Chasing Pavements - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter 21: Ageless Beauty

Happy birthday, my Lilliputian. - Jacob. Her thumb hovered over the delete button. If she deleted it, then it was never sent and it never happened. Right? She let her thumb fall, and the message disappeared. Out of sight, out of mind. No longer relevant or important, but it was a good reminder that it was her birthday. At 3:43 pm, she would officially be twenty-four. To anyone else, she was already twenty-four, but Becca didn’t want to age so quickly. Something about waking up and suddenly being older never appealed to Becca. She would much rather countdown to the nanosecond that she was older. 

The smell of coffee wafted into the bedroom, and just like in cartoons, it was as if the smell picked her up out of bed. It led her into the kitchen where she found a half dressed Niall standing in front of the stove. A string of curse words came from him, and Becca couldn’t help but giggle. He turned with a horrified look on his face. 

“You’re not supposed to be in here!” he said walking over to her to shoo her away. 

“But…coffee,” she giggled as she pointed over to the pot. 

“Not yet. You’re going to ruin your birthday surprise,” he insisted as he tried to block her view of the rest of the kitchen. “Go back to bed.” 

She frowned. “If you wanted me to stay in bed, you shouldn’t have made coffee first.” 

“Yes, but if you stay in here, your surprise will be ruined. Please, babe. I’ll bring some coffee in for you. Just go back.” He looked down at her with the best puppy face he could conjure up. Leaning down, he kissed her softly. “Please.” 

Becca sighed as his lips lingered over hers for that last plea. Kissing him again, she looked up at him. “Two splendas and a little soy milk.” She turned and started for the bedroom. “And stop staring at my ass,” she called over her shoulder. 

His eyes traveled down to her ass. She was wearing one of his shirts. While it was long on her, it still left little to the imagination and hugged her curves nicely. He smiled to himself as she disappeared back into the bedroom. He went over to the coffee pot, pouring a large mug of coffee for her. Niall had been trying to learn to make coffee like Becca liked it since she started staying with him. After adding the soy milk and Splenda, he grabbed one of the cupcakes she made the night before. He went into the bedroom to find her pretending to be asleep. 

“Faker,” he chuckled. 

She cracked an eye open before sitting up. “You said go back to bed so I did.” 

“That I did,” he nodded holding the cupcake and coffee out for Becca. 

She took them and set the coffee on the night stand. “Anything on the burner right now?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I didn’t get very far in the process before I got interrupted.” 

She pat the spot next to her. “Join me for a sec.” He sat down, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding up the cupcake for him. “You don’t have to cook breakfast for me, love.” 

“I want to,” he shrugged, taking the cupcake. “You’re always cooking for me. Consider it a thank you.” He peeled the paper from the cupcake, tearing it in half.

“No thanks necessary.” She kissed his cheek before taking the cupcake. “Alright. Becca needs coffee.” She grabbed the coffee and took a sip. 

Niall watched her taste the coffee carefully. He’d learned that she sometimes his what she really felt when it came to food. Her mouth said one thing while her eyes would say something different. That’s what he watched for, but as her eyes went wide, he had no idea what to think. Biting his lip, he waited for her to make a face and lie to spare his feelings. She didn’t. She set the much down and pulled him into a kiss. She tasted like coffee and mint. She must have brushed her teeth before climbing back into bed, but that was beyond the point. He pulled away to look at her. “Good?”