Open Your Eyes
Chapter 7
Niall’s POV
I slumped down onto the couch in Harry’s living room. “She still hasn’t texted me back.” I sighed, looking over at Harry, who was sitting in an armchair, watching the news on telly.
“Calm down, Niall. It was only yesterday. I’m sure she will.”
“What if she never does, though? Like, what if she doesn’t, and she goes back to uni, and I never see her again, and—”
“Mate, she’ll text you.” Harry looked over at me with an annoyed expression and I sighed again. Scarlett had come in second place last night on the final show for Series 10. She’d been amazing, much better than the winners had been, but came up just short in the popular vote, losing by the closest margin in X Factor history to Up-Down. She’d been smiling onstage, congratulating them, but the second she came off, she broke down. I tried to go over to her, pushing my way through the crowd of producers and cameras, but she saw me and bolted away, running at full sprint into the maze of rooms. I’d stayed around the studio until about 2:00, after nearly everyone had cleared out, but she was nowhere to be found. I had been just about to give up when I talked to her makeup artist, who’d said that Scarlett had left as soon as she could. I thanked her and caught a taxi over to her hotel, to find that she’d checked out just about an hour before (normally, they don’t tell anyone that information, but being famous has its perks).
I’d slunk back to my flat, calling her three times to hear her voicemail again and again. I was worried about her—I didn’t know if she had a place to stay or if she was okay. I was mostly afraid—although Harry insisted it was irrational—that I would never see her again.
We watched telly for another fifteen minutes when my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and felt my heart lift when I saw her name flashing in bright white letters on the screen of my phone. I answered and jumped over the couch, running into the kitchen. “Scarlett?”
I heard a male voice on the other end, and my heart sank back down into my chest. “Um, no. I’m Jake.”
“Oh.” I made no effort to hide my disappointment.
“I’m Scarlett’s brother.” My ears perked up at that. “I’m calling from her phone. Are you, uh, Niall?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Well, you’ve texted her 273 times and I was wondering what the fuck was going on.”
I gulped. “Yeah, sorry. I—I was just worried. Is she okay? Is she safe?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I still can’t believe that she didn’t win, but we don’t really have time to talk about that.” I sighed in relief, glad that she was with her brother. “I saw her phone on the table, and the…er, several messages that you left. I asked her if she wanted me to shut you up, get you to stop bothering her, you know? She said no, though, and mumbled something about how she was afraid you wouldn’t like her anymore, which is probably the shittiest logic I’ve ever heard, because you like her enough to send her 273 messages.”
“So she’s not mad at me, or anything?”
He laughed. “No, mate, not at all. Do you want to see her?”
I nodded furiously, before I realized I was on the phone. “Absolutely.”
“Do you want to come over now?”
“Yes.” I answered, without a second’s hesitation.
“Good. I’m leaving for class in half an hour and I don’t want to leave her alone. I’ll text you my address, yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”
Jake thanked me and hung up. I ran back into the living room, where I had ditched my shoes half an hour before, and pulled them on my feet, hastily tucking in the laces so I wouldn’t trip over myself. Harry was looking at me with raised eyebrows. “Where you going, mate?”
“I’m going to go see Scar.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
He smirked. “Keep it PG.”
I blushed. “Fuck off, Harry. It’s not going to happen.”
“I don’t know, mate. I think she has the hots for you.”
“Whatever.” I grabbed my phone and bolted out the door, fine with leaving Harry alone in my flat. I fidgeted all the way down the lift—an excruciatingly long ride, due to how high up in the building my flat was—and during the ride over in the taxi. Management didn’t want us to ride in cabs alone, as it posed some type of ‘safety risk’, but I honestly didn’t care. It took me about twenty minutes to get there. I threw a fifty pound note at the driver and ran out without even thanking him.
I buzzed up and was let in, presumably by Jake, and took the stairs two at a time. “672, 673, 674.” I mumbled to myself as I passed the door, finally reaching his flat, 676. I knocked and a guy with brown hair in his mid-twenties opened the door. He was reasonably slim, and he raised a finger to his lips. “She doesn’t know you’re here.” He whispered. I nodded and walked in, finding myself in a small entryway, a door on the left and another on the right. I heard the telly on from the room on the left. Jake led me through the one on the right, and I found myself in a kitchen. Jake frowned at me. “Hey, I know you…you’re in that band, right? My girlfriend is obsessed with you. One Direction, right?”
I smiled, shifting on my feet, wanting to go talk to Scarlett. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“I’ve heard some…interesting things about you.”
I nodded. “A lot of them aren’t true.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That may be true, but if you lay a finger on her, I’ll have your head, and that’s a promise. Don’t you dare take advantage of her. I don’t care who you are, if you hurt my sister, I’m not going to promise that I won’t hurt you.” I gulped. Something about the big brother act was actually scaring me.
“I won’t. Thanks for letting me come see her.”
He grimaced, before nodding and giving me a small smile. “I hope you can cheer her up. She’s been so sad. This competition meant everything. I can’t believe she didn’t win. She’s such a good—”
Jake was cut off by a voice coming from the living room. “Mufasa, who’s there?”
“It’s just Kevin, Scar. We’ll be leaving in a minute.” I heard her harrumph and mutter, “Kevin’s not even the fit one.” I looked at Jake and raised my eyebrows, a slight smile playing on my lips.
“Mufasa?” I asked with a smirk.
He groaned. “We watch Lion King together a lot, and you know the evil uncle, Scar? Well, since that’s her name, and Scar’s older brother in the movie is Mufasa, she likes to call me that. Anyways, I have to go.” He gave me a slight wave before grabbing his coat and taking his keys off the counter. Before he left, he added, “And I meant what I said, Niall. If you hurt her…” He trailed and look at me once more before leaving. He slammed the door shut and I turned, walking through the sitting room and through the other door.
I found myself in a small room, a dark blue couch in the middle, facing a TV. There wasn’t much else besides that. The walls and carpet were white, and there was a coffee table in the center. I noticed a small hallway leading out of the room, which I assumed led to bedrooms and a bathroom. I saw Scarlett sitting cross-legged in the center of the couch, wearing a tank top and a pair of sweatpants. I could just see the back of her head, her hair tied into a messy bun, but I smiled in spite of myself. My eyes drifted up to the telly to see that she was watching and interview with me and the lads, and my smile grew. I crept over to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Hey, Scar.” I said quietly, and I felt her tense briefly before relaxing and turning around to look up at me. She smiled widely, and I felt something flutter around in my stomach.
She set the bowl that had been in her lap aside and hopped over the couch, throwing her arms around me. “Hey, Ni.” She said, and my stomach did another one of those flip-flops. She’d taken to calling me ‘Ni’ a few nights ago, when we’d gone out for drinks, and I had to admit, I loved the nickname. I returned her hug and released her gently, remembering what Jake had said. I stepped around the couch and sat down. She followed, grabbing the bowl that she’d thrown aside and placing it back in her lap. She looked at the telly, then back and me, and blushed, quickly picking up the remote and changing to cable, where an awful MTV show was running. “Sorry about that.”
I laughed. “Hey, no, it’s all good. How are you?”
She sighed and slumped back into the seat. “Awful. I’m trying not to think about it. I don’t want to go back to uni.” She whimpered slightly and I couldn’t resist slipping an arm around her, pulling her towards me. She rested her head in the crook of my shoulder.
“You don’t have to go back. It’s not the end. You should talk to Simon, when he gets back from America. He’ll be here for the tour.”
“I just…I don’t know, Niall. Maybe I’m not good enough.”
“Shut up about. You’re an amazing singer. Seriously, I think Simon will want to sign you.”
“Could we just…could we not talk about it, Ni? I really don’t want to.” She sighed again and rubbed her eyes. I decided not to press any further, as I really had no desire to have a crying girl on my hands.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Changing the subject, I said, “So I’m ‘not even the fit one’, huh?” I asked, mocking offense, referencing what she’d mumbled earlier about whoever Kevin was.
She laughed. “No, Niall, you are the fit one.”
“Besides Harry, right?” I teased, only half joking, used to Harry one-upping me as far as the ladies were concerned.
She waited for a moment before answering. “Um, actually, no.” She fidgeted with the waistband of her pants. I raised my eyebrows, willing her to go on. She blushed heavily. “Well, I mean, when I first met you, and Harry pulled the newspaper down, right, I saw him, and I thought, well, he’s quite fit. And Lou was alright, as well, but then I looked over at you…” She looked away and I couldn’t hold back my smile.
“You have to tell me the rest now.”
“Okay, you can’t make fun of me for this, but the first thought that went through my mind was, he’s the most attractive person I’ve ever met.” I laughed and tugged on her side lightly, pulling her back towards me. She avoided looking at me, blushing down into her bowl of ice cream, which was almost completely melted.
“Alright. To make it fair, you’re the most attractive person I’ve ever met, too, so you can stop looking so embarrassed.” She laughed lightly and finally looked me right in the eyes, her blue eyes piercing into mine.
“So I guess that means that if we had children, then by that logic, they would be, like, double the attractiveness.” I chuckled and tried not to think about the process by which said children would be conceived, which proved impossible. I attempted to change the subject quickly. “Do you want to maybe change the channel? As much as I love Teen Mom, I feel like I’m getting dumber by the second.”
***
Scarlett’s POV
I yawned and my eyes fluttered open. I found my head on Niall’s chest, his arm wrapped around me, the thumb of his hand slowly rubbing up and down my spine, making me shiver slightly. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but, glancing at the watch on Niall’s left wrist, it was seven o’clock. He had gotten here almost four hours ago, and I didn’t remember doing much at all, so I must have been out for a while. I hadn’t slept at all last night—as soon as I got to Jake’s flat I had sat in front of the telly watching One Direction interviews and eating ice cream. I sat up and stretched, putting a hand up to my hair to make sure it wasn’t completely out of the bun. Satisfied that it wasn’t, I looked over at him and smiled, grateful that he hadn’t left. “Hey, Ni. Sorry about that.”
He grinned back, pulling his arm back to himself. “It’s fine. You look nice when you sleep.”
I blushed a bit. “Thanks. You didn’t have to stay.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “I wasn’t about to leave, Scar. Although it would have been nice if you had at least left the remote over here. I couldn’t get it without moving you, so I’ve been watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta for the past three hours, and frankly, I want to punch something.” I looked at him for a while, a slight smile on my face, and he shifted uncomfortably. “What?” He finally asked.
“It’s just…I don’t think I know anybody that would do that. You know, stay. When they didn’t have to.”
Relief washed over his face. “I liked it. It’s no problem.” I grinned at him and shook my head. “You hungry?”
He groaned and rubbed his stomach. “Always. Scarlett, I am always hungry.” I stood up and walked over to the kitchen, pulling my shirt down as it rode up my stomach. Half of me regretted wearing something so low-cut, and half of me liked the idea of Niall seeing me in it. I shook my head. I was already an awful flirt—adding in the most attractive person in the world, who also happened to be the nicest person I’d ever met, as well as a very low-cut shirt, was just a recipe for disaster. I heard him follow me in and I opened the fridge, cursing Jake for being a vegetarian. He was a health nut, so he had hardly any food that was bad for you, save two pints of ice cream, which I had killed off, and a bag of chocolate chips. I groaned and closed the fridge. “He doesn’t have anything.”
Niall rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he has something, Scar.” He opened the fridge door and stared at what was inside for a moment before closing it and turning to face me with a grimace on his face. “Okay, you’re right. He doesn’t have anything.”
My face lit up. I opened the cupboard and pulled down the bag of chocolate chips. “Do you want to make cookie dough?”
He looked at me strangely. “Scarlett, it’s seven at night, and you’re eighteen years old.”
I poked my tongue out at him. “You know what, blondie? I’m a university student and I’m sad, so I’m going to make cookie dough, and if you’re going to make fun of me, then you can leave.”
He laughed and came over to join me. “Alright, fine. As long as we go get something real to eat after this, because I’m starving.”
I nodded. “Okay, fine. Could you grab a bowl from that cupboard over there?”
***
Niall and I had been in the kitchen for almost an hour when Jake finally got back. I had flour all over my shirt, and he had cookie dough smeared on his nose. I had accidentally cracked an egg on the table, and we hadn’t cleaned it up, so egg yolk and sugar were covering Jake’s precious marble counters. I was blaring The Ramones from my speakers, singing along a bit. When Jake walked in, we were dancing to it, him spinning me around. He walked into the kitchen and tossed his keys on the counter, looking us over before sighing and shaking his head.
“Scarlett, I swear, I can’t even leave you for a few hours.” I blushed and looked over at Niall, who was still holding my hands, as we were in mid-twirl. We exchanged a look, both seeming to realize, and pulled away, him awkwardly clearing his throat. Jake looked over at Niall and rolled his eyes. “I remember explicitly saying not to lay a finger on her, but she looks really happy, so…I’ll let it slide.” He turned to me. “Brooke’s here. It’s our anniversary. She went the other way. I think she’s in my room now. If you could not let her in on the fact that a member of her favorite band is here, that would be great, because she’ll scream, and none of us want that.” He laughed and turned, walking through towards his room. “Clean this up, Scarlett!”
“Whatever you say, Mufasa!” I yelled after him, giggling. I grabbed a sponge and started wiping off the counter, humming as I did so. Niall switched off the music before grabbing a spoon and eating the last bit of cookie dough. “Hey!” I whined, pouting. “I wanted that.”
“Better luck next time.” He laughed and licked the rest of the spoon. When I finished with the counter, I grabbed a napkin and walked over to him. “Hold still.” I said, and he complied. I reached up and wiped the dough off his face, laughing at him. He smirked and raised his eyebrows at me. “Hush.” I added, grinning. We finished cleaning up and headed to the living room. We had just gotten in there when I heard a moan from the other room.
Niall nearly choked on the water he was drinking. I blushed furiously. “Um, Brooke is Jake’s girlfriend.” I sighed and flopped down on the couch, covering my face with a pillow. “She’s…er…very loud, especially in the bedroom area. And they go at it for, like, two hours. And today is their third anniversary, so they’ll probably be doing that all night. Shit. This is really embarrassing. I can’t believe he’s doing this right now. I hate him.”
He pulled the pillow off my face and grinned at my expression. He grabbed my hand and hoisted me up, so we were just centimeters apart, and my heart started beating a bit faster than usual. He started playing with his thumbs a bit. “Um, well, we can—” There was another moan and I felt my cheeks redden even more. He laughed nervously. “Do you want to go out for dinner?”
I nodded. “Yeah, let me just get changed. I don’t know if ‘flour-stained-t-shirt’ is really the image I’m going for, you know?”
He laughed. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just sit in here and listen to your older brother have sex. Take your time.” He sat down on the couch and puts his legs up, smirking at me. If it was possible for me to blush more than I already was, then I did. I ran out of the room and into mine, quickly pulling off my pants and shirt and slipping on some jeans, a sweater, and a pair of blue converse, trying to ignore the moans coming from across the hall. I left my hair how it was. I made a mental note to yell at Jake when I got back and Brooke was gone. Sighing, I pocketed my phone and wallet—yes, I had a wallet, a real leather one that I carried around in my pocket; it wasn’t my most feminine feature—and grabbed the set of keys that Jake had given me, twirling them around my finger. Walking back out into the living room, I found Niall, his head resting on the couch, staring at the ceiling, a smirk on his face. He saw me and stood up, smiling. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.” He extended his elbow, and I took his arm, laughing. “Such a gentleman.” I teased.
He pretended to straighten his nonexistent tie. “What can I say? My mum taught me well.” My thoughts drifted to my own mother, and I tried not to let it get me down. I hadn’t talked to her or my dad since I’d gotten back from Judge’s Houses. I hated not seeing them. I hated that they wouldn’t support me. I hated that they thought I was a mistake.
But despite their lack of enthusiasm for my success (well, I suppose it was more of a failure, now, as I only got second place), I still loved them, and it still hurt. I gave Niall a small smile, and he seemed to notice that something was wrong. He frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when we reached the bottom of the stairs. We stopped in front of the door. “I called management, and they have someone waiting for us, so we don’t get mobbed by fans.” He looked down at our arms, tangled together, and shifted awkwardly. “Um…”
I quickly pulled myself away from him. “We don’t need any more Niallett shippers, eh?”
He smiled a bit and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t mind em’. Oh, there’s Dan. Let’s go.” We walked outside and met a guy dressed in black trousers with a black t-shirt tucked in. He smiled cheerfully at me. “Hello, you must be Scarlett. Niall won’t shut up about you!” Niall blushed and socked his shoulder, muttering something to him. Dan raised his eyebrows. “Apparently I’m embarrassing him. Well, technically, it’s my job to prevent that from happening, at least in front of the media, but I can’t resist a jab every once in a while.” He turned to Niall and laughed at his expression, and I decided that I liked this guy. “I’m assuming we’re heading to Nando’s?”
Niall grinned. “Always, Dan.” We started walking and I fell into step next to Niall, who had Dan on his right and me on his left. Niall and I chatted for a while, ignoring the stares that we got from everyone, before Dan spoke up.
“I’m sorry, but as part of Niall’s management, I have to ask—what is the situation between you two, relationship-wise? Scarlett, we do try to keep out of the lads’, er, romantic relationships, but we need to know for publicity reasons.” I blushed and looked at Niall, finding him doing the same.
I figured it was best for him to answer rather than me, and eventually he spoke. “We’re just friends, Dan. There are a lot of rumors going around that we’re together, but for right now, we’re just friends.” I wondered about the connotations of ‘for right now’.
As it turns out, I didn’t get much of a chance to think about it, as a couple teenage girls walked up, looking to be about 13 or 14. “Um, hi Niall, can we get a picture?” The older one asked, practically hyperventilating. Niall, obviously used to the request, handed the camera to Dan. Before he snapped the photo, the younger one called me over from behind the camera. “Scarlett, could you, like, get in, too? If that’s not a problem.” I smiled at her and nodded, standing next to her. Niall was between the two girls, and I was on one end. Dan snapped the picture, and the two girls went back to their mum, who gave us a bit of a wave. We continued walking, keeping our heads down, in a lame attempt to keep from being noticed.
“I will never get used to that.” I said. “I don’t know why anyone would want a picture with me.” Niall looked at me and laughed.
“Are you serious? Maybe it’s because you’re talented and you’re pretty. Who wouldn’t want a picture with you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really taken that many.” He looked at me, humming a bit, staying silent. He pulled me around into an alleyway, behind a building, and Dan followed, looking slightly confused. “What are you doing, Ni?” I asked.
“I want a picture with you.”
I laughed. “And it couldn’t wait?”
He shrugged before putting on a fangirl act. “Oh my god, are you Scarlett Cross? Could I please get a picture with you? Please. I, like, love you. You’re so talented. You wouldn’t say no to a cutie like me, would you?”
I giggled. “Of course! What’s your name, cutie?”
“I’m Niall!” He handed his phone to Dan, who was laughing and shaking his head at us. I went to pose with Niall when he surprised me by—literally—sweeping me off my feet, holding me bridal-style. Dan took the picture, and Niall put me down, giving me a wink. As Dan handed back Niall his phone, he muttered, “Just friends, huh?” I ignored the comment and elbowed Niall playfully. “It really couldn’t wait, huh?”
“Well, being such a cute little fan of yours, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again, Scar, and you’re my favorite X Factor contestant. I just had to get a picture.” Dan smirked at us and led us into a restaurant that was only a few doors down from where we’d taken our picture. I saw Niall lick his lips and I laughed.
“I’d heard that Nando’s was your favorite place to eat. I guess it’s true.” He looked down at me and smiled. We were seated in a booth in the corner quickly by a waitress who looked like she was trying not to panic—it probably had something to do with the fact that ‘The Niall Horan’ was there—and started chatting with Dan, who sat across from Niall and I.
***
We hopped into the car that Niall’s management had sent for us, and I absentmindedly leaned on his shoulder and yawned. I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, so I was beat. I felt Niall put an arm around me and I smiled in spite of myself. The driver turned around and looked at us, and Dan gave us a smirk. “Where to, Mr. Horan?”
“Let’s head to my flat.” The driver nodded and turned forward, pulling out onto the street.
“You can just drop me off anywhere and I’ll walk back to Jake’s flat.” I yawned.
Niall pulled me towards him. “You’re going back?”
“Yeah, course.”
“Well, I mean, like, you know, it’ll be awkward, with their anniversary, and stuff, and they’ll be, uh, going at it, and it might be strange for you, and you don’t really have to go back, and—”
“You’re stuttering, Ni. Take a deep breath.”
He grinned at me and took my advice, breathing deeply before starting over. “It will be awkward at Jake’s flat.”
“No shit, Sherlock. What are you trying to say? Skip it with the awkward banter and just say what you’re trying to.”
He laughed and rubbed my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but grin into his chest, where my head was now resting. “You see right through me. What I’m trying to do is invite you over to my flat, but I’m doing a shit job of it, aren’t I.”
“Yeah, you were doing pretty badly.”
“So?”
“So what?” I glanced up to see him looking expectantly at me, a nervous smile on his face. “Oh. Well…yeah, sure. Why not?”
He yelled a triumphant “Yes!” and pumped his fist in the air, making me laugh and Dan turn around, his eyebrows raised. “So you’ll be going back with Niall, then, Scarlett?” I nodded shyly and Dan turned back and chuckled, muttering something about ‘kids these days’. Niall gave me a look and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making me slap his chest lightly and sit up, stretching my arms. He gave me a pouty face as I pulled away from him.
I groaned. “Don’t give me those eyes, Ni.” He only pouted further, his ice blue eyes sending shocks into mine, making my stomach turn over. I sighed, leaning back into him and I saw his gaze soften and a smile play on his lips. He put his arm back around me, rubbing circles on the side of my chest through my sweater. My heart fluttered and I tried to stop myself from shaking as we rode the last two minutes to Niall’s flat. We pulled up in the back of a building, and Niall looked around to make sure that there weren’t any people around before stepping out and offering a hand to help me. I smiled and took it, letting him assist me in stepping out of the car. I thanked the driver and Dan, who raised his eyebrows and gave me a quick wink before saying his goodbyes. Niall unlocked the back door and we walked into a swanky lobby, coming in through a maintenance door. It had modern-looking furniture, mostly red and white, and there was a desk at the front, quite like a hotel. The woman there looked up and smiled at Niall, giving him a cheeky wink that I wasn’t sure I liked. Niall smiled back and we headed over to the lifts. When we were out of sight of the receptionist Niall exhaled deeply. “She does that to all of us lads. It’s quite strange, actually. She’s very…er…suggestive in her flirting.”
“So what you’re trying to say is that she wants to fuck you and she makes it obvious.”
He let out a deep laugh, showing his teeth—I had to admit, I actually found the braces kind of hot—and clutching his stomach. “Yeah, something like that.”
I grinned. “So, do you lads, like, live in the same flat, or what?”
“Just in the same building. None of us room together anymore. Danielle and Liam are together, Zayn and Perrie are, when Perrie’s around, Louis and El are, when she’s on holiday and sometimes on the weekends, and Harry and I are both alone. We all have keys to each other’s rooms, though, and we really just walk in whenever we please.” The lift finally came and we climbed in.
I didn’t want to pry too much into their personal lives, but I couldn’t help but wonder something. “Ni?” I asked, tentatively. He looked at me and smiled, urging me to go on. “What if you walk in on…something you don’t want to see? Or someone walks in on you?”
He laughed again, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “By ‘something you don’t want to see’ I’m assuming you mean having sex.” I blushed and nodded. “Well, it’s a bit different depending on the person. Danielle and Li usually keep it to the bedroom, so if you walk in and hear something, you can just leave. I never visit Lou without texting first whenever Eleanor’s off uni, because they don’t see each other that much, so when they’re together, I don’t risk going over there without warning.” We reached Niall’s floor—47, I noted; it must have an amazing view—and he kept talking. “Zayn and Perrie are the same. When they’re together, I text first. I have no problem making it awkward for the lads, but Dani, El, and Perrie would be pretty embarrassed if we walk in on them. And as for Harry…” He pulled his key out of his pocket and fumbled with the lock on the door. There were only three flats on this floor—47A, 47B, and the one Niall had, 47C. “Well, I’ve caught Harry in the act plenty of times. He’ll do it in the kitchen or the living room, so you walk in, and they’re right there. You never know when he’ll have a girl over, so you just get used to it. Usually you just laugh at them and leave.”
I smiled, imagining a scenario like that. Niall had unlocked the door, but hadn’t opened it yet, so we were having a conversation right in the hallway. I was itching to ask one last thing. “Have you been walked in on by one of the guys?” I realized right after it came out of my mouth that I might have gone a bit far, so I hastily added, “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
He laughed quietly and looked at me strangely for a moment. “No, I’ve never been caught in the act. But…I don’t really take girls home at all.”
A smirk played on my lips. “You say this as you take a girl back to your flat.”
“You’re the first in a while.”
“I’m honored.” He grinned and finally opened the door, leading me into a spacious living area. There was a closet directly to the left to hang up coats, and a few pairs of shoes kicked lazily next to the door. The walls were painted white, and furnishings seemed to be mostly reds and oranges. There was a huge picture window at the other end of the wall, and there were hundreds of little multicolored lights twinkling below. There were four guitars over in the corner, tucked away, and a couple couches in front of a telly that was mounted on the wall. To the left, it branched into a kitchen; on the right, a small hallway which probably led to his bedroom. “Wow.” I managed to say after a while.
He took of his shoes and jacket and walked towards the kitchen, throwing his keys on the counter. He smiled at me. “Like it?”
“It’s just…” I stood at the entrance, still taking it all in. “I mean, I’m a university student, who’s used to a tiny dorm with a roommate, and for the past 10 weeks I’ve been living in a cramped hotel room. It just seems really big.”
He nodded. “We got back from tour a month ago. I’ve been living on a bus for the past eight months, and I wanted somewhere I could stretch out. We all decided that this was a good place and booked up flats on this floor and the one above.” I’d read about the tour online. I couldn’t even imagine being away from home for that long.
“What are you doing in London, then?” That was the one thing I couldn’t manage to find out about them. It wasn’t in any of the tabloids, and I hadn’t talked to one of them about it yet.
“Well, when we got back, we got three weeks break. I went back to Ireland. Now, we’re just starting to work on our third album. We do concerts here from time to time, too. I live here now.”
“Your life is insane.” He laughed and walked over to where I was still standing and grabbed my arm, pulling me into the kitchen.
“Do you want something to drink?”
I slumped down onto the couch in Harry’s living room. “She still hasn’t texted me back.” I sighed, looking over at Harry, who was sitting in an armchair, watching the news on telly.
“Calm down, Niall. It was only yesterday. I’m sure she will.”
“What if she never does, though? Like, what if she doesn’t, and she goes back to uni, and I never see her again, and—”
“Mate, she’ll text you.” Harry looked over at me with an annoyed expression and I sighed again. Scarlett had come in second place last night on the final show for Series 10. She’d been amazing, much better than the winners had been, but came up just short in the popular vote, losing by the closest margin in X Factor history to Up-Down. She’d been smiling onstage, congratulating them, but the second she came off, she broke down. I tried to go over to her, pushing my way through the crowd of producers and cameras, but she saw me and bolted away, running at full sprint into the maze of rooms. I’d stayed around the studio until about 2:00, after nearly everyone had cleared out, but she was nowhere to be found. I had been just about to give up when I talked to her makeup artist, who’d said that Scarlett had left as soon as she could. I thanked her and caught a taxi over to her hotel, to find that she’d checked out just about an hour before (normally, they don’t tell anyone that information, but being famous has its perks).
I’d slunk back to my flat, calling her three times to hear her voicemail again and again. I was worried about her—I didn’t know if she had a place to stay or if she was okay. I was mostly afraid—although Harry insisted it was irrational—that I would never see her again.
We watched telly for another fifteen minutes when my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and felt my heart lift when I saw her name flashing in bright white letters on the screen of my phone. I answered and jumped over the couch, running into the kitchen. “Scarlett?”
I heard a male voice on the other end, and my heart sank back down into my chest. “Um, no. I’m Jake.”
“Oh.” I made no effort to hide my disappointment.
“I’m Scarlett’s brother.” My ears perked up at that. “I’m calling from her phone. Are you, uh, Niall?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Well, you’ve texted her 273 times and I was wondering what the fuck was going on.”
I gulped. “Yeah, sorry. I—I was just worried. Is she okay? Is she safe?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I still can’t believe that she didn’t win, but we don’t really have time to talk about that.” I sighed in relief, glad that she was with her brother. “I saw her phone on the table, and the…er, several messages that you left. I asked her if she wanted me to shut you up, get you to stop bothering her, you know? She said no, though, and mumbled something about how she was afraid you wouldn’t like her anymore, which is probably the shittiest logic I’ve ever heard, because you like her enough to send her 273 messages.”
“So she’s not mad at me, or anything?”
He laughed. “No, mate, not at all. Do you want to see her?”
I nodded furiously, before I realized I was on the phone. “Absolutely.”
“Do you want to come over now?”
“Yes.” I answered, without a second’s hesitation.
“Good. I’m leaving for class in half an hour and I don’t want to leave her alone. I’ll text you my address, yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”
Jake thanked me and hung up. I ran back into the living room, where I had ditched my shoes half an hour before, and pulled them on my feet, hastily tucking in the laces so I wouldn’t trip over myself. Harry was looking at me with raised eyebrows. “Where you going, mate?”
“I’m going to go see Scar.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
He smirked. “Keep it PG.”
I blushed. “Fuck off, Harry. It’s not going to happen.”
“I don’t know, mate. I think she has the hots for you.”
“Whatever.” I grabbed my phone and bolted out the door, fine with leaving Harry alone in my flat. I fidgeted all the way down the lift—an excruciatingly long ride, due to how high up in the building my flat was—and during the ride over in the taxi. Management didn’t want us to ride in cabs alone, as it posed some type of ‘safety risk’, but I honestly didn’t care. It took me about twenty minutes to get there. I threw a fifty pound note at the driver and ran out without even thanking him.
I buzzed up and was let in, presumably by Jake, and took the stairs two at a time. “672, 673, 674.” I mumbled to myself as I passed the door, finally reaching his flat, 676. I knocked and a guy with brown hair in his mid-twenties opened the door. He was reasonably slim, and he raised a finger to his lips. “She doesn’t know you’re here.” He whispered. I nodded and walked in, finding myself in a small entryway, a door on the left and another on the right. I heard the telly on from the room on the left. Jake led me through the one on the right, and I found myself in a kitchen. Jake frowned at me. “Hey, I know you…you’re in that band, right? My girlfriend is obsessed with you. One Direction, right?”
I smiled, shifting on my feet, wanting to go talk to Scarlett. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“I’ve heard some…interesting things about you.”
I nodded. “A lot of them aren’t true.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That may be true, but if you lay a finger on her, I’ll have your head, and that’s a promise. Don’t you dare take advantage of her. I don’t care who you are, if you hurt my sister, I’m not going to promise that I won’t hurt you.” I gulped. Something about the big brother act was actually scaring me.
“I won’t. Thanks for letting me come see her.”
He grimaced, before nodding and giving me a small smile. “I hope you can cheer her up. She’s been so sad. This competition meant everything. I can’t believe she didn’t win. She’s such a good—”
Jake was cut off by a voice coming from the living room. “Mufasa, who’s there?”
“It’s just Kevin, Scar. We’ll be leaving in a minute.” I heard her harrumph and mutter, “Kevin’s not even the fit one.” I looked at Jake and raised my eyebrows, a slight smile playing on my lips.
“Mufasa?” I asked with a smirk.
He groaned. “We watch Lion King together a lot, and you know the evil uncle, Scar? Well, since that’s her name, and Scar’s older brother in the movie is Mufasa, she likes to call me that. Anyways, I have to go.” He gave me a slight wave before grabbing his coat and taking his keys off the counter. Before he left, he added, “And I meant what I said, Niall. If you hurt her…” He trailed and look at me once more before leaving. He slammed the door shut and I turned, walking through the sitting room and through the other door.
I found myself in a small room, a dark blue couch in the middle, facing a TV. There wasn’t much else besides that. The walls and carpet were white, and there was a coffee table in the center. I noticed a small hallway leading out of the room, which I assumed led to bedrooms and a bathroom. I saw Scarlett sitting cross-legged in the center of the couch, wearing a tank top and a pair of sweatpants. I could just see the back of her head, her hair tied into a messy bun, but I smiled in spite of myself. My eyes drifted up to the telly to see that she was watching and interview with me and the lads, and my smile grew. I crept over to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Hey, Scar.” I said quietly, and I felt her tense briefly before relaxing and turning around to look up at me. She smiled widely, and I felt something flutter around in my stomach.
She set the bowl that had been in her lap aside and hopped over the couch, throwing her arms around me. “Hey, Ni.” She said, and my stomach did another one of those flip-flops. She’d taken to calling me ‘Ni’ a few nights ago, when we’d gone out for drinks, and I had to admit, I loved the nickname. I returned her hug and released her gently, remembering what Jake had said. I stepped around the couch and sat down. She followed, grabbing the bowl that she’d thrown aside and placing it back in her lap. She looked at the telly, then back and me, and blushed, quickly picking up the remote and changing to cable, where an awful MTV show was running. “Sorry about that.”
I laughed. “Hey, no, it’s all good. How are you?”
She sighed and slumped back into the seat. “Awful. I’m trying not to think about it. I don’t want to go back to uni.” She whimpered slightly and I couldn’t resist slipping an arm around her, pulling her towards me. She rested her head in the crook of my shoulder.
“You don’t have to go back. It’s not the end. You should talk to Simon, when he gets back from America. He’ll be here for the tour.”
“I just…I don’t know, Niall. Maybe I’m not good enough.”
“Shut up about. You’re an amazing singer. Seriously, I think Simon will want to sign you.”
“Could we just…could we not talk about it, Ni? I really don’t want to.” She sighed again and rubbed her eyes. I decided not to press any further, as I really had no desire to have a crying girl on my hands.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Changing the subject, I said, “So I’m ‘not even the fit one’, huh?” I asked, mocking offense, referencing what she’d mumbled earlier about whoever Kevin was.
She laughed. “No, Niall, you are the fit one.”
“Besides Harry, right?” I teased, only half joking, used to Harry one-upping me as far as the ladies were concerned.
She waited for a moment before answering. “Um, actually, no.” She fidgeted with the waistband of her pants. I raised my eyebrows, willing her to go on. She blushed heavily. “Well, I mean, when I first met you, and Harry pulled the newspaper down, right, I saw him, and I thought, well, he’s quite fit. And Lou was alright, as well, but then I looked over at you…” She looked away and I couldn’t hold back my smile.
“You have to tell me the rest now.”
“Okay, you can’t make fun of me for this, but the first thought that went through my mind was, he’s the most attractive person I’ve ever met.” I laughed and tugged on her side lightly, pulling her back towards me. She avoided looking at me, blushing down into her bowl of ice cream, which was almost completely melted.
“Alright. To make it fair, you’re the most attractive person I’ve ever met, too, so you can stop looking so embarrassed.” She laughed lightly and finally looked me right in the eyes, her blue eyes piercing into mine.
“So I guess that means that if we had children, then by that logic, they would be, like, double the attractiveness.” I chuckled and tried not to think about the process by which said children would be conceived, which proved impossible. I attempted to change the subject quickly. “Do you want to maybe change the channel? As much as I love Teen Mom, I feel like I’m getting dumber by the second.”
***
Scarlett’s POV
I yawned and my eyes fluttered open. I found my head on Niall’s chest, his arm wrapped around me, the thumb of his hand slowly rubbing up and down my spine, making me shiver slightly. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but, glancing at the watch on Niall’s left wrist, it was seven o’clock. He had gotten here almost four hours ago, and I didn’t remember doing much at all, so I must have been out for a while. I hadn’t slept at all last night—as soon as I got to Jake’s flat I had sat in front of the telly watching One Direction interviews and eating ice cream. I sat up and stretched, putting a hand up to my hair to make sure it wasn’t completely out of the bun. Satisfied that it wasn’t, I looked over at him and smiled, grateful that he hadn’t left. “Hey, Ni. Sorry about that.”
He grinned back, pulling his arm back to himself. “It’s fine. You look nice when you sleep.”
I blushed a bit. “Thanks. You didn’t have to stay.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “I wasn’t about to leave, Scar. Although it would have been nice if you had at least left the remote over here. I couldn’t get it without moving you, so I’ve been watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta for the past three hours, and frankly, I want to punch something.” I looked at him for a while, a slight smile on my face, and he shifted uncomfortably. “What?” He finally asked.
“It’s just…I don’t think I know anybody that would do that. You know, stay. When they didn’t have to.”
Relief washed over his face. “I liked it. It’s no problem.” I grinned at him and shook my head. “You hungry?”
He groaned and rubbed his stomach. “Always. Scarlett, I am always hungry.” I stood up and walked over to the kitchen, pulling my shirt down as it rode up my stomach. Half of me regretted wearing something so low-cut, and half of me liked the idea of Niall seeing me in it. I shook my head. I was already an awful flirt—adding in the most attractive person in the world, who also happened to be the nicest person I’d ever met, as well as a very low-cut shirt, was just a recipe for disaster. I heard him follow me in and I opened the fridge, cursing Jake for being a vegetarian. He was a health nut, so he had hardly any food that was bad for you, save two pints of ice cream, which I had killed off, and a bag of chocolate chips. I groaned and closed the fridge. “He doesn’t have anything.”
Niall rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he has something, Scar.” He opened the fridge door and stared at what was inside for a moment before closing it and turning to face me with a grimace on his face. “Okay, you’re right. He doesn’t have anything.”
My face lit up. I opened the cupboard and pulled down the bag of chocolate chips. “Do you want to make cookie dough?”
He looked at me strangely. “Scarlett, it’s seven at night, and you’re eighteen years old.”
I poked my tongue out at him. “You know what, blondie? I’m a university student and I’m sad, so I’m going to make cookie dough, and if you’re going to make fun of me, then you can leave.”
He laughed and came over to join me. “Alright, fine. As long as we go get something real to eat after this, because I’m starving.”
I nodded. “Okay, fine. Could you grab a bowl from that cupboard over there?”
***
Niall and I had been in the kitchen for almost an hour when Jake finally got back. I had flour all over my shirt, and he had cookie dough smeared on his nose. I had accidentally cracked an egg on the table, and we hadn’t cleaned it up, so egg yolk and sugar were covering Jake’s precious marble counters. I was blaring The Ramones from my speakers, singing along a bit. When Jake walked in, we were dancing to it, him spinning me around. He walked into the kitchen and tossed his keys on the counter, looking us over before sighing and shaking his head.
“Scarlett, I swear, I can’t even leave you for a few hours.” I blushed and looked over at Niall, who was still holding my hands, as we were in mid-twirl. We exchanged a look, both seeming to realize, and pulled away, him awkwardly clearing his throat. Jake looked over at Niall and rolled his eyes. “I remember explicitly saying not to lay a finger on her, but she looks really happy, so…I’ll let it slide.” He turned to me. “Brooke’s here. It’s our anniversary. She went the other way. I think she’s in my room now. If you could not let her in on the fact that a member of her favorite band is here, that would be great, because she’ll scream, and none of us want that.” He laughed and turned, walking through towards his room. “Clean this up, Scarlett!”
“Whatever you say, Mufasa!” I yelled after him, giggling. I grabbed a sponge and started wiping off the counter, humming as I did so. Niall switched off the music before grabbing a spoon and eating the last bit of cookie dough. “Hey!” I whined, pouting. “I wanted that.”
“Better luck next time.” He laughed and licked the rest of the spoon. When I finished with the counter, I grabbed a napkin and walked over to him. “Hold still.” I said, and he complied. I reached up and wiped the dough off his face, laughing at him. He smirked and raised his eyebrows at me. “Hush.” I added, grinning. We finished cleaning up and headed to the living room. We had just gotten in there when I heard a moan from the other room.
Niall nearly choked on the water he was drinking. I blushed furiously. “Um, Brooke is Jake’s girlfriend.” I sighed and flopped down on the couch, covering my face with a pillow. “She’s…er…very loud, especially in the bedroom area. And they go at it for, like, two hours. And today is their third anniversary, so they’ll probably be doing that all night. Shit. This is really embarrassing. I can’t believe he’s doing this right now. I hate him.”
He pulled the pillow off my face and grinned at my expression. He grabbed my hand and hoisted me up, so we were just centimeters apart, and my heart started beating a bit faster than usual. He started playing with his thumbs a bit. “Um, well, we can—” There was another moan and I felt my cheeks redden even more. He laughed nervously. “Do you want to go out for dinner?”
I nodded. “Yeah, let me just get changed. I don’t know if ‘flour-stained-t-shirt’ is really the image I’m going for, you know?”
He laughed. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just sit in here and listen to your older brother have sex. Take your time.” He sat down on the couch and puts his legs up, smirking at me. If it was possible for me to blush more than I already was, then I did. I ran out of the room and into mine, quickly pulling off my pants and shirt and slipping on some jeans, a sweater, and a pair of blue converse, trying to ignore the moans coming from across the hall. I left my hair how it was. I made a mental note to yell at Jake when I got back and Brooke was gone. Sighing, I pocketed my phone and wallet—yes, I had a wallet, a real leather one that I carried around in my pocket; it wasn’t my most feminine feature—and grabbed the set of keys that Jake had given me, twirling them around my finger. Walking back out into the living room, I found Niall, his head resting on the couch, staring at the ceiling, a smirk on his face. He saw me and stood up, smiling. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.” He extended his elbow, and I took his arm, laughing. “Such a gentleman.” I teased.
He pretended to straighten his nonexistent tie. “What can I say? My mum taught me well.” My thoughts drifted to my own mother, and I tried not to let it get me down. I hadn’t talked to her or my dad since I’d gotten back from Judge’s Houses. I hated not seeing them. I hated that they wouldn’t support me. I hated that they thought I was a mistake.
But despite their lack of enthusiasm for my success (well, I suppose it was more of a failure, now, as I only got second place), I still loved them, and it still hurt. I gave Niall a small smile, and he seemed to notice that something was wrong. He frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when we reached the bottom of the stairs. We stopped in front of the door. “I called management, and they have someone waiting for us, so we don’t get mobbed by fans.” He looked down at our arms, tangled together, and shifted awkwardly. “Um…”
I quickly pulled myself away from him. “We don’t need any more Niallett shippers, eh?”
He smiled a bit and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t mind em’. Oh, there’s Dan. Let’s go.” We walked outside and met a guy dressed in black trousers with a black t-shirt tucked in. He smiled cheerfully at me. “Hello, you must be Scarlett. Niall won’t shut up about you!” Niall blushed and socked his shoulder, muttering something to him. Dan raised his eyebrows. “Apparently I’m embarrassing him. Well, technically, it’s my job to prevent that from happening, at least in front of the media, but I can’t resist a jab every once in a while.” He turned to Niall and laughed at his expression, and I decided that I liked this guy. “I’m assuming we’re heading to Nando’s?”
Niall grinned. “Always, Dan.” We started walking and I fell into step next to Niall, who had Dan on his right and me on his left. Niall and I chatted for a while, ignoring the stares that we got from everyone, before Dan spoke up.
“I’m sorry, but as part of Niall’s management, I have to ask—what is the situation between you two, relationship-wise? Scarlett, we do try to keep out of the lads’, er, romantic relationships, but we need to know for publicity reasons.” I blushed and looked at Niall, finding him doing the same.
I figured it was best for him to answer rather than me, and eventually he spoke. “We’re just friends, Dan. There are a lot of rumors going around that we’re together, but for right now, we’re just friends.” I wondered about the connotations of ‘for right now’.
As it turns out, I didn’t get much of a chance to think about it, as a couple teenage girls walked up, looking to be about 13 or 14. “Um, hi Niall, can we get a picture?” The older one asked, practically hyperventilating. Niall, obviously used to the request, handed the camera to Dan. Before he snapped the photo, the younger one called me over from behind the camera. “Scarlett, could you, like, get in, too? If that’s not a problem.” I smiled at her and nodded, standing next to her. Niall was between the two girls, and I was on one end. Dan snapped the picture, and the two girls went back to their mum, who gave us a bit of a wave. We continued walking, keeping our heads down, in a lame attempt to keep from being noticed.
“I will never get used to that.” I said. “I don’t know why anyone would want a picture with me.” Niall looked at me and laughed.
“Are you serious? Maybe it’s because you’re talented and you’re pretty. Who wouldn’t want a picture with you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really taken that many.” He looked at me, humming a bit, staying silent. He pulled me around into an alleyway, behind a building, and Dan followed, looking slightly confused. “What are you doing, Ni?” I asked.
“I want a picture with you.”
I laughed. “And it couldn’t wait?”
He shrugged before putting on a fangirl act. “Oh my god, are you Scarlett Cross? Could I please get a picture with you? Please. I, like, love you. You’re so talented. You wouldn’t say no to a cutie like me, would you?”
I giggled. “Of course! What’s your name, cutie?”
“I’m Niall!” He handed his phone to Dan, who was laughing and shaking his head at us. I went to pose with Niall when he surprised me by—literally—sweeping me off my feet, holding me bridal-style. Dan took the picture, and Niall put me down, giving me a wink. As Dan handed back Niall his phone, he muttered, “Just friends, huh?” I ignored the comment and elbowed Niall playfully. “It really couldn’t wait, huh?”
“Well, being such a cute little fan of yours, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again, Scar, and you’re my favorite X Factor contestant. I just had to get a picture.” Dan smirked at us and led us into a restaurant that was only a few doors down from where we’d taken our picture. I saw Niall lick his lips and I laughed.
“I’d heard that Nando’s was your favorite place to eat. I guess it’s true.” He looked down at me and smiled. We were seated in a booth in the corner quickly by a waitress who looked like she was trying not to panic—it probably had something to do with the fact that ‘The Niall Horan’ was there—and started chatting with Dan, who sat across from Niall and I.
***
We hopped into the car that Niall’s management had sent for us, and I absentmindedly leaned on his shoulder and yawned. I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, so I was beat. I felt Niall put an arm around me and I smiled in spite of myself. The driver turned around and looked at us, and Dan gave us a smirk. “Where to, Mr. Horan?”
“Let’s head to my flat.” The driver nodded and turned forward, pulling out onto the street.
“You can just drop me off anywhere and I’ll walk back to Jake’s flat.” I yawned.
Niall pulled me towards him. “You’re going back?”
“Yeah, course.”
“Well, I mean, like, you know, it’ll be awkward, with their anniversary, and stuff, and they’ll be, uh, going at it, and it might be strange for you, and you don’t really have to go back, and—”
“You’re stuttering, Ni. Take a deep breath.”
He grinned at me and took my advice, breathing deeply before starting over. “It will be awkward at Jake’s flat.”
“No shit, Sherlock. What are you trying to say? Skip it with the awkward banter and just say what you’re trying to.”
He laughed and rubbed my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but grin into his chest, where my head was now resting. “You see right through me. What I’m trying to do is invite you over to my flat, but I’m doing a shit job of it, aren’t I.”
“Yeah, you were doing pretty badly.”
“So?”
“So what?” I glanced up to see him looking expectantly at me, a nervous smile on his face. “Oh. Well…yeah, sure. Why not?”
He yelled a triumphant “Yes!” and pumped his fist in the air, making me laugh and Dan turn around, his eyebrows raised. “So you’ll be going back with Niall, then, Scarlett?” I nodded shyly and Dan turned back and chuckled, muttering something about ‘kids these days’. Niall gave me a look and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making me slap his chest lightly and sit up, stretching my arms. He gave me a pouty face as I pulled away from him.
I groaned. “Don’t give me those eyes, Ni.” He only pouted further, his ice blue eyes sending shocks into mine, making my stomach turn over. I sighed, leaning back into him and I saw his gaze soften and a smile play on his lips. He put his arm back around me, rubbing circles on the side of my chest through my sweater. My heart fluttered and I tried to stop myself from shaking as we rode the last two minutes to Niall’s flat. We pulled up in the back of a building, and Niall looked around to make sure that there weren’t any people around before stepping out and offering a hand to help me. I smiled and took it, letting him assist me in stepping out of the car. I thanked the driver and Dan, who raised his eyebrows and gave me a quick wink before saying his goodbyes. Niall unlocked the back door and we walked into a swanky lobby, coming in through a maintenance door. It had modern-looking furniture, mostly red and white, and there was a desk at the front, quite like a hotel. The woman there looked up and smiled at Niall, giving him a cheeky wink that I wasn’t sure I liked. Niall smiled back and we headed over to the lifts. When we were out of sight of the receptionist Niall exhaled deeply. “She does that to all of us lads. It’s quite strange, actually. She’s very…er…suggestive in her flirting.”
“So what you’re trying to say is that she wants to fuck you and she makes it obvious.”
He let out a deep laugh, showing his teeth—I had to admit, I actually found the braces kind of hot—and clutching his stomach. “Yeah, something like that.”
I grinned. “So, do you lads, like, live in the same flat, or what?”
“Just in the same building. None of us room together anymore. Danielle and Liam are together, Zayn and Perrie are, when Perrie’s around, Louis and El are, when she’s on holiday and sometimes on the weekends, and Harry and I are both alone. We all have keys to each other’s rooms, though, and we really just walk in whenever we please.” The lift finally came and we climbed in.
I didn’t want to pry too much into their personal lives, but I couldn’t help but wonder something. “Ni?” I asked, tentatively. He looked at me and smiled, urging me to go on. “What if you walk in on…something you don’t want to see? Or someone walks in on you?”
He laughed again, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “By ‘something you don’t want to see’ I’m assuming you mean having sex.” I blushed and nodded. “Well, it’s a bit different depending on the person. Danielle and Li usually keep it to the bedroom, so if you walk in and hear something, you can just leave. I never visit Lou without texting first whenever Eleanor’s off uni, because they don’t see each other that much, so when they’re together, I don’t risk going over there without warning.” We reached Niall’s floor—47, I noted; it must have an amazing view—and he kept talking. “Zayn and Perrie are the same. When they’re together, I text first. I have no problem making it awkward for the lads, but Dani, El, and Perrie would be pretty embarrassed if we walk in on them. And as for Harry…” He pulled his key out of his pocket and fumbled with the lock on the door. There were only three flats on this floor—47A, 47B, and the one Niall had, 47C. “Well, I’ve caught Harry in the act plenty of times. He’ll do it in the kitchen or the living room, so you walk in, and they’re right there. You never know when he’ll have a girl over, so you just get used to it. Usually you just laugh at them and leave.”
I smiled, imagining a scenario like that. Niall had unlocked the door, but hadn’t opened it yet, so we were having a conversation right in the hallway. I was itching to ask one last thing. “Have you been walked in on by one of the guys?” I realized right after it came out of my mouth that I might have gone a bit far, so I hastily added, “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
He laughed quietly and looked at me strangely for a moment. “No, I’ve never been caught in the act. But…I don’t really take girls home at all.”
A smirk played on my lips. “You say this as you take a girl back to your flat.”
“You’re the first in a while.”
“I’m honored.” He grinned and finally opened the door, leading me into a spacious living area. There was a closet directly to the left to hang up coats, and a few pairs of shoes kicked lazily next to the door. The walls were painted white, and furnishings seemed to be mostly reds and oranges. There was a huge picture window at the other end of the wall, and there were hundreds of little multicolored lights twinkling below. There were four guitars over in the corner, tucked away, and a couple couches in front of a telly that was mounted on the wall. To the left, it branched into a kitchen; on the right, a small hallway which probably led to his bedroom. “Wow.” I managed to say after a while.
He took of his shoes and jacket and walked towards the kitchen, throwing his keys on the counter. He smiled at me. “Like it?”
“It’s just…” I stood at the entrance, still taking it all in. “I mean, I’m a university student, who’s used to a tiny dorm with a roommate, and for the past 10 weeks I’ve been living in a cramped hotel room. It just seems really big.”
He nodded. “We got back from tour a month ago. I’ve been living on a bus for the past eight months, and I wanted somewhere I could stretch out. We all decided that this was a good place and booked up flats on this floor and the one above.” I’d read about the tour online. I couldn’t even imagine being away from home for that long.
“What are you doing in London, then?” That was the one thing I couldn’t manage to find out about them. It wasn’t in any of the tabloids, and I hadn’t talked to one of them about it yet.
“Well, when we got back, we got three weeks break. I went back to Ireland. Now, we’re just starting to work on our third album. We do concerts here from time to time, too. I live here now.”
“Your life is insane.” He laughed and walked over to where I was still standing and grabbed my arm, pulling me into the kitchen.
“Do you want something to drink?”
Notes
OKAY SO JUST SO YA KNOW I REPOSTED THIS CHAPTER BECAUSE IT WAS SHIT AND IT'S LESS SHIT NOWSO YEAH
~bai
