Rachel's P.O.V.

I rolled out of the bed, hitting the ground with a loud thump.

"Shit Rach, I'm sorry! I was trying to get out of bed without waking you" I heard Niall start panicking.

I groaned as he rushed around to help me up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling me up easily.

"Yeah, I'm fine Niall" I assured him quickly, running a hand through my hair.

"You sure? You were lying on my arm so I tried to just slip it out from underneath you and I guess I-" he began to explain but I cut him off quickly.

"Niall! It's fine.. Now c'mon I need breakfast" I decided, causing him to grin slightly.

We headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Only Liam, Harry and Chelsea were in the kitchen.

As soon as I saw Chelsea I remembered last night. How I had woken her up and how annoyed she had gotten.

"Good Morning" Harry greeted.

Both Harry and Liam were at the cooker, making what seemed to be some sort of fry-up.

"Go sit at the table you two. The food'll be ready in like five minutes" Liam commanded.

We made our way over to the table, awkwardly. I sat down across from Chelsea, feeling embarrassed.

It was bad enough that I had woken Niall up. I was genuinely mortified that Louis and Chelsea had to get up to see what was going on.

I hadn't even checked the time.

I took a deep breath, looking up.

"Hey Chelsea" I called out to get her attention.

She caught my eye quickly.

"I'm really sorry about last night.. I had a bad nightmare and I guess I just freaked out" I told her honestly, feeling my cheeks heat up as I spoke.

She shook her head.

"It's totally fine. It was like 3am and I'm not exactly a morning person - that's why I was pretty annoyed" she explained quickly.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Still, I'm sorry" I repeated.

She just gave me a small smile.

"Breakfast is ready!" Harry announced suddenly.

"Go wake Louis and Zayn!" Liam added.

"I'll do it" Niall offered, quickly bouncing up off his chair, heading out towards the hall as Liam began setting up plates around the table.

They were putting a lot of effort into breakfast this morning.

"Hey, I'm heading shopping later on today. Theres this new little café opening near where I live and I wanna try out the coffee there. You wanna come?" Chelsea asked, me.

My eyes widened slightly.

"Really?"

I was a little caught off guard. I wasn't used to doing anything with people other than Niall, Madi or Allie. Especially not since I had met Brad.

She nodded, chuckling slightly.

"Emm, yeah.. Of course" I agreed.

"Good" she gave me a slight nod.

Breakfast was delicious. Liam and Harry really had done well.

I ate it pretty quickly, occasionally involving myself in the conversation around the table. Harry was talking about heading home for a week or two to stay with his family, which caused me to think of Niall's family.

"Are you not gonna go visit your family Ni?" I asked, catching the attention of everyone at the table.

He looked at me curiously.

"What?"

"In Ireland. You can't have seen your family in ages.. You should really go visit them" I told him, taking a small sip of the cup of tea I now had in front of me.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm planning to" he mumbled, trying to brush off the subject.

"Oh really?" I looked up to see Zayn smirking, now obviously enjoying himself.

I wasn't sure what was so funny, so I looked back to Niall expectantly.

He was looking down.

"Yup" he replied.

I frowned slightly, still confused.

"When?" Zayn continued.

Niall's eyes remained fixed on his plate.

"Oh you know, soon enough" his voice was muffled from his food in his mouth.

I felt extremely uneasy, suddenly feeling like everyone knew something that I didn't.

"What's going on?" I asked, poking Niall gently with my fork.

He looked up at me quickly.

"Nothing"

I knew he was lying right away but just decided to shrug it off.

I headed upstairs then, avoiding then awkwardness in the room.

Since I would be going out with Chelsea, I had a shower when I first went up and then got dressed into something casual enough.

I walked out of the bathroom and towards Nialls room, to get a handbag.

I opened the door quickly, revealing Niall standing next to the wardrobe in nothing but his boxers.

Without realising, I gasped loudly.

He spun around to face me.

"I- eh- just came to grab my hand bag.. I'm going out with Chelsea" I stammered out, feeling my cheeks heat up as I spoke.

He nodded quickly.

"Erm- I was just, you know getting changed, I didn't realise you would.." he trailed off, not needing to say anymore.

"Sorry" I mumbled, my eyes still locked with his.

It was a minute before I snapped out of my awkward stare and went in search of my bag.
I found it, slung over the head of the bed.

"Here, Rach. If you're going out, you're going to need money" I heard Niall fumbling around behind me.

Crap. Money.

Boy, I really needed to get a job.

Slipping my bag off of the bed, I turned to find Niall, now with trousers on, holding out a £50 note.

"Niall, that's way too much. The most I'll be buying is tea" I told him quickly.

I hated the fact that I had to rely on him for money. I didn't like the idea of sponging off of him.

He rolled his eyes.

"Well take it just in case" he insisted, catching my hand in his so that he could give me the money.

The contact sent a familiar shiver down my spine and I felt my face get hotter.

"Thank you" I mumbled grudgingly, pulling my hand out of his quickly.

He nodded triumphantly.

"Your welcome. Enjoy your day" he replied.

I left his room then, still feeling flustered over the whole awkwardness of the situation and guilty for taking his money.

Chelsea was ready to go so we left in her car.

We headed to her place first because she wanted to get changed.

She lived in an apartment which was pretty far away from the boys house. Her apartment reminded me a lot of the one I had shared with Brad. It was similarly structured.

Thankfully we only spent a short time there, because as soon as she was washed and dressed, we took off for the café.

It was only a five minute walk away, so there really was no point in driving.

As we walked, Chelsea told me about her plans of introducing Louis to her parents. She would be meeting his soon, when he went to visit so it only made sense that he would meet hers.

"Actually that reminds me - what exactly happened this morning at breakfast?" I asked quickly.

She looked confused so I continued.

"With Niall and Zayn when I mentioned him going home. It was really awkward" I explained, hoping for an answer.

"Oh" a smile suddenly appeared on her face.

I raised an eyebrow willing her to continue.

"Well, I'm not fully sure but Louis did mention something about it.." she trailed off.

"About what?" I was really curious at this point.

"As far as I know, Niall's heading home sometime next week. And he was talking about asking you to go with him.. I guess he hasn't quite got around to it yet" she finished with a small shrug.

I felt my eyes widen slightly.

"Go back to Ireland?" I asked softly.

She nodded.

"That's what Louis said anyways.." she told me.

I hadn't been in Ireland since I had finished school. It certainly would be strange going back.

"Here it is!" Chelsea exclaimed suddenly, pointing to the next door on the left.

It was quite a small cafe, with round tables, and soft, comfortable-looking chairs.

"This place is adorable" I grinned, once I had glanced around.

"It is.." Chelsea agreed excitedly.

We headed up to the counter, to read the menu. As I began scanning the large list of beverages available, I felt a hand on the small of my back.

"Hello Rachel"

My whole body froze at the sound of his voice. I knew who it was before turning around.

When I did though, I still managed to gasp.

My voice came out as barely a whisper.

"Brad"

Notes

Heyyy!
I'm in a super big rush so this chapter may be kind of confusing in parts :p
Well hey, Brad's back!
And Niall's not around!
Is that a good or bad thing? :p
Lol, who knows what Niall would do to him :p
Okay so I really want to know your opinions on the story!
So this time, instead of commenting some weird saying I give you, please comment below letting me know how you feel the story is going, what you think of the characters, what you hope will happen next, etc.
Much love :* ~ Lee xxx