*this chapter will be skipping around. Pay attention!*
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Ella wakes up to the sound of music being played downstairs. She opens her eyes and remembers what happened these past 24 hours. The bruise on her arm staring at her.
Jamie.
She pulls the duvet over her head and sighs deeply.
Everything was real. The entire situation was real.
She reaches for her phone off the nightstand and finds a sticky note on it.
"Good morning Ella,
Hope you slept well! I will be working today for the most part, but feel free to keep me company! Maybe tonight we can go out for dinner? And by the way, I had Paul go out to buy you clothes and whatnot in the early morning. They're in the bathroom."
Niall"
She puts the note away in the drawer and slowly gets up. She is tired but she really needs to talk to Niall. But first, shower!
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Ella walks downstairs and turns towards the music. She finds herself in another room, a gigantic room.
She sees Niall sitting, back turned towards her, and tapping his pen on the paper.
"Hey Niall."
He quickly spins around and looks at her. "Good morning Ella. How are you?"
"Tired and sore to be honest." She walks over to a couch near the window. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to get inspiration," he sighs deeply. "So far, nothing."
"Niall, can we talk?"
He nods and grabs the stereo's remote, shutting it off. "What's up?"
"What am I going to do?"
"About what?"
"About Jamie. He can't keep bothering me and hurting me." She crosses her arms. "I can't live in fear."
"Ella," Niall says. "Don't worry, we got it taken care of."
"What? What do you-did you send paul to beat him up? Oh god Niall you can-"
"No, i can't do that!" He laughs. "I got in contact with my good friend, a judge, explained what happened, sent photos of your bruises, and judge immediately sent out a restraining order on Jamie. He can't be 150 meters from you."
"A restraining order?!" Her eyes go wide. "You did that?!?!"
"Not me, the judge." He smiles a bit. "You're safe now."
He stands up and walks over to her. He sits down next to her and grabs her hands. "Ella, your face says it all. You're shocked. I know, but it had to be done. I can't let that guy get near you and hurt you. I'm not going to let him give you more bruises."
He pulls back the sleeve on her jumper and examines the bruises. "Do you really think I'm not going to do anything about it??"
She looks at him. He went beyond than what she thought. Holy shit. He cares, a lot more than she expected.
"Why did you do that?" She asks softly.
"Because," he looks up at her. "No man should lay his hands on a woman. No matter what. He bruised you up Ella. He hurt you and I can't let him get away with it without consequences."
She pulls her hands away and hugs him tightly. "Thanks."
He hugs her back and squeezes her. " You're welcome. You know I'd do anything to keep you safe."
Suddenly there is a cough at the door. They quickly pull away and Niall looks up.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Niall, I need to speak with you." Says Paul, seriously.
Ella takes that as her cue to leave. "I'll leave you two. I'll be in my room watching Tv."
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"I think that'll work awesome. Yeah okay, thanks mate! See you soon then." Niall says as he walks down the stairs.
Ella is in the small living room,watching some movie on tv.
"Hey, Ella." Niall says as he walks around the couch.
She looks up from her cellphone. "Hey."
"Ready to go out?"
"Sure," she says, standing up. "Where to?"
"I'm not sure yet." He chuckles. "We'll figure it out though. I'm sure we can find somewhere to eat."
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And they did find somewhere to eat...a pizza place. All the other places were too crowded or had strange menu items. Ella wasn't taking a chance of getting sick.
"So basically I have to or Louis is going to kick my ass." Niall says as he sips his beverage.
"Yeah? But cmon, I'm sure you can whoop his ass anytime. What's the big deal anyway? Like what are the details?" Ella questions him.
He shrugs. "I can't tell you exactly as of right now, it's in the works. So I have that thing plus this writing session with Sia soon. Which I'm totally stoked for. She's so fucking awesome and amazing writer."
"Sia herself is amazing. At anything she does!" Ella laughs. "But I'm glad to hear that you're looking into your singing career again. Since I've known you, you've only been songwriting."
"Yeah I decided to take a hiatus after constantly touring and whatnot. It's been what? 1.5-2 years?? I think it's time. I miss singing."
"1.5 years actually, nearly 2 in a few months. But yeah I know. I think you can do it again, a comeback I mean." Ella takes a bite of pizza.
"I hope so. But it probably won't be until another few months until that happens. Still have a long journey." Niall looks over at Ella. "But other than that, that's basically it that's new. What about you? Am I missing anything?"
"Besides I lost my hotel job? Not much." She shrugs.
"Really? I'm sorry."
Ella shakes her head. "It's okay. That job was too much for me anyway. So stuck at the flower shop...again."
"Not bad though." He laughs. "Anything else?"
"That's it that I can think about." She pushes her plate away. "I'm done!"
He smiles softly and waves his hand at the waitress. "Okay, I'll pay here and see what else we can do!"
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Niall pulls Ella along with him. "You know, this place is really nice. I remember-"
"Oh no, we're not going in there Niall," she protests as he leads them to a club.
"It'd be fun! Cmon Ella, let's have some fun! You deserve it!" He says, pulling her close against him. "Okay?"
"I don't know Niall, I think-"
"Noooo don't think! Cmon, no one is going to catch us. It's a Tuesday night!"
She rolls her eyes. "I don't know if this is a go-"
Before she knows it, she's at the top of the line.
"ID?" Says the guard, holding his stamp out.
Niall and Ella hand him their ID. He stamps their wrists and gives the cards back. "Enjoy your night Mr. horan."
He pulls them along inside and Ella can't help but feel a little paranoid. There really isn't a lot of people, which can be a good and bad thing.
"Wanna drink?" Niall asks her, still holding her hand.
"A Cosmo would be nice," she replies and follows him to the bar.
"One Cosmo and One Mojito please," Niall tells the bartender.
"Sure thing sir!" Says the bartender and starts working on their drinks.
Ella looks around, keeping her head low. Niall squeezes her hand gently. "Ella, don't be nervous."
"It's just that you'll never know," she says, scanning the back tables. Maybe they should sit there after they pay their drinks.
He sits on the bar stool and pulls her onto his lap. "Ella, seriously. You need to relax. You've been under a lot of stress. You know you're safe with me."
She looks down at him and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah I know. But-"
"Here are your drinks sir, they're on the house Mr. Horan!" Interrupts the bartender, causing Ella to nearly fall off Niall's lap. He knows!!
"Thank you sir, here, at least let me give you a tip!" Niall slides over a few bills and smiles kindly. "Cmon let's go find a table."
Ella looks at him as he takes their drinks, expecting him to care that he got recognized.
He leads them to a table towards the back of the room. Ella slides into the booth table and grabs her drink from Niall. He slides in next to her.
"Aren't you worried that you got recognized?" She asks as she takes a sip. "What if the media finds out?"
"Not really," he shrugs. "It doesn't bother me. Like I said, you're safe with me Ella."
He looks over at her and pulls a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, okay? I want you to relax and forget everything that happened. I want to make sure you're happy."
She can't help but stare at him. After everything they've been through, he obviously cares a lot about her. She feels bad for shutting him out. He's done so much for her, coming to her rescue when she needed him. He's honestly a great guy, but she knows she can't get too close to him. She doesn't want to make the same mistake again....
She smiles softly at him. "Thanks Niall."
He smiles back and drops his hand. "You're welcome. Do you wanna dance? Yeah? I'm still not a great dancer but who cares!"
"Oh I bet." She laughs and grabs his hand. "Sure, I guess. To see how badly you dance."
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"You're really funny. Ha. Ha." Ella says as she rolls her eyes at Niall.
He opens the front door and grins at her. "Sorry, but it was funny!"
"No, that was the lamest joke ever!"
"I'd have to agree Mr. horan, it was pretty lame." Paul says as he walks up behind them.
They're back from the club and apparently Niall's joke about chickens wasn't funny at all.
"You're suppose to be on my side Paul! Ouch! That hurt! You always laugh at my jokes!" Niall saunters over to the kitchen.
"That's because I had no one else to bring up the subject first." Paul says with a smirk.
"Oooooo!!!!" Ella coos and high- fives paul. "Nice one!"
Niall rolls his eyes and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. "I always knew you two were working together. What a shame."
"He caught us Paul. Oh man, what will he do to us?!" Ella pulls off her sweater and sets it down on the counter.
"I'm thinking slow torture but that's too easy." Niall sips his water. "Oh I know! I'll make you watch Louis and Harry's sex-"
"Oh no! I'm good!" Paul quickly says and shakes his head. "I'm calling it a night you two. You behave now."
Paul walks out of the kitchen and towards his room in the opposite end.
Niall looks up at Ella who is scrolling on her phone. "Wanna come watch some tv? I'm sure we can find something to watch."
"Sure." She says without looking up at him. "That's fine."
He grabs her hand and leads her upstairs to his bedroom. "Well it is 1am, but who knows maybe we can find a late night movie."
He opens the door to his room and pushes it open. Ella stops in her tracks and squeezes his hand gently. "Can I go change into something comfy first??"
"Of course you can. Go ahead and change into your PJs and I'll be waiting here."
Ella smiles and pulls her hand away slowly. "Okay. Don't fall asleep on me Horan!!" She scurries off to her bedroom.
Niall enters his room and changes into his PJs. Which will be his sweats And t-shirt combination, as opposed to sleeping in his boxer as he usually does.
He sets his lights on "low" and turns on his television. He starts skimming through channels when Ella enters the bedroom.
"Okay I'm here!" She announces. She's wearing black sweats, grayish-blue sweater, beanie, and fuzzy socks.
"You look super comfy."
"Thanks, I get cold easily during the night. Hence the sweater." She replies and walks over to his bed. She pulls the covers back and slides in underneath them.
"I can't find much on TV," he says, crawling underneath the covers as well. "Mostly tv infomercials."
"Is there something interesting at least? Cartoons? I don't know," Ella scrolls her phone.
"I guess we'll watch "World's Dumbest..." he says and sets the remote down on the nightstand next to him.
They remain quiet for the next 5 minutes watching tv. Ella is still on her phone texting away. Niall can't help but wonder who. He can't be nosy and ask.
"Did you have fun tonight?" He asks, breaking the silence.
Finally Ella looks away from her phone and looks at him. "Yeah definitely. I had a lot of fun. Thank you."
"You're welcome. And I was serious about what I said. I just want you to relax and be happy."
Ella smiles at him. "I know. And I really do appreciate everything you have done for me. Really Niall. You've done a lot for me, you've stuck by me throughout this whole ordeal. And not to mention, fixed it."
He doesn't reply immediately. He knows he's done all these sweet things to Ella. Not because he wants to, because he feels the sense to protect her. He wants to protect her at all costs.
Ella sets her phone down and grabs his hand, bringing him back from his thoughts.
"Niall, I...I know I'm such a pain in the ass sometimes. I know. But you've put up with me much more than I thought. I just want to say thank you, honestly, for protecting me from him."
Oh, she's talking about him.
"Ella," he says. "You know very well I care about you more than I care about anyone else. You deserve the world. You're truly too good for him. He is gone now though, he won't bother you anymore. And if he does, I'll handle it too. As long as I'm here, no one is going to hurt you."
Ella sighs deeply and hugs him tightly. "Thank you."
He hugs her back and squeezes her. "I want you to understand that. Okay? No one is going to hurt you. I want you to be 100% happy."
She sniffles and wipes her eye.
"Ella, are you crying?"
She nods slowly. He pulls her back to look at her face. "Ella, don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry." He wipes her cheek. "Ella..."
Something inside her just sparked. A fire. An all too familiar spark. What is going on?
Ella keeps crying and Niall keeps caressing her. "Ella, love. Why are you crying? Was it something I said?"
It's as if she's been holding in those tears for a long time and until now they burst open.
Something is happening deep down inside her and she's freaking out...
"I...need to go." She says softly and pulls away from Niall. "I can't...."
She quickly gets out of his bed and runs out of his bedroom. She can't look at him. Not right now....
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Thanks for reading! ;) things are kicking up again!! What will happen? Why is Ella having these mixed emotions?
Stay tuned and remember to "like" and comment!