N I A L L
It was three in the morning when Anthony woke me up. It didn’t make much sense to me until I heard the sound of a loud clap of thunder and the room illuminated by a flash of lightening.
“N-Niall I’m scared.” He whined, firmly placed in the middle of the queen size bed.
“I’m right here, you’re fine, nothin’s gonna get ya.” I groaned, rolling over to face the side of the bed that Mary occupied with her bruised up body. “Just, go back to sleep.” I sighed, carefully snaking my left arm over Mary’s waist. Careful not to wake her up, or hurt her.
“But Niall-it’s too loud.” He whined, making me sigh in frustration before carefully getting off the small pullout bed from the couch.
“It’s just a rain storm.” I whispered, pulling back the covers of the queen bed and sliding in beside Tony. “Be quiet or you’ll wake Mary.” I glanced back at the bed that now only had one person occupying its small surface space. “You okay now?”
He shrugged, laying down close to my side before closing his eyes once again only to dart them open as soon as a clap of thunder shook the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut, crying. I heard shuffling behind me, knowing that it was Mary I didn’t bother to turn my head.
“What’s wrong with Tony?” her voice was soft, and quiet and she still sounded very tired and worn out. Her figure walked around the bed to the other side of tony, only to do the same thing I had done and slide into bed.
“He’s afraid of the storm.” I whispered, she frowned, snuggling up beside him. It surprises me how good she is with Tony, because she is an only child after all. She doesn’t have any younger siblings, or older for that matter. Just thinking about how good she must be with kids that are much younger than tony and how she probably mocks them when they making little baby sounds made me feel fuzzy inside.
“What?” As soon as her voice brought me out of my thoughts, I noticed I had smile plastered on my lips. Which probably seemed weird to her since we had a scared nine year old between us.
“Nothing, just thinking.” I shook my head, watching her hand rub around Tony’s back in circles as she tried comforting him the best she could without hurting herself with too much moving. “Do you think you’d ever have kids?” I wondered, not making eye contact with the girl across from me.
“It’s a little early to be thinking about that, don’t you think?” I felt my cheeks fuming red, and I was so glad of the dark room around because otherwise my cover would be blown. “But, I like to think I will have kids someday.” She quickly adds.
“It’s weird to ask, I know.” I reasoned, “But, I’ve been taking care of Tony for so long, he may as well be my son, not my brother, you know?” I chuckled quietly, running my hands through my ungreased hair. It was weird, because before I could never really run my fingers through my hair without my fingers having hair paste all over them. And sometimes they even get stuck and I look like an idiot because I have so much grease in my hair that my fingers get tangled up in the mess. I liked this fluffy, messy hair style that I’ve been sporting lately, because it required no work at all. I could jump out of the shower and not have to do a thing with it.
“It’s great.” She murmured. “What you do with Tony. I don’t think I could ever take care of my brother without any help.”
“I just kind of, had to step up you know? Because I knew it’d be what my mom wanted me to do. Although, sometimes I wish that I could just be a normal teenager for once and not have to worry about anything.” I mumbled, feeling guilty right after the words fell from my lips. Course, I love Tony to the moon and back but sometimes, I wish I just had time for just myself.
“Maybe, Aubrey and her aunt wouldn’t mind if Tony visited them for a while tomorrow night. We can be alone, be teenagers.” She smiled, a small sparkle in her eyes as soon as another hit of thunder filled the room.
“I don’t know, Mary.” I sighed, “You’re still not fully well. Your ribs aren’t fully healed, the bruises aren’t completely gone.” I began. “Having a teenager night may not go well with you.” I laughed quietly, careful not to wake up Tony who had finally fallen back asleep.
“Stop worrying about me for once, Niall. My ribs are not that bad. And I can’t even feel the bruises anymore!” she defended, making me roll my eyes in response.
I took in a deep breath, shaking my head as a smile found its way on to my lips unintentionally. “Promise you will say something to me if your ribs really start to bother you tomorrow?” it was the only selling point of agreeing to this night Mary had planned all out in her head.
“I promise.” She extended her pinky out towards me, waiting for me to hook mine with hers. “Pinky promise.”
I didn’t want her to get hurt, and I had no idea what she had planned up inside her head right at this moment. But guessing by the smile that was on her face, and the sparkle that was in her eye. It wasn’t going to be watching movies and ordering a pizza.
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I know I said I was going to update twice when I hit 10K reads, but I ended up being busy all day! That is why this chapter is a bit shorter than all the others as well. But I still hope you liked it!
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Thank you so so much for 10K!!
xx -A