The Pick Up

Chapter Three.

Chapter Three

Friday 31st January 2014

Poppy's POV:

After forty five minutes, we finally hear a knock at the door. Niall gets up and walks through the hall way towards the front door. I hear him having a conversation with the delivery man; they're obviously friends as the conversation isn't just a 'Yeah thank you, bye'. They're having an actual conversation. I'm sitting on the couch, looking around the apartment. There are so many photos of Niall and other people, a fair few of them are baby photos; he was such a cute child. I see one photo of him and his brother; it's the one from the story of my life music video. I can't love that photo enough.

Niall walks back through with the food; he sits down next to me and catches me staring at the photo of him and his brother, I look at him realising that he's noticed me staring at the picture "You were such a cute child" he laughs at me and shakes his head "I was a strange one" He sets out all of the food on the small table in front of the couch. "I'll go get some plates and cutlery" I say whist getting up and walking out of the living room, towards the kitchen.

I open a draw and pick out two forks, two knives and two spoons. I then look into several cupboards to find the glasses; I finally see them in a cupboard above the kettle. I reach for two glasses and close the cupboard door, grabbing the cutlery and walking back through to the living room. I smile at Niall and place the glasses and cutlery on the small table in front of the couch; where the food is.

I sit down on the couch and reach for the bottle of Dr Pepper on the table, then pouring it into the glasses. "Let's dig in" Niall rubs his hands and starts to put food onto his plate, I laugh at him and start to do the same.

He stands up and picks a film out of his DVD stand: Stepbrothers. I suddenly feel guilty as Jade and I always watch that film together, but this is my life. Why do I feel so guilty for being around him? Niall and I are just friends; I only met him today, so there is certainly nothing going on, I'm not that easy. In fact I'm not easy at all; I like to think of myself as a complicated girl. Niall is a nice guy, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment yet.

Niall sits back on the couch, grabbing his place and starting to eat. The film starts, I stare blankly at my plate of food. I really don't feel like eating anymore, the only reason I ate so much today was to keep Niall happy. In fact, I have been starving myself for weeks. My mum has been trying to make me eat, but I just couldn't do it. I thought that if I didn't eat today, Niall wouldn't want to be my friend; I know how much he loves food. I start to eat it anyway, it would be rude not to.

I love Will Ferrell; he is one of the funniest actors out there. Niall and I are laughing away; I didn't finish my plate of food, so Niall finished it off for me. We are laughing away quoting the film as it runs, I love it when Dale punches Brennan's brother in the face and he falls out of the tree! Niall and I were in tears of laughter!

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When the film finishes Niall and I look at each other with a soft smile. The bottle of Dr Pepper is empty. "I'll go check if I have any more juice" Niall gets off the couch and walks into the kitchen. I sit there and close my eyes, leaning back to hold my belly. I've ate so much food today, my stomach isn't used to it, it's painful and I feel like I'm the size of a house. I hate eating, it just makes me feel weak, like I'm giving in and letting myself get fat. I refuse to back down, apart from today, but Niall is totally worth the trouble. Niall walks back into the room and grunts "There's no juice left, we will have to go shopping, come on" I sigh, slowly rising to my feet.

Niall hands over my jacket and smiles softly, his eyes seem lighter, those beautiful sea blue eyes. We step out of the front door; I wait for Niall to lock up. We step into his car and drive off. It's eleven thirty at night, I love going shopping late at night. It makes me feel like I'm on an adventure, I've never been sure why. We arrive outside Tesco, Niall parks up and turns off the engine. He takes a deep breath and looks down to his lap. It's hard for Niall to go anywhere, he gets mobbed anywhere he goes. I wish I could take it off of his shoulders and he could just walk out into the street without someone screaming. "Niall?" he looks up at me with a worried expression. "It's okay" I reassure him, putting my hand to his shoulder. "I just wish that I could go somewhere at a normal time and not get screamed at and mobbed, y'know?" I look at Niall and sigh "Come on, you're safe with me" I smile at him softly and open the car door, he does the same.

We walk into Tesco, it is absolutely huge. I thought the one back home was big. We start looking around for the drinks. I start to remember the stupid things I used to do when I was younger. I let off a small giggle. Niall turns to me, looking confused "What are you laughing at?" I look at him and smile "Let's play hide and seek" Niall looks at me completely puzzled. I start to run away "You're it!" I shout, running down the dairy isle. He laughs that sweet most adorable laugh. I hear him start to count "One, two, three" his voice starts to fade as I run further away. I find the clothes section and decide to hide beneath one of the clothing racks. I hear him start to shout "Poppy, where are you?"

I sit there for about ten minutes, giggling to myself. The shop is huge; he's never going to find me. His voice starts to get louder. "Poppy, for god's sake where are you?" I let off a small giggle, I think he hears me. He walks closer "I know you're here, I just heard you" I then see two feet, right in front of me. I try to push myself in further, but I can't. He pushes all of the clothes to the side "Ah I found you!" he pulls me out and laughs.

"Go on, your turn" I push him and he starts to run away from me. I close my eyes and start to count "One, two, three, four, five, six" I count all the way to one hundred "Ready or not, I'm coming to find you Irish boy!" I start to wonder round the shop. I start off walking down the bread isle. I go from isle to isle and he is nowhere to be found. He's probably found himself into the storage place and started to eat them out of all of the extra stock. I go back to the clothes section to look there, moving all of the clothes on the racks. He is nowhere to be found. I start to look down the frozen food section again, I look around carefully. I look at one of the freezers, something is not right, but I move on. I eventually had to take a second look though. I walk over to the freezer and there he is. Niall Horan is hiding in a freezer. I start to roar with laughter.

He sits up and he has ice in his hair, which makes me start to laugh even harder. He gets out and starts to brush himself down "Okay you win" I give in and start to walk away. We are walking down the cereal isle. I look at all of the boxes and something clicks in my memory. "Hey, do you want to play domino's?" I turn to Niall, he cocks an eyebrow "How?" I walk over to the cereal and start to put boxes on the floor, lining them up slightly apart from each other. Niall laughs and joins in "You're crazy, you know that right?" I laugh at him, still lining up the boxes. Eventually the line takes up the whole isle. Niall and I walk towards the end of the line, I turn to him and smile "You ready?" I say with my eye on the first box. "Go for it" I prepare myself "One, two, three" I kick the first box; all of the other boxes start to fall behind it. We are both in hysterics. Then we see a security guard at the end of the isle. "Oi!" he shouts running towards us, Niall and I start to run away. I scream and slip over, still laughing hysterically. Niall turns and runs back for me, picking me up off the floor. He runs with me in his arms, out of the shop doors. He doesn't stop until we are at the car.

He places me down on the floor and runs round to the driver's side, he unlocks his car and I quickly jump in before him. He gets in a couple of seconds after. We both sit trying to catch our breath, still laughing. We stop; Niall gives me a soft smile. I wipe a tear from my eye and look at him, engaging in eye contact. "Hey, I have a place we can go" he smiles softly and puts the key in, turning on the engine.

Author's Note

Hey guys! I hope you like this story so far! Please please let me know what you think. Don't forget to vote! Stay beautiful!

All my love

-Ally