Louis' POV
What. Did I hear that right? Niall's dare was to kiss me?!? No no no no no! This cannot be happening!
We're already in a tough spot with our relationship and we do NOT need this right now. I look over at Niall, who's fingers are nervously playing with eachother.
"Well? Come on lads!" Harry encourages. "It's just a simple kiss!"
His dorky smile causes a timid one to form on my face. I take a deep breath and force myself to do some quick thinking.
The lads suspect nothing of it. So, if this was a normal situation I'd crack a joke and kiss Niall like it was no big deal.
Ok, Louis. You can do this.
"C'mere, you sexy leprachaun," I joke and Niall scootches closer to me. His eyes flicker to mine, full of confusion. I shrug and lean closer.
I feel his breath on my neck and almost shiver, but stop myself.
Just do it, I tell myself.
My lips slam onto his without a second thought. I close my eyes, blocking out the teasing from the lads.
Niall tilts his head to deepen the kiss, which I react to and kiss him harder. All of a sudden a huge clap of thunder rings out, causing me to jump back from Niall.
Liam speaks up, "Wow...ok."
Zayn coughs awkwardly. "That...was erm-good-"
Another clap of thunder shakes the house. My heart leaps in my chest and I hug my knees to my chest in fear. I quickly look out the dark windows and see a figure silhouetted by the lightning. Harry hugs me protectively and I bury my face in his chest.
Memories of my nightmares come back and haunt me. The rain pounding down, the thunder booms, the helplessness.
"H-he's here," I hiss into Harry's ear, careful that the other lads don't hear.
He tells me, "No, Louis, he's not here. You're just overreacting."
Fearful tears pour down my face.
"Shhh, it's ok, Louis," Harry whispers into my ear. He knows exactly what my nightmares are about. He understands why I'm terrified of storms. He's the only person that understands. Despite my possible attraction to Niall, Harry's what I need right now.
I cling onto his shirt desperately after another loud clap echoes through the house. My breathing grows heavy and I begin hyperventilating.
Each boom and flash cause fresh tears to spill down my face and new terror to paralyze my body. The lack of air causes me to become dizzy. My body shakes uncontrollably as I cling onto Harry, depending on him.
What if he's here for me? Did he find me? There's no way!
"Louis," Harry says sternly. "It's ok. Eerything's ok. He hasn't figured anything out. There's no way he could have," his voice drops low so only I could hear.
I nod and trust him. He pulls me onto his lap, still sat on the living room floor, and cradles me like he does every storm. His hands stroke my hair softly as he whispers soothing things into my ear.
I don't notice as the lads exit the room, Niall lingering behind with an obviously jealous expression. All I remember is the fear as I stare intently out the windows and at the door, waiting for him to come charging through to take me.
***
Niall's POV
The next morning, I wake up to a bright sunshine, signaling that the storm has left. I trudge down the stairs, my emotions running high from last night and my stomach growling for a meal.
I munch on an apple and decide to head out to the beach for a walk, in attempt to clear my mind. The sand is firm and damp from the rainfall, and the sun reflects off the waves.
I let my legs carry me to an unknown point, and my mind drift endlessly into my thoughts.
Louis totally blew me off last night. Cuddling up with Harry, sitting on his lap, Harry comforting him while he cried and was scared to death. My brain tells me that it's nothing to get jealous over, but my heart begs to differ.
Louis has been leading me on. Taking me out bowling, the almost kiss in the bathroom after I got sunburned, the other almost kiss when he tackled me during tag. Ugh, it's all so confusing. People say love's confusing, but who knew it was this bad?
I end up in the park and take a seat on a bench. A bit of grass pokes through the sandy floor, tickling the bottoms of my feet as I swing them back and forth below me.
I lean forward and run my hands through my hair. Letting the frustration drain out, I brush the sand off the bottoms of my khakis.
He was just scared, I tell myself. He's absolutely terrified of storms, always has, and Harry always comforts him through it. I know that. But yet I still manage to let my hopes up that maybe Louis'll come to me when he's scared. But I guess my hopes got too high...and my pride came crashing down.
I hate this feeling of worthlessness-
"Hi, Mister," I hear a young lads voice.
I look up from the ground and see a short, brown haired lad standing in front of me. He looks to be about 6 or 7, dressed in a loose plaid shirt and jean shorts. I mutter some sort of greeting, not really wanting to talk.
"Are you alright?" he asks and I recognize a British accent.
I look up. "Honestly? Not really."
He pouts and puts his hands on his hips. "Why not?"
I take a deep breath. He won't understand, he's just a lad. Well, I'll give it a shot.
"Well, the person I like, I don't think h-" I stop and correct myself. "They like me back."
He sits down next to me, his feet dangling above the ground.
"Why not?" he asks innocently.
"Sometimes they act like they like me and then the next second it's like we're just friends."
He nods. I continue rambling on. "Like the other day we almost kissed and then they acted all cool like it was no big deal..."
I shrug and after a while a huge grin grows on his face.
"I know!" He says suddenly.
I shoot him a confused look.
"The girl you like," I cringe at his word choice. "She's just confused about who she likes. She doesn't know if she likes you."
It dawns on me that maybe I'm not the only one confused about it. Louis must be totally confused as well! The pain of the confusion lessens and I look to the young lad.
"How did you think of that?"
"Well, mum and dad always argue about that sort of stuff. They send me to my room, but I can hear them through the walls," he whispers the last part and looks around.
I don't know what to say to that. So I ask, "What's your name?"
"I'm Colby," he smiles, revealing a half toothless mouth.
"Well, Colby, thanks for helping me figure this out." I smile and ignore the situation at hand with Louis. "I'm Niall."
"That's cool."
I laugh and look around the park for his parents. "Where are your parents, Colby?"
He takes a second to think and then looks around and thinks some more, his face scrunching into a confused frown that I instantly fall in love with.
Finally he shrugs. "I don't know," he says like it's no big deal. "Daddy brought me here, but I can't find him."
I start to worry for him.
He fiddles with his shirt hem and looks up at me with teary eyes.
"Did he leave me again?"
I gasp and embrace him in a hug. "No! I bet he's around here somewhere," I flash him a reassuring smile.
My hand feels into my pants pocket and makes sure there's some spare change.
"Tell you what, Colby, let's go get some icecream and then we'll go find your dad. Okay?"
He nods and smiles again, his grey-blue eyes lighting up. Then he takes my hand and practically drags me to the icecream vendor.
I order him a triple scoop of strawberry as he requested and I get a triple of chocolate.
The hot sun begins to melt our icecreams and it drips onto our hands and all over our faces.
I look over at Colby and laugh at the sight of his messy face. He had somehow managed to get it in his hair!
After we finish our treat and I clean off our faces and hands, I say, "Well, Colby, do you want to go find your dad now?" instantly missing him from the thought of returning him to his dad.
"Um, sure," he shrugs indifferently.
"What does he look like?"
"He's tall, and strong," then he adds, "and mean."
"He's mean?" I question.
"Yeah, he gets mean when he's mad..."
His eyes stare off in the distance, unfocused. I decide to ask him another question.
"Well, do you know what he was wearing?"
"Um...a blue shi-"
"C'mere you little shit!" I hear a deep voice boom from behind us. A tall, muscular man grabs Colby's wrist, ripping him away from me. Colby cringes and lets out a pained "ow!" I look at the man, who I assume to be Colby's father, since he fit the discription quite right.
"That's no way to treat a kid!" I defend Colby.
"Who are you to tell me how to treat my kid?" he hisses and his cold, stone-hard eyes challenge mine.
"You're hurting him!" I motion to his firm grip on Colby's arm. "Not to mention you left him all alone in the park, and had him scared to death!" I challenge him back.
He says, "Am I hurting you, Colby?" his voice sounds sickly like a snake.
Colby shrinks back and nods his head ever so slightly. His dad repeats himself, "Am I hurting you, Colby?"
The little lad shakes his head dramatically and his dad smiles slyly, "I didn't think so."
"We're leaving now, so if you'll excuse me," he turns and drags Colby behind him forcefully. I can't just let them walk away.
"He obviously just said that to please you!" I yell angrily at the man.
He spins around, a wicked face creasing his face. "Shut UP!" he screams and before I realize what's happened, he swings his hand back and punches me square in the jaw.
I collapse to the ground. "What the hell!?!"
He laughs like an evil comic book character. He bends over closer to me.
"Like I said before, we're leaving," he hisses, getting spit on my bruising face.
Frustration and disgust bubble up in my blood, but the world around me spins dramatically and I can't even balance to my feet. Cradling the bloody side of my face, I watch as their spinning figures walk away, Colby looking back with worry filled in his strangely fimiliar eyes.
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Author's note!
Omg! Most fun chapter to write yet! What do you think happened in Louis' past to make him so afraid of storms and a man coming for him? And what's going to happen to Niall and Colby? Colby's dad is an asshole, I think!!!! Please comment your predictions! I'd love to here 'em!