Finding, Finding... Found.

Chapter 5

***

Alyssa had been tossing and turning for an hour, and she still couldn’t fall asleep. To be specific, she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss on the forehead. It had meant something for her, but the weird thing was that it seemed to mean something for Niall as well.

But even though the last time she saw and heard her Niall was eight years ago, she remembered him having a British accent. She remembered him having dark brown hair…

But it all seemed too real – those blue eyes which seemed to tell Alyssa that he knows more about her than she expects, him calling her ‘Aly’… hell, he even knew her name before she told him! And that kiss on the forehead… Alyssa groaned. All these thoughts coupled with her lack of sleep would definitely make her look like a zombie tomorrow.

Placing her pillow over her face to block out any light and counting numbers in her head, she bored herself to sleep, her last thoughts being a specific blonde-haired Irish boy.

***

“Niall kissed her! Our little Irish lad is growing up!” Harry shouted in glee once he reached the hotel suite him and his band mates were staying in, waking up everyone.

“Harry, could we just leave this for tomorrow please?” Liam groaned as he tried to block out the sound of Harry’s mocking laughs. “Niall’s almost a legal adult; he can kiss anyone he wants.”

“Noooooo!” Harry whined. “Please wake up! Louis!”

Muttering curse words under his breath, Louis sat up on his bed, annoyed at how easily he gave into his best friend. For any other person he wouldn’t have possibly woken up at – he glanced at the clock – 1am, but Harry was different. He was best friends with the whole band, but he and Harry had a special friendship, one that the rest of the boys accepted, but did not fully understand.

“Styles, you’re making us all go deaf here,” Louis rolled his half-lidded eyes. “Please just spare us the details and go straight to what happened.”

Harry plopped himself down on the leather couch, unable to contain his excitement.

“This girl means a lot to Niall lads,” Harry confessed what he had suspected all along. “And he didn’t just kiss her; he literally ran back to her house to kiss her on the forehead!”

The last three words got all the boys awake. Louis’ eyes went wide in shock, while Liam and Zayn immediately sat up, all tiredness gone.

“Didn’t he-” Liam spoke, but got interrupted when Niall exited the washroom and walked straight into the commotion.

“Hey Ni,” Liam smiled at the confused lad. “We were just… talking about the… weather. It was so humid today, I-”

“It was freezing, Liam,” Niall rolled his eyes – to say that Liam was a horrible liar would be an understatement. “Tell me the truth guys, what was the important news that the four of you talking about?”

“What makes you think we’re talking about something important?” Louis inquired, curious.

“Zayn’s awake – wide awake, that was enough of a clue,” Niall laughed, but his eyes were still serious.

The other four boys looked at each other, contemplating whether they should tell Niall, before Harry sighed. He was the one who started this whole discussion, so he was going to be the one to tell Niall. It was a silly thing to have a disagreement over, anyway.

“We were talking about how you kissed Alyssa on the forehead,” Harry confessed.

“I don’t see how that concerns all of…” Niall trailed off, remembering what he had confessed to the boys when he was at one of his weakest points.

***

Malibu, California, 2011

“C’mon, Niall, just kiss her!” The boys were playing truth or dare with a couple of stylists, and they have dared Niall to kiss Avery, one of the female stylists.

“Yeah, we didn’t specify where,” Harry gave his input before realizing that he should have. “All right, I’ll give you a choice: Her forehead or her lips.”

The boys groaned. Niall would surely kiss Avery on the forehead! Zayn pouted – he thought that Harry had ruined all the fun.

Their thoughts were interrupted and their eyes widened when Niall pecked lightly Avery on the lips, and ran off.

“We’ll… be right back…?” Louis sounded unsure, before the four of them scurried off after Niall.

The four of them were all shouting for their best friend while running towards his room, but they were more confused than ever, the same thoughts running through their heads. Niall, the shyest one of the lot, had kissed Avery on the lips when he could have kissed her on the forehead instead? They had only known each other for about a year, but they would have known if Niall had a crush on Avery.

The four of them skidded to a halt once they reached Niall’s door. Placing a finger on his lips and signaling the boys to be quieter, Liam opened the door, to see Niall sobbing quietly into his pillow.

Immediately, all four boys ran towards Niall and cuddled him, muttering apologies and promises that they would not dare him to kiss anyone – or anything – again.

“I wasn’t… mad… about the k-kiss,” Niall hiccupped, and Liam patted his back. “Sorry for making you guys worry.”

“Don’t sweat it Nialler,” Zayn sighed. He wanted to say more, but it was almost impossible to be angry with Niall. His sad blue eyes would make you feel guilty before you even utter a word. “But what happened down there?”

“Just… memories,” Niall muttered as he closed his eyes, as if trying to block out something. “Bad memories.”

“You can tell us you know,” Louis placed his hand on Niall’s shoulder as Harry looked on, always the more intuitive one.

“You… Niall – it wasn’t about who you kissed, was it?” Harry voiced out his questions. “It was about what I said…”

“But you didn’t say anything Haz,” Louis replied, confused. “You only told him to either kiss Avery on the forehead or-”

“I used to kiss someone very special on the forehead,” Niall confessed, interrupting Louis before the rest of the boys started quarrelling. “And I miss her terribly, so can we just leave it at that?”

The boys nodded understandingly, and Zayn sat next to Niall.

“So you don’t… kiss anyone on the forehead?” His eyebrows rose in confusion and curiosity.

“Not unless she’s that special someone,” Niall confessed.

***

The four boys stared at Niall blankly. He had just zoned out for a few minutes, and other than looking at him curiously they just had a silent conversation going on.

A silent conversation titled “What is going on with our best friend?”

“Niall James Horan,” Liam whined. “Please come back to Earth!”

Niall groaned. He could tell from Harry’s face that he already knows something, and that there’ll be an interrogation after all the boys have gone back to sleep.

“Liam James Payne, I have always been on Earth,” Niall sighed. Why do people call Liam the dad of the group again…?

“Oh, great! I just wanted to ask you one important question,” Liam grinned, before voicing out the question Harry had been dying to ask for the longest time, or as long as three minutes could feel like.

“Is Alyssa the special someone you told us about last year?”