Pretty, pretty, pretty please read the author's note at the end, okay? It's important.
~Enjoy~
“This is ridiculous, Jeremy,” Tori said into the phone as she scrambled to pull on her red, lifeguard’s swimsuit, “It’s four in the bloody morning-”
“Did you just say ‘bloody’ and ‘morning’ in the same sentence?” her boss laughed on the other line.
Tori sighed as she fixed the straps of the red one piece, her heart dropping at the thought of Niall, whom she hadn’t seen in months. Though it was September, the temperatures of Florida were still in the eighties and nineties. It was estimated to be about ninety-five degrees that day at Daytona Beach, where Tori worked as a lifeguard. Every morning, she would drive an hour from Orlando to Daytona Beach to do her job, and back at night.
“I might have,” she grumbled, “Now why exactly do you want me to be there at four in the morning? Only hardcore surfers go at this time, Jeremy, and I thought Emory had the shift.”
“He’s sick,” Jeremy replied, “Now just go to tower fifteen, okay? Bye.”
“Bye,” Tori growled into the phone, pulling it away from her cheek and throwing it softly onto her bed, which she had already made in a hurry once the news reached her of going to work early.
She grabbed her red gym shorts and her white Lifeguard sweater, hastily pulling it over her head and pulling her blonde, wavy hair into a ponytail before slipping on her flip-flops and leaving her apartment.
Slamming the door of her car, she pulled on her seatbelt and clipped it into place, immediately turning on the radio as soon as she had backed out of the driveway. The familiar morning talkshow of Sirius XM greeted her ears, and she listened to the three hosts talk a bit until music came on.
“And let’s welcome One Direction! How are you, boys?” one of the hosts, Nicole, said.
Tori’s ears perked up a bit, and she snapped out of her fatigue of waking up early. Her heart began racing at the thought of hearing Niall’s voice on the radio, considering she hadn’t been keeping much track of him except for a few texts and maybe a phone call a week.
“We’re doing well, thanks,” Louis spoke, and Tori immeditely thought of Jenny, who was probably attending medical school in Chicago.
“Now boys, how’re you liking Florida so far?” another host, Rich, asked.
“It’s brilliant,” Liam said, and the thought of Celine at NYU was quickly fresh in Tori’s mind. She was for sure up at that hour, either writing an essay or just not able to sleep.
Using bluetooth in her car, Tori quickly rung up Celine, who answered the phone on the third ring.
“Tori?” Celine said.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Tori said, “Were you asleep?”
“No, I was-”
“Good. Now turn on Satellite radio and listen to Hits on One, okay?”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Liam’s on the radio! All the boys are!” Tori exclaimed, her heat racing.
“Oh, okay! I’ll let the girls know!” Celine said, and they exchanged goodbyes before hanging up.
Tori quickly turned up the radio once more. Much to her luck, they had just finished asking Niall a question, who had quickly answered, and then moved on to Zayn.
“And Niall, you wanted to be a dentist, am I correct?” Rich asked.
“At some point, yeah,” he chirped in his Irish accent.
His voice made her heart melt, and Tori gripped the steering wheel of her car as she continued driving, listening to the boys’ funny stories about being on tour, a girl hiding in a bin to see them, and their families.
“And you boys disappeared for about two months, what was that all about?” Nicole asked.
“As funny as it sounds,” Harry said, “We were at a camp.”
“A camp?” Rich laughed, “Which camp?”
“Well, we’re not exactly allowed to say that information,” Louis said, “But we will tell you that we were counselors.”
“How was it?” Nicole asked.
“It was wicked,” Liam said, “I learned how to make all sorts of survival knots, oh, and lanyards and bracelets.”
“Don’t forget the canoes,” Niall said, and Tori nearly jumped at hearing his voice, “Oh, and there was a lot of good food.”
“And good first aid,” Louis said, and Tori nearly burst out laughing.
“What do you mean by that?” Nicole questioned.
“Oh, the lads know what I mean,” Louis laughed, “And Niall? How do you like lifeguards?”
Tori nealry slammed on the breaks.
“L-Lifeguards?” she spoke aloud.
“Oh, right, yeah. Lifeguards,” Niall stammered, and she could tell he was blushing, “I love swimming early in the morning. About five o’clock, I’d say.”
“That’s interesting,” Rich said, “Early in the morning?”
“Yeah, the splash of cold water, or any temperature at all wakes me up,” Niall continued.
“What’s that you’re wearing?” Nicole asked Niall.
“This?”
“Yeah, is that a bandanna?”
Tori gasped, pulling into the parking lot of the beach. It was already five o’clock, and she had to get to work, but didn’t want to leave the car at all.
“It is,” Niall continued, “A very special one.”
Tori swiched off the car, leaning on the steering wheel and pressing her forehead against it, her tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. A sob escaped her lips as she finally broke down, missing Niall so much.
She opened up the door to the car and stepped out, grabbing her visor in the process and locking the car. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and walked to Tower Fifteen, taking off her flip flops and holding them in one hand as she held her keys and phone in the other.
The dim sunlight reflected very little off the waves, which were crashing against the sand softly. A few surfers ran towards the water in their wetsuits, boards in hand, and others sat on the shore, gazing at the view.
Tori stomped on, ignoring the lovely view and heading to the tower. She threw her flip-flops near the ladder of the tower and climbed up, brushing off her pants and sweater once she had finally gotten up with a sigh. She saw the silhouette of a man staring at the ocean at the corner of her eye, and turned to look at him.
He had his back towards him, bits of his blonde hair peeking out through the white lifeguard cap he was wearing. He had on a pair of red swim trunks, and the same sweater that Tori had on. He was also barefoot, and his hands were on his waist as he stared at the view.
“I thought you were sick, Emory,” Tori sighed, getting situated in her seat next to him, turning on her phone to look at a picture of her and Niall she had as a background, supporting themselves between two benches in the forest, their lips captured in a kiss. Niall was wearing the same snapback that Tori had loved since she’d seen on him. Once she realized that Emory hadn’t answered, she said, “Emory?”
“Who’s Emory? Should I be worried?”
Tori froze, every single limb in her body tightening. Her heart began racing again, and her breathing quickened as she looked up, finding a pair of familiar blue eyes staring down at her with a smile set upon his lips.
“N-Niall?” she stuttered, and the smile on his lips widened at the sound of her voice. “NIALL!”
He laughed as she bolted out of her chair and jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms locking around his neck as she hugged him, her forehead pressed to his neck as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
“Whoa, easy, there!” he exclaimed with a laugh, stumbling backward a bit before steadying himself, his hands resting comfortably on the small of her back, “Someone’s missed me, eh?”
“Pssht,” she said, looking up at him with tears still in her eyes, “I’ve been doing okay.”
Niall chuckled before leaning in and capturing her lips with his. She placed her palms on both his cheeks, pulling his cap off once they’d broken away.
“What’d you do that for?” Niall chuckled, furrowing his eyebrows, “I’m having a bad hair day.”
“I don’t care one bit if it’s your bad hair day, bad day, good day, or any day at all,” she said, running her hands through his hair, “I just care that you’re here right here and right now, and no where else.”
Niall smiled and said, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
A/N: Oi! Looks like you’ve stumbled upon a part of the epilogue... 1/5 of it, that is, and there will be a sixth part as a surprise. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a chapter for this and I know I’ve been MIA for about a day, but I’m sorry... I do have a life outside of watty, lol. Anyways, here it is. Niall and Tori’s part of the epilogue. You guys vote who you want next in the comments, okay?
Liam and Celine
OR
Louis and Jenny
OR
Harry and Kate
OR
Zayn and Penny
The voting ends next week, this time, okay? So next Sunday, I’ll begin writing whichever couple you guys choose.
Thanks for reading, tooduhloo! (I quite like that word)
♔Talia♔