Trails (PP 1) [Complete]

12.2

12.2 - Leaving Him

~ Niall ~

Adam, Cian, and Jackson pause outside my door, obviously giving themselves a countdown before they burst into my room.

I sit on my bed, already dressed, glasses sat on my nose and a book in my lap as I watch the door.

The door silently creeps open, Cian being the one to peer round the door. "Never mind, guys, he's awake," Cian comments completely abandoning stealth by pushing the door open quickly.

"Very sexy," Jackson points out, referring to my glasses.

"Ha, ha. You're not funny," I state closing my book with a bookmark on the page.

"Burn!" "Do you want some ice for that?" Adam and Cian say at the same time. We all start laughing before I stand up joining them by the door.

"Come on before your noise wakes my father," I say ushering them out of my room.

"He let us in. He's downstairs making breakfast," Adam says.

Wait, what?

"Again?" I ask.

"What do you mean again?" Cian asks.

I wave my hand in dismissal before going downstairs, the other three trailing behind me.

Peering into the kitchen, I spot my father in front of the oven whistling quietly to himself. What the fuck? I glance back at my friends to see them shrug. From somewhere within me, I get the courage to enter the kitchen.

"Morning, Niall," father says without looking round. Behind me, the guys shuffle to the door frame.

"Morning," I reply as he turns round. I go round and join him, looking at what he is cooking. When I spot pancakes in a pile and another one cooking in the pan I turn to my father. After I place the back of my hand on his forehead, I tilt my head curiously. "Are you feeling well?" I ask.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, you're not running a fever. That's odd," I comment to myself taking my hand away. Father smirks at me before shaking his head as he goes back to the pancakes. "Why are you so cheery?"

"Am I not allowed to be cheery?"

"Sir, you haven't been this cheerful for a long time," Cian says from where he is peering round the door.

"I know. I realised I needed to change," father comments.

I try to think back to my last beating but that was when he found Robyn's scent in my room. He has been like this for at least three weeks, that's baffling.

"He's had an epiphany," Adam whispers in shock and father chuckles.

"I made enough pancakes for you to throw at Indigo's face to wake her up," father adds handing me a box.