His Princess

It was the hardest thing Niall had done in a long time, left her behind as he got on the plane to head back to Mullingar. She didn’t understand, and Niall feared she wouldn’t, but somehow, this girl managed to become so important to him in a matter of three days.

He couldn’t even imagine what she might become in a month.

Niall also couldn’t imagine how someone’s life could be so horrible that they refuse to accept good things could be okay, yet she did. For some reason, she didn’t believe she deserved to have anything good happen to her.

As the airport intercom called for his flight number, Niall picked up his carry-on bag and started for the loading gate. Before getting on the plane, he sent a text to everyone—including Emmit and Sparrow—and told them what was about to happen. It was a group text to everyone except Emmit . . . because he had more to say to her.

Em . . . words can’t describe how much it hurt to walk away from you knowing you might not want to see me again. I miss you already, which is also terrifying. I hate being scared, but you know what? I will learn to live with it if you’ll just give me the chance. By the way, I would love you for the rest of your life if you would let me. Just let me try, Em. Let me show you that there is good in the world and that you deserve happiness too. For now, I’ve got to get on the plane. If you want, I’ll call you when I land. If not, I understand. You need time to think and sort things out. Just know, I care about you. A lot.

The plane wouldn’t be taking off for at least ten minutes, so everyone had time to text him back.

Zayn: Hope Theo’s alright, Niall. Let us know as soon as you know something.

Liam: Okay. Be careful. I hope it’s not a huge deal. I’m sure he’ll be fine in no time. Keep me updated.

Harry: Call me when you can, okay? We need to talk about things.

Louis: Alright. Be safe, and keep me up to date, alright?

Sparrow: Oh. Alright. I hope everything’s good in the hood, and I really hope you’re okay. She’s . . . scared, and I know you are too. I’m sorry, Niall. I really am. I wish I could just get through her thick skull, but . . . I can’t.

Emmit: I will always want to see you again. Don’t ever doubt that. Scary thing is, I miss you, too. A lot. Everything just feels like it’ll be okay with you around. I fear fear. Weird, I know, but I do. I want this, Niall. I really do. I just . . . can’t dive in, heart first. It’s not that simple. Maybe I am overcomplicating it, but I’ve already done it. Can’t go back now. You, Niall, have already shown me that there’s good in the world. I just don’t think I deserve happiness of my own. I deserve what I’ve got. As far as calling me, well . . . I would love that, but if it’s during school, I might not answer. Maybe I’ll rush off to the bathroom and answer. But, I would definitely love that. Why? Because I care about you, too. A lot.

Niall leaned back against his seat on the plane and closed his eyes, but all he saw was Emmit. She was always beautiful, but tonight, she was his princess. Everything about her reminded Niall of a princess. His princess. All he could see was his princess smiling, laughing, and having so much fun with him as she had that entire evening. She was happy and carefree, until she had time to think.

Thinking really was bad in her case. Niall actually wished there was a way to stop her from doing that sometimes.

He felt tears coming back, but at this point, he didn’t care. Millions of fans could’ve been standing around him, and he still would’ve cried like a little baby. At this point, he just wanted things to be sorted out and figured out.

Beyond all the Emmit stuff, Niall was worried sick about Theo. Greg wouldn’t go into specifics over the phone, so why was he in the hospital? Was he gonna be okay?

Niall could feel someone sit down beside him, even if he had a first class seat. It didn’t stop the movement as another person took their seat on the plane as well. He briefly opened his eyes to see who it was, but they stayed open much longer when he realized that he recognized the person beside him.

Harry sat there with a carry-on bag loaded with food for Niall to snack on.

“I decided you didn’t need to do this alone,” Harry told his brother, and Niall rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to rub some of the tears away. “What happened?”

“I still don’t know anything,” he murmured as he took out a bag of the barbeque chips, though he knew that wasn’t what Harry was talking about. He just didn’t particularly want to talk about that. “No one will tell me anything.”

“I was referring to a certain girl that you went on a date with,” Harry said, and Niall realized then that he wasn’t gonna be able to avoid it.

He rubbed his hands over his eyes with a sigh. “She’s overcomplicating things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell you a lot of it,” Niall admitted, and it was true. A lot of it had to do with her stepdad and the problems he could cause, which only made Niall feel even more nauseas about it all. “I hate that, but I promised. She’s just overcomplicating things and is terrified.”

“This isn’t an easy thing to get into,” he reminded me. “Maybe she just needs to think about it a little. Everything is going to be fine, Niall.”

Niall sighed. “I don’t know. She overthinks things, and her thinking may mess it up.”

“I really believe that if you’ve already started falling for this girl, there’s a reason,” Harry said, and it actually made Niall feel a bit better about it all. “I truly believe this will work. Somehow or another, you and Emmit will be together.”

He wasn’t sure if the way just the idea got his heart racing was good or bad, but it was just one of the wonderful things Emmit did to him that he couldn’t avoid or explain. “Aye? You think so?”

“I do,” Harry said. “Besides the ending, was it fun?”

“The best time I’ve had in a while,” Niall admitted. “It was so carefree and just . . . better than I ever imagined it would be. Harry, she . . . you shoulda seen her. She looked . . . .” Tears began welling up in Niall’s eyes as he looked down to his phone. “She has a couple of pictures. But, Harry, she looked like a princess.”

Harry didn’t hesitate to turn his body towards his brother and throw his arms around him, let him bury his face into his shoulder so that he could compose himself a bit. “That backs up my statement. This will work. You’ve found your princess. Now you just have to convince her of this.”

As the pilot came over the intercom and informed them that they would be taking off in five minutes, to remember to turn their cell phones off, Niall sat up off of Harry’s shoulder and sent another text to Emmit.

Can you possibly send me those pictures? Also, I’ll text you before I call you.

Niall just wanted this seven hour flight to be over.
*** “When should I come back?”

Harry was startled awake upon hearing Niall’s out of the blue question, and it took him a minute to even understand as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The plane ride had been going for a few hours, and Harry was almost deep asleep. Niall couldn’t sleep, however, as his thoughts were consumed by this beautiful girl. Any time he tried to ignore his thoughts and closed his eyes, he saw her. For once since he met her, he wanted to stop thinking about her so maybe it would stop hurting him so badly.

Harry’s lips pressed together. “I don’t know, man. Definitely give her some time—at least a couple of weeks. That puts you at what? September first? That’s perfect because it’s just at the start of our planned break. It’s just up to you, though, Niall. Whatever you feel is right.”

That was just the problem, though. He didn’t know what was right.

Notes

The lyrics in the description are from the song Addiction and Her Name by There For Tomorrow.

This physically hurts me. So sorry about that! Things don't really get too much better for a few chapters, but they do get better. :)

I hope you guys are enjoying this story. :) Let me know what you think.