What A Time

Chapter 24

Niall's POV:

I can't believe we found a solution so that we can see each other and not have to spend more time without each other. I still feel a little guilty because Sarah has to give up a lot. I know she said she didn't like her studies anyway, but I'm just incredibly grateful that she's doing this for me. That she is doing this for us. That really can't be taken for granted. I have to think of something so that I can make her happy in return. After all, it's give and take in a relationship.

But now I had to concentrate on the tour again. I've already put enough on the line in the last few days because I left Amsterdam unscheduled. My team wasn't really angry, but when I came to the sound check, everyone seemed a bit tense. Lewis came up to me first and I told him what had happened. He was surprised, of course, but also happy for me.

"Will you both please come for a drink when we have free time?" , he asked.

"After what happened last time, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Oh, come on."

"I'll ask Sarah. She must be okay with that."

The sound check went well and I was looking forward to the concert. It would be best if Sarah were there, but of course I can understand if she wants to spend the last few days with her loved ones. I'm just looking forward to having her back. I just have the feeling that we have grown even stronger together after our fight. Of course, it wasn't easy for either of us, but in the end everything worked out for the best.

The concert went really well. Everyone was in a good mood and the atmosphere was incredible. Lewis and I decided to sing the song 'Teenage Dream' by Katy. We didn't really rehearse it, but apart from Lewis forgetting to use it at one point, I think it went well. I asked my photographer to take a video of it so I could send it to Sarah.

"This is beautiful. Thanks Ni. Can't wait to hear you live." ,she wrote.

Sarah's POV:

Only a few more days until the adventure began. I didn't really have a plan of what it was going to be like, but I was really looking forward to it and was totally excited. I was especially looking forward to seeing all the countries and of course spending time with Niall. Just deciding that I was going with him was kind of liberating and made me totally happy.

Before I got on the train to go to the last concert here in Germany, it was time to say goodbye. In the last few days, I already said goodbye to my flatmates and my other friends here in Germany. I told them all that they absolutely had to come and see me in London when I got back from the tour. 

Maybe that was a bit rash, because I have to look for a flat there first. I don't want to burden Ema all the time when I'm with her and I also don't want to move in with Niall directly. Of course it would be wonderful to be with him all the time, but somehow I think I need something of my own.

My parents were probably still not 100 per cent happy with my decision, but they didn't let on. But I am 21 years old and therefore an adult. So I can do whatever I want. Of course, it would be nicer to know that my parents are completely supportive, but at least their reactions weren't as bad as I thought.

So I said goodbye to my brother, my father and my mother. Somehow the situation reminds me of the day I flew to London. But now I would not only be away for four months and that is somehow hard to realise.

"Bye Sarah. Please always take care of yourself. You can always come home if you don't like it. I hope you don't take our reaction to your decision too badly. It's just hard to see my daughter standing on her own two feet and making her own decisions. To me, you will still be my little girl. But if it makes you happy, it's all good."

"Thanks mom. Love you."

"Love you too. Please call me, no matter where you are." , those were the last words until I got on the train. I carried my two suitcases through the door and looked back at them. Luckily this wasn't the last goodbye before I move to London because I still have to move all my stuff from Germany to England after the tour, but it was the last goodbye for a while.

One month later:

The tour is  super exciting and I am incredibly happy. Everyone is having fun and it's amazing to see all the fans and especially Niall performing. The atmosphere is great and everyone is getting on really well. I'm happy to be able to experience this. 

We have been to Europe and Asia and are now in Australia. Unfortunately, Niall and I don't really have the opportunity to see the cities together. It's a real shame, but sometimes I go on little trips with Tara or other people. I'm also super glad to have her around, you always have someone to talk to, about girl stuff. 

Niall and I spend most of our free time in hotel rooms. He doesn't get recognised as much as he did in the One Direction days because a lot of people think he still has blonde hair, which amuses me a lot.

 However, we don't want to cause any fuss and we still want to keep our relationship private. Sometimes it's even fun to play a little game of hide and seek. Still, sometimes I wish we could just walk down the street as a normal couple without Niall being recognised.

Once, a few weeks ago Niall and I actually had to run away from the paparazzi. It was very late at night and dark and I had convinced Niall to try a bubble tea. I didn't think we would be recognised, but I was wrong. Just as we turned the corner to the shop, someone pulled out a camera and held it on us. This was followed by about 10 other people with cameras. 

I didn't know exactly what to do and was totally overwhelmed. I had a quick reaction and grabbed Niall's hand and pulled him with me. I stormed through the streets with him until we hid between two houses.

"What was that? You didn't have to do a full sprint." ,Niall said with a heavy breath.

"I don't know. I must have had a burst of energy."

"Holy moly. Do you think we can go back to the hotel now?"

"I don't know, it's kind of cosy here."

"You're not serious, hahaha."

I suddenly walked towards him and we kissed for a while. We were glued to each other and couldn't get away from each other for minutes. At such moments I was just grateful that I could share such experiences with him. It was kind of random, but such moments made me happy somehow. Simply because they were so terribly normal, but at the same time so abnormal.

In the meantime, despite our game of hide and seek, pictures of the two of us kept turning up. Luckily they were always very distorted and you could only see us from behind, but nevertheless there was always a lot of speculation. 

The picture from Amsterdam also still caused a lot of excitement, but since no one commented on it and it could theoretically be another person, many didn't pay much attention to it anymore. I didn't really try to keep an eye on the comments under these pictures, but sometimes I caught myself thinking about them more than I should.

I also tried to keep in regular contact with my family and friends. Sometimes it wasn't so easy because of the time difference, but somehow I managed to check in at least twice a week.

Sometimes I actually felt a bit useless because I didn't really have anything to do during Niall's soundchecks, for example. At his concerts, of course, I always stood backstage and wrapped my arms around him when he had delivered another incredible show. But since I hated doing nothing and I felt really unproductive at times, I decided to call Tom to see if there were any jobs for me while we were in America. Somehow I needed a balance and I even missed modelling. After all, I need to be able to earn a living, so I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to start already, even if the tour isn't over yet.

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Thank you very much for reading. In a way this is a kind of intermediate chapter, but I hope you like it anyway. Feel free to give me feedback and follow me on Instagram @purplepantsniall (I'll follow everyone back, of course).