Just a Photographer (Niall Horan)

Chapter 16

I walked past Niall and into the living room where I collapsed onto the giant sofa and let out a big sigh, Niall quickly followed me, collapsing at the other end. We had just got home from the airport after finishing another leg of tour, we now had a month off for Christmas. After a few minutes, Niall got up and made us some tea and got some popcorn to stop us getting hungry and went onto Netflix and put some Queer Eye on.

"Ya alright?" he asked me with a soft voice as he handed me my tea and put the bowl of popcorn between us.

"Yeah. I'm fine, just really, really, really tired" I sighed with a tired smile. I gratefully drank my tea and ate some popcorn before grabbing the blanket we kept on the back of the sofa and placing it on top of my body when I lay down.

"Hey, what do think about having some of the crew 'round for a Christmas celebration before we all fly out to visit our families?" Niall asked me quietly, both of us verging on sleep.

"I think that's a good idea, Ni" I mumbled, half asleep.

I woke up to someone stroking my hair and whispering something to me. I slowly blinked my eyes and tried to focus my ears so I could hear what was being said.

"Ava, c'mon wake up. It's about four in the morning, we fell asleep on the sofa." Niall whispered; my only response was a groan. "Aves, your back is going to really hurt in the morning if you don't get up."

I woke up late the next morning, still exhausted from our late night and a very busy last few weeks on tour. I groaned as I stretched before stepping out of bed and grabbing my robe before following the sound of Niall's talking and guitar playing. I found him stretched out on the sofa, with equally tired eyes and a soft smile on his face.

"I've invited the crew around tomorrow, so we need to go and buy all of our ingredients for the meal today," he said in his deep, croaky morning voice.

So after we ate some breakfast together we headed into his car and bought all the ingredients we needed before collapsing back onto the sofa where we stayed for the rest of the day, and where we might've taken multiple naps throughout the day.

It was only 9 o'clock in the morning but I was already in the kitchen preparing the meal for our friends later in the day, I was making Bratwurst with sauerkraut and roasted potatoes. It's a traditional Austrian meal that we eat at Christmas so I decided to make it to show Niall and the rest of the crew a bit about Austria, after all, they had been teaching me a lot about Ireland. Niall was making a traditional Irish plum pudding for dessert so we could have a good mixture of both of our cultures.

A couple of hours later we all had stomachs full of food and some people were starting to get a bit drunk so Niall started calling Ubers for them to get home safely. Once everyone had left and Niall and I had finished tidying up the mess our friends had made (I don't even know how it was possible for them to make so much mess in the few hours they were at our house). 

I nervously handed Niall the presents that I had so carefully wrapped in brightly coloured wrapping paper, as I wasn't sure if he would like them, after all, he was a multi-millionaire, he could afford to buy himself anything he wanted without even looking at the price tag. I watched as Niall opened the first present, his bright blue eyes immediately lit up when he saw the wooden photo frame with a photo of me and Niall in it, we were standing close to each other, his arm was around my waist and we were laughing at each other. I love the photo because I thought it reflected our friendship well, always laughing and touching each other. I also had a matching one that was on my bedside table along with a photo with me, my brothers and my grandparents from last time I went home. 

I watched as he opened the rest of his presents, his eyes lighting up every time and the smile on his face bigger than I had ever seen it. He looked extremely child-like with his bright eyes and rosy cheeks, it made my heart swell every time I looked at him. I had also got him a leather guitar strap with his name on it and some new, navy blue golf trousers. I had to break in (not really because he never locked his door) to his closet to find what size trousers he needed.

Despite his happy face I still felt nervous, worried that he was acting and really he thought my presents were shit. 

"I know it's not much," I began but Niall shook his head, making me stop my nervous rambling.

"Aves, I love it, they're so thoughtful," Niall responds as he looks down at the presents. They're the type of thing that he would never think to ask for, but deep down were exactly what he wanted. He suddenly leant over his presents to press his warm lips against mine, I froze immediately when I realised what he was doing, and so did he. 

a/n: I'm so sorry for the wait, I've been really busy with school and I'm also moving house so that's been stressful. I hope you enjoy the chapter! What do you think will happen to Niall and Ava now that Niall's kissed her??