Motel 6 // n.h

[5] Lakepoint View

Avery Holmes

In the morning, I was awaken by a sudden pain in my back. I groaned, sitting up, the memories flooding back to me. That awful night, stumbling across this Motel 6, and Niall. It was crazy to think that all of those things happened in the last 48 hours, but they did.

I looked up to see a tiny foot dangling off of the bed that I had been kicked out of. Aimee was always restless in her sleep, and it was dumb of me to think that sharing a bed with her was remotely possible. I chuckled, shaking my head and getting up.

"Good morning." Aimee smiled, showing her teeth. She was hunched over with some cheese puffs on the bed, her cheeks filled with them. I sighed and rolled my eyes, scooping her into my arms and holding her tight. "I a chipmunk!"

I nodded. "That you are, baby girl." I chuckled. "Did you sleep okay? Because mommy didn't."

She frowned. "Sorry." She said, playing with her fingers. "But I sleep good! In a big girl bed." Aimee patted her bed, which was probably filled with crumbs from the cheese puffs that she just had- for breakfast. Some days I felt like such a shitty mom for not being strict.

"Well, how about we get you dressed for the day. We'll do something fun, okay?" I said. Aimee nods and jumps down from the bed and over to her little suitcase. Some days I let her try and pick out her own outfit, although most times I had to alter her decisions because she still didn't know what matching and clashing were.

"This one." She pulls out a pink shirt with Minnie Mouse on it, her new favorite. Every day, Aimee always asked to wear her special Minnie shirt. And since I knew she needed some cheering up, I gave in and let her wear it, picking out some jeans and socks for her.

"Now what day is it today, Aim?" I asked her. She frowned, slipping her shirt over her head. I pulled out two undies for her, one blue one that said Monday and a green one that said Tuesday. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as I watched her face, frozen in concentration.

"Blue undies day?" Aimee guessed. I smiled and clapped for her, handing them to her. Each day I tried to teach her new things, which normally would be forgotten quickly because she had the attention span of a goldfish, but it was still a good try.

After we had gotten through getting Aimee ready, I threw on some jeans and a hoodie, quickly doing my hair and makeup while Aimee sat in front of the television and watched an old rerun of Spongebob Squarepants.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and my eyebrows shot up. Could it be Niall? Did he really care enough that he wanted to see me again? After all, he barely knew anything about me up until last night- where we may or may not have accidentally stayed up talking 'till two in the morning.

They say time flies when you're having fun.

I opened the door just a little so that he couldn't really see inside the room, because it was messy and especially because there was only one bed. And I was supposed to be here with my 'parents', so it would be pretty stupid if I let him see our room and try and say we all shared a bed.

In the doorway stood Niall, his hair not peaked at an angle today, the same giddy smile plastered on his face. He had on light wash jeans and football jersey type jacket on.

"Hey, Avery!" He greeted me, pulling my body in for a hug. I smiled and hugged him back.

"It's been a while." I joked, smirking at him. He laughed and stuffed his hand in his pocket, pulling out a flyer. On the top in big, bold letters, I read:

Lakepoint View- canoing, swimming, fishing!

"I saw this ad in the lobby today." He began, looking up at me. "And I thought, you know, as long as you consider me a friend that you'd wanna hang out with, we could take Aimee there. If that's okay with your parents."