Paper Houses (A Niall Horan Fan Fiction)

Chapter Eighteen

We arrived back at Niall's house and unloaded my stuff. He let me use the dining room as an area to sort my things. Meanwhile, Joel claimed he had errands to run.

"If you need to wash your clothes, you can wash them here," he offered, bringing me a cup of his signature tea.

"Thank you," I responded.

I sorted my clothes into piles by color and if they were ruined or not. Niall and the boys were getting ready to leave to play golf when I walked into the living room to ask him where his laundry room is located.

"I can leave if you want me to," I explained.

"No, no, no, that's okay. You stay and get everything sorted out. We will be gone for awhile. If you need anything, let me know and I'll have Paul get it." He gave me a huge smile, the one that I love, and turned to leave.

I couldn't believe that he just left me with his house. Why does he trust me so much? I still felt like I barely knew him. Even though he's been incredibly welcoming to me the past couple of days, a part of me wanted to hold him at arm's length. Everyone around me always gets hurt, and I don't want him to be a part of it.

I washed several loads of laundry and folded them neatly in a pile. I then turned to the bags that contained my miscellaneous items. I made a pile for trash and a pile for things I wanted to keep. A lot of it was trash as it was damaged from the rain.

"Oh no," I whispered as I pulled out one of my most prized possessions. An autographed copy of my favorite book lay in my hands. It was water-logged, completely ruined. It was still dripping. Opening the book, it was apparent that pages had been ripped out, including the autographed page.

I let out a ridiculous, pathetic sounding sob. He knew I'd be back for my things, and he wanted to break my heart one more time. Right then and there I made a resolution that I would never be this broken again.

"Annie?" Niall called. I jumped, not realizing he'd be back so early, and I didn't hear him come in. "What's wrong, love?"

I hurriedly wiped my eyes. I didn't want him to see me like this. When I looked up, he stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He took a tentative step toward me.

At that very moment, my heart broke all over again. Here was this man standing in front of me who cared so much for me. He actually took the time to ask me what was wrong. Here was this man who was careful around me, and I was grateful. He was so sweet and caring, and I didn't deserve for him to be so nice to me. Here was this man who was so incredibly perfect, but I couldn't be with him, and that broke my heart so much more than Brent ever did.

I sighed. "Just one of my favorite books was ruined." My voice broke at the end. I swallowed and tried again. "Brent knew I would come back for this...it was an autographed copy but he ripped out that page."

"Aww, Annie, don't be sad. I can get you another one. It will be okay."

Why did he have to be so damn nice to me? "Why?"

He furrowed his brow and I could see lines forming on his forehead. "Why what?"

"Why are you always so nice to me? Why have you let me stay here and use your house?" I gestured around with my hands.

He bit his lip before he spoke, thinking of what he was going to say. "I do all of this because I trust you, because I like you. You're a sweet soul, and you deserve to be treated right."

I looked up at him again. His brilliant blue eyes searched mine. "I bought you something while I was out," he said, backing up to the door and presenting me with a bag. "Open it."

I reached into the bag to reveal an Apple MacBook Pro. I looked at the computer then at him and back again. "Is this real?"

"Of course it's real."

"Niall, I appreciate it, but I just can't accept it."

"Joel told me you'd say that. Why?"

"Because I have a perfectly good computer as it is."

"Annie, your computer is a piece of shit-"

"And I'm not your charity case, Niall." I bit my lip, ready for a fiery response that always came when I tried to stand up for myself.

"Do you think that's what this is?" He surprised me by sitting down beside me and taking my hands in his. "Don't you ever, ever think that. You know as well as I do you need a good computer for school. Yours is likely to crash at any minute." He rubbed circles with his thumbs on the back of my hands. "I do this because I like you."

"But you barely know me."

"Anniebug, you are incredibly easy to read. And like I've told you before, I have a good judge of character. I know you're a good person."

He had no idea. "I don't want to hurt you, Niall."

"You're not going to hurt me."

"You don't know that! Hurt people hurt people. Niall, I am broken. Shattered. And I'm trying to pick up the pieces. You say you know me, but I feel like I don't know you. Hell, I don't even know myself."

"Let's take it slow then, yeah?" His eyes were pleading and hopeful.

I sighed again. "Okay."