Wind of Change

Crowds, Panic Attacks and Dates

"Do you think she's alright?" Was the first thing Lynn said when we entered the lounge. "I think she will be. Louis, do you want to make tea or shall I?" Harry replied worry still apparent on his face. "I'll do it. You never get it right." Louis nearly shouted while he was skipping - yes skipping - to the kitchen area. "That's unfair. I can make tea.", "Yes, you can but not the way everyone likes it." Louis popped his head back in and grinned at Harry. Harry opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Before anyone could move Harry literally sprinted towards the door. Lynn close behind. When they came back Harry had his arm tightly wrapped around Alissa's waist once again. I wish I had the courage to do that with Lynn. All I could get myself to do was to pull her next to me on the couch. And even that send my heart into overdrive because what if I pushed her into this. Would she reject me, tell me to stop, leave? "Tea is almost ready." Louis said pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked next to me to see Lynn frowning at me. What was wrong? Did I do something? Did I actually push her into something she didn't want? "Why are you frowning?" She whispered leaning towards me. I was frowning? I didn't realize. Oh God, Niall, you're over thinking again. Just stop and concentrate on something else than the mistakes you could make. "Niall?" She whispered again. "Sorry. What?" , "Are you okay? If you're tired, we can leave." She said misinterpreting my silence. "No" I nearly shouted "I'm not tired. It's fine. We like having you here." I said a little bit more quiet this time. Before anything could get awkward Louis -still unbelievably hyper- came in with a couple of mugs. "Okay, if you're not helping me within a couple of seconds, I'll spill at least half of the tea." He said trying to get to the coffee table before dropping one of the cups. "I'll help." Alissa said unwrapping herself from Harry. I really think she likes him back. At least I hope so. If not, he's gonna be crushed probably worse than when Taylor and he broke up. I really don't want that to happen. There has to be a way to fix them up. I'll probably talk to the other boys about it. Later when Lynn and Alissa leave which I don't really want to happen. "Niall!" Crap I spaced out again. I looked up to see Louis stand in front of me offering me a cuppa. I took it with a smile and a quiet "Thanks Lou" I hope he doesn't question me. "Niall are you really alright? If you don't feel good, we can leave and come back tomorrow." Oh no. I have to do something. "If I didn't know better, I would think you wanted to leave." I said. I really hope that it sounded as light and teasing as I tried to deliver it because boy was I nervous that she actually wanted to leave. "No, I really don't but if you're not feeling good, then you should go to bed." She tried to defend herself. "I know. I was just teasing you." Unfortunately Louis decided to chime in at that point. "So Lynn, I see you are concerned about our little Nialler. That must mean that you like him." He teased. Oh God Louis just once in your life can you please shut up!! "Otherwise you wouldn't be concerned about his health ey?" No, he cannot. I felt the heat creeping up my neck and I was sure that I was tomato red by now. "Louis, what did I say about you embarrassing my friend?" Alissa said in a warning tone. "Nothing nice." Sounded Louis' subdued voice from his seat. "Right, what are you doing at the moment?" She asked like she was talking to a child. "Embarrassing her." Louis answered. God he really turns into a child when he is on paracetamol. "Could you please apologize?" She said surprising all of us. "I'm sorry." Louis said looking Lynn directly in the eye. "It's okay." Lynn said. I turned around to see that her face was probably matching mine. "That was fun." Alissa said grinning like mad. Harry started chuckling and the rest of us couldn't hold in a grin. "Does someone have a joke? I want to hear something funny." Louis whined. "I do!" Harry exclaimed happily. I groaned along with the others except for Lynn and Alissa. "Why? What's wrong?" Lynn asked. "You'll see." I answered. "Harry. Shoot." I said sliding a little closer to Lynn. "Okay. Knock, knock." He started. "Who's there?" , "Hoola" , "Hoola who?" Alissa asked. "P" Harry said popping the 'p'. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lynn face palm herself while Alissa started laughing hysterically. Harry had a huge grin spread across his face and looked really happy that he made her laugh. "Well, now we know what sense of humour you two have." Liam said as if it was an experiment. I couldn't help but grin. "Or she just wants to please Harry because she likes him." That was the moment Harry and I nearly lost it. I could see it on Harry's face that he wanted to shut Louis up as badly as I did. "Have some food Louis." Zayn said showing a croissant from this morning into Louis mouth so he would finally shut up and stop embarrassing everyone. "Thank you." Harry breathed out. "So what are we gonna do now?" Alissa asked after she let out a yawn. "Do you have any jokes?" I asked Lynn and her. "No, I'm really not funny." Alissa said. "Yes, you are." Lynn protested. "No, I'm not. When am I ever funny?" , "Of course you are. You just don't know it." Lynn said smiling at Alissa. Lynn turned to us now. "Seriously, she's hilarious. She's really clumsy and sometimes she falls over her own feet. Lamp posts don't like her because she more than once ran into one." She got really excited about those little things. She's so cute when she gets like that. Not that I've seen her getting like that a lot but - you know- it's cute. I'm thinking complete crap. Oh no, now I've started blushing. I tried to look around to see if anyone noticed. I was about to sigh in relief when I caught sight of Zayns smirking face. "Why do you run into lamp posts?" I heard Harry ask. I looked at Alissa to see her blushing deeply. Harry's facial expression was hilarious and I had to try hard not to start laughing like a maniac. He had this look on his face as if he was watching a fight between a puppy and a kitten. Pure adoration took over his face while he looked at Alissa more intently than ever. How can they not see what's going on? Everyone else could. I felt Lynn lean into me a bit. I looked at her and she nodded her head towards the pair on the other sofa and started smiling slightly. I returned her smile. "Are you okay?" She mouthed at me. "Yeah, I'm just a bit tired, that's all. I had to go on a tube today." She looked at me surprised. "I'm a bit claustrophobic." I answered her unasked question. "Then you should go to bed. Alissa is really tired as well. I can see it in her eyes. She still needs to calm down." Lynn said about to get up. "You care about her a lot, don't you?" I asked quietly. She just nodded at me with a smile and got up. "Alissa, we need to go to bed. You're really tired and you nearly had an anxiety attack today. You need to rest." It was beautiful how caring she was. Alissa got up as reluctantly as Harry wanted to let her go. They weren't even together yet and already acting like a couple. How can they be so oblivious? They made their way to the door when I remembered a very important thing. "Lynn, wait up." I ran after them leading them to the door. "Yeah, what's up?" , "Would you like to spend the day with me tomorrow?" I asked getting nervous now. What if she said no? "Yes, sure. Anything I need to bring? Or be somewhere?" , "No just bring yourself, comfortable shoes and I'm going to pick you up tomorrow morning." I said smiling at her. She nodded before them both shouted out a "Goodbye and good night." to the other boys as well. They disappeared through the door and I went back to the lounge. I collapsed on the sofa with a happy smile on my face. She actually said yes, I hope she likes what I've planned for tomorrow. "How are you feeling Nialler?" Zayn asked plopping down next to me on the couch. "I could scream in happiness but that is for girls." I replied probably smiling like an idiot. "Wow, you've got it bad." Zayn laughed at the fact that my smile grew even further. "If you keep smiling like that, you're face is gonna fall off." Liam laughed a bit. I looked up to smile even further at Liam but I was interrupted by the sight in front of me. Harry looked a little bit lost but that wasn't what caught my eye. It was Louis. Obviously the paracetamol had worn off as he was lying sprawled out over the carpet with his face in the carpet and his snores gradually growing louder. "Maybe we should all go to bed." Liam suggested picking Louis off of the floor. "It was a long but fun day. Good night guys." He said over his shoulder carrying Louis into his bedroom before walking out again and heading for the bathroom. "Yeah, I'm going to my room as well. Perrie and I said that we'd meet over Skype tonight." Zayn said getting up and disappearing into his room as well. "Good night." I said turning around heading to my room as well. "Wait." Harry whispered grabbing my wrist. "What's wrong Harry?" I asked turning back around to face him with a frown on my face because he was all nervous and fiddling with his fingers. "Harry what's wrong?" I asked again taking a step closer to him. "I-I." He stopped talking for a while but I stayed still knowing that he was trying to find the right words. That why Harry was a slow talker because he was thinking about every word twice and if it could offend somebody. "I really want to ask her on a date but I don't know how. I mean what if she says no? I wouldn't know what to do then. I don't even know how to ask. I-I. What if she thinks I just want to be friends or what if I push her into doing something she doesn't want or or-" , "Harry, don't worry. Just ask her if she wants to hang out with you tomorrow. She'll say yes. Don't worry." I offered him a reassuring smile. "And what am I supposed to do. I don't have anything planned." He said slightly calmer now. "I've got an idea." He suddenly shouted getting really excited.