I Cannot Hide This Even Though I Try ~ A COMPLETED One Direction Fanfic

20 - Endings and New Beginnings

“Are we there yet?”

“Don’t you even start with me, Niall James Horan,” I teasingly snap at him. “And yes, yes we are,” I add as I finish parking the car. I make my way out of the vehicle and around to his door to help him out.

“Can I take this off yet?”

“No, Nialler, not yet,” I sigh. I take him by the hand and lead him down to the water. “Sit here and don’t move,” I command, helping him to take a seat. I run back to the car and open the boot, where I have everything we’ll need for the day. I grab the picnic basket and blanket, and run back to where Niall is waiting impatiently.

“So… Hungry…” he complains.

I hurry to put down the blanket so that we can be more comfortable, and then I set out the food as quietly as possible. “You’ll have food soon, love,” I promise.

Niall takes in a deep breath. “What is that?”

I chuckle softly at the power of my boyfriend’s sense of smell. I put down the last of the food, stand up, and untie his blindfold. “It’s lunch.”

“Food! So much food!” he shouts ecstatically. He moves so that he’s seated upon the blanket, and I take a seat next to him.

We spend the next half hour or so eating the sandwiches and snacks that Maura prepared for us. After this, Niall realizes where we are finally. “Really, Li? A lake?”

“I thought you might want to swim later. It is getting warm out, after all,” I explain. “And before you ask, yes I brought swim trunks for us both.”

“Are they in the car? Can I go put them on?” Niall asks, jumping up from his spot on the blanket.

“Yes and yes. Yours are in the back seat for you already,” I tell him. While he changes, I clean up the remains of our lunch. As he’s walking back, I’m heading towards the car to put everything away. Unlike Niall, I knew we would be at the lake, so I’m already wearing my swimming shorts.

“LEEYUM!” he shouts.

I hurry back to the water and look around for the Irish lad. “Nialler?” I call out. Just then, I notice the small bubbles rising to the surface of the water, so I decide to check for him there.

Niall pops up right in front of me, splashing me. “Did you see how long I was under for?”

“Yeah, I did,” I say. “You were down there so long, I was starting to worry about you.”

A pair of arms wraps around me and pulls me in for a wet hug. “You don’t have to worry about me, love. I’m right here and I’m perfectly fine,” he murmurs against my chest.

“Well in that case,” I begin. “I ought to get you back for scaring me that way.” I lift my boyfriend up, holding him the way a groom holds a bride, and then I toss him back into the water.

We continue play fighting both in the water and on land until the sky is turning red. We get out of the water for the last time, and wrap up in the towels I brought for us, and then we head up to the car to change into dry clothes. We hurry to change, so we can go back down to the picnic blanket to watch the sunset. I tell Niall to go ahead, telling him that I forgot something in the car, before taking something out of the glove compartment and slipping it into my pocket.

“This day has been amazing,” Niall tells me after I join him in the blanket. “Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend our 3rd anniversary.”

“I’m glad you liked it, Nialler. I wanted to make it special for you,” I say.

“Thank you for a perfect day, LiLi.”

I smile to myself, thinking about the surprises still in store for the man sitting next to me. “You’re welcome, Ni.”

While Niall is busy staring in awe at the beautiful sunset, I find that I can’t take my eyes off of him. The way the last rays of sunlight make it look like he’s glowing, the way his hair has become mussed up from a combination of wind and water, the way her eyes shine brighter than the water we had spent the day in… Everything about him amazes me, which is why I planned our day the way I did.

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything this beautiful,” Niall murmurs.

“Me either,” I coo, though I’m paying no attention whatsoever to the setting sun.

Niall turns to look me in the eyes and smile at me, which makes my heart flutter. “You’re not even looking,” he points out.

“I don’t need to look,” I tell him. “No sunset could ever compare to how incredible you are.”

Niall’s grin widens and his eyes begin to glimmer with tears of joy, which I know I’ve brought to him. After a few more moments of unbroken eye contact, Niall’s natural curiosity has him looking at everything around him, which is when he notices it. “What are you doing?” he suddenly asks.

“Niall,” I begin, cherishing this moment. “I have loved you for most of the past five years, and been in love with you for the past three. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, and you have become my everything. I can honestly say that I can’t imagine my future without you being there, so I want to ensure that you’ll be by my side for the rest of my life. I want nothing more in life than for you to be the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night. I love you more than life itself, Niall James Horan. Will you marry me?”

The fading summer sun is still bright enough for me to see the tears flowing freely down Niall’s cheeks. It’s also bright enough to make the ring inside the little green box sparkle as I open it for him.

Niall timidly reaches out and strokes the small band of white gold, clearly torn between staring at it and staring at me. He finally focuses his gaze up at me, and smiles through the tears. He opens and closes his mouth several times, almost like a fish, before he finally answers my question: “Of course I will, you idiot.”