Avery Holmes
A few days later, I woke up in Niall's arms. I had to admit, this was something that I had missed those few days that we were apart. He smelled like cologne and laundry detergent, and so I buried my face into his chest.
"You awake?" He chuckled. My eyes shot open- hadn't he been asleep?
"Uh, yeah." I said, blushing a bit. "What time is it?"
"A little after nine." He kissed my cheek loudly and I giggled, kicking him lightly.
"I should wake Aimee." I said, rubbing my eye and starting to sit up. His arms were stronger, though, and he pulled me right back down into his chest.
"Already taken care of, she had breakfast and is now playing with Oliver and Louis. Stay with me for a little?" He practically begged. He knew exactly what he was doing- because I was blushing so much and it made him laugh.
"Don't I get a good morning kiss?" He teased. I groaned and sat up, fixing my hair, knowing that he was watching me. I'm not sure what he found appealing of me this early in the morning- my hair looked beyond ratchet and I had a tank top and sweatpants on.
"Once I brush my teeth." I said, hopping off of the bed. He groaned and I heard the bed creaking as he got up as well.
"It's okay, we both have morning breath!" He whined.
"Gross, Niall." I shot him a glance and headed into the bathroom, where I grabbed my toothbrush and started to brush my teeth. He joined me, too, grabbing his toothbrush that sat beside Aimee's tiny Barbie one that she loved.
"So," I said as I finished up. "What's on the agenda for today?"
Niall spit and rinsed, and then set his toothbrush down on the sink.
"Well," He began. "Maybe we can go on a date." He suggested. I snorted, walking past him and grabbing a washcloth to wash my face with. It always bothered me how shiny my face was in the morning.
"That will never work." I said. "We're not even allowed down to the lobby."
"It's already worked out, babe. I talked to Sam and he said he can clear the restaurant down by the lobby for us, and that he can make sure we aren't seen. It's golden." He grinned, obviously proud of himself.
I smiled at his idea. How nice would it be, just to get out for a bit?
"Alright." I agreed. "What about childcare for Aimee?"
"Is that even a question? Any one of the boys, or Darcy, or Oliver can watch her." He said. I smiled and nodded, happy that things were working between us and we were getting to go out. If you could really count this as "going out", that is.
"I think you're trying to distract me from gettin' that kiss." He teased. I chuckled and took a few strides over to him, crashing my lips against his. He chuckled into the kiss and pulled away shortly, resting his chin on my forehead.
"You're a really good kisser, Ave." He whispered.
"I try." I said sarcastically. "Now, when are we going?"
"For lunch. Or brunch? Whatever my lady wants." He blushed. "But for now we can just hang out with everyone for a bit? I wanna ask Louis what I missed from the Derby match."
I rolled my eyes and laughed at him as we walked out to the living room, where everyone except for Marcus was sitting. Speaking of him, he hadn't come out of his room much. It surprised me, but I was honestly happy for it.
"Look who's awake," Harry teased, pinching Niall's bum.
"You guys want pancakes?" Darcy called from the kitchen, poking her head out to face us.
"Nah, we're good. Goin' out to eat soon, actually." Niall smirked at me.
"Mommy!" Aimee squealed. "I peed on the potty!" She ran up to me and reached up for me. I scooped her up in my arms, and felt her bum. She was dry, thank The Lord, because she was earing underwear.
"By yourself?" I asked. She shook her head and pointed to Niall, who had made his way over to Louis on the couch.
"Daddy helped." She said. I smiled, I don't think that I would be able to get over how he was so willing to help me. In the past three months, he had done more than Jake ever did. It astonished me, and it also made me feel extremely grateful.
"Honey!" A voice called from the entryway, and I saw my mom wearing a cute sundress. "Avery, there you are! Try this, it's amazing." She handed me some sort of smoothie thing that had a pink straw. I chuckled at her odd behavior and took a sip.
"That's really good." I admitted. "Um, why am I trying this?"
"Harry made it for me." She said. "He's amazing at cooking, and tonight he's gonna show me how to make these." I saw her look across the room and smile at him. "If only I wasn't single and twenty." She joked, shooting me a playful glance.
"Where's dad?" I asked.
"Sleeping in. He had a migraine earlier. Which reminds me, I need to get him some painkillers." She made a mental note, wandering into the kitchen with Darcy. I laughed at her, she really was always this energetic in the mornings and I had no idea why.
"You ready soon, princess?" Niall asked from behind me, snaking his arms around my waist. "I'm in a good mood, Derby won their match."
"Good to hear." I tried to sound interested for his sake. "What should I wear?"
"I think you look good in that." He admitted. I snorted and turned to face him, hands on my hips.
"Ni, I'm wearing a tank top and sweatpants. No, no." I shook my head. "Although I'm flattered you think this is acceptable, I need to know what to wear."
"Whatever you'd like. I think I'll go with jeans and a t-shirt, nothin' fancy." He took my hand and led me to the bedroom, where I grabbed some jeans and a V-neck from my drawer.
"Turn around." I ordered, smiling at him as his eyes were trained on me.
"Come on, we're dating! I've seen ya change at the motel before we were dating, what's the difference?" He asked. I hid my face in my hands, not sure how to say this.
"I'm wearing my cheeseburger bra." I admitted. "I went shopping a few years back with some friends, and they dared me to get a bra with these little cheeseburgers all over them, okay?" My face was beet red. "I forgot to do my laundry!"
He burst out laughing, and it was one of those cackling laughs that he always did. It made me get even redder, so I turned around and started changing while he threw his little laughing fit, his back turned to me as he changed as well.
After Niall got over the fact that I had a cheeseburger bra, rummaged around in my drawer and found a hot dog one and a cupcake one, and laughed for forever, we made our way down to the lobby with Sam as our guard.
"Don't leave this restaurant, don't look out any windows." He warned. I wasn't even listening, I was just happy that we were going to get out for a bit.
He dropped us off at the restaurant and gave the owner a big wad of cash, and we were left alone. I could see that Niall was just as happy as I was by the huge smile spread across his face.
"Last time we went out was that night." He smiled in remembrance. "When we kissed, and you told me about..." He trailed off, shaking his head.
"Seems like a lifetime ago, yeah?" It was crazy how time flew by.
"Yeah." He paused, knowing that he had accidentally brought up a touchy subject. "So, what do ya want?"
"I'm thinking pancakes with that cinnamon roll thing." I pointed to the picture on my menu and he nodded.
"I'm gettin' the same, but with sausage." He decided. The waiter, who was an older man with a little goatee, came by and took our order and afterward, our menus. Once he was gone, I looked to Niall, who still had a big smile on his face.
"This is nice." I admitted. "Just to go out on a proper date. Do you think we'll do this a lot, when everything ends?"
"Every day, if that's what ya want." Niall promised. "And we can go mini golfing! I've always wanted to take a girl mini golfing!"
"I'm terrible at that." I admitted. "But sure, if you want to go mini golfing, we'll go. And maybe Aimee can go along? I'm sure she'd love that."
"Of course." He nodded. "I'll go anywhere you want when this is over. I'll just be happy when they'll be locked away, ya know?"
"It makes me sick thinking that girl was going to shoot you." I shook my head. "And to me, you were just a stranger back then. Could you imagine if you had gotten shot? I would have gone to Motel 6 and never had my soul mate to meet me there." Just thinking about that made me want to cry.
"Hey, hey." He reached across the table and rubbed my arm. "I'm okay and nothing is gonna happen to me. Ya can't get rid of me that easily." He smirked. I smiled, but my mind still wandered.
"I know." I said. "I just, can you imagine? I would have been found by Jake for sure, or run out of money and would have been forced to go back to him." I cringed at the thought.
"Stop." Niall ordered. "Don't."
"I'm sorry." I said, looking up at his face and seeing the pain my words put him in.
"I hate thinking that man hurt you." He looked down at the table. "That's my biggest regret, not being able to save you from him. And I know I didn't know you, but still. I just-" He stopped himself when the waiter came back with our food, and that was the end of that conversation.
After we practically stuffed ourselves full of food, the conversation remained light. We laughed until we cried, and I'm sure that the restaurant staff thought we were insane. I didn't care, I was in love.
"When we're older, I'll take you to Disney World all the time. I can't believe you've never been there! Or Aimee! She'd love the princesses."
"Her favorite is Belle. When she was about two, all she did was want to watch Beauty & The Beast. It was the longest phase in the world."
"That's adorable." Niall confessed. "I wish that I'd have been there to see her first two years."
"Well, you'l be there for the rest." I reminded him.
"And when we have those twins of ours, I can watch 'em grow up from the start." His talk of family scared me a bit, but it was a good sort of thrill. "Do you think you'll want a family with me?"
"I think so." I said, taking a sip of my orange juice. "As long as we don't name our kids things that have to do with football, I'm perfectly happy with that." He frowned at me but I knew he was just joking around.
"Would you want to come back to Mullingar with me? If ya want, we can bring your parents. Or we can have a house in Nevada and Mullingar!" His face lit up.
"You don't have to buy me two houses, Niall." I assured him.
"Nonsense." He objected. "We'll get ten houses if that makes ya happy."
I rolled my eyes, not going to say out loud how giddy it made me that he actually wanted to pursue a future with me. Jake and I never talked of our future, it was almost as if he wanted me around as someone he could always have as a caretaker. With Niall, I didn't have to worry about waiting on him hand and foot.
Suddenly, the radio that played soft music ahead of us became a bit louder as Jason Myraz's I'm Yours began to play. My eyes immediately looked over to the counter, where the old man gave me a genuine smile and then went to the back room.
Niall smiled at me and reached across the table, grabbing my hand.
"Avery Holmes, would you like to dance?" He asked like a gentleman. I giggled and nodded, letting him pull me up along with him. He held me close to his chest and kissed me sweetly, once on my lips, then my forehead, then my nose.
"I think I love you." I told him honestly.
"I think I love you, too." He spun me as the music got faster and surprisingly I didn't fall over. His hand supported me, holding the small of my back. "Wanna see somethin' cool?"
"Sure." I nodded.
He backed up a bit and put his hands behind his back as I stood, clueless as to what he was going to do. Then, all of a sudden, he started to do some sort of Irish jig that made me burst out in laughter.
"Niall!" I wiped my eyes as he kept on going, a cheesy grin on his face. I was honestly laughing so hard that I was about to cry.
"I can teach ya sometime!" He suggested, stopping his little dance. "Sorry, did I ruin the moment?"
"No!" I shook my head rapidly. "In fact, you made the moment. Actually, that probably made my year. Remind me to get that on video sometime."
He nodded and pulled me closer to him, the song about to end. My eyes were locked on his, and his on mine, and in this moment I knew that everything was perfect. We didn't have that typical relationship, but I wouldn't trade ours for the world.
a/n:
AWH CUTENESS
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