In Other Words (Niall Fanfic)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven 

Niall’s POV

The airhostess came around to collect our last bits of rubbish as her partner made the standard announcement that the pilot was beginning the descent to Heathrow. Please remain seated and be sure that all electronic devices are powered off…I pulled my phone from the front pocket of my bag and held down the power button until the screen flickered on.

“We got a rebel over here!” Louis shouted from across the aisle, pressing the call light and gesturing wildly as I watched the signal indicator at the top of my screen.

“Sir, you’ll need to have that powered down during the descent.” The airhostess said as she turned off Louis’ call light and went back to securing the cabin.  I’ve never heard of a plane crashing because someone was sending a text message, so I kept my phone handy, waiting for it to pick up a signal and chime with all of the notifications I’d missed over the last six hours.

Roxy’s POV

I waited anxiously in the hard plastic chair, gazing mindlessly at my feet, my toe dragging random patterns in the grey carpet. The large metal door swung open, and each of our heads snapped up in unison. “Landed.” Vanessa said.   She was the least recognizable of all of us girls, so we’d been sending her out to scan the board of arrivals every ten minutes.

I looked at Eleanor, trying to gauge by her body language what her estimate was on how long it would be before the boys were off the plane. She looked as composed as ever, the only indication of nervous energy was her occasional adjustment of the bracelets on her wrist. My phone buzzed and each of us looked down at our respective devices, clutched between tight fingers. “Twitter.” I muttered. Eleanor let out a small laugh, acknowledging the tension we were all feeling.

I am sure Danielle was most nervous of all. She and Liam had reconnected in the few months the boys had been away, but they hadn’t physically seen one another in a very long time. I watched as she clasped and unclasped her hands, her eyes trained on the handle of the door. “What if he’s not ready?” She whispered to Eleanor; although the room was so quiet, Vanessa and I had no trouble hearing.

“You’re being silly.” El said. There had been many heart-to-hearts shared by these two on the Liam subject, and I had been in on a couple. Now that I’ve had a chance to get to know her a little, I can honestly say that Dani is actually very cool. She is independent, driven and feisty, which I loved. But, despite all of her success, she was still incredibly self-conscious. I didn’t understand it one bit, but it seemed like she was really trying to make an effort to not let all of the outside shit get to her anymore. She’d taken her time-out, and now she was jumping back in, determined. I was really pulling for the girl. And I hoped that when Li walked through that door she would get some validation.

I wonder if this is the room that they do the cavity searches in…My mind wandered in its usual twisted direction as I looked around at the bare white walls of the room that had been provided for us, hoping to better control the crowd of people outside by delaying the boys’ exit from the terminal until all of their luggage and personnel had been accounted for. I was just relieved that there would be no cameras around when…

“Hello?” Eleanor said, answering her phone after only half a ring. “They’re just down the corridor.” She whispered excitedly.

Niall’s POV

I pulled Perrie’s printed suitcase from the bin above her seat and placed it into the aisle, extending the handle to her before slinging my bag over my shoulders and checking that I’d left nothing behind. She’d spent the last ten days with us, and honestly, she was probably glad to be home. Of all of the girls, she was the most familiar with life on the road, but it was a different experience when you’re not the one on tour. We don’t get much free time, which can be frustrating. Perrie dealt with it pretty well, as she usually does, but she mentioned this would be the last time she joined us without dragging one of her girlfriends along.