“Niall, I’m tired. I’ve worked fifteen days straight. I want to sleep.” Erin sighed, heading towards the problem with me trailing after her. My mind was going frantic. I didn’t want to be a dick but she had to get out of the house.

“Come on! I’ve book a table and everything.”

“Just cancel it then.” She yawned loudly, throwing herself on the bed, grabbing a pillow and attempting to curl up in a ball, but I snatched the pillows from her. “What is your fucking problem Niall?!” I flinched at her tone. It was hard to make Erin angry but denying her sleep was definitely the way to go. “I’m sleeping. Get out.”

“No.”

“You’re such a child! You can’t have what you want all the god damn time!” She stood up throwing her arms about. “I work long hours and I’ve been doing over time so that they’d let me leave early to work at your practice!”

“It’s your-“

“You bought it for me! I’ve had to work all the hours under the sun in order to leave AND in able me to have some sort of break.” She sighed, pulling her hair out of her ponytail and brushing her fingers through it. She rubbed her eyes before playing with her fingers, trying to calm herself down. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“It’s okay. I’ll leave you alone. I get it.” My shoulders slumped and I went to walk out of the room but she quickly interlaced our fingers to prevent me from walking out of the door. I raised an eyebrow at her, not really sure what she wanted.

“How about we nap? Let me get a few hours kip and then we can go out, okay?”

“And I’ll let you sleep in tomorrow.” I grinned at her, gently pressing my lips to hers as we settled on our compromise.

“You’re too good for me Niall.” But before I could argue with her like I usually do, I heard the change in her breathing and knew that she’d already fallen asleep. It didn’t take me long to drift off too although I set an alarm so we wouldn’t be late. I watched her face as I fell asleep, desperately hoping that she’d say yes and sleep next to me forever.

---

I woke with a start as my alarm began to shriek. I quickly turned it off, deciding to give Erin slighter longer in bed. She looked like she needed some more time to herself.

It’s not like we never argued, I mean we did. Every couple has their ups and downs and if anyone ever tells you that they don’t fight, they’re lying (or incredibly weird). It’s perfectly healthy and normal. Although, I can’t stand it when we fight. I feel my chest constrict and I know I shouldn’t get so worked up about things but I can never stop my mouth when I’m in full argumentative mode.

The idea of upsetting her, physically pains me and arguing always upsets her. I always instantly regret it but it’s too late by that point.

I shuffled around in my closet, trying to decide what to wear when I spotted the grey jumper Erin had got for me the previous Christmas. I’m pretty sure she bought it because she loved it and wanted to steal it all the time but I did love it all the same. I quickly threw the jumper on over my head before pulling on my black trousers and boots. I walked around, tidying the house up (I knew she would be calmer if she woke up if the right environment, so to speak) and checking that everything would go to plan for the evening ahead. To say I was nervous, was the biggest understatement of the century.

My hands kept sweating, causing me to wipe them on my jeans every few minutes. It was not an attractive sight and I knew I had to get my shit together before she realised that something was up. Erin had always been an incredibly perceptive person and if I messed this up, I would never forgive myself.

I had one job and god damn, I was gonna do it right!

“Are you ready yet?” I was sitting by the door, playing with my car keys whilst she fussed about with her hair or something. “We’re gonna miss our reservation!” I was becoming increasingly frantic and I could Austin staring at me from the corner of my eye, clearing wondering what I was doing.

I gently scratched behind his ears, making him smile up at me and I decided to have a serious chat with him.

“Okay buddy, we have one shot at this. We’re a team. If one of us messes this up, then it’s game over.” I know this probably sounds dramatic but I knew that not many relationships survive a rejected proposal and I wasn’t prepared to lose Erin; I wouldn’t ever be prepared to lose Erin. “You have one job-LITERALLY one job-so best behaviour tonight.” He licked my face and I took that as a sign of acknowledgment. He got the picture, we were officially good to go.

I quickly patted down my pockets, making sure that I had everything I needed when the door of our bedroom finally opened and my mouth did too.

She was wearing a tight black dress that accentuated her curves. It fell to the middle of her thigh and I gulped slightly, wondering if she knew what she was doing to me. Her hair fell down her back in loose waves and her makeup highlighted her eyes (my favourite feature). She looked breath taking and I knew that next to her, I looked like a tragic mess.

“You’re stunning.” She blushed deeply and shifted in her high heeled boots.

“Can we go?” I knew I was making her uncomfortable as I was just staring at her but sometimes I had to pinch myself to realise that none of this was a dream. I actually had her. She was my everything and I was hers. It felt surreal.

“Hop in the car love.”

---

“Are you enjoying your food?” I’d taken her to one of her favourite Italian restaurants and she jumped up and down like an excited child as soon as she saw the place.

“Of course I am! How can you not enjoy spaghetti carbonara?!” She pulled a funny face at my silly question and continued to eat. She was trying to be delicate with her food but I knew that deep inside she wanted to shove her face into the dish. “Do you think that it would be odd to ask for more cheese?” They’d already sprinkled some on top however they clearly weren’t aware of Erin’s intense obsession with cheese. Sometimes I’d wake up and walk into the kitchen to see her cutting herself a few slices because she was peckish. I’ve never met anyone who gets hungry in their sleep before. She was lucky I found her cute as I swear she could eat me out of house and home one day.

I stared at her as she sipped on her red wine and I shook my head at her slightly disgusted face. “Why did you even order that? You know you don’t like red wine. You drink either rose or white wine spritzers.” She raised an eyebrow at me, slightly annoyed that I was pulling her up on her behaviour but this wouldn’t be the first time that she’d randomly ordered red wine.

“That woman over there-“She nudged her head to the side and I spotted an older woman (probably around fifty) blatantly staring at me-“said that you could better. She said I wasn’t classy enough for you.” I unattractively snorted and attempted to cover it up with a cough but one glance at Erin, told me that I’d not done a very convincing job.

“When did she say that?”

“When I went to the bathroom.”

“Wait, let me get this straight. You though that ordering red wine would completely change one stupid woman’s opinion of you?” I raised a single eyebrow at her, smirking slightly and waiting patiently for her response.

“Well yeah.” She mumbled her answer so quietly that I instantly started laughing at the idiocy of her statement. She really cracked me up sometimes. “You don’t have to laugh so loud.” She frowned deeply but this only made me worse. “Niall! You’re causing a scene!” I gulped down some water, eventually managing to quiet myself whilst she scolded me. “If I knew this was ‘laugh at Erin day’ I wouldn’t have come.”

“Oh cupcake, that’s every day.” She kicked me, hard, underneath the table and I squeaked loudly. A few heads turned in my direction and I could feel my cheeks burning as a result of it all.

“I can still beat you up you know.” She smiled at me and I shook my head, continuing with the meal, knowing that she was a thousand percent right.

In little less than half an hour, I’d paid the bill and we were walking along the street hand in hand. Once we’d got to the car, I opened the door for her before swiftly jumping in the driver’s side and heading down the road.

“That was certainly an interesting meal, wasn’t it Ni?”

I kept my face fixed on the road but I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was teasing me. I’d managed to spill the dreaded glass of red wine, all day our server and after declaring that I’d pay for his dry cleaning bill, was told that due to my celebrity status, it was fine. I became really uncomfortable and shoved a larger tip on the table declaring that I would pay regardless of my fame and stormed out. I wanted to make a point that I shouldn’t get special treatment because of my job however I just looked like the biggest diva ever.

I was lucky that Erin was laughing to be honest. I had to let the anger go though as I had bigger fish to fry. I pulled up outside the funfair and turned to capture Erin’s lips with my own. She wasn’t expecting it (hence the slight hesitation) and I grinned when she kissed me back, hearing her sigh slightly against my mouth when my tongue caressed hers. I pulled away, taking off my seatbelt and helping her out of the car once more. She looked confused.

“Why are we at a funfair?”

“You love funfairs Erin.” I reminded her. I could see the glint in her eyes. I knew that she was thinking about candyfloss, dodgems and teacup rides and I smiled when she turned and hugged me.

“Did I tell you that I loved you today?”

“You’ve told me eight times today sweetheart.”

“Well I few more times won’t hurt.” She winked at me, biting her lip and pinning me against the hood of the car. My hands clung to her waist as she pressed her lips to mine once more. I traced circles on the fabric of her dress and her sigh quickly turned into a moan, making me clutch her harder. She gasped as I kissed her neck, the smell of her overwhelming my senses. All I could breathe was Erin and I found myself wishing that life could always be like this. She pulled away from me slowly, resting her forward against mine, waiting for her heart rate to slow down. She opened her eyes carefully, studying my expression and the cheeky boy in me couldn’t help but ruin the moment.

“We can’t bang in the car park you know.” She slapped me on the arm causing me to burst out laughing, pulling me along with her and into the park.

So I like some rides. I’m a picky man to be quite frank. I hate teacups rides and twister rides, basically I hate everything that spins but I wanted this to be the perfect day for her and so I went on the stupid rides.

I SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE ON THEM.

“Are you okay Ni?” I hurled into the bin, my hands trembling as I tried to stop Erin from coming closer. “Come on.”

“I look disgusting.” I protested but she swatted my hands away, rubbing my back gently and playing with my hair as I came to grips with everything.

“I deal with animals for a living doll face.” She pinched my cheeks and I laughed. I was all done now and I turned to her. She had a small smile on her face. “Do you know how grim animals can be?” I shook my head, acting like a complete child. “They shit everywhere Ni.” I burst out laughing and she smiled triumphantly, clearly pleased that she’d managed to make me smile again. “Come on we’re going home. I’ll drive.”

I shook my head. “You’re not allowed to drive my car, remember.”

“Niall!” She groaned loudly. “I scratched it one time! And it wasn’t even my fault!”

“You stick to your car and I’ll stick to mine, thank you very much.” She crossed her arms in defeat knowing that she wouldn’t win this one. There was only one thing I denied Erin and that was my car. I loved my car and don’t get me wrong, I loved Erin more but Erin wasn’t exactly the safest driver. The only time she’d ever been safe was when Harry accidentally ran over a fox and nearly started crying. She’d picked them up and driven them to the vets with more care than she’d ever shown before.

“Okay fine. Let’s just chill before we leave then. I want to make sure that you’re okay to drive.” I rolled my eyes, hating how sensible she was being but I knew she was right. The night was quickly becoming dead though so I decided to up the fun factor once more.

I WANTED HER TO SAY YES, OKAY?!

“How about I win you a stuffed animal? You’ve always wanted one of those.”

“Yeah and so far, you’ve never been able to get me one.” Now this was true. Every time we’d see a machine, I’d give it a go and I’d never be able to get the hang of it. For a start, they were rigged. They were designed that way in order to steal all your money and boy, when it came to me, they stole a bucket load (probably more).

“I have a good feeling about tonight. Let me give it a whirl.”

“Well as long as you don’t hurl, then I don’t mind.” I shoved her, making her laugh and walked over to the machine, mumbling about how shitty her rhyming was and telling her that she wasn’t as clever as she thought she was.

“So is your strategy to just drop them every time?” She asked, after I’d dropped like the tenth one.

“Oh for fuck sake. This is so rigged!” I cursed loudly and shook the machine a little. A few people looked at me but I was too busy panicking. I had to win her something. I’d already thrown up on her shoes, had an argument in the restaurant and insulted her driving skills. I needed this one in the bag and it just wasn’t happening.

“Can I help you sir?” Oh great, now I was going to get us kicked out of the stupid funfair.

“No we’re good thank you. He just has some anger issues that he needs to work on.” Erin smiled sweetly at the worker and he blatantly checked her out. He caught my death glare however and swiftly backed away from us.

“Tonight is not going as planned.”

“There was a plan involved?”

“Like half a plan-“I stopped mid-sentence as I noticed a few girls start to walk over to us. I sighed but took photos and quickly signed a few items for them. I tried to walk us over to the exit but another group of girls swarmed us and before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by hormonal teenage girls.

I lost Erin pretty quickly and I started to panic. She hated crowds and this was a full on mob. What was I thinking bringing us to a funfair? I started to gently push my way through the crowd (if that was even a thing) and eventually made it to the exit. Security had arrived and were controlling the crowd but all I could focus on was Erin. She was sat in the car, hugging her legs to her chest and I knew that face from a mile away.

I’d reduced her to a panic attack.

---

I opened the front door for her and watched her walk inside. She quickly took her shoes off and headed towards our bedroom. At this point, I just wanted to call it a day. The whole evening had been ruined thanks to me and I would just have to ask her another day or something like that. I heard her scream and I ran into our bedroom, my face contorted in fear.

Austin was choking, quite severally, and Erin was administrating the Heimlich manoeuvre to him. I stared around the room in shock wondering what the hell was happening. Ribbon had been shredded around the entire room and a chewed up velvet box had been ripped to shreds on our bed. It was then that I remembered Austin’s part in this whole plan.

I’d tied the ring around his collar. I’d done it carefully, securely and safely but he was a menace and could not be trusted with important jobs like this (clearly).

I’d nearly killed our dog whilst trying to be romantic.

She’d never marry me.

A loud gagging noise filled the room and suddenly he wretched, the ring springing from his mouth and landing on the floor. Erin checked him over and once he was sure he was alright, her attention turned to the ring.

“What the fuck is that?”

“A ring.” I gulped loudly, internally wincing at my pathetic answer. I had to seriously grow a pair and ask her now. It couldn’t be less ideal.

“Is that what I think it is?” Her face was expressionless and I had no idea what she was thinking.

“Yes it is, but let me finish!” She closed her mouth silently and waited for me to continue. I took a deep breath.

“So this wasn’t how I planned it to be, in the slightest. There was going to be roses and a perfect speech and the dog was going to come running in. You’d squeal and he’d give the ring but I’m a moron and of course plans change.” Her eyes hadn’t left mine and I simply stared at her and knew what I was going to day.

“Ever since you handed me that glass of water, I’ve been yours. Ever since I looked into your eyes and saw the glimmer of innocence and elegance, I knew I’d found you. I never believed in soul mates. I thought the idea was invented to help guys get laid but when I saw your freckles and your smile and I heard your laugh, I knew there was some truth to it. I could be happy every day of my life if I woke up next you. If I could fall asleep every night to the sound of your heart beating and your steady breaths, then I could die happy. You make me happier than I’ve been in my entire life. All I need is you. I want to grow old with you, have children with you, laugh with you and give our insane puppy the best life ever, with you.” She laughed but I could hear the sniffling.

I picked up the ring, wiping it on my jumper and walking over to her. I bent down on one knee and the tears came full pelt then.

“I want you to make me the happiest man in existence. Erin, you’re all I’ve needed. I may have saved you but you saved when I didn’t even know I needed it. You saved me from just trudging through life with no purpose. I want to shower you in all the love that you deserve. I want to fight with you when you’re stubborn, I want to pull you back to bed every morning and above all, I want to make you as deliriously happy as you’ve managed to make me. So Erin Olivia Grace Holland, will you marry me?”

Silence filled our entire apartment and I could hear my own heart beating. I was trying to fight the urge to run from the room and say that I was joking. I was so scared that she’d reject me.

Her knees gave way and she knelt on the floor, her face now parallel with mine.

“Yes.”

“What?!”

“A thousand times yes!” I pulled her to me in a tight embrace and Austin started barking, wondering what all the commotion was about. To be fair, he nearly died and we were paying him no attention.

“You mean it?” I asked her, pulling away slightly. She crushed her lips to mine and we fell in a heap on the floor. She ended up pulling away to shove Austin off of her. We were laughing loudly and I had the biggest grin on my face.

I gently took her hand, slipping the ring on her finger before kissing the back of her palm. “You can’t get rid of me now cupcake.” I said, brushing the rest of the tears away with my fingers.

“I wouldn’t even if I could. I love you Niall. You’re a fruit loop but I’m irrevocably in love with you.”

Notes