Deep [Niall Horan]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"What the hell? Zayn?" I say.

"Let's sit down and let me explain everything," Zayn says.

Zayn pulls three keys from his pocket and hands them to me. I check the keys and confirm that they are the spare keys to my car, my apartment, and my neighbor's apartment.

Stephanie, Josh, Zayn, and I are now sitting in my living room. Zayn is leaned forward in the chair with his hands on his knees. Stephanie hasn't said a word.

"Care to explain Zayn?" Josh says.

"Okay, so," Zayn begins and takes a deep breath, "I did it with good intentions. When I got into my little...uh...scrap...with Niall, a key fell out of his pocket and hit the floor. I looked at the key and it had a piece of tape on it labeled 'Emily's Apartment' and I was really confused. Since it didn't seem like you wanted Niall to be in your apartment, I thought it was weird that he had a key to it. So I took the key and then reached into Niall's pockets and found two more keys, one to the apartment of a 'Mrs. Xavier' and one that said 'Spare Car Key.' They were written in the same handwriting as something that was on your desk, so I knew they had to be yours. I took the keys from him, but he didn't notice. I forgot to give them back to you because I freaked out. I'm sorry."

"Zayn...Thank you so much..." I say.

"Yeah, that's really nice that you did that," Stephanie adds.

"But what about my car?" I say.

"Oh yeah," Zayn says, "so Harry texted me after I got home and told me that Niall was in the hospital because of me. I went to the hospital to see Niall and apologize. I saw your car in the parking lot when I got there, and I assumed you were there with him. I talked to Niall, and he apologized to me and said that it was his fault! I was shocked that he said that! Niall then told me that he made a mistake and pretended to be seriously hurt even though he only had high blood pressure. Niall said that you ran away from the hospital because of being interrogated by Clark. Niall confessed everything to him after you had already left. I then told Niall that your car was still in the parking lot and he said he didn't know what to do. I remembered that I had the keys, then I tried to drive the car to your apartment, but I didn't have access, so I drove the car to Uni and then I walked back to the hospital and drove home. Does all that make sense?"

"Yes, oh my god, thank you," I respond, "but some questions still aren't answered."

"Like what?" Stephanie says.

"Why did Corinne tell me that Niall was seriously hurt when she was the one who nursed him? Shouldn't she have known that he only had high blood pressure?"

"Oh my god. I didn't think about that," Zayn says.

"Another thing," Josh adds, "Niall had the key to your apartment because from looking at the hallway camera footage, Mrs. Xavier handed Niall the key to your apartment to open it, but when Niall had to give the key back to Mrs. Xavier, he gave her a different key."

"That explains it," Stephanie says.

"And also, I didn't let either Zayn or Niall into the apartment complex. Why did Niall have access, but Zayn didn't?"

All three of us simultaneously look at Josh.

"I have no idea," Josh says and raises his arms, "I'll ask security tomorrow."

"This is a huge mess," I say and bury my face in my hands.

"At least you have your keys back," Zayn says and smiles.

"We need to confront Niall," Stephanie adds.

"Why? He'll probably just lie about this too," I say.