Safe Haven

Everyone has had friends that they thought they would keep forever. That one girl that you’ve known since preschool and had playdates together for years, but by fifth grade you’re worst enemies. The boy you were best friends with in elementary school but who drifted away in middle school when things began to get awkward. The friends that abandoned you in the summer between middle and high school. The people who took the wrong path in high school…. The list goes on and on. Luckily for me and Savannah, we had survived all of that, and our bond is like one between sisters.

Sure we’ve had our trying times…I didn’t speak to her for weeks after my parents got divorced, but not a day went by where she wouldn’t call me 10,000 times or just show up at my doorstep only to be told I didn’t want to see her. And there was one time when she lied to me about some guy she was seeing…. But other than that, all of our arguments were over unimportant things and were usually laughed about just minutes after they began. Although we rarely say this out loud, we really do love each other and I couldn’t imagine my life without her. She’s the only person I truly trust besides my mom (although, to be honest, me and my bed have a pretty close bond as well).

Since I woke up earlier than I had intended to, and I didn’t have class on Tuesdays, I laced up my running shoes and hit the pavement. I’ve grown so used to this city that I forgot I was in New York and not Florida. It’s only late August, but it’s already in the mid-sixties (which is cold for us Floridians). The chilly air whipped against my skin, and burned my lungs with every breath. It’s the best feeling in the world for me; I love it so much that in the midst of my runner’s high, I had gotten lost on the running trail. I was now on a completely different path than I had started out on in the wooded area behind the college campus. Just my luck.

As I turned up my headphones, I noticed I was approaching a fork in the road; which means that I had a decision to make: left or right? Eeny, meeny, miney, moe….without a second thought I turned down the right path, which actually turned out to be the wrong one. Just as I made the turn, someone else came thundering down the trail from the opposite direction and crashed right into me. In an instant, I was knocked off of my feet and fell backwards, scraping my arm on a fallen branch. For a moment I couldn’t move. The ground was spinning and I couldn’t breathe, but I heard someone calling my name….

“Autumn?” they sounded so far away….

“Autumn, are you okay? Jesus, you scared me I didn’t see you. Can you get up?”

I managed to prop myself up on my elbows and looked up, coming face to face with Niall. All of a sudden I started laughing uncontrollably, it was such a coincidence I just couldn’t control myself. Really? Of all people to see in the middle of the woods at seven in the morning it had to be him.

“Autumn, what the hell? Did ya hit yer head or somethin?” he looked worried at first, but when I kept laughing, he couldn’t help but go along with it. Soon enough we were both on the ground, and we laid there side by side until our laughter died out.

“I guess it was my turn to run into you, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess so. Help me up?” I reached up with both hands, but he only needed one arm to pull me up. Wow.

“Wow, what?” ohmygosh did I say that out loud?! Just pretend it didn’t happen.

“Oh. Um, nothing. Thanks. Do you, by any chance, know the way out of here?”
“Lucky for you, I do. Tour guide Niall on duty!” with a smile, he hooked his arm around mine so that we could walk together, but when I tried to take a step, my knee buckled and I winced. I looked down at my leg and realized that I must have banged it on my way down because I had a huge bruise and a scrape on my left shin and thigh.

“Niall, I don’t think I can walk. Maybe we should call someone…I’m sure Harry can come find me and-” the pain suddenly grew more intense and I tried my best not to cry.

“Nonsense! I can handle this,” he kneeled on the ground. Is he proposing? “Well what’re ya waitin for? Climb on my back, I can carry you. It’s not that far.”

“Um…I’m not so sure about this. Are you sure you don’t want me to-”

“No. Nobody knows these trails better than I do.” He didn’t leave much room for an argument so I just decided to go with it. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt….

“O-okay.” I walked - or rather, limped - to the other side of him and wrapped my arms around his neck and shoulders. I could feel the muscles in his back and chest as he grabbed my legs and hoisted me up. It felt awkward at first, mostly because I was hyper-aware of my body weight on his back; but eventually I was comfortable enough to even rest my head on his shoulders.

He entertained me the whole way back, telling me stories about his life back in Mullingar. The funniest stories were of him and Greg or him and his childhood schoolmates…his life seemed so interesting compared mine. The only thing interesting about me is that my father is a filmmaker/producer, but people have forgotten about me and my mom since they got their divorce. His whole face lit up when he knew he was saying something that would make me laugh; and sometimes he laughed so hard that he wasn’t even able to finish his story. He makes my heart flutter….

Twenty minutes later, we had finally reached my dorm.

“Thank you so much, Niall! Sorry if I was a burden.”

“S’alright! It was kind of fun. Maybe we should run together next time, to avoid collisions,” he joked.

“Haha, I’ll let you know the next time I decide to get lost on the trail. But, anyway, I’m going to go put some ice on this,” I motioned to my left thigh, which now had a large, swollen purple bruise. As I reached for the doorknob, I remembered that Kelsey and I didn’t have a freezer in our room, only a mini fridge. Which meant that I had no ice. “Crap.” I sighed and looked up at Niall’s red cheeks. “I don’t have any ice.” I could have gone downstairs to the machine, but I was really just too lazy to.

“I have some in my refrigerator, wanna go get some?” I nodded and climbed back onto Niall’s back. When we got to his room, there was a ‘Do Not Disturb’ note on the door and he let out a sigh, opening the door anyway and motioning for me to follow. Surprisingly, his room wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be, apart from the trail of clothes leading from one of the beds to the shower. Gross. After grabbing a bag of ice and an ice pack, he handed it to me and stared at me for a long time.

“…what?” it was really starting to weird me out, because he kept fidgeting and opening his mouth, but not saying anything.

“Can I, um…would you mind if I showered at your place? Mine’s kind of occupied at the moment, as you can probably tell.” Really? He was nervous about that?

“Well normally I’d say no, but since you carried me two miles to my dorm I guess I’ll make an exception,” I mocked. He quickly thanked me and proceeded to pick out a clean outfit and all of his showering necessities. By the time we got back I was exhausted, even though I hadn’t been the one carrying someone else on their shoulders, and I settled onto my bed with my ice packs while he got into the shower.

Not knowing what to do with myself, I picked up my laptop and logged onto Tumblr. As I browsed through my feed and giggled at funny text posts, I heard Niall singing in the shower.

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream The worst things in life come free to us
I know they say that everyone sings better in the shower…but I’m pretty sure no one ever sounds *that* good. He has the voice of an angel…maybe it was the song he was singing or maybe it was just the perfection of every note, but I was getting a bit emotional. Just before I made myself start to cry, I heard the water turn off and someone knock on the door a few seconds later. Kelsey must have forgotten her key. Again.

“Coming!” luckily the ice had numbed my leg a bit, so it was easier to walk…well, limp to the door. Apparently, though, I wasn’t limping fast enough, because she knocked again. Louder this time. “I said I was coming!” Okay, Autumn. You can do this…halfway there….

I opened the door and began to speak, “You should be more patient, Kelsey! As you can see I’m crippled and I-“ looking up, I realized that it was not my roommate standing in front of me, but my childhood best friend. I screamed so loud I probably disturbed the entire building, but I was too excited to care. “Savannah, what are you doing here?!” I shouted, dragging her inside.

“Hey, are you okay?! Did you fall again? What’s all the ruckus?” I had completely forgotten that Niall was in my bathroom. He hurriedly opened the door and ran out towards me, stopping in his tracks when he saw me standing there with Savannah, eyes wide.

It was literally like a scene from a movie: I swear time stood still for a moment when he came out. He stood in front of the bathroom, feet shoulder-width apart and one hand clutching a towel that barely covered anything around his waist. Steam poured out from the door, surrounding him and blocking out the background. His hair was still dripping wet, and his slightly toned abdomen glistened in the light. I just stood there gawking at him.

“Uh…who’s this?” he motioned towards Savannah.

“Um. She’s…I lived in Florida, and um. What was the question?” I was flustered and could tell I had probably made myself look like a fool in front of him. I can’t even form a complete sentence in front of him!

“Sorry, she gets like that when she’s…nervous. Hi, I’m Savannah, her best friend!” she reached out awkwardly to shake his hand, but considering his towel was barely holding on, decided against it and waved instead.

“Niall.” He replied, nodding. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go put some clothes on. I think I caught Autumn off guard,” he winked and went back into the bathroom, smirking the whole time.

“Ohmygosh Savvy it’s not what it looks like! I swear!” as soon as the door closed, I was suddenly capable of speech once again.

“I leave you for two weeks and you’re already inviting random foreign boys into your dorm for casual showering?!” she joked and walked over to my bed.

“Like I said, it’s not what it looks like. We’re just project partners,” she raised her eyebrows and gave me ‘the look’, but I ignored her. “Clearly, now is not the time to explain, so we’ll discuss it later. Now, how did you get here? What are you doing here? I need to take you out for an adventure in the city!”

“Hold your horses, missy! Your mom gave me a plane ticket to come see you as a graduation present! I was going to wait until your birthday to visit, but I just couldn’t wait to surprise you!”

“That sounds just like Linda.” I said, laughing. “We have a LOT of catching up to do.”

After a minute or two of chitchatting, Niall re-entered, fully clothed of course, and cleared his throat. “Well, I guess I’ll head out and leave you two to catch up.” He stood a few steps away from my bed, shifting uncomfortably.

“Oh, right. Yeah, of course. I mean, you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to I’m sure Savannah won’t mind, right?” I looked over at her and she smiled, nodding her head.

“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to intrude. Besides, I have to work tonight, so I should get some stuff done before then.”

“Oh. Well thanks so much again for saving my life, even though I got hurt in the process,” I gave him a weak smile.

“No problem, love.” He walked over to me, leaned down, and planted a kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and inhaled strong but refreshing scent of cologne and body wash. “See ya later. And bye, new girl!” A few seconds later he was out the door.

Savannah turned towards me with her mouth gaping, “We REALLY have a lot to catch up on!”

Notes