In Other Words (Niall Fanfic)

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty 

Roxy’s POV

I padded into the kitchen to find something to eat, the rumbling in my stomach nearly loud enough to drown out the sound of Niall giving his usual concert to his adoring fans the shower curtain, the bar of soap and the shampoo. I suspected he was gripping his toothbrush like a microphone, but as intrigued as I ought to be by that scene, I was starving. And if I was starving, Niall was probably about ready to gnaw off his own arm.

The clock on the stove read 4:00; that limbo between lunch and dinner.  For lunch we ate gummy worms and various other sweets as dictated by the official rules and guidelines for car trips over one hour’s duration. So, I decided on some sandwiches. I went to work gathering the ingredients, making a very poor attempt to harmonize with Niall, knowing he couldn’t hear.  I just finished piling some potato chips on the plate with his sandwich when Niall appeared in his towel, and sat down at the small dining table. He folded his hands neatly in front of him, and waited patiently to be served.

I put the plate down in front of myself and scooted my chair up to the table, ignoring him. Picking up one half of the diagonally-cut sandwich, I pretended to go in for a bite, watching him out of the corner of my eye. “Nice try, Rox.” He said. “I’m not going for it. That plate has no pickle on it, so pass it on down to its intended consumer.”

I fucking love pickles. It was the main point of contention in our relationship. Niall could hardly stand to be in the same room with a pickle, let alone have it on his plate touching his food. He stood and grabbed the other plate off the counter and put it down in front of me, taking his own sandwich back to his seat with a little butt wiggle beneath the towel.

“Sassy.” I muttered, popping a chip into my mouth.

“Learned it from you.” He replied, mouth already full.

By the time the sun had begun to set, we’d pulled all of the blankets and pillows out onto the floor in the living room, along with a smorgasbord of snacks. As soon as Niall was out of town, I was going to have to get back on track with a normal, sensible diet. I rested by legs across his lap as he repeatedly tossed cookie fragments into the air and caught them in his mouth. Each time he would succeed, he would grin, so pleased with himself; when he was less successful, he would curse under his breath.

“You know one thing we’ve never done together?” I said.

“I can think of a few things.” He replied, lifting his eyebrow in curiosity.

“You’re vile.” I said, kicking his inner thigh gently with my heel. He didn’t disagree. “We’ve never been drunk.”

“What are you talking about?” He laughed. “Of course we have.”

“Nuh huh.” I said. “Not together.” I could see him flip back through his memory archive, realizing my observation was correct. One of us has always stayed sober enough to watch after the other. Plus, the potential for cameras to be around in nearly every public situation didn’t make it very easy to get carried away out at the pub. I’m not sure why I thought of it, perhaps I’d been reminiscing too much about my high school and college years; sitting around with nothing to do, nowhere to be, and just fucking around.

He pushed my legs to the blanket-covered floor, and stood. “Think you can keep up, Collins?” he said, heading for the kitchen to get our first round.

Niall’s POV

When Roxy drank, her cheeks turned deep pink; like she’d been outside in a snowstorm without a scarf. Three drinks in, I could tell she was starting to feel it. Her laugh was louder, and her thoughts even more scattered than usual.  I turned the music up a little bit to compensate for the increased volume of our voices, and filled both our glasses to the brim.