Young & Beautiful

Mum drove me back.”
Niall nods, breathing through his mouth, still assembling himself.
“Good woman.”
Louis half-smiles. “I guess. Could credit you for some of that.”
Niall’s face falls that much more.
“No. No, don’t do that.” His voice is strangled and fuck, this is all so wrong.
“He’s going to be okay,” Louis assures gently. “Do you want to go? Zayn’s there right now.
Liam’s parents are on their way if they haven’t arrived already—“
“Fuck, Lou, stop! Just stop, all right?” Niall says, pushing his chair away and breaking free,
making to stand up. “I fuckin’…” He walks to the windows, shoulders tense.
“You fuckin’ what?” Louis asks, confused. “What’s wrong, Niall? He’s gonna be okay—“
“I did it.”
A drop of silence.
“What?” Louis asks, confused. Because… “Did what?”
“I gave it to him. I gave that shit to Liam. I took some, too.”
Oh fuck.
Oh shit.
What?!
“You gave—“ Louis starts, dead.
“I don’t know, I just… We fuckin’ won—we won, Louis! We won every fuckin’ category and I
was having the best fuckin’ time and I was getting all this recognition and these fuckin’ offers and
shit and I just fuckin’…. I felt on top of the goddamn world, ya know?” He laughs, dry and
empty, running his hands through his hair as he stares out the windows, at the awakening sky, his
back to Louis. “And Liam’s always up for it. So I gave him some and it just so happened that the
shit he took was… It was bad, Lou. I fuckin’ gave it to him. And I should’ve stayed to see how
he’d react to it but I just left him and—“ He cuts off, and Louis can’t see his face.
Louis can barely see anything, because there are spots in his eyes and his world has just been
fucking turned upside down.
His blood beats in his ears.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Louis manages to ask in a brittle voice, eyes wide, and he stares
at Niall’s back unblinkingly. His own thoughts are assaulting him.
What what what.
“I was scared,” Niall admits quietly after a moment. The cool blue of the fading night sky glows
on his pallid skin, soaks into his tangled strands of hair. “I was scared shitless so I fuckin’ left.” He
hears him swallow. “I just left.” And his head droops.