Dirty Little Secret // C.H.

Forty-one

"So," Niall began. "Am I allowed to tell Louis he was right about you and lover boy?" He asked curiously. "When I get back, he'll drive me crazy with questions."

Sienna swallowed another bite of her ice cream before answering him.

"Cal and I actually weren't planning on telling anyone for a while." Sienna told him. "Right now, you're the only person who knows."

"I knew you weren't telling Luke." Niall said. "But you're not telling anyone else?" He couldn't help but find their decision a little surprising. "Not his family? Or-"

"The more people that know the more people who would be hiding something from Luke." Sienna told him quickly. "I don't want to risk Luke finding out from anyone other than Calum and I. He deserves to hear it from us."

Niall could hear the defensiveness in Sienna's voice beginning to grow. He didn't want to make her regret or feel bad about her choice to keep her relationship a secret. He had just been curious how they were going to manage their secret.

"I get it." He told her with a small shrug of his shoulders, licking his ice cream to keep it from melting onto his hand. "I just-" He broke off with a breath. "You know what, don't worry about it." He said suddenly. "Let me give you some advice, if you love him, if what you have with him is the real thing, hold onto it for dear life." He told her with the slightest hint of pleading in his voice. "Don't worry about all the things that could go wrong. Just enjoy being young and in love."

Sienna didn't know how to respond to him. Instead of saying anything, she reached across the table they shared and took his free hand in hers.

Niall smiled softly at the gesture and squeezed her hand. He hoped she had taken his words to heart.

"I don't want you to go." Sienna told him quietly after a moment.

"I'll see you soon, babe." Niall reassured her, squeezing her hand again. "If you miss me too much, we'd love to have you come stay with us."

Sienna smiled at the offer and her mind lingered on it for a moment.

"I think I might take you up on that if the tour life starts to wear on me." Sienna told him with a grin. "Wouldn't mind seeing Louis."

"You're welcome anytime, babe." Niall promised her. "We'll leave a key under the mat for you." He took a few bites of his ice cream, finishing off the remainder of his rocky road before wiping his face with napkin. He clapped his hands together once as he grinned at Sienna. "How about some Space Invaders?"

~~~~~~

"Why are you in such a good mood?"

Calum looked up from his phone to see Michael with a curious expression on his face. He furrowed his brows at Michael. 

"What are you talking about?" Calum asked.

"You've been smiling at your phone for ten minutes." Michael observed, nodding to the phone in Calum's hand. "Who are you talking to?"

"No one." Calum told him truthfully. "I've been watching videos of Sienna and Niall." He turned the phone to Michael to show one of the videos someone had tweeted of them.

The videos and photos had been taken by a few of the guests from the arcade and had gone viral on Twitter not long after.

Calum had been mindlessly scrolling through his Twitter feed to pass the time, waiting for his turn to record, when he found himself watching a video of his girlfriend dancing around before throwing a bowling ball that seemed to weigh more than she did.

Beautiful girl, Calum thought. Terrible bowler.

The more he watched the videos of Sienna, the more his chest seemed to tighten. She meant so much to him it hurt. Hearing her laugh, even through a video shot on a cell phone, made his heart leap.

He hadn't realized he'd been smiling like a fool until Michael had snapped him out of his trance.

"They went bowling without us!" Michael shrieked, jerking the phone from Calum's hand and gawking at the screen.

"Sienna wanted some time alone with Niall before he leaves tomorrow." Calum told him. "You know that. They told us that before they left."

"But they didn't say they were going bowling." Michael whined.

"Mike, you suck at bowling." Luke spoke up from his seat, amusement clear in his tone. He was seated in a chair next to David as they watched Ashton record.

"But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it." Michael argued.

"She's having fun then?" Luke asked, checking in on his cousin's wellbeing. He worried what state she would be in once Niall had gone.

"Tons, by the looks of it." Calum told him. He was glad Sienna was out having fun with Niall, but he couldn't wait for her to get back. He longed to have her in his arms again. To hold her the way he had last night.

He could see Luke was satisfied with his response. His shoulders weren't as tense and his expression softened slightly once he knew Sienna was happy.

I wonder if he would have that same kind of relief if he knew that I made her happy, Calum thought. If he knew how deeply I cared for her.

He didn't allow himself to dwell on those thoughts. He knew all too well the frustration and unanswered questions that would result from that.

"They got ice cream too!" Michael groaned, stomping his feet the way a child would just before they threw a tantrum.

Calum laughed as he took his phone back from Michael.

"I'll have Enna bring you some if it'll stop your whining." Calum chuckled, sending a text to Sienna with Michael's request.

"Strawberry, please." Michael said with an excited grin, now tapping his toes where he stood. "With hot fudge."

"Okay, but-"

"And sprinkles."

"Don't push it, Clifford."