Thud, thud, thud.

The sudden banging echoed through the darkness of the flat. I cracked open an eye and looked around the room to see I’d fallen asleep in front of the television again- although much more comfortably than my friend who’d curled herself up like a cat on the armchair but her limbs were far too long and hung over the edges precariously. The white noise on the television screen cast a glow across the room that highlighted my discarded Ugg boots on the floor.

I grabbed at them and pulled them onto my feet before pushing myself upright and staggering through the front room towards the hallway.

Thud, thud, thud.

I rolled my eyes- didn’t they realise it was…I glanced at the clock on the wall…THREE IN THE MORNING? What! I hastened my pace and slid the latch from the lock and swung the door open with a glare settled on my features- an expression that lasted a mere second before my surprise bubbled over in a nervous giggle.

“Louis?”
He curled an eyebrow at me and gave a firm nod.

“What are you- wait…does Niall know-“ He cut me off with a surprisingly harsh glare.

“He does now. Is home? I need to speak with her.” He didn’t wait for a reply, instead shouldering past me and into the hallway of the old Victorian house that my best friend fell in love with- despite the fact it only had one working light fitting and a kitchen that could fail even the lousiest compliance assessments. I went to follow but a hand wrapped itself around my wrist and held me fast. I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out who was here with Louis.

“, babe, please?” I knew that to pull my hand away from him would be difficult, both physically and mentally so I simply froze, looking into the dark hallway towards where Louis was now waking my best friend. “Let them talk- and for Christ’s sake TALK t’ ME!”

The tone of his voice made my blood boil and my head turned to meet his steely blue gaze. “TALK to you? YOU got CAUGHT, Niall! BOTH of you! Don’t you understand? We saw the pictures and there really is no coming back from that! So if you want me to TALK to you then you’ve got another thing coming!” I tugged my wrist free and stomped away towards the front room where the only light was still being projected from the TV.

I paused in my tracks, almost colliding with Louis’ back where he stood looking over my sleeping best friend. I manoeuvred around him and gave him a much milder glare than I was capable of. His eyes didn’t move from her sleeping form and I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure but the glaze on them might well have been unshed tears.

Serves him right.

“I can’t wake her up. I want to. But I can’t.” He sniffled once, twice and then turned to look at me. “Tell her I’m sorry.”

I watched him turn to leave and waited until I heard the front door click shut behind them before turning my attention back to my best friend, who was looking at me sleepily with a dazed look on her face.

“Did he just say he was sorry?” She whispered. I nodded once. “Well- never thought he’d say that word to anyone.”

And for some reason we ended up laughing.