“You know, I feel slightly like a child riding in the backseat with my parents again.” Niall sighed as he watched Melina slap Louis’ hand away from the radio.
On cue, Louis turned his head to look back at him. “Awe, Niall, really, your father? I’m a little young but I guess I’m honored you-”
“Oh phf.” Niall puffed at Louis. “Please, you,” He said as if that was enough of an explanation. “I said slightly like and it’s mostly due to Melina not putting up with your antics anyway.” He waved him off as Louis scoffed in offense. “Melina how much further?”
Smiling to hide her laugh, Melina answered that they would be there in a little over twenty minutes.
“I’m offended, what you don’t think I wouldn’t be a great dad?” Louis asked turning around to look pointedly at Niall, his eyes almost threatening his mate to say yes.
“You’re a bit young.” Niall shrugged as Melina made a sound quite of distress and coughing but Louis ignored her.
“You’re younger.”
“I meant both physically and mentally.”
“Bleh, I can be their best friend, the coolest dad ever.” Louis waved the words away. “Anyway I’ve gotta start soon if I plan on having my own baseball team of kids.”
“What?!” Both Melina and Niall exclaimed, the latter in surprise and laughter, the former in horror and revulsion.
“Kidding but really, do you have to sound that horrified?” He asked Melina, narrowing his eyes at her.
“Yes!” Melina answered without pause.
~~~
Arriving at the destination of Ara’s regatta, the three got out of Melina’s car.
“So where to now?” Niall asked looking around.
“Well I’ve only gone to one other of Ara’s regatta’s but I would start with following the group of people who are carrying large satchels and coolers, who look like they know where they are going.” Melina tipped her head towards the family that were rolling a large cooler.
“Sounds like a plan.”Niall nodded before he began to follow the rather well packed family.
Ten minutes of walking later, they thankfully arrived at the stands where the spectators were sitting. Taking their seats, they each tried to find Ara only to realize that everyone practically looked the same with the combination of the distance and matching uniforms.
Giving up for a small bit, Niall waved at some people who were pointing at them, especially the small preteen girl and her green braces, staring at him with wide set brown eyes.
“Ryan!” Melina yelled suddenly causing both Niall and Louis to look up because they both had no idea who Ryan was.
On cue the lanky male wearing a pair of jeans with a plain white t-shirt came jogging to them. "Hello Melina." He said with a small smile as Louis looked him up and down at his familiarity towards Melina.
"Do you know where Ara is?" Melina asked smiling at the boy who was trying not to look skeptically at Niall and Louis whom were both eyeing him with wonder never having even heard of the boy before.
"Yeah, she's stretching with her team over there," He nodded in the direction to where Ara’s team ws.
Melina nodded before stopping to realize that all three boys were just looking at each other, to her looking quite like dogs about to sniff each other’s butts, they were so skeptical. "Oh wait, Louis, Niall, this is Ara's Ryan."
"Ara's Ryan," Both pop stars echoed in surprise and a little on the offensive side.
"Her friend," She rolled her eyes. "I have a Ryan too from grade school that I talk to all the time, so I tend to say Ara's Ryan." She brushed it off. "Ryan this is my boyfriend Louis Tomlinson and our friend Niall Horan." She finished the introductions.
"One Direction?" Ryan asked recognizing the names and suddenly why the two seemed so familiar to him.
“This is so cool. I want to try one of those.” Louis pointed at the double rowing shells that Ara was near, grinning with a certain look in his eyes.
“Despite your innocent statement why do I have a vague feeling that you’re totally thinking dirty things?” Melina asked peering into his eyes, her grey ones slightly narrowed.
“Because he totally is. He is a twenty-one year old boy.” Niall spoke up, leaning towards Melina.
“You,” Louis said swatting Niall away, further from him and Melina. “Go to Ara with her Ryan.”He suggested with a careful push.
“Really?” Niall could hear Melina say in exasperation but Louis simply echoed her, but his tone firm and unyielding. Either way he was quite okay with leaving the two love birds to do whatever it was they wanted to do. There was really only so much he could take of being the third wheel.
“So you’re Ara’s friend?” Niall inquired as Ryan led him through the place, to get to Ara safely.
“Yeah, we go to the same Uni.”
“Oh,” Niall’s lips dragged the sound out. “Cool.”
“You too?”
“Huh?”
“You’re Ara’s friend?”Ryan expanded his question.
“Um,” Niall scratched the back of his neck. “Yes, we are.” He said with conviction, trying to make up for his initial hesitance.
“That’s cool.”
Hearing basically his own words back at him, Niall made a face. Why did he have to use cool and when did cool become the word for awkward moments?
“Okay is it just me or is that the boy from the latest boyband walking with Ryan?” Cherie, the team captain asked as she crossed her left arm to hold and stretch her extended right arm.
“Huh?” Several of the girls cried before clamoring over each other to see.
A few sighed in disappointment merely because they had such high hopes but alas, Nsync hadn't reunited. Others though stared while they internally screamed that Niall Horan was there and they had to be cool. However before any of them could fully recover from their shock, the cause if it all grinned and waved before yelling Ara.
“Ara?!” Her teammates cried in shock and disbelief before they all turned to stare at her. Ara’s eyes widened like those of a deer’s in the headlights before sheepishly returning Niall’s enthusiastic waves with a weak one of her own while ignoring the piercing stares.
“Ara, would you like to tell us what’s going on?” Ara’s closest teammate asked, all the while still smiling.
“It’s not really a big deal,” Ara lied, trying not to think about the nervousness sitting at the pit of her stomach. She already knew he was going to come, he had promised her but still, the fact that he was there was still something in itself.
“Hey,”
“Hi,” Ara replied back, returning his smile and trying to act cool, well as cool as she could. As she stood, her teammates followed her lead.
“Ara would you like to introduce us to your friend?” Cherie asked, prodding Ara with her elbow.
“Oh, yes. Hi Ara’s teammates. I’m Niall.” Niall grinned, his accent slightly rolling the r in Ara’s name, making it sound more exotic than it was.
“Ara’s teammates…” One of the girls echoed in awe, towards the back.
“Thanks for coming!” Ara hurriedly said. “Did you guys find the place easy enough?”
Niall shrugged. “I had pretty much no idea where we were going the whole way, thankfully Melina did and then we were lucky enough to follow a family that knew where they were going too.”
Ara blinked at the rather honest answer.
“Oh and we’re sitting there…” Niall turned around to show Ara where he, Louis, and Melina were sititng only to not see them, but instead a line of people waiting to take a picture with Louis. “Um, where the long line of people just popped up. Huh.” Niall said in wonder himself.
Ara bit her lip at first to not laugh but Niall’s surprised face was almost too cute that she let out a smaller laugh. “Um, let’s talk over there…” Ara said looking around, ducking almost when her teammate were still giving her a look.
“Anyway, I just wanted to wish you good luck before you started.”
“Thanks!”
“You would think the rest of us weren’t even here.” Shannon, one of Ara’s teammates said in jest as they watched the two talk utterly casually.
“Yeah,” Ryan agreed with a small laugh. Well at least this might explain the awkwardness of their conversation as they walked.
“What is he,” Another girl cried out almost jumping past Shannon’s shoulder to watch Niall put some kind of ribbon around Ara’s hair tie.
“We ordered flowers for Melina’s mum’s birthday before we came and Melina ordered this green ribbon for it and I guess I was staring at it so the florists gave me an the extra piece she had no use for.” Niall explained as he stood behind to wrap the small ribbon around Ara’s hairtie. However the ends were too short for him to do anything so he just tucked them under the hair tie. “Who knew it was going to come in handy! So now I can find you! Well I can find you easier…” Niall trailed off as he didn’t want to say that they all, Ara, her teammates and their competition all looked the same from afar.
As Ara walked back to her teammates, waving once more to Niall, a goodbye, she tried to breathe in and out to rid of her blush but it wasn’t working fast enough as her teammate pounced at her like lions after their prey. “How does Niall Horan know you?”
“Um.”
“Um?!” A few exclaimed rather scarily. “Ara Astor, do not just um us. This is serious!”
“Well I’m his third cousin twice removed on his mother’s side. Irish blood here, remember.” Ara tried to joke just because of how scary they were.
“Ara,” a few warningly said.
“He's just a friend” She said not helping it when her Irish inherited pale cheeks faintly turned an even harsher shade of red.
“Oh. Oh, oh Ara.”
“You like him!”
“You guys already know he's sorta my favorite!"
“Ara! That is not! Ohhhhhh Ara. Who knew our little Ara had it in her! To snag-”
“Little? I could sit on you and really he's just-” Ara protested frutilessly.
“A friend that will travel all the way to nowhere to watch a rowing regatta?” Cherie said suggestively.
“He's here with Melina and Louis!”
“Wait, really? I want to see her!” Once again they clamored all over each other to spot the other member of 1D. “Ohh she's pretty, so pretty, just ugh. I wish I could say I hate her but really she seems pretty awesome.”
“She is,” Ara confirmed.
“Yeah but seriously? Come on for them all to say they would like to date us, their fans. Why the hell are all their girlfriends sizes zero to two? Most girls are not those sizes!” One of the girls cried in frustration.
“Yeah!” Many chorused in agreement.
“So Ara you need to date Niall to represent the rest of us plain folk that don't have crazy beautiful hair and incredibly thin attractive structures.”
“I really can't decide if you're actually encouraging me or insulting me.” Ara said as she touched her hair in its tight pony tail, now with the spring green ribbon entwined, as what she got from their comments was that neither did she have beautiful hair nor an attractive body. Geez her teammates.
~~~
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I have writing it!
Thank you so much guys for being such supportive fans!
So Ara can this be considered a late birthday gift?
Well this chapter and the next that will hopefully be up within a week?!