Lucky Strike (Niall Horan)

20.<3-THE END :(

A/N AHHH THE END:....HOPE YOU LIKE IT ,ENJOY :-)

“I started out doing this for her because I wanted to show her how good of a man I can be. I wanted to show her that I was the man she thought I was.” Niall sighed deeply a hand running over his tired face, “But now I realized I did this for me. I wanted to be better, she was just the catalyst. Watching her leave was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through.” 

“I see… Well you’ve made excellent progress. How long has it been since you’ve last thought about gambling?” The woman asked from across the room, her eyes looking up from her notebook in front of her.

“As far as placing a bet on something I think about it every day, I can’t watch a game or walk past a shop without thinking about it.  I think about taking risks every day too, but not the kind with money. I mostly think about calling her, I keep wondering when the right time is to reach out to her.”

“Well, that is normal. You battle your addiction every day the same way someone battles drug addiction or alcoholism. An addiction is an addiction and you just have to take it one day at a time and celebrate your strength.” The woman sighed deeply and shrugged, “As far your dilemma with Lucy, I suggest giving that more time. When it seems right things will just happen. She also has the option to reach out to you. She is your last chapter, Niall. Don’t rush to reach the end of the story if you’re taking your time in the middle.”

Niall just smiled and nodded. “Thank you, doc. See ya next week.”

—

When you apply for college it’s usually right after high school or shortly after. There’s nothing like being 23 and just realizing that you do want to go to college after all. Lucy always thought her luck would be in boxing. That one day she’d make it big and win the Olympic gold, but then the fight in London happened and it made Lucy second guess everything in her life.

She applied to a handful of schools and told herself that regardless of what was going to happen she was going to end up where she needed to be. She would’ve gone with a specific plan: 2 years at a community college, two years at a university, land a job, be happy. That was way out of question. She was 23, she wanted to go and experience life and get away from Boston for a bit. She loved being home but she had seen so much when she stayed in Ireland that being in one place didn’t suit her anymore.

She applied for a handful of colleges around the country and for kicks a few colleges across the pond in sports medicine and kinesiology hoping to get into training boxers versus actually being one. She knew that it would be interesting to actually go back to the UK or to Europe but the idea intrigued her so much. She loved living there, why not go back? She remembered Niall and it made her stop for a few minutes, hesitant to actually send off any of her applications. It was almost 4 months since she last saw him or spoke to him. She wondered why he never reached out to her again but then again she was kinda glad he hadn’t. She didn’t know if she was ready to face him again but her sister encouraged her.

“The world is so big. If you get accepted somewhere in London or Dublin what are the chances he’ll know you’re there or that you’ll even run into him!”

Right… She was right. Hell, there were ex-boyfriends who lived in the same city as her and she never saw them. The same must be true in any other place of the world.

It took another few months for Lucy to hear back from the colleges and what laid in front of her shocked her. She had gotten into 3 of her top colleges. Her family kept telling her that it wasn’t a surprise but then came the choice… where to go?

University of Waterloo

Pennsylvania State University

University College of Dublin