Everyone dreams of their fairy tale moment. Your prince running after you, making sure they don't lose you. Or saving you from a place you're desperate to get out of. But the number one fairy tale moment in every girls life is when the prince kisses the princess.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm a princess by any means, and I'm almost positive Niall isn't a prince. But the moment his lips met mine, I couldn't help but think that this was my fairy tale moment. Somehow, everything else felt insignificant. Everything I've been worrying about for the past week, from Cameron to the thought of Niall walking away completely, just seemed to fade away. The only thing going through my mind was how undeniably perfect it was to simply just kiss this boy.
And I didn't want it to end.
By the time I had found my wits and snapped out of all my thoughts, I hadn't realized that Niall's hand had found its way to my face, holding me in place. Not like I would move or anything. My hands made their way to his waist, wrapping around his strong torso.
He took the initiative to deepen the kiss, leaving me to lose any ounce of strength I had left. I weakened at his every movement, his every touch. He had brought his other hand to rest on my waist and I brought one of mine to just lightly touch his jaw. Though, it wasn't long until it had tangled into his dyed locks.
I wasn't sure how long it went on like that. Him kissing me, me kissing him. Me losing my mind. You know, the norm. But when he pulled away, only slightly, it felt like it wasn't nearly long enough. "Holy shit," we're the first words to tumble from his mouth that was on mine only moments ago.
"I couldn't have put it better myself," I replied, still trying to even my breathing. Something suddenly switched in his eyes. Whereas they were previously a darkened shade of blue, they were now filled with worry. Even worse, I feared it was regret.
"Shit, Carter, I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-Christ," he stumbled on his words and looked down, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Niall, stop," I chuckled slightly at his panicked state. "It's okay. It's better than okay, for God's sake. Don't apologize for it." My hands were rested on his chest as one of his was still holding my waist, the other playing with the sand. At my words, he looked back up at me. "Wh-what?"
I couldn't help it. The confusion evident in his features and the panic that was held in his voice earlier made me break into a fit of giggles. Maybe I was crazy or just high off of the kiss that had just occurred, but I had to laugh. "Niall, I'm not mad at you," I tried after I had calmed down a little.
"You're not?" He was still confused.
"No. Why would I be?" I stared at him, wanting so badly to take the baffled look off of his face.
"I don't know. I mean, I just kissed you out of blue. I don't even know if you like me enough to kiss me and I just went ahead and did it," he sighed and looked back at his hand playing with the sand.
"I kissed you back, didn't I?" I asked, leaning down to try and find his gaze again. I was so desperate to look at him again, to look into his eyes and assure him that I wasn't going to run away like he thought I would.
He shrugged quickly, still adverting my eyes. I exhaled loudly before talking again, "fuck it." Removing both hands from their previous position on his chest, I took his face in both my hands and did the thing I was sure would convince him that I wasn't mad
I kissed him. Again.
But this time, I made sure we would pull away with him knowing I didn't regret a thing. I moved closer to him so that my crossed legs were touching his. At this, he brought the hand that was playing with the sand to meet my waist, helping me move into the position I was aiming for. There was still some excess sand that remained on his hand as he held it there, but the warmth of his touch still managed to penetrate through my thin tank top. I was starting to lose breath completely, but if it meant having to pull away from him then I guess I'll lose all air.
My guess was that Niall was thinking the same thing, but air meant a little more to him than it did to me considering that he pulled away. Once again, we were a mess of heavy breathing and dazed looks. Although he broke the contact of the kiss, he didn't break out eye contact. "See? No need to worry, Lucky Charms," I smiled slightly and he chuckled, finally telling me that he was at ease again.
"I s'pose not." The smile he gave me made me almost lose more breath than when we were kissing. I could tell by the way it followed all the way through to his eyes that he was happy. Truly happy. His smile was contagious, leaving me with no other choice than to smile along with him.
He bushed a piece of hair that had managed to fall from my ponytail away from my eyes so nothing was interrupting our line of vision from each other. "I guess there's only one thing left to say," Niall announced.
"Oh? And what would that be?" I wondered, a slight smile following.
"You're definitely worth it." It was like someone had gotten inside my body and let out all the butterfly's in the world. The entire world seemed to slow down at his words, but my body was on fire. Warming and jittering all at the same time.
Come on, Carter, say something. Don't just leaving him hanging. You can do it, come on.
"Thank you."
Seriously. Thank you? What the fuck, Carter.
"Wait, shit. Forget I said that. Please for the love of God please forget I said that. That was the lamest reply in the history of lame replies. Ew, oh my gosh," I sputtered. I shook my head, and for the first time, I looked away from his bright blue eyes. It was his turn to laugh at my response. And by laugh I don't mean a light chuckle. I mean a full on Niall Horan belly laugh. The sound that brings angels to shame. And when he laughs like that, a person can't help but laugh too. Still horrified by my response, I let out a nervous chuckle as he let himself nearly cry of laughter.
"Let me tell you, I don't think I've ever seen a person so disgusted by their own response, " he breathed, still not done laughing. I swatted at his shoulder then hit his stomach repeatedly with the back of my hand as he continued to roar with laughter. "Niall! Stop!" I dragged out the word, my face heating up for the, surprisingly, first time since by horrific statement.
"I-I'm sorry. It's just-it was great," Niall croaked, his voice raspy from laughing so loudly for so long.
I couldn't help it. It was a perfect moment and I couldn't contain the words I spoke next. "Thank you." I smirked up at him and he lost it all over again, but this time, I joined in with him. His hands were wrapped around his stomach as mine did the same. Both of us completely losing all sanity we had left. If someone were to walk by right now, I'm sure they would sign us up for a mental hospital.
After the two of us had calmed down we sat there for a few moments before Niall made the first move to speak, "I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while," he grinned at me. "And now people will be thoroughly confused when I laugh at someone who says thank you."
"You're welcome," I nodded briefly before adding another small chuckle.
"I'm afraid we've lost all control," Niall concluded.
"Afraid so," I agreed. A brief silence surrounded us, but Niall's thick Irish accent broke it. "I was serious y'know."
"About what?" I tilted my head slightly in confusion. A gear in him shifted as soon as I asked my question. His eyes shot down to look at his hands that were placed in his lap, bringing one up to bite his nail, while his shoulders slumped slightly. He was nervous. "You always do that," I pointed out.
"Do what?" He furrowed his eyebrows and glanced back up at me.
"Bite your fingernails when you're nervous." To prove my point I nodded towards his hand that was against his mouth, him slightly biting on his nail. He took his hand away quickly and I immediately took the chance to take his hands into my smaller one, lacing my fingers slowly through his own. Niall's eyes followed my every movement and I was afraid that he would be able to feel my rapid pulse through my hand. "It's adorable," I admitted. His head looked up from our hands, but mine stayed looking at them.
"I don't think anyone has ever called my nervous habit 'adorable' before." I could hear the mock in his voice as he said it, and when I looked up so our eyes could meet, I knew I was right. He had that slight smirk on his face, but admiration in his eyes. I rolled my eyes before replying, "it always makes you look like a lost puppy and lost puppies are adorable."
"Oh, so I'm a lost puppy now?" Niall gasped jokingly, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt.
"Is that such a bad comparison, Horan?" I challenged. He thought about it for a second before humming. "I suppose not, Anderson."
"Well good. Then tell me what you were going to tell me before you got all nervous and started acting like a lost puppy," I taunted.
"I don't even remember now," he shrugged.
"Don't bull shit me, Lucky Charms," I demanded, holding his gaze. "You can do it. I believe in you!" I mocked excitement, leading him to give me a quiet chuckle.
"We have gotten off of the original topic countless number of times, Carter. I'm afraid I don't remember." I rolled my eyes for the second time in this conversation. "If you don't tell me then I'm afraid that I won't let you walk away without telling me."
"I'd be okay with that," Niall mused and I raised my eyebrows as if saying 'that wasn't a proposition, tell me now, fool'. He let out a loud sigh telling me that, somehow, that's what he had gotten out of the look I gave him. "Fine," he said, defeated. "I was going to say that I meant it when I said you were worth it." By the end of his sentence his voice had gotten softer, leaving me with a lot of uncaught words.
"What was that?"
"I said I meant it when I said that you were worth it!" He didn't just say it, he screamed it out to the heavens, making sure everyone and everything heard it.
"Jesus, Niall! Shout it a little louder, I don't think anyone heard you," I joked. But this was Niall we're talking about here, he will do as he pleases.
And what he pleased at this very moment was to say it again...louder. But this time he stood up from his position on the beach and spread out his arms, as if calling out to God himself.
"You're worth it! Carter Anderson, you! Are! Worth-"
"Niall!" I grabbed one of his arms, bringing it back down to his side and stopping him from screaming anymore in the process. "I heard you the second time," I giggled.
"I know," he looked down at me and I brought my hand that was on his bicep down to meet his hand. "I just wanted to say it again."
And I swear his smile could be seen from a billion miles away.
---------
A/N
Well gee. That was a long chapter. 4 and a half pages to be exact.
The gif at the top makes me so happy you don't even know :) :) :) :)
So I went back and changed a few things about Cameron's character. Before he was talking to someone on the phone and I made it sound like he was trying to find her for someone else but I changed that. Now he's looking for her for his own personal reasons. Chapter 17 is a good chapter to reflect back to.
Other than that, there were a few editing changes so I wouldn't fret about those too much.
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I was smiling for a lot of it. And if you've never noticed that Niall bites his nails, Google "Niall Horan biting nails" and you'll see that he does it all the time.
#teamCariall