[happy Easter!]
Niall Horan
"Niall." Harry said firmly. "It's been three days."
I huffed, rolling over under the covers in my bed. I was beyond sick of staying in this room, because this was the room my girlfriend cheated in, but I didn't want to go out and face everyone else.
"Just, hear us out. If you won't listen to Avery, maybe you'll let me tell you what happened?" He asked, hopeful.
"How would you know if you weren't the one who saw it? I saw it Harry, with my own eyes."
"What exactly did you see, then?" Harry fought, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I saw Marcus kissing her, and she just stood there in his arms and let him. If she wasn't cheating, she would have never been doing that. Stop saying that I've got it wrong." I growled, pulling the covers up around my head.
"What if I said I knew what happened, and that Avery never cheated on you. It was all a big misunderstanding, and I need to get this all fixed." Harry was determined, and I knew he wasn't going to back down.
I sighed, rolling my eyes as I kicked the duvet off of me and sat up.
"Fine, then. But why do you want to fix this so badly for me?" I asked. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his curls, and I knew then that something was wrong. Even though I tried to tell myself that I didn't care, I really, really did.
"It's Avery." Harry admitted sadly. "She hasn't been eating or anything."
My shoulders dropped. Why on earth would she be doing that to herself?
"I don't get it." I frowned.
"She feels sick, she lays around in bed, the only thing she does it take care of Aimee and then crawl back in bed and cry." Harry looked truly upset for her. "I know for a fact that she didn't cheat on you. In fact, the first night she came crying to me about it. She's not a liar."
I wanted to protest and tell him that I thought he was talking crap, but deep down I knew that Harry was telling me the truth. Not only was Avery a very honest person, but so was Harry. I knew that I could believe him.
"Okay." I finally agreed. "Tell me."
Harry nodded and walked over to the edge of my bed, sitting down.
"The night that everything happened, I found Avery crying. She was sitting in the hallway, and I asked her to tell me, and she told me this.
"Avery had gone inside to find you when we all had a cookout. There was nobody inside, and when she walked into the bedroom, she realized how messy it was and started to pick up a few things. She told me that she heard someone come in, but didn't turn around because she thought it was you. It was Marcus, and he held her and kissed her without Avery knowing it was him.
"I asked her later about it, and she said that it felt wrong. But, when she began to grow a bit confused, you had already barged in. And that's not it, Marcus told Aimee that bad people are coming for her and she's terrified. Avery tried to get Marcus fired, but he's under a contract." Harry sighed.
I immediately believed it. I knew that Harry wouldn't lie to me, nor would he make this all up. I think that these past few days I've just been caught up in how angry and betrayed I felt than to look at the logistics.
"Where are they now?" I asked, concerned.
"Avery's in bed, and Aimee's with Oliver." Harry said. "Do you believe me now?"
I nodded. "I do. But do you think I'm too late?"
"Of course not, bro. She needs you. Try and get her to eat something, at least, she looks like she's getting sick." He sighed, leaving the room.
As soon as he was gone, I dashed out of bed and grabbed my sweatpants. My legs hurt because I hadn't been out of bed in so long. I grabbed some sweatpants and a loose tank top, hurriedly put them on, and dashed out of the room.
As I ran through the living room, everyone greeted me, but I just went passed to Harry and Darcy's room. Then, from there, I opened the bedroom door that Avery was in. When I peeked inside, I saw her laying in the bed with a tissue box and a piece of paper with scribbles all over it, probably from Aimee.
I bit my lip and crept over to the bed. I wasn't sure if she was awake or not, because she was facing the wall instead of me. I slid under the covers beside her and waited to see if she'd do anything, but the only movement that she made was her breathing.
I nuzzled my face in her neck and wrapped my arms around her waist, and then felt her gasp lightly. So she had been awake the whole time.
Suddenly, she began to cry. She turned to face me, and I could see very prominent dark circles under her eyes, and her cheekbones were more visible than they were. Her hair was messy, and over all she looked like a beautiful mess.
"Hey, hey don't cry," I cooed, holding her tight. I felt terrible, I had misunderstood everything.
"You aren't mad?" She asked, crawling into my arms. I kissed her forehead and shook my head.
"Harry told me exactly what happened. I think that I was too upset to realize that you'd never do anything like that to me. I've just had it happen to me before, and I was too caught up in my hurt to realize that you never did anything wrong." I kissed her forehead again.
"Thank you so much," Avery smiled. "I was so scared you'd never want to talk to me again."
I chuckled and held her as close as possible.
"Getting mad at you was getting old." I admitted. "I should have listened to Harry sooner instead of being a jerk about it and shutting myself up in our room."
"It's okay," She said. "You had a right to be mad, you thought I cheated on you."
"Have you talked to Marcus since then?" I asked, frowning down at her.
"I kicked him in the shin again." She admitted. "But I've kind of been here these past few days. It's stupid, I know. Everyone probably thinks I'm crazy." I saw Avery's forehead crease with worry, and I shook my head.
"You're not crazy." I promised her. "But you need to eat somethin'." She sat up beside me, leaning against the headboard with a frown on her face. "Harry told me. Honestly, Ave, what were ya thinkin'?"
"It wasn't like I was trying to make a point." She shrugged. "I felt physically sick, and when I don't feel sick I'm just not hungry. I'm feeling better now, though." She giggled, wiping her eyes. Her cheeks turned pink when she saw that I kept looking down at her lips.
"Do ya think it'd be too soon for me to kiss you?" I asked, licking my lips. This made Avery blush even more, and by the way she smiled at me, I knew she wanted to kiss me, too.
I didn't hesitate to lean in and crash my lips into hers. It felt so nice to have her warm lips on mine again. It was like a sweet memory, something that I had missed so much and it had only been three days without her. Her hands slid up my neck and traveled to my hair as I held her hips.
"Hey, Niall?" She whispered, breaking the kiss for only a moment.
"Hmm?" I hummed.
"Next time we're angry or upset with each other, let's talk first." She said. I grinned and nodded.
"Yeah. I don't know how I survived three days without this." I chuckled, leaning in and kissing her again. She squealed, a bit caught off guard by how quick it was, and nearly rolled off the bed.
"I'm gonna fall!" She shouted, clinging on to my shirt. By now, she was halfway off the bed and I was struggling to pull her back up. How come when I try and be romantic it ends up like this?
In a blur, Avery pulled me down onto the ground with her and we landed with a thud, giggling like we were five years old. It wasn't even that funny, but I think that we were both just so happy to have all of this drama done with.
"You okay?" Avery laughed. I nodded, wiping my eyes.
"You?"
"Yeah." She said, pulling me up. "Let's go get Aimee, she's been wanting to see you."
I had almost forgotten about Marcus threatening Aimee, and suddenly I got a little mad. I didn't want to ruin the moment, however, so I decided to shut my mouth as I followed Avery out of the room, her hand in mine.
"Look who it is!" Darcy said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. There were some cheers and some comments made, and when I looked over at Avery I could see her cheeks were red. In the corner of the room, Marcus's eyes seemed to burn holes into me, but I ignored him. Aimee squealed and ran up to me with wide arms.
"Daddy!" Aimee shouted as I lifted her up into my arms. "You're out of hibernation!"
"How'd ya learn that word, baby?" I chuckled, kissing her cheek as Louis and Liam approached me, talking about some football game that I had missed.
"Wait, what?" I heard Sam from outside of the room. "Yesterday you two weren't speaking, and now you're all lovey-dovey?" He teased, laughing. "I don't understand you kids."
"Hey, be happy they're back together." Harry said, his arm around Darcy. "I was the one who saved the relationship, so all credit goes to me." He smirked, earning a little nudge from Darcy.
"I guess this calls for a celebration, then?" Louis suggested. "We can go to Avery's parents room and get them, order pizza and go for a swim!" I honestly didn't think there was anything more that I wanted to do.
"But let's not invite Marcus." Avery said, eyeing him. "Because, you know, next he could be trying to make a move on Darcy. Who knows?" I could see him fuming, but he said nothing.
"I'll call ahead." Oliver said from the kitchen, finally speaking up. He was a rather quiet lad. Aimee clapped her hands, still in my arms, unable to contain her excitement.
"Tonight can we cuddle?" Aimee asked. I tickled her and laughed as she squirmed around.
"Sure, hon." I promised her. "But first, let's get ready for the pool okay?"
She nodded and ran to her temporary bedroom, which made me feel bad. How could I have been so mean to kick them out of their own room? And what was worse is that Aimee was probably used to that from Jake.
About ten minutes later, everyone had changed and found their way to the rooftop. Since I hadn't been outside in days, it felt so good to feel the summer air. Plus, Avery looked really good in her bikini, and I felt better that Marcus wasn't here to stare at her.
"Pizza will be here in ten!" Oliver hollered. Zayn was sitting next to me on his phone, probably either texting his family or Perrie. I watched as Aimee jumped in the water and practiced swimming to different people.
Glancing around, I decided to go look for Marcus and teach him not to mess with my family. It was about time that I stuck up for them, and now was the time to do it if I didn't want to make a scene.
I went downstairs quickly and walked down the hall to the main room. Marcus was sitting on the couch, his eyes fixed on his phone. I angrily walked over to him and stood in front of him until he looked up at me.
"Can I help you?" He sneered.
"Yeah, ya can, actually." I said, swatting the phone out of his hands. "Stay away from my girlfriend and away from my daughter. Got it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Marcus smirked, snatching his phone from the ground. "I'm just the bodyguard, here to do my job." The way he wasn't fazed by me made me angrier than he'll ever know.
"Then do me a favor and actually do your job. That means no threatening Aimee and no kissing Avery. One more move and you'll be fired." I threatened, although we both knew that he was on a contract that couldn't be broken.
"Again, I really don't know what you're talking about." Marcus insisted. I felt like all the anger was just building up inside of me, and I was at the point where I was ready to snap. I could even feel my face turning red.
"Something wrong, Horan?" Marcus taunted, smirking.
Without warning, I punched him square in the nose, sending him to the ground. He cussed and held onto his broken nose, but I felt no guilt. In fact, in that moment all I could feel was that I had won.
a/n:
YAY THEY'RE BACK TOGETHER!
VOTE/COMMENT/FAN
- x Delilah