Chapter 40: Midnight Memories

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Hazel's POV.


"Second date already?" I asked Kat, who had her first date last week.

"Yep. Just don't tell Harry. He'll probably stalk us or something." She shook her head. She hasn't been talking to him that much. At all.

"Sure. When is it?" I asked.

"Friday, tomorrow. He's gonna pick me up after school, and we'll walk somewhere or something." she shrugged.

"Well, today it's Thursday. Seems legit." I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a packet of potato chips, and walked upstairs to my room.

I heard a ringing and vibration from my pocket.
It was my phone, so I answered it without looking at I.D.

"Yo..." I said.

"Hello? Hazel Starr?" a random chicks voice was on the line.

"Yeah. Who's calling? It's kinda late. 11:00pm." I asked.

"Okay, good. I hate you. We all do." There was another girl in the back ground laughing.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, you heard us. You stole my future husband, Niall." I could just feel her smirking.

"I'm sorry about that, but he's my boyfriend. But seriously, who is this?"

"Fans of One Direction. Haters of their girlfriends." She declared.

Wtf? Who does that?

"Well, really, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I love them as much as you do, if not more." I sincerely apologized. I don't want to get on her nerves.

"Fuck you. You can have Louis if you want, for all we care, but Niall's mine." the other girl said.

"Uh, Louis' taken..."

"Oh yeah, by that skank of a cousin of yours."

"How old are you? 11? 12?" I asked, changing he subject.

"Actually, we're 14."

"Well, you sure don't act like it. I'm going to hang up now, before I say anything I'll regret." I did as I said.

I sighed. Wow, fans are really competitive to their girlfriends, including me...

My phone rang again. Damn it.

I picked up. "I just said don't call back."

"I swear, I'm going to kill you! And the other girlfriends! Sluts!" she screeched.

I moved the phone away from my ear, while she ranted away some more. When she was done, I spoke. "Just like I said, you're being so immature for your age. Please just grow up, and stop threatening me, and the other girlfriends. What would your mum say about this? If you were in my position, I'm sure you wouldn't like the hate that I get everyday. So please, just leave me alone."

"Maybe you deserve all the hate you get." she answered.

"What did I ever do to you? Please do not call back." And with that, I hung up.

I sighed, and ran my hands through my hair.
Do I deserve the hate? A lot of fans believe I do, but than some of them give me nice comments on how lucky I am on Twitter. I even answer the nice ones as much as I can.

My phone started ringing again.
I picked up, without checking I.D. again.
"What the hell do you want from me? To kill myself? I'm sorry, it's not going to happen, I value life and I told you to stop calling me." I was angry and about to hang up again.

"Hazel? It's me. Did I do something wrong?" A deeper voice answered.

"Niall?" I checked I.D.

"Okay, so I guess that rant wasn't for me. What's up?" Niall asked.

"Nothing that's important..." I mumbled and lied.

"Were fans calling you?"

"Ding-ding! Correct, Niall. They're being horrible." I was on the verge of crying.

"Just ignore the bad comments. I do." He sounded like he was getting into a car.

"You don't get bad comments, though."

"Actually, I used to get a lot. About my teeth, my hair, my voice, my laughing and eating habits... It was really horrible. I was getting ready to just leave One Direction altogether. But then the boys helped me get through it. They helped me see past the bad comments, and just think about the future. They were there for me." He explained.

"What are you saying?"

I heard him driving now. "I'm saying that I'm here for you. I always will be. I'll help you through it, just like they helped me. I'll help you think of the future, and how much they'll love you by then. They can't hate you forever. It just takes a bit of time for them to get used to. That's all. Trust me."

I smiled. "I really appreciate that, Niall. Thanks. I know you'll help me. I would have helped you if we had known each other back then, but sadly we didn't. Heh, well, actually I knew you, you just didn't know me."

"Hey, did you watch the X-Factor while I was on it?" He asked.

"Of course. Kat was obsessed." I laughed.

"So, obviously Harry was her favourite back then, so who was yours?" he asked.

"Hmmm... Probably the one who had the mushroom haircut..." I lied.

"Louis?!" I heard him swerve his car with a few beeps here and there.

"I'm kidding! Not Louis! My favourite would have to be... Well, let's just say that, when I saw One Direction, and first laid my eyes on him... I knew he was going to go far in his career, win over the hearts of girls, including me. I think you know who I'm talking about..." I trailed off.

"Harry?"

"No... The boy who won my heart, happens to laugh, eat, and love guitars and singing as much as me, if not more. He's Irish, sweet, blonde, respectful, and short. He's always loves to have a good time, whether that includes drinking or just having a laugh, he's up for it. The boy who won my heart, is you." I laughed.

"That's really sweet, Hazel. The moment I met you, everything changed. I knew I had to get you, whatever the pain..." He sang.

"Are you singing Stole My Heart?" I giggled.

"Well, it's kind of the same situation... Hey, you're getting to know your One Direction songs, aren't you? Last time I asked how many songs you could name, you only knew five, and Stole My Heart wasn't one of them." He was still driving.

"Well, I guess it was Kat..." I lied.

"You're lying."

Damn it!

"Ah... I admit it. I listen to your songs, okay? You're my boyfriend. I may as well get to know them, right?"

"Do you like my singing?" he asked, seriously.

"Are you kidding? I mean, seriously? Haven't we talked about this before? I can't even begin to describe your voice. And no, I'm not going to be one of those girls who says your singing makes them pregnant, or that their ovaries just exploded. I could start by saying that you have the voice of angel. Anyone would have to be a complete idiot to not see that. Of course I like it. I love it, you silly goose. Don't doubt it, okay?" I said.

"Thanks, Hazel. I'll try not to."

"You know it's dangerous to talk on the phone and drive? You're driving, right?" I asked.

"Not anymore. Look out the window."

I did as he said, and looked out the window, to see Niall, holding a ladder in his hands.

I hung up the phone. "What are you doing with that?!" I shouted out my window.

"Shhh!" he put the ladder to my window frame, and started climbing.

"What are you doing here? It's dark, and late." I whispered as he got right to the top, so we were face-to-face.

"I came to see you." he smiled, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad you came, but why through the window?" I asked.

"I just wanted to do a high-school sneak-in experience that I haven't done before." he laughed and walked around my big room, looking at photos.

"But you snuck into Kat's room."

"But it's not your room, is it?" He smirked and gave me a long hug.

"I guess not. This has never happened to me before..." I laughed, clinging to his body.

"Oh, I got you something." he pulled something out of his sleeve, to reveal a single red rose.

I grinned. "That's so sweet..." I said as he handed it to me. "It smells beautiful. Thank you." I gave him a passionate kiss.

"Wanna sneak out?" he whispered in my ear.

"It's a school night, Niall!"

"Shh..." he held his finger to his lips. "Thats why they call it sneaking out, so please? It'll be fun. I promise."

"I'm not worried about the fun, because I know it would be. Its about 11:30pm already. What about my mum? She'll freak if I'm not in here."

"Don't worry. Does she ever come into your room at night?" He asked.

"Well, no..." I looked at the ground.

"Then we're sweet, right?" he lifted my chin.

"I guess so... What about Kat?"

"Why would she come into your room?" he smiled.

"Uh... Earthquake, maybe?" I guessed.

"We're fine. Get a coat. You're gonna need one." he kissed me again.

At that moment, someone shouted through the house.
"Hazel?! Are you in there?!" Kat knocked my door.

"Shoot.." I whispered under my breath.
"Hold on! I'm just... Naked!" I pointed to my bed.
Quickly, Niall hid under it.

"Whatever, I'm coming in, in 10 seconds! 10, 9, 8..." Kat counted.

"Uh..." I quickly took my top off, and then my singlet, so she'd believe I was actually getting dressed.
I took off my leggings, and quickly put pajama shorts on.

"2, 1! Im coming in, Hazel!" she opened the door and walked in.

"Okay... I see I didn't give you enough time..." she mumbled, looking me up and down. I was only in my bra and PJ shorts.

"Yeah, so make it quick..." I sat on my bed.

"Ow!" I heard Niall squeak under my bed.

"What was that?" Kat turned to me.

"Uh... Just me... I sat on something sharp." I shrugged, gently kicking Niall's shoulder with my foot, without Kat seeing.

"Okay... Well, mum wanted to know if you wanted to get a ride from school, since the bus has been getting a lot more passengers because we're friends with One Direction?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sure Niall can take me- Ow!" Niall bit my ankle for no apparent reason.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Seriously?" Kat asked.

"I just have a cramp in my leg. Don't worry." I said mischievously.

"Okay... So Niall will drop you off? I'll get mum to drop me. Goodnight.." she awkwardly reached for the door.

"Achoo!" Niall sneezed.

Kat turned to me, disgusted that I sounded like a guy.

"Achoo!" I pretended to sneeze. "Sorry, I guess my room is a bit dusty. I should clean it." I lied again.

"Sure..." she nodded slowly. "Goodnight..." She opened the door.

"Night.." Niall mumbled under the bed.

She turned to me again.

I smiled, pretending I said it.
And she finally left.

"You can come out now. What was that about? You made me look like a freak!" I whispered and hit his chest.

"Hey! I thought it was funny! The sneeze was a complete accident, though! I swear! Your floor is just dusty!" he held his hands up in defense.

"Yeah right..." I punched his shoulder.

"You're still half-naked. You know that right?" he looked a my body.

"Oh! Whoops! Sorry." I covered up my stomach, not that there was anything to cover, because I'm skinny enough.

"It's fine. I'm not gonna perv at you, like Harry would." he turned away, so I could get dressed.

"But he's not my boyfriend, so I guess it doesn't matter if you look or not." I shrugged.

"I'd rather show some respect."

"Thanks." I gave him a quick hug from behind, and carried on getting dressed.

Once I had my coat and combat boots on, Niall made his way down the ladder.

"Haze! C'mon! You're turn!" he whispered to me from the ground.

"I-I'm scared!" I whispered back.

"I know you can do it! You just have to believe you can!"

I took a deep breath in and out. I can do this... Even thought I'm terrified of heights... I can do it.

I sat on the window frame, and then turned around, so I could climb down. Just don't look down... Put one foot down, and then the next.

I slowly made my way down, and stopped on the last step, and breathed out loudly.

"You did it, Hazel." he lifted me up, and gently set me down on the ground. Thank god.

"Phew... I can't believe it. Lets go." we walked to his car, and silently drove off.

***

"Where are we going?" I asked for the fourth time.

"It's a secret." he smiled.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, would it?" he smirked.

"Well, I guess your right.." I sighed and looked out the window, watching the city lights and building to past us in a blur.

"We're nearly here." he set a reassuring hand on top of mine.

We drove for about another five minutes before he finally pulled up. It was really dark outside, there were no street lights so I could only see what the moonlight and stars shone on, which wasn't a lot.

"We're here." Niall turned to me and smiled before handing me a black rag.

"Where is here? And what's that?" I pointed to the rag.

"Close your eyes." I did as he said and I felt him tie the black cloth around my eyes so I couldn't see.

"What are you doing?" I let a giggle escape from my lips.

"Hold on." I heard him get out of the car and then open the passenger side and he pulled me out bridal style.

He held me in his arms. "Where are we going?" I said, still not able to see because of the blindfold.

I couldn't hear anything except wind hitting tree branches and long grass flowing with each blow of the wind.

"It's a surprise!" He said.

He placed me down an a soft blanket although I could feel the grass underneath.

"Okay, I'm taking the blindfold off but keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them." I felt his fingers lightly brush my cheek as he untied the blindfold. I did as he said and kept my eyes closed.

"Can I open them yet?"

"Not yet." He said, and I heard him flick some sort of switch.

The suspense is killing me. I want to open my eyes but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. He obviously worked hard on this.

"Okay you can open them now!" I slowly but surely, opened my eyes.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to get used to the lighting. It was beautiful. He had laid out a picnic blanket in the empty park. There was a basket of food placed in the middle of the blanket, between Niall and I. He had lit up some gold Christmas lights that were placed on a nearby park bench and in the tree next to us, that were probably lit by batteries, because there are no plugs.

"Do you like it?" He asked as I looked over to him who was just staring at me.

"Of course," I looked around at the scenery again. "I love it. This is perfect." I said and leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. Kissing him here seemed like déjà vu. I pulled away and looked around one more time. "This is where I kissed you for the first time." I said and realized we where in the same spot where we officially became 'Hiall' as Louis called it.

"That's why I thought it'd be special." He smiled.

"Why'd you do this?" I asked.

"Can't I do something romantic for my girl?" he smirked.

"I guess you can." I kissed him again.

"Hungry?" he broke the kiss.

"Sure." I shrugged.

After eating Niall's homemade sandwiches, which were delicious, we laid down on the soft blanket, and watched the twinkling bright stars.

"Ya know, if you join those stars together, it forms Virgo." He pointed to a cluster of stars. "That's my star sign. What's yours?" he asked.

"Mine is Virgo, too." I smiled at how similar we are.

"Oh yeah, you're born on 11th of September, right?" he remembered.

"Yep. You're the 13th. Two days after mine, but one year older."

"Hmmm. We should have a party on the same day." he suggested.

"Whatever suits. It'd be cool."

"Hey, I want to give you something." he pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket.

Don't be a wedding ring...

"Oh, and don't worry, it's not an engagement ring." it's like he read my mind.

"Oh, that's good." I said as he handed the object to me.

"Go on, open it." he nudged me.

I did as he said, and it revealed a beautiful silver necklace, with a heart that looked as if it were made of diamonds. Wait a minute...

"Are these real?" my eyes went wide.

"Yeah, they're real diamonds." he chuckled.

"Oh my... It's so beautiful. You shouldn't have, Niall. Wasn't it a bit expensive?" I bit my lip.

"Anything for you. You stole my heart, so now you have to keep it safe at all times; that means no breaking it." he smiled, and indicated the heart necklace.

"I promise." I hugged him.

He took the necklace, and hooked it around my neck.

"Well, since you gave me this," I held the heart, "I feel the need to give you something." I unclipped the chain bracelet, which happened to have a small blue heart clipped to it, and handed it to him.

"Hazel, you don't have to." He smiled, looking at the bracelet in his hands.

"Niall. I trust you to keep that safe, alright? My father gave it to me when I turned 13. I want you to have it. That shows how much I trust you." I kissed his cheek.

"But-"

"No 'buts', Niall. You keep it. Remember that you stole my heart as well." I giggled an clipped it onto his wrist.

"You know how much I love you, don't you?"

"Not half as much as I love you." I quoted some of his solo in 'Little Things'.

"Well that's just impossible." he laughed and shook his head. "Wanna dance?" he asked and stood up.

"Niall, you should know by now that I'm not a dancer." I was still lying on the ground, staring up at the boy who's staring back.

"Neither am I." he shrugged.
"Hey, mister, I've seen Best Song Ever! I know you can dance." I laughed.

"But we were told what to dance and how." he did some of the moves from Best Song Ever.

"See? You're still better." I smirked.

"Too bad. You're dancing." he grabbed my hands and pulled me up to my feet.

"But I have two left feet..." I complained.

"And I'm a left-hander, so I guess we're even." He said.

"How does that even make sense?" I giggled.

"I don't know." He shrugged, and put some slow music on from his phone.

"Put your hands here." He moved my left hand to his shoulder, and put his to my hip. "Yeah, like that."

We danced slowly, and surprisingly, it was fun.

"I've never danced with a guy before, let alone a girl." I said, and wrapped my arms around his neck, and his around my waist, so there was no room between us.

"You've missed out on a lot, haven't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess I have. Now that I have you, I don't have too." I leaned my head on his chest.

After along pause, he said, "I'm glad you chose me."

"Over Harry? He had no chance with you standing next to him." I answered, looking up into his eyes.

"But he could have had a chance if he met you first, right?"

I sighed. "We've talked about this. I mean, any of the boys could have had a chance if they had met me first. But even if they took me to your place, like you did, I would have liked you more, even if I didn't meet you first. You have to know that I would have chosen you anyway."

"But compared to Harry, I'm not that much." he turned away from me.

"Niall, stop comparing yourself to Harry. You are who you are, and you can't change that. Just like I told you before, you won my heart before we even met, and it's going to stay that way." I gave him a hug, and his arms slowly wrapped around me.

"I hope so..."

"What's the time, Niall?" I asked.

He checked his watch. "About 12:45."

"We should go! Oh my gosh, it's so late." I quickly turned to our stuff, which was already packed up, besides the blanket.

"Hazel, don't worry. I'll get you back, what's the rush?" he asked.

"Well, I usually wake up at 6am to have a shower. That means by the the time we're back, it'll be about 1am. That only leaves 5 hours slee-"

"Hazel! Don't worry. You'll be fine. You don't need a shower." Niall gave me a smile, and slid a reassuring hand in mine, instantly calming me down.

"You're right. This has been fun. I'm glad you took me out. Thanks." I smiled, and sat down on the ground with him.

"I hoped I would be." he wrapped his arms around me, making me warmer, and I realized how cold I had been.

We sat there like that, for about another half hour, talking about things that we'd never tell anybody else, and just random things.

"Oh, I have a goldfish and a cat." I said.

"What at their names?" he asked.

"The goldfish is Oscar, and the cat is Brownie." I answered.

"How long have you had Brownie?" he wondered.

"A while. About 3 years, I think."

"How come I've never seen him?" he asked.

"He's always out and about during daytime. At night he comes in." I yawned.

"Are you tired now?" he asked.

"A bit. You?"

"Same. We should go." he said.

As if on queue, water started poring down on us.

"Sprinklers?! Really?!" I shouted over the loud sprinklers going off around the park.

"Haha! C'mon lets pack up the blanket, before it gets soaked!" he shouted over the noise as well.

We packed it up, and started running towards the car, and Niall was ahead of me. We didn't get far when Niall slipped on the wet grass, and fell over, making me trip over him, and fall to the ground. I looked at my clothes, finding them completely covered in mud.

I rolled over, facing him.

"Hahaha!" he was laughing at how muddy I was. He wasn't as dirty, because he only fell in water, not the muddy patch that I fell on.

"Hey!" I stood up, and only walked one step towards him, when I slipped on the mud again, which made him laugh even more. My face was covered in the disgusting, soft, sticky matter.

"That's it..." I crawled over to him, but he didn't see I was there, since he was too busy rolling around on the ground, laughing his face off.

I slid across his stomach, making him muddy as well, "No! Ahh!" he shouted as I did so, and ended up on the other side of him.

"You better run..." he whispered in my ear as I stood up, and ran.

He was right behind me, and I jumped over a sprinkler, making some of the mud come off my face and legs.

Niall caught up to me and picked me up from behind, and span us around in circles. "Ahh! Haha! No! Hahaha!" I giggled as he carried me to a sprinkler, and set me down right next to it, making me more soaked than before.

"Niall! Ah! It's cold!" I laughed, and covered my eyes, protecting them from the water.

I opened my eyes, to see he had ran about 10 meters away. He suddenly sprinted in my direction, and when he got 5 meters closer, he purposely fell onto his stomach, sliding in the muddy grass and water, using it as a mudslide, stopping right next to me.

"This is so fun!" he tackled me, and we started rolling around on the grass, giggling and laughing.

"Did you plan to get the sprinklers on, or what?" I asked when we finally stopped, and I was lying on top of him.

"No, I had no idea, but I'm glad they did. I'm not even tired anymore, but it is getting bloody cold. We should go." he sighed.

"Yeah..." I said, and waited for him to get up.

"Hazel..?"

"Huh?"

"You're still on top of me." he laughed.

I blushed. "Oh, sorry." I quickly rolled off of him.

"It's fine. You're cute when you blush." he kissed my nose, and then we helped each other get up, since we're in the most slippery part of the grass.

I picked up the basket, while Niall gathers the Christmas lights in a bundled mess. He walked up to me.
"I can carry that." he looked at the basket and back at me.

"Na, don't worry. You've already got the lights." I shrugged.

"Just trying to be a gentleman..." he put his hands up in defense, while holding the turned off lights.



When we got to my house, we were still soaked.
"I'm sorry if my seat is muddy..." I bit my lip, knowing he has an expensive car.

"It's fine, just as long as we had a good time, that's all that matters." he smiled and kissed my cheek.

"I had an awesome time. Thank you. Now, how am I getting up to my room?" I asked.

"The ladder. We don't want to get caught, do we? It's already 1:40am." he checked his watch.

"Thought so. Goodnight Niall." I gave him a nice long hug, and then pulled away.

"Or good morning. Whatever you want." he laughed. "Goodnight, Hazel." he kissed me passionately, and whispered things about not to look down while I'm on the ladder.

I climbed up the ladder remembering the other advice Niall gave me earlier tonight. I just have to believe I can do it. I hate heights.

I got up to my bedroom, and waved to Niall, who blew a kiss back, and drove off silently.

Tonight was the most exciting and romantic night I've ever experienced. It was like a secret date.

l wanted a shower but I can't wake anyone up. I think Niall spoke too soon when he said I wouldn't need a shower tomorrow. I definitely will be.


---

Authors Note:

Heyy, sorry for the late update. I've had so much work to do lately, at school, and home.
Soooo, like their date? I thought it was pretty cute :)
What do you think of Sophia Smith, Liam's new girlfriend?
I was quite surprised, and REALLY loved Payzer...
But I'm not one to judge their girlfriends... :)
I'm liking her more, since I've seen her tweets on Twitter and stuff... So...
I guess people could vote,comment,share, and keep reading... :)
If you want.

Love ya, you silly potatoes!

-Hamashma

Friends With One Direction (pls don't read)Nơi câu chuyện tồn tại. Hãy khám phá bây giờ