amnesia {} n.h {}

AMNESIA 4

{} 4 {}

::: "Go fish."

"I win..." Zinovia sighed. "...again. Niall, get your head in the game!"

Niall sighed and placed the cards face down on the table. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm just thinking about Zuri."

Zinovia smiled sadly and nodded, placing her cards down too. "Tell ya what," she started to declare, "I'll go call my boss and ask for a little more break time—"

"That wouldn't be necessary, really," Niall told her. "You've done enough, with staying here with me and playin' a game I obviously suck at..." Niall sighed. "I think I'm gonna head home and take a shower."

"What?" Zinovia's eyes widen. "Niall Horan, the boy who swore to never leave, is...leaving?"

"Only for a little bit, yeah," Niall chuckled, standing up and stretching. Zinovia laughed and stood up too. "It was nice seeing you again," Niall said. "It's always nice to see a Pierce who doesn't hate me..." He muttered, afterwards.

"Oh, shut up," Zinovia laughed, hugging him briefly and pulling away. "There will be problems in a relationship. If Zuri didn't know that, she wouldn't have stayed. I mean, I'm not excusing what happened but...I'm not about to hold a grudge either. Plus, you told me what happened. It's dumb to let that happen twice, but it happened."

Niall smiled at her. Zinovia was the youngest of them all, fresh out of high school and a freshman in college, and was also his favorite. She always scrutinized for the truth, before moving to her actions. Niall had explained to Zinovia what he wanted to explain to Zuri when she woke up, which resulted in four games of Go Fish.

Zinovia looked down at her phone and sighed. "I got class in an hour," she said. "It was nice seeing you again, Niall." She then turned and walked towards the exit.

Niall stretched his arms out again before he froze. "Pst! Hey, Niall!" A voice whispered 'inconspicuously'.

He turned to see Tessa, his new nurse friend who snuck him in the other night, and waved back to her crazy hand gestures. Tessa shook her head and gestured him towards her. Niall nodded, checking around him before walking towards her.

"Hey, Tessa," Niall said. "What's up?"

"Thank me later," she started, "but you can come in again."

"You're sneaking me in a second time?" Niall rose an eyebrow.

"Nope," Tessa grinned, "I convinced them to take your name off the list so you could visit."

"What? How?" Niall asked in shock.

"Well, I talked to Mrs.Pierce while her husband wasn't around and told her about how I snuck you in the first time..." Niall's eyes grew big. "...relax, she was mad at first until I told her how you reacted and what you said. I even lied and said that Zuri's health has improved since—that she wiggled her toes when I went to check up on her."

"You... You did that for me?" Niall looked down.

"Hey, I don't know the full story," Tessa smiled sadly, "but everyone deserves a second chance. I don't want to deter you or anything, but just in case things doesn't work out with Zuri, I want you to at least have a moment together."

Niall nodded, though this was a 'third' chance, four if you count Ally's surprise visit to his studio.

"Thank you," he mumbled, though appreciatively. "I really appreciate this."

"No problem," she said. "Who knows? Maybe you can talk to her every day and someday, get her to wake up."

"Yeah. That's what I hope," Niall sighed. "Can I, uh, go visit her now?"