I asked her if she would’ve done that same if I were Aria. Then she shut up and ended the call. Let’s just say that call did not end on a very good note.

Still cranky, I grabbed my duffle bag from the back and looked out the window. We had landed at the airport, but just around the corner, so that the jet was separated from the international planes.

Harry gave me a smile before heading towards the door to exit the jet, and climb down the retracted staircase.

I followed behind Liam and Harry, last to leave the jet. Before stepping off, I thanked the co-pilot quickly. He simply nodded in return, and with that, I shuffled down the staircase.

Liam and Harry were still ahead of me, Liam on his phone. When he finally hung up, I had caught up to him, now right beside him.

“Zayn just messaged me the address for our hotel. We’ll go there first and wait for the guards to come, and then go with them to Ari’s mum’s place.”

I only nodded.

Once we had gotten past security check and got our passports confirmed, the three of us headed for a taxi. It was a very pretty girl, whose blue eyes and blonde hair only seemed to remind me of Aria.

“Um, excuse me, sir?” she coughed, gaining my attention. I had been too busy picturing her as Aria to hear what she had said.

“What? Sorry.”

“I said, where do you want me to take you all?”

I quickly looked towards Liam, who showed the girl the address to the hotel. She nodded, before squinting her eyes at Harry. Then, her eyes widened as she looked and Liam and I.

“You guys are from that boy band, aren’t you?” she said.

Liam and Harry nodded kindly while I just stared at her, expressionless. She shot me an annoyed look before smirking at Harry and Liam and stepping into the driver’s seat of the car.
We watched as she punched the address into her GPS, and then, took off.

About an hour and a half later, the driver pulled up in front of a hotel.

“Enjoy your stay in Seattle.” She smiled and we got out.

Yeah, as if.

Liam nodded and gave the driver a certain amount of cash before she sped off. We checked into the hotel and went straight towards our suite. I just needed a bed to cry on right now. We stepped into our room, and Liam and Harry said they would share a bed, while I got one to myself. They probably just didn’t want to deal with how annoying I was being.

I could help it. My girlfriend could be dying this very second.

After another hour or two of sobbing quietly into a pillow, I looked up to see Harry and Liam staring worriedly at me.

I sucked in a breath and looked up at them.

“Look, guys. I never really got to say this, but thank you so much for helping me out. You don’t know how much this means to me. I’m so grateful for you guys, and-“

I was cut off when Liam and Harry pounced of top of me, crushing me in an overly tight hug.

“We love you, mate.” Liam said.

“And we would do anything to help you out.” Harry finished. Soon, they ventured back to their own bed, Liam constantly checking his phone for any updates on Zayn, Louis and the guards.
Finally, Liam gave us an update.

“Louis just messaged me. He said they’re boarding the jet right now.”

“Are they flying here with the guards?” I asked. Liam nodded in reply.

I just hoped so much that we wouldn’t be too late, after all this.

The entire day, I could barely close my eyes. Even with the jet lag, I couldn’t even get a wink of sleep.

The only thing running through my mind was Aria. Aria, Aria, Aria. It frustrated me, how I couldn’t seem to think of anything else. Liam called down room service and shoved a plate of burgers and fries under my nose, but I couldn’t even touch it.

And then I wondered, what if we went to her mother’s house, and she was already dead? What if I would never ever get her back? I wondered if I would have the courage to even go to the funeral. I wondered if she would still remember me, even in death.

What the hell was I thinking?

Oh my god. I was such a terrible person, planning what would happen after someone’s death when they might not even be dead.

I needed to take a deep breath.

But that didn’t help.

Suddenly, my breaths were deep and ragged, and I felt as if as the whole world was crashing down before my eyes. My heart began to speed up, and I suddenly felt weak and lightheaded.

“You alright, Niall?” Harry raspy voice echoed as I tried to normalize my breathing. His voice became distant, and suddenly, I could see Aria in front of me. She reached down and shook my shoulders, and turning to yell loudly.

“Liam, go get some water!”

Her beautiful voice, one I hadn’t heard in so long, rang through my ears, in a similar echo. As if were another vision, Aria’s screamed echoed through my ears, but it front of me, she looked calm. I reached up to her, but when I tried to cup her cheeks, she turned away.

“Aria?” I whispered, rejected and disappointed.

“Niall!” Aria’s voice suddenly sounded manlier, and she started changing. Into Harry.

“Niall, if you’re okay, blink once. If you need a hospital, blink twice.”

I blinked three times, just to confuse him. Harry tilted his head, watching me in utter confusion.
When my vision cleared, Liam was beside him, pressing a cold cloth to my forehead. My hands were shaking ridiculously.

“W-What…” I could even speak a whole sentence. Still, Liam seemed to realize what I was asking.

“I think you just hyperventilated, lad.” He answered. “Take a few breaths through your nose.”

I did as he said, while Harry just stared at me, looking shocked. It annoyed me how clueless he could be sometimes.

“Tell me what happened.” Liam demanded, while handing me a glass of water.

“I heard Harry’s voice echoing and suddenly he changed into. I-it seemed so real. She was right there,” I pointed to where Harry was seated. “and she was calling for you. And then I heard her screams, but she looked-“

“But I’m not Aria.” Harry interrupted. “She’s still not safe.”

I shot him a disgusted look. “No shit, man.”

Harry held his hands up in surrender and went back to his bed.

“You need some sort of mental distraction,” Liam said.

“But that’s just it, Liam.” I said quietly. “I can’t think about anything other than her.”

“Niall, as cruel and selfish and horrible as it seems, you need to forget about her just so these hyperventilation sessions won’t become a routine.”

I nodded solemnly.

“As long as I get Aria back, I’ll do anything.”

“You will.” Liam assured, but even a deaf man could hear the doubt in his voice.

Notes

omg poor nialler :(