Never Knew I Needed - Larry Stylinson AU

Chapter 17

[A/N] : I am just a horrible person! I can't believe I've taken this long to update! It's just I have play practice after school and I had a concert (Owl City :D) this weekend! BUT I WILL UPDATE NOW FREQUENTLY NOW HOPEFULLY. OR I'LL TRY. Okay. Yes. Louis' P.O.V still. Onward.

My nerves did not allow me to sleep well at all. I'd wake up in an absolute panic thinking that I still had to pull Harry out of the water, only to find him curled up beside me sound asleep. At about 6:30AM I just gave up on sleeping all together and decided I'd call in to work for Harry. Even if he felt up to it, I wasn't letting him go to the store. After carefully reaching underneath Harry's pillow where I'd placed my phone earlier the previous day, I slunk from the room and into the living room to call Mr. Bettany. Niall, who was still in the living room, groggily sat up from the couch and stared at me. I figured Zayn had left sometime the night before. Luckily, Harry had programmed his work's number into my phone at some point in the past few days he'd been working there.

"What are you doing Louis?" Niall asked as I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Shh..." I responded.

After a few rings someone answered, "SpeedyMart how may I help you?"

"May I speak to Mr. Bettany?" I asked.

"This is he," the voice, now verified as Mr. Bettany, chuckled.

"Hello sir, I'm calling in about Harry Styles," I replied.

"Ah yes... how is the young lad? I assume he has good reason for skipping the last few minutes of his shift yesterday?" Mr. Bettany sounded curious.

"Er... yes sir. I can't exactly tell you what happened because it doesn't respect Harry's personal wishes but... well let's just say what happened wasn't a good thing," I chewed my lip nervously.

"Well is he alright?" Mr. Bettany asked.

"Yes, he's fine, now... but that's also why I'm calling... I kind of was hoping he could have the day off. I apologize for such search notice but we didn't get back from the hospital until kind of late last night and-"

"Hospital?" Mr.Bettany asked, instantly sounding concerned.

"Um... yes, sir."

"Harry was in the hospital?" he pressed on.

"Yeah... he uh... I guess it was a mild case of hypothermia and... it was definitely some bruised ribs," I sighed in defeat.

"This happened on the job?" Mr. Bettany asked, guilt slipping into his tone. "Was it a customer? Does Harry know who did it?"

"It was a customer," I sighed, but quickly lied. "I don't think Harry knew who he was though."

"Oh that's absolutely terrible!" Mr. Bettany groaned. "Give that poor boy my regards and my sincerest apologies! Actually... is he there right now? May I speak to him?"

"He's sleeping," I laughed.

"Oh... well I'll just speak to him whenever I see him again," Mr. Bettany said. "Oh, and yes, Harry can have all the time off he needs for a full recovery. A paid time off since he was injured on the job."

"Thank you sir," I grinned largely, greatly respecting this man. "I appreciate it and I know Harry will too!"

I hung up the phone with a click and Niall asked sleepily, "Harry couldn't call in himself?"

"He's sleeping!" I said in exasperation. "He was supposed to wake up about 15 minutes ago but he did not. Because I didn't allow it."

"You're weird," Niall moaned and rolled back over to bury his face in the arm of the couch.