Great Things Take Time (discontinued)

Chapter 14

I was woken up by a number of voices bickering somewhere close to my head. "Is she okay? What did the doctors say? Is she asleep? Why are you carrying her, I thought you hated her?" Questions were fired at us and it took me a couple of seconds to realise that Louis was carrying me and that we somehow must have made it back to our hotel in one piece while I was asleep. "Will you shut up? Otherwise she probably won't be sleeping much longer." I heard a voice, that I quickly identify as Louis', hiss and the mumbling immediately died down. "I'll tell you what happened in a minute, I just want to get her back safely to her room, alright?" He sounded exhausted and I immediately wondered if I was too heavy for him or if it was just general exhaustion coming through after a long day.

"D' you need some help carrying her, mate?" Niall's voice asked very close to my head but apparently Louis must have shaken his head because a few seconds later I heard the ding of the lift and then it was suddenly silent. "You can open your eyes now." Louis' voice interrupted the silence after a couple of seconds and I heard a hint of amusement in his tone. Slowly I opened my eyes and squinted a bit when the bright light of the elevator hit my eyes. "Thank you for letting me pretend to be asleep for a bit longer." I smiled up at him and he grinned back down at me, before he replied. "You're welcome, love. I just thought you wouldn't want to deal with all the questions right now." I nodded and gave him a thankful smile.

We stayed in comfortable silence for a couple of seconds, before a smirk appeared on his handsome face. "So you and Nialler, hm?" He wiggled his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes and shifted a bit to get more comfortable in his arms. "Oh shut up, Niall and I are just good friends who occasionally make out. Not that it's any of your business." I added and raised an eyebrow at him, but he only gave me an innocent smile and then stepped towards the doors when the lift came to a halt. "You know, he seemed to be a bit too concerned for someone who is "just" your friend." Louis mused and carefully carried me into the hallway. "And if you asked me, the friends with benefits thing is a horrendous idea. One of you is bound to catch feelings along the way and something tells me it won't be you." He gave me a pointed look and then stopped in front of my door where he let me down.

"Well, I didn't ask you." I snapped at him and reached into my bag which Louis had carried over his shoulder and pulled out my key card, giving him the cold shoulder. "Oh come on, don't get your knickers in a twist, Williams." Louis attempted to lighten the mood next to me but I was exhausted and had enough on my mind, so I really didn't need his shit right now, friends or not. "Look, Louis, I know we are friends now and I really appreciate all you have done for me today, but I had a really long day and I really don't want to discuss this with you right now, alright?" I asked him and he held up his hands and watched me open the door. "Will you be okay from here on?" He asked me instead and I let out a sigh and nodded. "I'll be fine." I gave him a very unconvincing smile and stepped into the room. "Thank you for coming to the hospital with me." I thanked him again and looked down at my shoes for a couple of seconds, suddenly somehow unable to meet his eyes. "And, um, sorry for snapping at you."

When I dared to look up again, I saw that he was already smiling down at me. "Don't worry about it, alright? I am sorry for bringing up Niall, I was out of line." We smiled at each other for a couple of seconds, until I suddenly started laughing. It was probably a mixture of exhaustion and the realisation of the heavy news which I had received not that long ago which were slowly starting to sink in, but for some reason I was unable to stop laughing. "Did you... did we both just apologise?" I managed to say in between giggles and the ends of his mouth twitched. "Have I entered an alternative universe in which we get along without getting into a fight all the time?" I continued to giggle, while Louis watched me with an amused grin and shook his head at me. "You sure you're alright?" He asked me with a sceptic look and I nodded, my laughter slowly dying down.

"Just ring for room service if you need something later tonight." He advised me, before he took a step back and raised his hand for a small wave. "Will do. Um..." There was a short awkward silence, before I gave him a small wave back and then quickly closed the door behind me. As soon as I heard Louis' steps disappearing down the corridor I slid down at the door and leaned my head against the cool wood of the door. Pregnant. I was fucking pregnant. What on earth was I supposed to do now? I was only twenty-three and still had one year of university before I could graduate. And how was I going to tell the others? Harry? My parents? Niall? And most importantly, Louis?

As much as Louis thought that Niall and I were friends with benefits, we hadn't gone all the way yet and in this moment I was more than happy about this, as it made the question of who the father could be very simple. There was only one person who could be the father and I had no idea how this whole situation would work out, considering the fact that we had just managed to be civil around each other. How could we possibly work out a future for the two of us? We lived completely different lives, he was on the road most of the time and an internationally known popstar while I was still a student without any significant income. Even if we could manage to uphold our friendly relationship, our child would grow up without the constant present of a father figure in its life and it would inevitably get caught up in the world of the media.

I felt the room closing up on me and put my head between my legs, trying to control my breathing. This was the last thing I had expected to happen on this tour. Why had I been so stupid to get drunk and sleep with a guy I wasn't even on speaking terms with? After a couple of minutes, I forced myself to get up and made my way to the bathroom where I washed my face and briefly brushed my teeth, before I pulled down the blinds and slipped into the comfortable embrace that my bed had to offer. I knew I had to tell the others at some point and they would probably find out soon enough anyway, but for now I wanted to keep this to myself.

A very small part of me knew that this wasn't a solution to my problem, but a part of me desperately wanted to keep this to myself for a bit longer. People would judge and because I was involved with One Direction, it wouldn't be long before the whole world would knew that Harry Styles' best friend had gotten herself knocked up. This baby would destroy my life soon enough, but I would try to stop it from destroying Louis' life before it was absolutely necessary for him to know. With these thoughts swirling through my head, I curled up underneath the blanket and closed my eyes, gladly embracing the sleep I so desperately needed.

A.N. Hi everyone, first of all I would like to apologise for the long wait!!! I am SO sorry for seemingly abandoning this story for such a long time, but I was incredibly busy with exams and finding a new flat and it just got a bit too much for me and I didn't find a lot of time to write. This chapter is definitely not my best work (I wrote it at the airport yesterday), but it's something and I'll hopefully write more and longer chapters from now on. I hope you're all kind of liking where the story is going and please feel free to drop me a message or comment if you have any ideas or suggestions. All the love, Summer xxx