[2] Begin Again

Epilogue

Even after all these months I liked how that sounded. My boyfriend. Niall was my boyfriend, finally. It had been an ongoing project for more than two years – I think up to two years and a half- but we had finally made it happen. And it was the best thing that had happened to me too. The relationship we had, well it was amazing, to put it simply. I had never had a boyfriend before, but this is how I wanted my first relationship to be. And my dream had become true.

Along with it, many other things had gone the way I wanted them to in the end, much to my pleasure. The scholarship was one of them. Zayn was right. All I had to do was believe in myself and everything would work out just fine.

“What can I say? I’m in love with you,” he responded, his blue eyes shining beautifully under the London warm and blue sky. I held on tighter to him squeezing his butt a little tighter and causing him to squirm and then laugh. “Stop squeezing my bum!” he complained. His eyes were very small since he was crinkling them. I stared in awe for a second, unable to believe he was truly mine. But he was, and I loved to remind myself of that.

“Oh shut up. You love me grabbing your butt!” I countered with a smug smile. I did it again just to mess with him a bit more.

After laughing a bit more, he stared at me before speaking up. “Kaylie, there are paparazzi following us,” he informed me. The words resonated a bit inside my head before they really registered.

At that remark my mouth went dry and I gulped anxiously. I had not noticed that before! But well, I never noticed anything beyond Niall whenever I was with him. I was beyond smitten, for if you have not realized just yet.

“They-they are?” I questioned, feeling the blush creep its way up my cheeks, ears and neck. Now that was something I had not remembered and that would cost me a lot of embarrassment and whatnot.

I turned around fearfully just to find the paparazzi smiling knowingly, probably enjoying the show because they knew they would make a lot of money out of it. And let’s not even mention Kennan and Jason behind Niall and I. Oh gosh, why did I have to grab his butt in the first place?! Oh right, because it is a good one. Damn butt.

“Seems like you are having too much fun out in the open, Kaylie,” Kennan joked with a smirk.

“Shut up,” I grumbled, immediately turning around and stepping away from Niall. I was flustered already. All I wanted was to get the heck out of the street. And it was still a while before we got to Zayn’s place. Ugh, why did these things have to happen to me?!

“Hey, where you going?” he asked coolly. He stepped closer to me again and grabbed my hand, taking it back to his butt right away. I giggled nervously but then burst out full laughing when I felt his hand on my butt. “If we go down, we go down together,” he whispered in my ear as he winked at me. “And if I get to touch your bum on the way, I’m all up for it.” I could hear the cheekiness in his voice and that calmed me down.

I shook my head, feeling incredibly amused. “I do have a nice butt, don’t I?” I joked, loving the way I felt at the moment. Alright, I loved the way Niall’s hand felt on my butt at the moment, I confess. But it was nice to know that he was mine and I was his and that everyone knew. It was incredible to be crazy together and to know we were there for each other.

“Let’s go to this party of yours,” he chirped after we had relaxed and stopped feeling self-conscious. Alright, I was the one that needed to relax and whatnot, but he was by my side. That was all I cared about.

“Oh, the one in which I have to pretend to be surprised?” I mused with a smug smirk. If there was something my girlfriends did not know was how to hide things from me. It was funny to watch them try, though.

“Yeah. Sophia and Eleanor worked really hard,” Niall chided. “And it is a surprise party after all.”

“If only you were not as gullible as you are.”

“Shut up.” He laughed out loud and then squeezed me a bit closer to him. “What a shame Laura could not come along this time,” he noted.

I shrugged as a response. I had tensed up nonetheless because I missed my cousin. It was weird to start this new part of my life without her there. But that was part of growing up, I suppose. “I know, but she is working now.”

“And does she still talk to Johnny?” Niall inquired.

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. They stayed as friends.”

“Good,” he breathed out. It was a bit sad that Laura and Johnny did not work out, but this was real life. In reality, Niall and I were lucky that we had been able to figure something out. Long distance relationships that involved both of us living in different continents was not good enough. It was actually impossible to make a relationship work like that. At least in my eyes.

“That’s right! Grab that butt and squeeze it!” one of the paparazzi claimed, taking both Niall and I off guard. We shared a quizzical look and then decided it was time to get each other’s hand off the respective butts. We gave the paparazzi that had said the inappropriate comment a disgusted glare and then turned back to the front. Niall opted instead for grabbing my hand and I was happy with that.

Those men, on the other hand, were perverts. It was official.

I let out a happy sigh as I rested my head on his shoulder while I heard Jason and Kennan laughing behind us. It was nice, it looked like the end of a movie, when everyone is happy and everything turned out right. And in the end, I suppose it did.

It does feel like the end of an era and the beginning of a new one as well. I do not know much about this new era that is coming, but what I do know is that I will surely love it and get out of it victorious and with a huge grin on my face. Of course there will be a lot of embarrassment along the way. But, hey, what would be the fun in it if not?