As if by answer of the gods, it did snow heavily in New York—flight cancelingly heavy; so heavy that she wouldn’t be able to go home until late tomorrow. It snowed so heavily that it snowed here in Ireland…though it probably wasn’t related, and it was only flurries here. Since we were five hours ahead, Hunter and I had gotten our ‘golfing’ (which really just ending up in us talking about my videos and how good Ellie Goulding’s concert was while I hit golf balls around) in before her mum even woke up to tell us about the flight being canceled. We didn’t even go to the airport to check honest.
Her mum wasn’t too enthusiastic about Hunter staying here though. They were still on the phone right now—Hunter had her on speaker because she was currently being a good girlfriend and washing my hair for me; she said she’d cut it and style it for me too. I was a little doubtful about letting her mess with my hair, but she assured me that she’ll make me look, at the very least, presentable. So, I guess that’s alright.
“Mom, do you think I’m just going to fly out in the middle of a blizzard?” She grumbled massaging my scalp, lathering up the shampoo. “They won’t even have the landing strip clear until tomorrow.”
“But it’ll be tomorrow there before it’s tomorrow here.”
“I mean your tomorrow.” I snickered at her annoyed tone. “I’ll just come back tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?! Why not tomorrow morning?!”
“Why not tomorrow night?”
Her mum let out a frustrated breath, “Hunter, I know you want to stay with Niall, but you can’t just skip out on classes.”
“Well what am I going to do with the flights getting delayed?”
“Maybe you could fly to Indiana and stay with the boys until the storm ends?”
Her hands froze in my head and I peeked up at her, seeing she was trying to think of a bullshit reason to get out of that. “How am I going to stay with them? In their dorm room?” She smiled when she realized her argument was completely valid.
“Hunter…you have to come home at one point.”
“I know,” she mumbled. “But not right now.”
“I know what you’re doing here. You probably did some snow version of a rain dance for it to snow two feet here.” I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. “You will get back to this country even if I have to ship you here by tug boat.”
“Alright, Mom, Jesus.”
Her mum let out the longest sigh I’ve ever heard before speaking again. “So, how was the thing last night?”
“It was nice.” Hunter said slowly. I frowned a little knowing it was everything but nice. “How’re the grandparents?”
“Annoying. Grandpa already drove back up to Liverpool, but of course Mom had to stay another day….for God’s sake.” She mumbled. “Oh, your cat! I got her the prettiest collar, oh my goodness. It’s sparkly.” They’re exactly alike…
“Mom, why didn’t you send me a picture?!”
“I forgot, calm it down.” There was talking in the background, “Daddy wants to talk to you.” Hunter lifted an eyebrow as she looked at me, still massaging my head though the shampoo was far past the point of being pounded into my head. I liked how she and her Dad mended things. It actually was heart breaking to me, just thinking about how I would feel if I thought my own dad hated me. But by the way she’d talked about him lately I was led to believe she was as close with him now as he was with her mum.
“Alright,” she said. There was shuffling on the other side of the phone before her Dad voice came on, greeting her. “Hi Daddy.” I kissed her, thinking it was cute how she said that. She licked her lips, smirking a little at me before turning her attention back to her dad.
“How’s the trip going, Hunter?”
“It’s been great…beyond great. I like Ireland.” I beamed at her, proud that my country made it to one of the first that she visited and liked. “We went to London too, but it wasn’t the city part. It was nice there too.”
“Oh, yeah your mother was telling me about that. You saw Ellie Goulding and got a picture with her, right?”
“Yeah!” Oh god, here she goes. “That was one of the best days of my life, Dad. I want tickets to see her again for Christmas, okay?”
“We’ll see what Santa brings.”
“Maybe Santa will bring your boyfriend.” I whispered in her ear, smiling as she giggled.
“Your grandmother doesn’t like your cat, Hunter.” Her dad said, “She’s smacked her lots of times to get her off your bed.”
“WHAT!” Hunter shouted. “She’s allowed to sleep there! It’s her bed too! DAD!”
He laughed, “I know, I know—I told her about nine times. She must have dementia or something.”
“Ugh, I’m gonna be heated if I come home and my cat is hurt, Dad.” I snapped my fingers putting emphasis on her attitude. “I gotta go. I’ll see you at some point tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay, have fun on your extra day. Love you.”
“Love you too.” She struggled to use her elbow to end the call, but luckily her dad did it first. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow at my smirk. “What?”
“You’re cute with your parents.”
She shrugged, “They’re annoying sometimes.”
“Everyone is annoying sometimes.” She nodded. “C’mon wash my hair out.” She slid off the counter and walked towards the bathtub to turn the faucet on. I watched her bend over, blushing a little as a flash of images played across my mind. Christ. She stood up once she got the water at the right temperature and turned to face me.
“Ready?” I nodded and walked to the tub, kneeling down and leaning over so my head was under the stream of water. She sat on my back and moved her hands through my hair to rinse the suds out. “I want to get Theo a present,” she mumbled distantly.
“He’s breathed about six times and you’re already trying to spoil a baby that’s not yours.”
She laughed, “I’m being a good uncle’s-girlfriend.” Aunt.
“You don’t get me presents,” I pouted.
“Yes I did! For your birthday…you wore the jacket today!”
I chuckled, “Oh yeah.” She turned the water off and tugged on my shoulder to stand me up again. She pulled the towel from around my shoulders and towel dried my hair, like I was a dog. I was surprised by how good it felt. “What’d you have in mind?” I purred, absorbed by her working the towel in my hair.
“A blanket or something? He can’t really play with toys yet. Aw, or some clothes.”
“I don’t think he even wears clothes yet.”
“What do you think, they carry him around naked?” I shrugged. “You’re so stupid.”
“Hey,” I pouted as she dropped the towel on the floor and pushed me to sit on the counter. She grabbed the scissors before climbing up with me and straddling my lap. “Hang on, how much are you cutting?”
“A little all around.”
“How much is a little?”
“Like,” she held up her thumb and pointer with a button sized space between them, “that much.”
“Make sure it’s just that much.” I grumbled. She giggled and stood on her knees a little so she could see what she was doing. I held her thighs and kept my head as still as possible as I watched bits of hair falling down. It seemed to be less than she intended, but I wasn’t about to say anything. I’ve never been a fan of getting my hair cut, I only agreed because it gave me an excuse to stare at her in front of me.
She leaned over my shoulder to get a better view of the back of my head, though there was a mirror, unconsciously pushing her chest in my face. I smirked and kissed at her soft skin but she batted me away.
“Do you want me to cut off a chunk of your hair?”
“No,” I mumbled, sticking my tongue out to lick at the exposed skin thanks to her loose shirt. She squealed, leaning back and covering her cleavage as she tried to scold me. “You taste good.” I grinned.
“Let me finish cutting your hair.”
“It’s short enough.”
“It’s still long in the back.”
I groaned, “Kiss.” She ignored my whining and pulled the front of her shirt up before going back to snipping at the back of my head. A couple minutes later, after clipping and blow-drying and brushing and shit, she sat back in my lap and smile proudly at her work.
“How’s it look?”
She smiled, “Very, very good…hot.”
“Can I cut your hair now?”
“NO!” I pouted but she rolled her eyes before climbing off me and walking out of the bathroom.Where is she going? I followed after her and we ended up in my guitar room. It wasn’t really a guitar room, because it wasn’t like I have ten guitars lined up on the walls or anything—it’s just where I play sometimes when I’m not in the blue window room. She flopped down on the soft couch and grinned at me.
“Play a song for me.” She crossed her legs and folded her hands over her knee.
I scratched my neck, “Alright,” I coughed, reaching for my guitar and sitting next to her. “What would you like to hear, babe?”
“Something slow.”
“Why slow?” I asked, strumming the guitar a little as I tuned it.
“Because your voice is pretty when you sing the slow songs.”
I cleared my throat, “Okay.” Looking up at the ceiling, I quickly thought of a song in only a couple seconds and blushed because I hadn’t played it in a while—not since the summer. On top of that, it was about her…and no one knew about it except Greg and Harry. I looked up at her, smiling a little at how eager she was, before starting to pluck the strings.
The amount of blush heating my face was mildly embarrassing, but I tried to ignore it as I sang the beginning verse. I didn’t think my voice was very up to par today, it was still only about ten and I hadn’t warmed up or anything. There were some low notes in the beginning that made it clear my voice was a little scratchy, so I kept my eyes on Hunter’s legs as I fought through it.
“It makes your lips, so kissable, and your kiss, unmissable; your fingertips, so touchable, and your eyes, irresistible.” I glanced up at her then immediately looked back down. She looked confused. As I sang the next verse I realized that I should’ve explained the song before I started. I was singing about my confliction of whether or not to stay with her, though she had all these alluring things. Should I stop and explain?
I decided to just finish the song out, no matter how uncomfortable and anxious I was starting to feel about her getting the wrong message. When I played the last note I reluctantly looked up at her, trying to read her expression, but a small smile messed it up before I could conclude anything.
“I liked that one.” I shrugged and looked down again.
“I um…I wrote that while I was dating Eileen…about you…I mean Harry helped but…” I trailed off glancing at her again, too quickly to see her expression. “She was my girlfriend, but there was still something about you that…I couldn’t just let go, yaknow? You said we had to stop…and I did consider it, a lot actually, but…look what I ended up doing.”
“I like what you ended up doing.” She said clearly. “I’m not mad at all.”
I looked up at her with a smile, “Me either.”
“Eileen probably is,” She smirked.
“I don’t care.”
“Neither do I.”
There was a pause as we stared in each other’s eyes. Her thoughts were obvious just by the way she licked her lips. I moved my guitar to the floor and grabbed her thighs to coax her in my lap, without saying anything. Her lips met mine in a slow kiss, hands gripping onto my slightly shorter hair and body pressing into mine. I ghosted my hands down her back and slipped my hands under her shirt to trace over her slight back muscles.
She leaned back to slowly lift her shirt over her head before helping me with mine. We giggled a little as we both struggled to get our pants off while sitting down, but eventually we were both naked and I was covered in the condom (that I hadn’t realized I had in my pocket). She lowered her hips, lifting her chin to the ceiling, in sync with my groan as I filled her. I took a second to internally smile at how well we fit together—in this way and others. I’d always thought Eileen was a little…um…over used…
I pushed the last shred of my thoughts about Eileen away and leaned up to kiss Hunter’s exposed neck. She had very light, barely noticeable love bites peppering her neck, and I told myself to be gentle before they actually do become noticeable. I’d rather not have Greg or Mum or anyone commenting on it.
“Hug,” She breathed. Her hands cupped my face and she gave me a tender kiss as she started slowly rock her hips. I wrapped my arms around her back and raked my nails down her back, like she usually does to me, just to see how she’d react. A whimper escaped her as she arched her back away from tickling nails. I chuckled a little and she smiled against my lips as I did it again, making her squirm. My hands ended up on her bum, squeezing a little as she rocked us.
I didn’t have any problem with the slow, slow pace she set; it kind of fit with the moment of the song and stuff—and also the fact that we love each other. This was ‘I love you but it scares me’ sex, instead of the ‘we’ve been waiting five months for this; let’s do as much as possible’ fucking that we usually did. We took our time, holding each other and kissing and letting our hands trace over each other. I loved it.
We both reached our climax at the same times, our mouths connecting to muffle our groans and moans although we had no reason to keep quiet in an empty house. She buried her face in my neck, ignoring the sweat coating my skin, and we stayed like that for a couple minutes before whispered something about a shower.
“Can we shower together?” I mumbled, playing with her tangled hair. She shook her head, “Why not?”
“We both know not much showering will get done,” She stood on her knees before getting off the couch and gathering her clothes. “And we still have to go see Theo.”
“You’re no fun.” I grumbled, watching her walk away. “What about later?” I called.
“Not in your wildest dreams, Horan. Go shower downstairs.”
I rolled my eyes. My wife—SHIT! I mean girlfriend…my girlfriend was denying me what’s mine.
——
“Ducks or teddy bears?” She frowned holding the two patterned blankets up for me. “Or maybe we could get him an actual teddy bear…”
“Sure.”
“Sure to what?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know…”
“Maybe we should get both blankets.” She mumbled to herself. “And a teddy bear for another time.”
“Sure.”
“You’re not helping, Niall.”
I laughed at her snappy tone and put an arm around her, “Theo’s not gonna care. He’s four days old; he doesn’t even know how to care.” She didn’t look any more convinced. “The ducks,” I sighed. A big smile spread over her face before she put the other blanket back and grabbed my hand to pull me towards the check out.
She seemed so fucking excited to give Theo a damn blanket and I couldn’t understand why. It’s not like he was five and would jump around once she handed it to him. He was just gonna lay there and stare at her, maybe he’ll blink, but that’s a bit of a reach. I grinned though—happy to see her happy on our last day
Once we got in the car, she fiddled with the radio before getting frustrated and just plugging her phone. She sang along to every song, making me chuckle when she hummed at the parts she didn’t know.
“Oh, this is Cal’s favorite song,” she said as someone’s cover to Power Trip started playing. I listened to the lyrics, and found myself actually liking the cover. “I borrowed his computer once, and this song has, like, three hundred plays on his iTunes. It’s cute.”
“Maybe it reminds him of someone,” I honestly wondered. Maybe he actually is up all night because of some girl…not Hunter though—they’re just friends.
“I don’t know.”
“What’s Logan’s favorite?” I only asked because I knew it would make her happy—I honestly couldn’t have cared less.
“He likes the Weeknd. So one of his songs…I think it’s The Zone. He listens to that a lot.”
“That’s a sex song.”
“Maybe—I don’t know. Let’s try it out when we get home.”
I laughed, “You’re ridiculous.”
——
“….born near sighted so you have to hold them kind of close for them to look at you and remember you.” I heard Denise say from the living room. Greg said whatever time she spends not looking after Theo—which isn’t very much—she stalks baby development sites, sponging information. He found it funny though it would probably make her paranoid later on of Theo isn’t hitting milestones the exact second that any website says he should. “….and it’s important that I put him on his stomach while he’s awake to strengthen neck muscles, but he has to sleep on his back because—okay listen to this—babies can die from sleeping on their stomach! Can you believe that?”
“What? Really?” Hunter gasped.
Their voices faded away as they walked into a different room. I looked at Greg, sitting across from me at the kitchen table with a smug smirk. “Nice haircut.”
“Thanks, Hunter did it.” He shook his head and made a whipping noise. “Shut up.”
“Just saying.”
I rolled my eyes and moved on, “In the baby store, the employee thought Hunter was pregnant.”
“That’s insulting.” He laughed.
“Not like that, she was like ‘just wait until you start showing—it’s magical’ and Hunter’s face went white.” I chuckled, “Went on a whole rambling fit telling the lady she wasn’t having a baby and how she was only twenty, blah blah blah.” My smile faded as he eyed me for an uncomfortable amount of time. “What?”
“It’s up to you, but I think you should wait until after college to marry her.”
My eyes widened, “What?!”
“I’m just saying.”
“You can’t just say stuff like that. I wasn’t even thinking about that! Why are we talking about this?” He laughed at how flustered I got, but I was less than amused. Jesus fucking Christ…I can’t think about any of that right now! Not right now… “God, Greg…”
“I mean, people get married at your age.”
“Her mum had Louis and Chip at our age…”
“Exactly—but I’m not saying you should have kids right now. Mine is only four days old and I’m already going gray.” I sighed. Why are we even talking about this right now? “But anyway…how was the dinner last night?”
I was thankful of the subject change, but I wish he’d changed it to something else. “Um…it was good until Lemon heard Sean talking about her and left…and I left with her forgetting about Hunter.”
“How did you forget Hunter?”
“I don’t know,” I grumbled. “I ended up sitting with Lemon for over three hours…”
“Where was Hunter?”
“At the dinner for a bit, then she was sitting on the front step for a long time before I got her text messages and went home.”
He shook his head, “Wow…”
“I didn’t mean to, I was helping Lemon.” Shit, I should see how she’s doing… “It was all mended though.”
“Oh that’s good…well…at least it wasn’t a boring night.”
I let out a laugh, “Oh thank god it was anything but that.” Our conversation faded into school and soccer and eventually I told him about the singing to people dream. He seemed encouraging and said he’s support whatever I decided, though I wasn’t aware that I even had a decision to make.
A little while later we decided to go check on Denise and Hunter, finding them in the TV room. Hunter was holding Theo in her arms, just staring at him, while Denise had fallen asleep, her head resting back against the back of the couch.
“Cute,” Greg chuckled causing Hunter to look up. “I’ll take that.” He said gesturing to Theo. I laughed a little as she reluctantly handed him over. “Oh! The Jacuzzi is up and running in the basement. It’s insane, changes colors and everything.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at Hunter, “Want to go for a swim?”
“I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“You can wear one of Denise’s,” Greg suggested.
Hunter’s nose wrinkled, “Her boobs are bigger than mine.”
“I doubt it,” I laughed. “Just go get changed.”
“You brought a swimsuit?”
“There’s probably something in my car…”
She grimaced, “That’s disgusting.”
“They’re clean.” I think.
——
She held my face in her hands, searching my eyes for something. Her skin was glowing blue from the lights in the Jacuzzi. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking but she spoke before I could.
“You’re so handsome,” she whispered. “How’d I snag you?” I smiled and kissed her cheek before resting my forehead on her shoulder. “I don’t want to leave.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” I hooked a hand around her hip and dragged her into my lap. “Stay here with me.”
“I wish I could.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed my hair. “Earlier was really nice.”
I knew exactly what she was talking about and blushed a little, “Yeah?”
“Yeah, it was…I don’t know. It made me happy, more than the other times.”
“Good.”
“Do you like your haircut?” I nodded. “You think I should get my own hair cut?”
I looked up at her, “Like, short?”
“Yeah. Remember when Harry’s hair was really long towards the end of the summer? Like that length…Frankie Stanford-y. You think I should?” I stared at her trying to imagine what she would look like with short hair. She would definitely look more mature, older, with shorter hair…but I’m not sure how much she’d like that. I decided to just answer honestly.
“Nah, I like your hair. Don’t chop it off.”
“Okay,” She nodded.
I eyed her for a second, trying to read her minimal body language, “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just thinking…if you come for Christmas and New Year’s, and then come out or my birthday too…I would’ve seen you four times in four months. That’s not bad at all.” I grinned, unaware of the realization as well. “And then it’ll four months until summer.”
“I’ll make an excuse to fly you out during then.”
“This is working out well.”
“I told you.”
“Yes, and you were very right Horan.” She pulled away from me, moving to the other side of the Jacuzzi with a sly grin on her face.
“Come back.” I whined. She giggled and splashed water in my face as I tried to get closer to her. “Is this a game? We haven’t played a game in a while.”
She nodded, “You still haven’t guessed my kink…I want to do it before I leave.”
“I thought it was the riding me thing.” I said raising my eyebrows and she shook her head. “Tell me.”
“What about a hint?”
“Alright.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as she paused to think, “Okay, remember you said you wanted to take pictures of me?” I still have them…
“You want me to take pictures of you?”
“Something like that.” She mumbled. I frowned in confusion. I didn’t get it. “You won’t think I’m weird, will you?” I shook my head. What could it possibly be? I started to fear that it really wassomething weird that I wouldn’t be able to do.
“Tell me.”
She sunk down in the water up to her chin. “I think we should make a video,” She rushed before submerging under the dark blue lit water, escaping my reaction. I laughed in relief; that wasn’t weird at all. The idea had crossed my mind before, but that was when we were apart. Who would’ve thought she’d have a kink for that! I laughed again when she was forced to bring her head out of the water so she could breathe.
“We can do it tonight.” I chuckled. Her eyebrows bunched together. “Really—we can. If you’re up for it.” I splashed her in the face causing her to sit up all the way as she coughed. “You kinky freak; stop reading 50 Shades of Grey.”
“They never made a video.” She retaliated.
Of course she would know the details. “We can kill two birds with one stone here Hunter. We can record me bend—”
“Shut up! Stop talking about it.”
“Why?” I smirked. “Is it making you uncomfortable?”
“Yes…we can talk about it when we get home.” I laughed but agreed. Maybe it isn’t the best idea for us to talk about this in Greg’s house. I took the opportunity to change the subject.
“I have to call Lemon at some point.”
“Yeah, you should…and talk to Sean too.” I nodded and she stood from the water grabbing my hands to pull me to my feet. “Let’s get home so you can do that.”
——
My conversation with Lemon only took five minutes. She said she was fine, and she sounded like it too. I had my doubts and she did say what Sean said hurt but she wasn’t going to ‘dwell’ on it. We hung up as she arrived at whatever class she had, and I told her I’d see her tomorrow.
Sean was a different story.
“She won’t answer me.”
“What do you expect? You were bashing her and she caught you.”
“I didn’t mean it…I was just…I wasn’t used to our secret becoming public so quickly…”
“You didn’t become public! You just took her to a dance. No one thinks you two are together.” I rubbed a hand over my face, “Honestly, mate, I wouldn’t count on her really wanting to start over. You fucked up.”
He sighed, “I really fucked up.”
“Maybe…you should try to talk to her in person…?” It was stupid for me to suggest that to him. Lemon specifically said she didn’t want to talk to him…but it’s not like she’ll ignore him if he right in front of her, right? “Keep in mind this is your third chance…those don’t happen…”
“I know but…yaknow…”
“Yeah, um, yeah just talk to her in person. Say the right things—like think before you talk, or you’ll end up saying something stupid.” I paused, “Apologize before you do anything.”
“Right,” He mumbled, “Now or should I wait…?”
“I don’t know—whatever.”
“Okay…I’m just gonna go now.”
Oh god… “Alright, good luck.”
“Wait are you not coming to the game tonight?”
“No…I’m skipping it. Cover for me?”
“Yeah, sure mate.”
The hat was snatched off the back of my head and I turned around to see Hunter standing in hat and a t-shirt—nothing else—with a video camera pointed in my face. “Thanks. Uh…gotta go…” I hung up before he responded. Reaching in my pockets I took my keys and wallet out, placing them on the bedside table.
“How do we do this?” I asked.
“Um…the normal way…?”
“No, I mean do we put the camera up before or during? And what angle are you trying to get here?”
“You’re basically telling me you watch a lot of porn.” She said dryly.
“I—no.” Cover! “Why do I need porn when I have pictures of you?”
“You still have those?”
“Yes.”
She paused for a second, then decided not to respond to that and changed the subject, “This video isn’t for posting anywhere. It’s just for us…when we’re apart…”
“Do you watch porn?” I asked randomly.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?” She said slowly, like she was talking to a child. “I’m serious, don’t post this anywhere. I will break up with you.”
My eyes widened, “I’m not going to post it anywhere! I wasn’t planning on it.”
She ran a hand through her hair and looked down at her feet, “Okay…I’m kind of nervous.”
“This was your idea.” I tilted her head back up so she was looking at me, “We don’t have to.”
“I want to.” She said, “I think we should just do it during since I feel like I’ll get awkward if I’m not already…like…”
“I get it—alright.”
“When you get famous you can’t let this get leaked; you should probably delete it.”
I rolled my eyes, “You’re getting paranoid now, talking about random stuff. Just relax, okay?” She nodded. I wish I’d taken my own advice that I gave Sean and thought about what I was about to say before saying it, but I didn’t. Before I could stop myself I blurted, “Don’t worry about anything; I love you.”
She let out a breath as if I’d just knocked the air out of her. Shit, shit, shit! Fuck! SHIT FUCK! I froze, waiting for her to respond, but she just stared at me. What are you thinking? Tell me, please.