Chapter 17                Niall POV                  Day 16 of Tour: Lincoln

“That was an awful idea,” Harry muttered. He flinched at Charlotte’s touch.

“Stop moving,” Charlotte instructed in her adorable motherly tone. “I can’t get all of the bristles out.” Her glasses (that she occasionally wore when she wasn’t wearing contacts) slipped down the bridge of her nose as she plucked away at Hazza’s arm.

I looked out of the bathroom window. The sun was completely gone now. Clouds covered the moon.

“Sorry about that guys…” Louis leaned up against the door frame, his hands in his pockets. “Maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.”

“You think? OUCH!” Harry bellowed.

“I told you to stop moving,” Charlotte said calmly.

“Well,” I cleared my throat. “At least now we know the improper way to scale a small mountain.”

Zayn hollered from one of the bedrooms. “I’m just glad I got pictures of the fall!”

“NO INSTAGRAM!” Harry growled.

“Harry!” Charlotte scolded. She backed away from the boy sitting on the edge of the bathtub. “Do not move or you’ll end up with a pair of tweezers in your gash.” To illustrate she pointed to the bloody cut on his upper arm. The skin around it was dotted with little thorns from that plant he fell into.

“Fine,” He grumbled.

She dug around in the small first aid kit that sat near the sink. Her small steady hands would pull out an ointment, read the label, and throw it back in with a sigh.

“Liam!” Charlotte finally called out. “Have you found that saline yet?”

“Not yet!”

Charlotte bit down on her lip. She took a small vial out of the white box and turned to look at me and Harry. “I guess this will do for now. You two are lucky I didn’t have any friends growing up; taking all of those summer safety classes in my free time.” She winked teasingly. “I was always at the top of my class, you know.”

From inside of a pretty white jar she pulled out a handful of cotton balls. She dunked them in the watery solution of… whatever that was.

She came up to me this time, lifting my chin with her finger. “Why did you have to take him down with you, Harry? Look at his pretty face!”

Hazza glanced at the scratch on my cheek. “It’s not that bad. And I didn’t do it on purpose, you know. I just slipped and reached for something… and I grabbed him.”

I squinted, the cold medicine hitting my warm cheek. One of her dainty fingers rested against the side of my face, keeping me still. I uncrossed my legs, letting her come closer. She edged her way to me. Her small shoulders hunched on either side of my neck. The cotton balls wiped my entire face clean.

“Didn’t that doctor tell Niall to stay off of that foot anyway?”

I tilted my head to Lou. “That was quite some time ago. It feels much better now, by the way.” I opened my eyes. Charlotte had moved onto Harry’s arm. “How does your ankle feel?”

She smiled slightly, lips moving from their straight concentrated line. “It’s getting better, thank you.”

“Found it!” Liam’s voice hollered. He came sauntering into the room proudly with the small brown lidded container waving above his head. Charlotte grinned and took it from him. She popped the lid and immediately started to rub it on Harry’s arm.

“Dammit Charlotte!” Harry yanked away.

“Don’t be such a baby and it won’t hurt.” Louis said. I chuckled, shooting Louis an approving smile.

“Yeah Harry,” Charlotte tried to hide a smirk. “I thought you were supposed to be the macho one.”

Zayn popped his head into the bathroom. “No that’s me.”

Charlotte started to giggle. It brought a smile to each of our faces to hear her laugh like that. It was just so cute and bubbly. I rested my elbow on my knee and watched her glowing face. With a gorgeous smile across her painted lips she looked around the room casually.

Then out of the blue she stopped.

She shook her head, silencing her laughter and clearing her head. Her eyes went glossy, staring emptily at Harry’s sticky red skin. The hands that wiped his skin slowed.

If anyone else seemed to notice they said nothing about it.

Charlotte cleared her throat. “Umm,” she stepped back from Hazza. “I’ll just put some Neosporin on then we’ll be done.” Her voice was even quieter than usual. She opened a tube and smeared it over his gash. Then she gently placed a huge tan bandage on his skin.

“Thanks lovely,” Harry looked down at his arm.

“Yeah, don’t mention it.”

He stood up to tower over her tiny body. A hair ruffle later he had disappeared from the room with Louis tagging along behind him. After that it was just the two of us.

Charlotte went over to the basin to clean her hands. From behind her on the edge of the tub I watched her suddenly unsteady hands turn on the faucet. She used half of the bottle of soap, watching it run down the drain in a spiral of foam.

She turned to me. “How about we fix that pretty face of yours?”

I forced a smile. It bothered me that I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. I was her boyfriend; I was supposed to know everything.

Her eyes darted to the cut across my cheek. Slowly and guardedly she walked closer. On the tips of her clean fingers she dabbed some of the medicine.

“It shouldn’t hurt,” she assured me quietly. “But just tell me if it does.”

I could barely feel her graceful touch across my tender cheek. Charlotte’s hand went out to rest on my shoulder. Just as her palm grazed across my white t shirt she drew away.

What was going on with her?

“So,” I said casually. “I’ve been thinking lately.”

“About?”

“The guys and I are getting ready for our next album. We have a couple songs in the making you know… but I wanted to talk to you about writing another one. Now that you’re done with classes and all.” I tried to read her quiet face. “You’re just so good at it.”

It was her turn to force a smile. Quickly she turned to wash her hands again. “Oh you guys don’t need me…”

That was what all of this was about!  She was letting those stupid comments get into her head again.

“Of course we do.”

She went to dry her hands. “Okay… I’ll think about it.”

I stood up. In one big stride I was next to her. She gazed up at me, her huge chocolate eyes flickering around my face. “I love you Charlotte.”

Charlotte closed her eyes before gently resting her head against my chest. I sighed, her face moving to the rhythm of my breath. I went and wrapped my hands around her back and clasped them together at the hem of her jeans.

“I love you more.”

I watched down at the girl in my arms. “No way not now not ever.”

She giggled.