NIALL’S P.O.V.

What am I doing? I’m making a commitment (of sorts) and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s shocking, really, especially when Hannah is still so new to me. As she lays in my arms, kissing me every now and then, I actually feel content. For the time being, at least. I know that at some point I’ll really want to take things to the next level with her, but right now, this feels perfect.

“We should head back to the house, huh?”

I don’t want to move, butI know she’s right.

“Yeah, do you even know what time it is?”

I don’t at all. Our phones are back at the house and I haven’t gone out of my way to check for clocks in the cabin.

“No clue. Let’s head out. Jessica and Louis are probably wondering where we are.”

She stands up and I dramatically sigh as she pulls on my arm until I’m standing next to her. I had cleaned up any messes we made at the bar while she was sleeping, so she just fixes the pillows and leads me to the door. She opens the door and my body is instantly chilled. It’s very dark and the wind is howling through the trees. Hannah shivers and I wrap my arm around her as I slip my shoes on and close the door behind us.


_________


As we approach Jessica’s house the lights are off upstairs and a few are on in what I remember to be the kitchen area. We step onto the patio and I find Louis’ swim trunks quickly and pull them on, hoping to warm myself as much as I can. Hannah takes my shirt off of her and hands it to me. I slip it on and smell her all over it as it brushes over my face, making me grin. I wish I could put this moment in slow motion as I watch her bend down and retrieve her dress, slipping it on effortless over her flawless frame.

“It’s not nice to stare, Niall.”

I chuckle and wrap my arms around her waist from behind, kissing the back of her neck. She giggles and pries my arms off of her and pulls me toward the glass door leading into the house. She intertwines our fingers and squeezes lightly as we step inside and it’s almost completely silent. We hear Jess talking in the distance, but her tone seems whiny. We turn the corner to the kitchen and there are three people sitting there; Jessica and a man and woman I have never seen.

Hannah drops my hand immediately and holds hers behind her back nervously.

“Mr. and Mrs. Canton.”

Jessica’s parents. Just as I suspected. Shit. This has happened too fucking fast. We had such a great day and now-

“Hannah, we’ve been waiting for you to get back from...wherever you were.”

Mrs. Canton looks young at first glance, but the creases in her forehead have obviously been firmed many times from botox and god knows what else. She seems so stern and the scowl on her face is actually terrifying.

“I’m s-sorry. I didn’t know you guys would be back today.”

Hannah’s eyes widened in Jessica’s direction and Jess gave an irritated sigh as an apology of sorts.

“The weather was awful at the vineyard so we came home. Who, might I ask, are you?”

Mr. Canton finally speaks and glares at me.

“I- My name is Niall, sir. I’m a friend of your daughter’s.”

He lifts a glass full of scotch to his lips and takes a long sip.

“You can leave now, Niall.”

He doesn’t look at me this time, but Jessica’s mother does and almost warns me silently with her eyes. I turn to walk away and suddenly remember how I got there.

“I kind of need to call a cab...”

Hannah walks past me in a huff and finds her purse by the front door, returning to the rest of us and mumbling something as she passes me again.

“I’ll call Joe. He can take us both home.”

I can see the uncertainty on Mrs. Canton’s face, but she doesn’t argue as Hannah dials a number and says a few words to whoever Joe is.

“Please, come get me from Jessica’s...Yeah, and my friend needs a ride back to the city... Thanks, Joe.”

She hangs up and turns to face Jessica and her parents, breaking their awkward silence.

“He’ll be here in five. We’ll just be out front...”

“We need to talk to you first, Hannah. He can wait for you outside.”

I don’t question him at all and walk cooly to the front door, grabbing my backpack along the way. I close the door behind me and wonder what the hell they’re saying to her. It shouldn’t be such a huge deal; we are all adults and didn’t do anything wrong. No one’s been hurt... except for my pride, perhaps.

I search my bag for my phone to check the time. I find it at the bottom of my bag to find ten missed calls and three text messages from Greg and one missed call and text message from Allison. Shit. Shit. Shit.


*FROM: Greg
When are you coming home? We need to talk. I’m freaking out.*



*FROM: GregAnswer your fucking phone!!!


*FROM: Allie
Ni, we need to talk. You’re going to hate me for this, but...Just call me. -Love Allie”
I run my fingers through my hair in shocked disbelief. Did she tell him?! What else could it be? Before I have time to reply to either of them, Hannah steps through the door and looks flustered.

“I’m so dead.”

“Um-what happened?”

“They’re probably gonna tell my mom we were here. She’ll kill me.”

Her eyes are glassy are red, her hair a tangled mess. I push aside my worry about Allison and Greg and focus on Hannah. Maybe I’m just hiding from my real problem, but I carelessly wrap my arm around her waist and kiss her forehead.

“It’ll be okay. We didn’t even do anything wrong.”

She pulls away and then glances at me apologetically.

“You don’t understand. Image is everything here. The fact that you and Louis were at the house
with me and Jess is the worst.”

“Your mum will understand.”

It doesn’t make sense for us hanging out to be such a big deal. She’s right; I really don’t understand.

“No, she won’t. That I can guarantee. She doesn’t understand me in general.”

I reach for her hand and stroke it with my thumb.

“Maybe she’ll surprise you.”

She scoffs and finally gives in, leaning her head on my chest. I push her hair away from her face and start rubbing her back.

“No, definitely not. She’s gonna put me on lockdown and I won’t see anyone for months.”

I kiss the top of her head and chuckle.

“Nah, I’ll find a way to see you.”

I know this is all hypothetical. There is no way her mum would react so badly. She’s eighteen. The worst that can happen is she yells at her, which from what I’ve heard today, is pretty common.

A quiet honk sounds from beneath us and Hannah snaps out of her sad, cuddly mood and returns to her frantic state.

“Joe’s here. Come on.”

I follow behind her, fingers intertwined with hers as we bounce down the steps. I step down the last stair and look up to see a shiny black Rolls Royce and a man in a suit holding the door open. His face lights up when Hannah approaches him and he immediately frowns, probably noticing the scowl on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later. Joe, this is Niall. Niall, Joe.”

I shake his hand and he tightens his grip, looking me up and down questioningly. Hannah climbs in and I follow, Joe closing the door behind me. He walks back to the driver’s seat and sits down, putting the car in drive immediately.

“Am I taking you home first, Hannah?”

“Please, no. I wanna stay away from the house as long as possible.”

I can tell by their communication that he’s more than just a chauffeur to Hannah. He simply nods and starts to make our way toward the city. Hannah rolls her window down and scoots closer to it, laying her head on her arms which are draped over the door. As she stares into the night sky, I find my phone and attempt to be discreet in answering the important text messages.


*TO: Greg
I’m on my way home now. What’s going on?*


I sigh, almost positive I know what is ‘going on’. Next is Allison. I don’t really know what to say, especially since she seemed insistent on talking over the phone.


*TO: Allie
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I can’t exactly call you now. It’ll be in like an hour, except Greg is waiting for me at home. What the hell happened? Should I be worried about him?*


“Everything okay?”

Hannah’s soft, but curious voice snaps my thoughts away from my phone and I try my best to appear un-bothered.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just my brother wondering when I’ll be back s’all.”

She nods and scoots toward me in the spacious backseat. I lock my phone and set it down. I don’t know why the thought of her having any idea about the situation with my brother, his wife, and I flusters me. I can’t stand the thought of her being disappointed in me. Why, though? What the fuck is happening to me?

She rests her head on my shoulder and I rest my hand on her thigh, my thumb rubbing over it gently until I hear soft, steady breaths and I can tell she’s sleeping. I check my silenced phone, hoping to have an explanatory notification from Allison or Greg. I want to know what I’m walking into.


*FROM: Greg
I’ll tell you when you get here. Where the fuck have you been anyway?*


I can’t tell if he’s mad at me, or just really freaking out in general. While I’m staring at my phone, Allison starts to call. I just told her I can’t talk. Hannah’s sleeping, though. Maybe I can answer without going noticed.

“Hello?”

I half whisper into the receiver.

“Niall?”

“Yeah. What’s going on?”

She sighs and I hear a lot of commotion in the background.

“Don’t be angry, but---shit, I’m gonna have to go. Look, don’t worry about it. Just know that

Greg doesn’t know about what happened with us. Just call me later- whenever you’re free-“

“O-okay. I still don’t get what’s happening.”

She keeps talking to someone that must be standing next to her and sounds frustrated.

“I’ll talk to you later, Ni. Love you.”

“Umm-“

Before I can say anything else, I hear a clicking noise and know she has hung up. I set my phone down and decide to not respond to Greg. I’ll talk to him when I get home. I stare out the window and begin to run through the possibilities in my head. She seemed positive that Greg doesn’t know anything, but what the hell else could be happening? I gaze out the windshield and notice that we’ve made it to the highway; nighttime traffic entering the city holding us back. I start to shake my knee anxiously and tap my fingers against the window.

“Something bothering you, son?”

I glance up and I make contact with ice blue eyes. Joe seems to be in his forties, but with the rearview mirror only capturing his eyes, he could be in his sixties. They are surrounded by wrinkles; he must have had a stressful life. I bet that’s what I’ll look like when I’m his age.

“No, sir. Just some family stuff.”

“Ah, where are you from? You obviously aren’t American.”

I chuckle and can tell he’s smiling from the intensified wrinkles in the corners of his eyes.

“Ireland. Been here a couple years.”

He nods and grins. I’m glad he’s kind and warm to me, unlike the other adults I’ve met in this godforsaken town. I feel like we’re on the same level in comparison with the wealthy families of Old Westbury.

“Where am I taking you?”

“Brooklyn. I’ll direct you once we get closer.”

“Awesome. Brooklyn is great. I’ve always told Hannah she’d love it there.”

She definitely would.

“Maybe I’ll get her out there for an evening.”

Joe smiles again and seems to like me. I didn’t expect anyone in connection with Hannah to like me.

“I’ll find a way to sneak her over.”

He winks and glances back at the road, talking without looking back as much.

“So, why did you come to America then?”

I’m obviously not going to tell him the whole story, but I feel comfortable enough to tell him more than my usual reply: School.

“I came with my brother and his wife. We kind of needed to get out of some crappy situations and I wanted to go to school, so it just seemed logical to move here. I love the city, too. I guess it hasn’t all worked out like we would have hoped, but even if Greg goes home, I’m staying.”

“You seem determined. What are you majoring in?”

“Well, I’m not positive yet. Music, for sure. I just need to decide whether to focus on Electronic
Production or Contemporary Writing and Production. I’m leaning toward the latter.”

He seems impressed and we sit in silence as the car finally starts to move at a normal pace. I lean against the window and blankly stare at my surroundings. Hannah starts to stir and I’m pretty sure we’re about ten minutes away.

“Why’d you let me sleep so long?”

She groans and falls back onto my shoulder. I chuckle and wrap my other arm around her waist.

“Sorry, love. You seemed tired.”

“We slept the whole day!”

I laugh again and press my lips silently against the side of her head.

“So, when are we going to have that next date?”

I grin and glance nervously at Joe with wide eyes.

“Oh, he’ll be happy about it. Right, Joe?”

“Oh, I like him already. He’s got twice as much human nature than Harry and I only just met
him.”

Hannah shoots him a irritated glare and he looks back at her apologetically before returning his focus to the road. Who’s Harry? I decide it’s too soon to ask.

“Uh, I live in Mapleton, by the way. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, we should be there soon.”

I nod and turn my focus back to Hannah.

“To answer your question: Whenever you can get out of your house again.”

She scoffs and turns to face me more.

“So, in five years?”

I chuckle and squeeze her knee playfully.

“How about I make an important shopping trip in the city on Wednesday?”

“Wednesday it is. What would you like to do?”

“I want you to surprise me. I want to do something exciting and wild.”

I raise my eyebrows and she rolls her eyes.

“Okay, not too wild. Just make it good.”

She giggles and takes my hand in hers.

“Okay, I’ll ‘make it good’. Oh, and before I forget...I need your number.”

She reaches to take my phone from my lap and I instinctively grab it from her in a hurry. She looks surprised and suspicious as I try to recover from my shady actions.

“I- uh- have to unlock it for you.”

She forces a grin, but I can tell I took her a bit by surprise with my obvious secrecy. It’s not like
we’re a couple. She doesn’t seem too offended by my gesture and I unlock my phone, handing it to her after opening a new contact. She saves her number in my phone as Joe pulls onto a more familiar road.

“Where to from here, Niall?”

“Um- make a left on McDonald and a right on 21st. It’ll be the third building on your right. Mapleton Apartments.”

He nods and focuses on my simple directions.

“Here. Text me your name so I can save yours too.”

Her smile is enthusiastic and contagious. I create a message.


*TO: Hannah Kensington
This is the ever so sexy, Niall Horan ;)*


I press send and hear a ding from her purse and she pulls it out, already knowing exactly who it is. She laughs audibly when she looks at it.

“You forgot cocky and delirious.”

She leans forward and leaves a surprise kiss on my unsuspecting lips. I force an exaggerated pout, pretending to be hurt by her words before I lean forward and whisper softly in her ear.

“Oh, I’ll show you cocky.”

I rest my hand on her thigh and gently squeeze it as I pull away. A flash of desire passes over her eyes and she grins.

“Let’s add terrible with pick-up lines to the list.”

I tickle her side and place rough, playful kisses along her jaw. She laughs loudly and I see Joe’s eyes shifting in the mirror. I can’t tell if he’s smiling or not, but he seems to be. The car comes to a complete stop outside of my building and I wish the car ride wasn’t over. Not only do I want to spend more time with Hannah, but I’m completely terrified to face Greg. I breathe deeply and wrap my arms around Hannah, resting my face against the crook of her neck.

“Text me when you get home?”

She kisses my cheek and sits back again.

“Sure will. See you Wednesday. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Hannah.”

I reach for the door handle, but it opens before I can touch it. Joe holds it open and I step out, grabbing my backpack and making sure I have my phone. I extend a hand once Joe closes the door and he takes it, firmly shaking it.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Niall. I’m glad Hannah’s met someone who seems to
understand her. I’ve been waiting for someone like you to come along.”

I’m really not the best thing for her. I don’t know why he seems to think so. Besides, he and I only had a brief conversation.

“I must not be the kind of guy you think I am. I’m nothing special.”

“But, that’s the thing. You are. I haven’t seen her smile like that since...well, probably since she was ten and got to go to the museum with her father.”

I chuckle and actually feel honored that he seems to think I make her happy in some way, even if it’s only temporary.

“Well, thank you, sir. It was great to meet you. I guess I’ll be seeing you Wednesday as well.”

“Yes, you will. Have a good night.”

I wave shortly as he walks away and I smile at Hannah until the shiny car rolls away. I take a deep breath and turn to enter the apartment and face my brother. I walk up the stairs and into the main entrance. I finally reach our door and sigh heavily. Here goes nothing. I open the unlocked door and find Greg standing by the window. I can’t quite place his expression.

“Hey.”

I don’t really know what else to say without gauging his reaction.

“Where were you? Did you just pull up in a Rolls Royce?”

“Long story. Made a new friend.”

I don’t want to tell him about Hannah. Not now, at least.

“Good for you.”

I don’t sense any sarcasm. He seems genuinely happy for me.

“So, what’s going on, Greg?”

He runs his fingers through his hair and starts to pace.

“Allison called me and told me she thinks she’s pregnant and I don’t know, I’m just so scared!

She’s back home now and she’s pissed at me. Beyond pissed. She didn’t even seem like she wanted to tell me; she just seemed to mention it out of obligation. Why wouldn’t she tell me before she left? She had to of thought she was this morning, right? It’s like she’s running away-“

Pregnant? What the hell? I don’t understand. It can’t be me, right? I can’t be the father, if there even is a baby. I push that thought aside and try to focus back on Greg. He is ranting, rambling on and on and I can tell he’s confused and scared. Hell, so am I.

“-I know I fucked up, Ni, but maybe this is exactly what we need to mature and be happy. We can be a family. God, I don’t even know. I just don’t even understand how she just realized it. I mean, she wasn’t showing at all, but we haven’t had sex in months. Fuck, what if it isn’t mine?”

Yeah, I’m scared of the same thing. He starts to pace even quicker, back and forth between the couch and television.

“I mean, it has to be mine, right? She doesn’t know anyone here. The only people she spends time with is me and-“

He cuts his sentence short and I look up at him, snapping out of my thoughts and realizing I
haven’t said a word or moved at all.

“Niall, she’s not around anyone besides me and you. Ever since we’ve been here. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I see his face contort from confusion to anger and I try to seem surprised by his accusation.

“No! No, Greg, I-I, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I really fucked myself over by stuttering. Greg knows I only do that when I’m nervous. He’s now standing less than a meter away from me, fists balled at his sides. I back away and immediately hit my back against the door.

“Niall, did you sleep with my wife?”

Notes

Hello!!!! Sorry if I've been taking longer than anticipated to update. Should be writing more often now ;) Welcome to any new readers :* Please subscribe and rate if you haven't yet <3 I love all of you guys' comments so much!! Keep them coming :D

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Is Hannah going to get into trouble? What will Niall say to Greg? Do you think Allison is pregnant?

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xx Enjoy this wonderful gif of Niall making a sexy/silly face.