Reminiscing Memories

*Liam’s POV*

I was serious about what I said to Hazel the night before about the white lily. I woke up before she did the next morning and I got up and sat on the couch, waiting for the boys to show up. They did, even bringing me a change of clothes. Actually, they brought my luggage. Zayn’s idea, too. It was as if they knew I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to leave this girl alone at night. So after my quick shower the hospital provides for their patients in their rooms, I changed and told the guys I would be out for a bit.

“Hurry back, mate.” Harry said to me then. “I think she’d rather have you by her side than the lot of us.”

I remember Niall brought his guitar. The day before they couldn’t bring themselves to sing after trying to help her decipher her memories. For now, they just wanted to keep her smiling.

I had on a beanie and sunglasses, hoping to keep myself hidden from the public’s eye. The pap hasn’t learnt of us boys staying behind to help out Hazel yet, since management said that we took our leave back home to be with our families. I prayed, prayed, prayed nobody would find out. I found the craft’s shop I’ve been looking for and walked inside.

The shop was practically deserted, but either way I was glad for it. I walked up to a woman reading a magazine behind a desk. She looked up as I neared. “Hello, welcome to Cindy’s Crafts and Hobbies. What can I help you with?”

I held up a lily. “I’d like to get this lily pressed.”

“Ah, what a pretty flower.” She said as she took the lily from my hand. “Sure thing. Just give me a few, okay? Feel free to look around if you’d like.”

I smiled a thanks before looking around. There were many things to look at, ribbons and scrapbooking materials. The shop was small, so I found the sketchpads and drawing utensils quickly. I picked up two hundred page sketchpads along with a pack of pencils. I looked around, pondering what to get. I settled on a pencil case, chuckling some upon seeing the 1D icon on it. I even grabbed a pencil sharpener and tape. I wanted to see this girl draw for myself.

I made my way up to the counter. The woman smiled as I set the items on the counter. “Do you draw?” She asked, punching numbers into the cash register.

“No, but a friend of mine does.”

The lady smiled as she punched the last of the pricing in. I looked behind her, seeing a billboard of random stuff. One thing in particular caught my eye. It was a sketch of the front of the building. The style of drawing looked familiar. I pointed behind her, “Who drew that?”

The woman turned to look. A smile came onto her face. “One of my regular customers. She’s got a knack of skill, I tell you.” She read the name and date. “Hazel Anna Morgan. Her first time here was in 2008. She drew me this picture the same day she came here for the first time. I even use it on my brochures and flyers.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised she came here. The small shop had everything she needed to draw. “Sadly, I haven’t seen her lately. She tends to come every few weeks to stock up on stuff. I sell to her quite cheap too.”

A frown appeared onto my face. I guess she hasn’t heard the news. “I’m sorry to hear that.” I said, offering a small smile.

The woman checked the register. “Well, you’re total is $5.32.”

I paid for the items and exchanged a farewell as I left the small shop. I held up the small pressing of the lily. I smiled at the creation as I found myself back into the hospital. I stepped into the room where I could hear Niall playing his guitar on the couch and Harry sitting on the recliner next to the couch singing. Louis was stretched out on the corner of the couch, nodding his head to the music, grinning. I saw Zayn on the bed with Hazel, the bed raised to where they could be sitting back. Zayn’s head was rested back against the bed, breathing deeply as he slept. Hazel was listening to Niall and Harry, smiling.

Her smile only seemed to broaden upon me walking into the room. “Mate!” Niall said excitedly as he stopped playing the guitar.

“Daddy!” Louis cried, jumping up from the couch and running towards me, latching both arms around me as he lifted me into the air.

Small laughter filled the room as he put me down. Though all of this, Zayn was still sleeping. “What’s that?” Harry asked, seeing the bag of stuff in my hand.

“Just some stuff.” I said as I grabbed the chair from Zayn’s side of the bed and moving it around to where it was next to Hazel. I handed it to her. She reached in, pulling out an empty sketchpad and the other stuff.

She smiled. “Thank you- oh! You really did it.”

She brought out the pressed lily, holding it up. “Cool!” Louis said, coming over to sit on the bed. He grabbed Zayn’s legs pushing them towards him to make more room. Zayn groaned, bringing one knee up in the air while the other fell of the bed. He crossed his arms, bending his head to where it rested gently against Hazel’s shoulder. Louis took a seat, holding out his hand, wanting a closer look at the lily. Hazel’s smile was apparent as she handed it to him. Niall put down his guitar as he and Harry came over also. Hazel brought up both of her legs to give them room. Harry brought over an extra chair to sit and Niall took a seat at the end of the bed.

I turned around, finding the sketchpad we looked at the night before. I quickly found the page of the hand and flower. Harry peered over my side. “Wow. So did you remember something?”

Hazel nodded. Harry smiled, proud. Hazel brought out the tape from the bag, ripping a piece out. Niall handed her the pressed flower and she taped it to the sketchpad. “There.” She said, smiling at the guys.

She closed the pad and set it aside. She looked at the empty sketchpad I bought her. She made a face. Us boys looked at her, curious. “I… I know I’m supposed to be able to draw, but I don’t know if I can now with my memory being gone and everything.”

“You won’t know until you try.” Louis said, smiling.

“Yeah. You can draw one of us first if you want.” Niall added, grinning as he leaned back against the bed.

Hazel looked at them, smiling. Louis was right though. She reached into the bag, getting out the pencils and opened them. She sharpened one and I took the bag from her, putting it on the floor. She looked around the room, looking at us boys to see who to draw first. Her eyes settled downward to the sleeping Zayn on her shoulder.

She rested the pad on her leg, beginning to draw. Not once did she have to look down at Zayn again. One look was all it took for her to start drawing. We all watched in anticipation as her hand quickly flew on the paper. Her face seemed completely focused on the paper before her as if everything else in the world disappeared. It was actually interesting to sit here and watch her. I also took note that she didn’t even use the eraser to the pencil. I guess it could have to do with the whole mojo of that there was never any mistakes in art, but whatever.

It probably only took five to ten minutes before she was done. She stopped drawing, staring down at the pad. “So?” Harry asked, dying to see.

She turned the pad around, showing us the drawing. We all gaped. It was in the view of on top of Zayn’s head. The hair was greatly detailed, almost every single follicle of hair there was, especially the scruff on the side of his face. You could see the long eyelashes with his eyes close and the line of his nose. His lips were pouted out. It let you see what she saw from that angle. Not only that, but you couldn’t miss the signing of her name and date at the bottom corner of the drawing.

“It’s amazing.” I breathed.

“I believe this is where the term ‘amazayn’ comes into play.” Louis corrected.

“It’s strange how photogenic that boy can be.” Niall said, shaking his head.

I reached out, patting her shoulder. “See? You haven’t lost your touch.”

Hazel shrugged her one shoulder as she continued to smile.

“I can’t wait for more.” Harry breathed as he brought out a pad from one of the boxes behind him. He started to flip through them.

A thought came to mind. “Hey…” I started. “You know, we had a lot of trouble trying to find that one pad last night… so why don’t we organize everything to make it easier?”

“Not a bad idea, Daddy.” Louis said, jumping up from the bed. “Let’s get started.”

“I got a sharpie if you want to mark the pads.” Niall said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a black marker.

“I’d help,” Hazel said, “but someone won’t let me get up.”

Zayn had his arm around Hazel’s waist. “Wow, he’s the shyest of the lot of us, yet he’s getting friendly with her first.”

“He’s probably missing his girlfriend.” Niall said, screaming some as he tried to save some of the pads from falling out of his arms.

“You don’t need to be moving around anyways.” I said, standing up from the chair. “We’ll take care of this for you.”

Hazel smiled some. “Thanks, guys.”

“Alright.” Louis said, snatching the marker out of Niall’s hand. “I’ll mark the year and range of months as you guys organize them.”

Harry was the next to take it. “No way, your handwriting sucks.” Louis stuck out his tongue as we crowded around on the floor, spreading out the sketchpads everywhere. Harry was fast at dating the front of the sketchpad and was organized about it.

“What about these?” Louis asked, bending the box over to show separate pages of older drawings.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Hazel said. “The sketchpads are enough.”

“Aighty.” Louis said, pushing the box aside.

We continued working from there until Harry started humming a tune. As if Louis knew what song he was humming, he joined in. They made funny faces at each other as Niall and I laughed at the two of them.

We heard the door opened, we looked back, seeing a Pandora walking in. She smiled at all of us. “Hey, guys!”

We shouted back a greeting. She noticed the pads on the floor, but her eyes lingered over to Hazel. Hazel smiled at Pandora and she walked over to go talk to her. The two girls began talking and I even saw Hazel show the picture she drew of Zayn.

Someone nudged my side. “Whatcha looking at, mate?” Niall whispered to me.

I blinked, looking over at him. I shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, sure.” Niall said, rolling his eyes, obviously not believing me.

I didn’t know what he was trying to imply, but I decided not to think of it. We continued to work with the 50+ pads we somehow, in the end, managed to organize. “I’m scared to touch this.” Louis said, looking at the two stacks of pads that reached up to our stomachs when we stood.

“Where are we going to put it?” Niall asked. “She won’t be in here forever.”

“For now, let’s stick it in the corner.” I said. Pointing over by the window.

Starting with the first stack, everyone grabbed their own stack. I picked the last of the pads on the floor and migrated them to the corner. In order, we managed to stack them perfectly. We did the same with the second stack too. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.” Hazel spoke up, smiling at the four of us.

Zayn seemed to choose now to wake up. “Whoa. What’s going on? What did I miss?” He jumped up, seeing how he was laying on Hazel’s shoulder.

“Just about anything productive.” Harry answered.

Zayn scratched his face, working his way back to his neck. “Look at this.” Pandora said, holding up the drawing for him to see.

Zayn blinked, trying to focus his tired eyes on the drawing. “Is that me?” He asked, then his eyes went to Hazel. “You drew me asleep!?”

Hazel smiled. “Couldn’t resist.”

Zayn looked back at the drawing, taking it out of Pandora’s hand. Zayn stuck out his lower lip, nodding as if satisfied with what he said. “Damn, I’m beautiful.”

That was Zayn for ya.