"Your girlfriend just got kidnapped, and you wanna lie down? Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Alright, alright, stop pushing me," I grunt and smack Seth's hand away from me, though he takes it off me when we enter the house. I don't even have the energy to tell him that I wasn't actually serious about having to lie down, and vomit, and cry. Well, maybe the vomiting part was honest. But definitely not the lying down one; I don't think I'm ever gonna be able to sleep again.

I sigh shakily, for a minute forgetting how shook up I still am, and jog over to the landline to do what Seth had practically ordered me to do. I also don't have the energy to fight him and tell him that she's not my girlfriend, and it's not like he'd listen to me anyway. And it's not like I don't want him to think that.

I turn around to face him as I enter the three digits, gesturing toward the laptop, silently asking him to turn the music down a bit. He gets the hint and hurries toward the staircase, crawling underneath it so he'd reach the laptop, and returns in front of me just when my call gets answered.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Um..." I'm just realizing that I have no idea how to put everything that's happened in the past five minutes in a sentence. I look over at Seth, shaking my head hopelessly, while he shakes his angrily. He's probably thinking how he should have made the call instead.

"Um, this girl, she just..." I trail off, while the woman patiently waits for me to phrase my thoughts. "A guy crashed this party that my friends and I are throwing, and took a girl with him against her will."

I notice Seth giving me the thumbs up and nodding his head from the corner of my eye, as I stare at the ground, trying not to have another panicking fit. At least while I'm on the phone with the police.

"Do you happen to know where he might have taken her?"

"No, I've no idea, he just led her to a car and then drove off. They were on Wells Street, and they left about five minutes ago." Saying this out loud is a lot harder than watching it happen was; I feel like I'm confirming that all of it had really happened. It wasn't just a hallucination, or anything. She really got taken away by someone she's obviously terrified of.

"What kind of car was it? Do you remember the license plate?"

I slowly close my eyes, as I remember not paying any attention at all to the car. I look over at Seth, mouthing the word 'car', hoping he'd understand and be able to help me. He narrows his eyes, and when he keeps quiet for several seconds I sigh, defeated. "It was white, and I don't-"

"A Maserati," Seth cuts me off, nodding in certainty.

"A Maserati?" I raise my eyebrows, and he nods again.

"One hundred percent."

So the bastard is a rich one. "It was a Maserati," I repeat, this time sure of my answer. "A white Maserati."

"And what about the license plate?"

"License plate," I repeat the woman's words, slowly, looking again at Seth, hoping he'd be helpful like a few seconds ago. Although, he just squeezed his eyes shut tightly and placed his hands over his face - I guess it's a 'no' this time. "I-I don't remember the license plate."

"Alright, can you tell me about this man? His name, how he looked?"

"Uh, I don't know his name," I tell her, desperately trying to remember if I know him since I can see every detail of his his face before my eyes, but I just end up sighing and focusing on telling the woman what I do know. "He has black hair, green eyes, and he's wearing a black jacket and-and dark jeans and a white sweatshirt, I think. If not white, then it's a light color," I ramble, nodding as I recall that his jacket was unzipped, and that I only got a peek of what he was wearing underneath it.

"He's around..." I shake my head to myself as I pause, remembering how tall he was compared to Angel. "He's around 6'4, give or take. Probably in his mid twenties. And, um... that's pretty much all I've noticed about him."

I hear some muffled voices and movements on the other line, before the woman's voice again. "And, what about the girl? Do you know her name?"

"Yeah, her name is Angel Healy, and she's 23," I say, for a start, while figuring out what to say about her first. "She's got brown, curly hair, it goes to her mid back, blue eyes, about 5'7. She's wearing a black blouse and black jeans and black boots." I purse my lips, closing my eyes for a split second. "She has a tattoo under her left collarbone, and one on her ankle."

"Okay, that'll do it," The woman tells me, giving me a tiny bit of hope. "Give me a number which our people can contact you on, in case they find her."

I give the woman my cell phone number, while pulling it out and making sure my phone isn't only on vibration anymore. "Thank you, in advance. Have a nice day."

I pull my lips between my teeth as I end the call, and stare at my phone for several seconds. Calling the police and actually doing something about the whole thing makes me feel better than just lying down would have; even though I said like a million times before, I would not have laid down.

"So?" I look up at Seth, his hands in his back pockets and his eyebrows raised in slight concern. I mean I appreciate that he's worried and all, but I have a weird feeling he might be worried a little too much.

"Well, I described them to the operator, and now we wait," I tell him, talking slowly so I wouldn't stumble over my words, and narrow my eyes at him. "You remember our bro code, right?"

Seth's hands fall out of his pockets, and he looks annoyed by my question. "Yes, sisters, family members, ex-girlfriends and especially current girlfriends are off limits." He raises an eyebrow at me, "You do know I was kidding earlier, right?"

"You might wanna find another way to joke," I force a smile, and look down at my hands. He's my best friend, but this wouldn't be the frist time I lost a girl to someone better than me.

"Alright. I get it," He claps his hands together as he takes a few steps toward me, while I'm leaning against the wall behind me. "She's special. Not only because of how she looks and what she does, she's... she's the Leanne-kind of special, right?"

I smile, remembering how I used to tell him that Leanne was something special, just a couple of months back. "Definitely not the Leanne kind of special," I mumble, still looking at my hands, though I look up when I feel his hands on my shoulders; I guess he realized what I'd meant by that.

"Okay, now I'm going to hug you in a completely platonic way, because you're going through a rough time, and then I'm gonna leave if you want me to." I start chuckling as he slowly puts his arms around my neck. "We're hugging, yes, this is a hug. A hug that never happened, if one of the guys ask."

"Thanks Seth," I say as I pat his back, both sarcastically, because of that last remark he made, and genuinely, because he cares enough to hug me. And in the roughly six months that I've known him, he has never hugged me. There have been a few drunken 'I love you''s whenever I'd put him to sleep after a wild night out, but never a hug.

"Right. Do you want me to go now? Or we could go outside, I think they're gonna start the fire soon."

"No," I reply as I exhale; now that I've called the police and they're working on finding her, I could go to my room and lie down. I don't feel like sleeping - I actually feel like I just had a few gallons of coffee - but I could just lie in my bed and wait for a call of any sort in peace. "I think I'm gonna go to my room and just... wait."

Seth nods, lightly smacking my arm and giving me a smile, before walking out through the back door. I sigh, already checking my phone, but there's nothing there. I have thought of calling her, several times, but after what the creep had told me, I don't think that's a safe idea. I kinda regret that my first reaction was to call her, and not jump into Seth's car and follow them.

I shake my head, heading toward the staircase. There's no point in regretting anything now. What's done is done. I can only hope for the best - and shoot myself if things don't turn out that way.

*******

Groaning loudly, I turn on my back and place my hands over my face, the sun coming from the window right next to my head almost blinding me. It's the end of November, why the fuck is it sunny outside?

With a sigh I roll to my side, noticing that I'm still fully clothed but covered by a quilt. I guess Seth had come up to my room to check on me after I'd fallen asleep.

As the thought crosses my mind, I close my eyes and fall back on the bed, groaning one more time. I couldn't sleep until about two in the morning last night, which was becoming a little frustrating at the moment. Especially since around eleven, I'd asked Seth to go to the club to see if Angel's there, knowing she's supposed to be working, but he didn't find her. That, and the fact that I hadn't gotten a call from the police, made me get up at 2:15am and get absolutely wasted.

Now, with a slight hangover, I sigh and turn to my side again, slower this time, and reach out for my phone on my end table. The time says 2:29pm, but that's okay, since it's Saturday. And my screen shows that I don't have any missed calls or anything - that's a perfect way to start a day.

I gulp as I finally pull the covers off me, already feeling a little nauseous. After a minute of sitting on the edge of my bed, I decide that I can't just sit and wait anymore; I have to do something. So after ten minutes of getting ready, I exit the frat house with Angel's jacket and my phone in my hand, sending a text to Seth, - since he's asleep and God forbid someone woke Seth up while he's asleep - asking him if I could borrow his car. I don't bother waiting for his reply; his keys were on the coffee table in the living room, so I just took them and made myself comfortable in his Impala. His Impala that's probably older than him and I together, by the sound of its engine.

The ride to her apartment - which I've miraculously learned to get to - feels three times longer than it actually is, but once I stop the car near her building, I feel like it only takes me five seconds to climb eight flights of stairs, up to the fourth floor and ring her doorbell.

My heart is in my throat as I wait for any sort of reply, crossing myself before gripping her jacket with my clammy right hand again. I keep rocking myself back and forth as I watch the ceiling of the hallway, thinking that the first thing I'm probably going to do when I go home is throw up.

"Who is it?"

I close my eyes and exhale shakily, bending over and placing my hands on my knees. I feel like a huge rock is lifted off my chest as I hear her voice on the other side of the door, but a part of that rock returns to my chest when I actually realize how she sounds.

"Angel?" I call, clearing my throat. "It's Ni-"

"You should leave," She interjects, her tone a little panicked now, adding to how sad and cracked it was when she first spoke. "And-and don't come back again."

I frown, but for some reason, that doesn't surprise me nearly as much as it should. "Why do you-"

"Niall, just trust me, okay?" Her voice cracks halfway through her sentence, making her sound like she's seconds away from crying. "You need to leave. I need you to leave."

I gulp, looking down at my hands. "I-I brought you your jacket."

There's silence for a few moments, before I hear a faint sigh behind the door. "Go to the diner and leave it there and I'll get it on Monday when I go to work."

I frown again, by now my joy because of hearing her voice replaced with slight anger caused by her stubbornness. "What, now that I'm here? Just let me in."

"Niall-"

"Come on, you know I'm not just gonna go home," I say, leaning against the wall to my right. "Open the door."

After another sigh, I hear the creaking of wood, meaning she's started walking. "Hold on for a second."

I sigh myself too, but purse my lips and stay in my spot, lightly bouncing on my toes. I nonchalantly reach up for the doorknob, and I almost jump when I push the door and it actually opens. For a few seconds I just stand, a little frozen before making a few slow steps forward, pushing the door further open.

As soon as I take a step past the frame of the front door, I hear a loud smack to my right, indicating another door has closed. I pushed the front one shut, slowly walking over to the other door, soon realizing that it's the bathroom.

"Angel?" I call hesitantly, tilting my head to the side as I knock my fingers against the white wood several times, but get no response. I try pushing and pulling the door handle, but its resisting assures me that it's locked.

"Stop it," Angel snaps from inside the room, still sounding tired and angry.

"Come on out."

"Niall, just leave the jacket and leave."

"No, I want you to-"

"Listen to me-"

"You listen to me," I snap, getting her to finally shut up. "I wasn't talking shit when I told you that I'm here and I'm not going anywhere last week, so just get out of there."

"...I can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you're gonna ask questions."

I lick my lips at her statement; as if I don't already have questions, I think to myself, but I feel like there's something that would make more questions pop into my head when I see her. "Just come out, Angel."

"I... I can't."

Running one hand through my hair, I throw her jacket on a nearby counter, and look at the door before me again. "What if I promise I won't ask anything?"

"You can't do that."

I scowl, "You're underestimating me."

"I can't take any chances."

I sigh, still impatient but I know she's beginning to give in. "I promise, alright? I won't ask any questions. We'll sit and watch TV or something."

Another heavy puff of breath is audible from the other side of the door, and a noise that indicates her hand is on the handle. "Promise?"

I hate how scared and nervous she sounds; it's making me nervous too. "Promise."

I take a step away from the door as I notice the handle moving; there's a loud click when she unlocks the door, and then opens it.

And in all honesty, I wish she hadn't.

I gulp with difficulty as I stumble backwards, gripping the first thing that I felt on my palms, and keep watching her. Her face. Every detail of her face. The purple bruise around her left eye that's half lidded; the green and yellow ones on her right cheek and cheekbone; how her lower lip is about three times larger than her upper one, due to being split and swollen.

"Angel," I almost whisper, nearly as if to confirm whether or not I'm really looking at her.

"You said you wouldn't ask any questions," She quickly says, closing her eyes halfway through her sentence, letting me know that she's close to tears.

I gulp the banana and chocolate milk I had before heading over here back down, forcing them to stay in my stomach as I take a hesitant step forward. I stand still for a minute, once again scanning her face before walking over to her, surprising her as I put my hands around her upper back to pull her in a hug. I know she can feel and hear my heavy breathing as she slides her arms around my waist.

"I don't- I'm- what in the world-"

"Niall," She mumbles against my shoulder, and I make a jerky movement backwards, afraid I might be hurting her. "Let's not talk about it, okay?"

You look like you got beaten up by a gang when I know that you're capable of beating up a gang by yourself, how the fuck do you expect me not to talk about it?!

"O-okay," I force the word out of my mouth, and I know I'll have to find a way not to ask about whatever happened. Even though all of the things that I want to say right now begin with 'what' and 'who' and 'why'.

She gives me a sad, but grateful smile, gently placing her hands on my chest. "Thank you," She whispers and I nod quickly, pulling her close to me again, this time more carefully. The main reason I'm hugging her again is mostly so she wouldn't see my face; I don't need her to see that her appearance is bringing tears to my eyes.

I take a breath to say something, but close my mouth when I realize it would have been 'he did this, didn't he?' and I know this isn't a good moment for that. Whatever happened to her, happened last night, so I'm going to wait for a more convenient moment. A couple of days, maybe a week. I know if I looked like her for whatever reason, I wouldn't want to talk about it to anyone straight away.

Still, it bothers me that she doesn't want to tell me anything. It bothers me that she wanted me to leave when I first came here. It bothers me that it's probably going to take her more than a couple of days or a week to open up.

Angel takes her arms from around my neck, and I take that as a sign to pull away too. "Alright," I sigh, slowly taking her hand. "Let's- uh, yeah, the TV."

I pull her with me, heading to the living room, but she stops and pulls me backwards after taking just a couple of steps. I frown and turn my body to hers again, confused as to why she's stopped but I realize she didn't do it intentionally; she just can't walk. Wait, she can't walk?

"You-you're limping," I stammer, my eyes widening in horror when a possibility of why she's limping pops into my head. The bruises are one thing; her not being able to walk is another.

I grip her arms, her eyes going wide in shock as well. "What did he do to you?" I finally snap and shake her by the arms, startling her even more. "What did he do to you?!"

She lifts her hands to my chest again and puts all of her strength into pushing me away, and even though it's not half as strong as I know it can be, she manages to make me stumble a couple of steps backwards, finally letting go of her. "Fucking asshole," She mutters, limping to the couch. "If you can't keep your promises, then fucking leave."

I run my hands through my hair as she grips the armrest of the black sofa so she wouldn't fall down too hard. She's calm, just sitting there and flipping through channels while I feel like I'm going to go into cardiac arrest because of her.

It's like she doesn't even realize how she sounds, walks, and looks. She might be in denial, that wouldn't be weird. No one would want to accept that someone made them look like that. And then there's another possibility - a possibility that's making me sick to the stomach all over again - that she's gotten used to it and it doesn't concern her anymore. God, I know she's far from ordinary, I knew it from the start, and I knew that something must have caused that. I just didn't think it was something this bad, because this is bad. This is horrible.

I gulp again and shake my head, clearing my thoughts as I slowly make my way to the couch too. She's sitting in the middle of it, so there's more than enough space for me to sit on her right. I slide my hands down my thighs as I sit, keeping them above my knees as I stare at the TV, not really watching whatever that's on. I'm too preoccupied thinking about this calamity of hers; I can't help it.

I jump in my seat, the feeling of something on top of my left hand scaring me. I look down, noticing Angel's hand there, but I've not time to react to it as she shifts closer to me, laying her head on my shoulder. I sit up, afraid that I might be causing her pain, since she has bigger bruises on her right cheek than the left one.

Looking down at our hands, I try to stay quiet and not ruin the moment, but the situation is too overwhelming. "You can't expect me to just sit and say nothing after I've seen you like that."

At my words, she sighs and sits up, letting go of my wrist. "Then leave."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" I groan, "I'm not leaving."

"The drop it."

"I can't just fucking drop it, do you even-"

"Then leave."

I laugh in disbelief, leaning forward and placing my elbows on my knees, running my hands through my hair. "I deserve to know." I don't even know why I deserve to know.

"Yeah, you know what?" I'm surprised to hear her say something other than 'leave' and 'drop it'. "You do deserve to know, because it's your fault that happened."

I see how it is, then. "Right, because I invited you to the frat house? How was I supposed to know-"

"No," She cuts me off, speaking through gritted teeth. "It's your fault because you called the fucking police."

I frown, finally looking at her, to see her arms folded over her chest, her lips pursed in anger. "What?" I snap, "What does that have to do with-"

She interrupts me again, shifting so her body is fully facing me and I look away from her, still not used to what her face looks like. "It has everything to do with everything! If you hadn't called the cops, I would have been just about fine. But you had to, you fucking had to make a big fucking deal out of everything."

"Some creep came into the house and dragged you out!" I shout, "What the hell were you expecting me to do?"

"Nothing!" She shouts back, making me roll my eyes. "I genuinely wanted you to do absolutely nothing. And in the meantime, you were already talking about what he looked like, and what I looked like, and how the fucking car looked like. You even told them about my fucking tattoos. If I hadn't told the police that my name isn't Angel Healy when they stopped us in the middle of the street, I would be dead right now."

I frown, her last sentence being the only one that makes me react. "What? Didn't they ask for your ID?"

"They did, and I said I forgot it. I came up with a name on the spot." She slumps back onto the sofa, wincing in pain. I keep watching her, not knowing whether or not to feel sorry about calling the police. I'm still having trouble comprehending everything that she's telling me.

"Why would you be dead right now?" I remember what she said at the end of her sentence, so I decide to ask about it. And I'm not surprised when she laughs and runs her hand through her hair; she shakes her head, as if trying to find an answer, and eventually just points to the door behind us.

"Leave."

I narrow my eyes at the side of her head; she's really underestimating me, isn't she? She really thinks that I'm never going to get tired of her and her bullshit, no matter what. So a minute after her last request, I stand up and march out of the apartment, making sure to slam the door shut as I walk out. I know I told her I wouldn't leave, but I really feel like I need to leave for now.

*******

THIS IS FILLER AND I'M SORRY but i guess it was expected. more fluff next time

Dedicated to @american_bums, i was happy that you were nervous for what's coming so consider this dedication as an apology

And keep voting and commenting! ily x