Tanner’s POV
Dear Tanner,
You don’t need to apologize, I completely understand. I know that you showed up, and I thought you looked amazing on that stage. Don’t worry about not writing, I understand. It’s just a misunderstanding. A tough spot in life, but we’re through that, right? :)
Tanner, let me tell you something, love can be really hard, believe me, I know how you feel. Maybe a little differently because it’s only one person, but everything’s going to be okay. Promise. x x
Another thing? Really! That’s amazing. Have you done anything else, or planning to do anything else?
I still want to meet up, no doubt about it. I just don’t know when we can. I’ll understand if you don’t want to, but maybe we could chat? We would be able to talk more often.. If you want too, my user name is Irish64255. My web cam is broken, but we can still chat.
Message me soon
Love,
Mystery boy xx
I put the letter down, leaning onto my elbow. Should I?
I ran into my room, grabbing my laptop and opening the Skype app. Come on, come on. Load faster.
The Skype sound echoed through the room, I clicked on the Add Contact button and quickly typed in his user name.
Irish64255
London, England
Male
18
A smile spread upon my face, it was him. It was him! I was going to talk to him without having to wait a couple days for a reply.
Here goes nothing.
Niall’s POV
Running4Life: Hey... It’s Tanner! :)
Popped onto my IPhones screen. I jumped up gasping in joy, she Skyped me!
I ran out of the kitchen and into my room, grabbing my laptop and booting it up. Come on, come on. The screen turned black, all the power shutting off. No, no, no! Shit.
“Liam!” I screamed, running down the hall, towards his room. I slammed on the door, “Liam, Liam! You in there?”
“What?” he asked, opening the door, eyebrows furrowed.
“I need your laptop! Please?” I begged. He just stood there, staring at me.
“Why?” He asked, finally moving and heading towards his desk.
“Tanner!” I screamed happily. “She Skyped me!”
“Why don’t you use your laptop?” he said, even more confused, as he unplugged it from the charger.
“It died, and I want to talk to her now!” I said jumping up and down, waiting for him to hand it to me.
“Why don’t you just charge it?” he asked handing it over to me slowly.
I grabbed it and ran out of the room. “That would take to long!” I yelled over my shoulder, hearing him laughing in the background.
I typed in my user name and password, waiting for it to log in.
Running4Life: You there?
Irish64255: Tanner!
Running4Life: Hey! Interesting user name, Aha.
Irish64255: Thanks? Aha. How are you?
Running4Life: Great! It’s nice to have an actual conversation, if you know what I mean.
Irish64255: Yah, it is! I don’t have to wait days to talk to you. :)
Running4Life: Yah. So what have you been up to?
Irish64255: I’m on break from work right now, so not a lot of exciting things. Mostly just hanging out with friends. What about you?
Running4Life: Fun. I’ve just been relaxing, hanging out with friends. I just finished school, so i’ve had a lot more time on my hands.
Irish64255: That’s cool! What school did you go too?
Running4Life: Oxford. I majored in English Literature and French Language.
Irish64255: Wow, that’s cool!
Liam walked into the room and plopped himself down on the couch next to me. “The boys are coming over soon.”
Crap. “When are they gonna b-”
“Have no fear, LOUIS’ HERE.”
Oh man.
“I suggest you don’t let them see who you’re talking too.” Liam said with a smirk on his face.
I nodded my head, he was right. If they found out I was talking to Tanner, never mind, I don’t even wanna think about that.
Standing up, I grabbed Liam’s laptop, heading towards my room to continue the conversation their.
“Niall, wait!” Harry yelled, running towards me. I picked up my speed Don’t let him get the laptop. don’t let him get the laptop... I sang in my head, running up the stairs. “Hold up! I wanna show you something on Youtube,” he yelled up the stairs. I kept walking, Just get to your room.
The computer beeped, signaling I had a message, I glanced at it quickly, still walking up the stairs.
Running4Life: It’s snowing!!! Isn’t it beautiful?
Snowing? In October? Meh, I guess it can happen. I stopped walking when I reached the window in the staircase, looking outside, completely forgetting about Harry.
She was right. Snowflakes danced in the sky, carpeting the ground and trees. It was beautiful.
“Thanks man, I’ll be quick!” Harry said, grabbing the laptop out of my hands, breaking my train of thought. I groaned, running down the stairs after him. “Running4Life? Who’s that?” he yelled from the bottom of the stairs, still walking away from me.
“What’d you say Harry?” Louis yelled
“Niall’s Skyping with someone! Do you know the user Running4Life?” he yelled back as he opened the door to the room they were all in.
I ran down the hallway, bursting through the door, “Harry, stop!” I groaned, trying to grab the laptop back.
“Doesn’t Tanner run?” Zayn said calmly, not noticing that he just gave it all away.
Everybody in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at Zayn then to me, then to the laptop. A mischievous grin spread across Harry’s face.
“Well, well, well, on Skyping terms with Tanner, are we?” Louis said, grabbing the laptop from Harry and looking through our Skype conversation, while Harry held me back from getting it. “Irish64255?” he questioned. “That’s not your Skype..” he said confused. “Why didn’t you give her your actual one?”
“Louis!” I groaned. “I made a new one so she wouldn’t know I’m Niall!” I said, hoping he would figure out what I was getting at.
“Wait, she thinks she’s talking to that mystery boy she writes?” Liam said. I nodded, fighting against Harry to let me go. He shrugged, and went back to watching TV.
Harry and Louis shared a look and nodded. “You guys, what are you gonna do?” I sighed, knowing this wasn’t going to end well.
“Just a bit of fun,” Louis said, winking at Harry. I tried saying something, but Harry put his hand over my mouth and got Zayn to help him drag me out of the room. They pushed me into the bathroom and shut the door quickly.
I groaned, this wasn’t what I wanted to happen. I pushed on the door, but it didn’t budge. What the heck? I grabbed the door knob with both of my hands and jiggled it, trying to unlock it somehow. “Let me out guys!” I yelled while pounding my fist against the door.
“I have strict orders not too!” Zayn yelled. I could almost see him smirking.
Groaning, I turned around, pacing the small room, thinking of a way to get out of here. And then it hit me. I looked up and smiled, The window.
I had the window opened and the screen out, it wasn’t very big, but was just large enough for me to fit through it.
One of my legs swung over, then the other. I leaned back, sliding through until I fell to the ground. I ran around to the front door, quietly opening it so Zayn wouldn’t hear, and ran towards the room the rest of the boys were in.
They were all laughing an saying things, but I couldn’t make it out.
“Niall’s gonna go ballistic.” Someone said, I think Liam..
Seeing as I didn’t want them to tell Tanner a small part of my life, I decided to open the door at that moment. “What did you guys tell her?!” They all looked at me, sitting their, blinking. Harry grabbed the laptop and tried running out of the other door, Louis close behind him, but I ran out the door I was by, and went to the other, catching up with Harry and tried pulling the laptop.
“Don’t break my laptop guys!” Liam yelled from the room, distracting us for a second. A took that moment to take it out of his hands and run away.
I sat on a beanbag chair in the game room and scrolled through the Skype chat.
Irish64255: Not as beautiful as you. ;)
Running4Life: Very Cheesy... but, thanks?
Irish64255: Kind of like Cheddar!
Running4Life: Cheddar?
Irish64255: Or maybe Provolone..
Running4Life: This conversation has definitely taken a turn.
Irish64255: A turn in, ONE DIRECTION?
Running4Life: Maybe we could turn back around?
Irish64255: But babe, You can only go in ONE DIRECTION!
Running4Life: Am I missing something?
Irish64255: You have no idea..
Running4Life: ?
Irish64255: I guess I should probably tell you now..
No, no, no! They did not tell her... no. I panicked.
Running4Life: Tell me what?
Irish64255: I have an infection.
Infection, what?
Running4Life: What kind of infection...?
Irish64255: I have One Direction Infection. I am secretly a huge die hard Directioner.
Running4Life: Hahaha! You scared me for a second their!
Irish64255: Especially Louis, he’s so hot. Like, OMG.
Running4Life: Man crush?
Irish64255: I’m sorry, did I say Louis? I obviously meant Harry! I mean, HELLO, It’s HARRY STYLES.
Running4Life: Aha, Yay?
Irish64255: HUihirjdkalgfaipuj
Running4Life: ?
I let out the breath that I had been holding, that didn’t tell. Phew! They were still going to pay for that.
Irish64255: Sorry.. That was my friends...
Running4Life: Aha, it’s okay! I was just a little confused..
Irish64255: Yah, they’re kind of... crazy.
Running4Life: :) Can you hold on a second?
Irish64255: Yah, take your time!
Incoming Call: Tanner<3
“Hey Tanner!”
Hi!
“Watchya up to?
Uhm, nothing much, just talking to some people. So, I was wondering if you wanted to have a movie night or something? Only if you want to..
“No, I’d love to! The boys are over here now... so my place, 15 minutes?”
Sure, sounds great! See you then.
“Alright, bye!”
Bye!
Running4Life: I’m really sorry, but I’m going to see a friend now, talk to you later?
Irish64255: It’s fine, and does friend happen to be one of those special two people?
Running4Life: Maybe...
Irish64255: Aha, have fun. Later!
Running4Life: Bye! :)
Running4Life has logged off.
I ran to the room I last saw them all in, where they all still were, including Zayn this time.
“You guys freaked me out!” I yelled, laughing and throwing pillows at all of them.
“Did you think we told her?”
“Yes! Don’t ever do that again!” I chuckled, grabbing another pillow and whacking Zayn with it over and over. “That’s what you get for locking me in the bathroom,” I smirked, making him laugh.
“Hey, how did you get out of there?” He said, looking confused.
“The window,” I shrugged.
“Of course,” he muttered under his breath.
“Oh yah, Tanner’s coming over in a little bit,” I chirped, hopping off the couch and putting the pillow back.
“OoooOoo!” Harry said, while Liam ruffled my hair, causing me to stick my tongue out at both of them.
“We’re having a movie marathon, you guys are welcome to join,”
“YES!” Louis screamed, “To the movie room!” he yelled, running out of the room, Harry close behind him.
“We’ll get the snacks!” Liam said, dragging Zayn with him.
“Alright, I’ll wait for Tanner,” I said with a smile on my face as they left the room.
*************
“Tanner!” I chirped, pulling her into a hug.
“Hey Niall, how are you?” She asked back, as she gave me a tight squeeze.
“Great, you ready? The boys are in the movie room,” I asked. She nodded as I grabbed her hand and guided her to the room.
*****************
We had watched ‘The Lion King’ and just finished ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’. Liam and Tanner were talking about some book they had both read and laughing, while Louis picked out the next movie.
Tanner turned around with a big smile on her face and about to tell me something, when Louis interrupted and finally chose the movie.
“Ohh! Guys, lets watch ‘Letters to God’! I heard it’s really good!” He said, running to put it in the DVD player without even getting our opinion.
The smile came off Tanner’s face when he said the movie, and at first I didn’t understand why, but it was pretty obvious.
Cancer.
Tanner and I had talked about Logan before, so she thought I only knew from when she told me a few days ago, she didn’t think the boys knew, but they did from the letters, I guess Louis just didn’t think about it.
“We don’t have to watch this if you don’t want to,” I whispered to her, after all, it was about a little boy around the same age as Logan with cancer, which probably brought back sad memories.
She shook her head, “No, it’s fine, I’ll watch it,” she said, giving me a smile that wasn’t very convincing. I sighed, letting her make the decision and leaning back on the couch.
******************
Tanner was leaning on my shoulder, tears spilling down her cheeks as I rubbed her back. We were halfway through the movie, and she was holding up pretty good.
*****************
Her eyes kept fluttering, struggling to stay open.
“It’s okay, you can go to sleep,” I whispered to her.
She gave in, closing her eyes, and immediately sleep took over her.
**************
I woke up, laying on the couch, Tanner snuggled up next to me and my arm around her. I looked around the room, to see that the rest of the boys had gone home.
“You’re awake!” Tanner chirped, surprising me.
“So are you?” I laughed. “I thought you were still asleep,”
She shook her head, “Nah, just resting,” I smiled looking down at her.
She was so beautiful, even when she was just waking up. I loved the way her hair would curl, and frizz a little at the ends, making her hair look poofy, after waking up. I loved the way her eyes were so light and similar when she first woke up, but the longer she was awake, the brighter they would get, and then they would be different colors. I loved the way her lips parted, looking so innocent, when she just laid their, not talking. I loved the way she twitched her nose when it was itchy. I loved the way she yawned, her mouth stretching, but not very far because it was so small. I loved the pink that was always etched into her cheeks. I loved her laugh, that was so easy to make happen. I loved her smile, and the dimples that came with it.
I loved Tanner.
“I should probably go soon..” She sighed.
I pouted, not wanting her to leave. “Stay for breakfast?” I whined, but she shook her head.
“I wasn’t even planning on staying over night, we just fell asleep. I really need to go.”
I pouted again, hoping she would change her mind, but she just laughed, shaking her head and getting up, to put her shoes on.
Once she had everything all together, she walked over to where I was now standing, next to the door.
She gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “I’ll call you later,” before kissing my cheek and walking out the door.
I stood their, holding my cheeks, which had probably turned pink. All I could think about was Tanner.
“Mate, you’ve got it bad.” Liam said when he walked downstairs from the room he was staying in while his house was being worked on. I stuck my tongue out a him, pretending it wasn’t true, but he was completely right.
I was falling for Tanner hard.
Authors Note: So, this chapter is pretty boring, but the next one is going to be better! Promise :) Thanks for all the votes, I’m really shocked! I’ve gone to like.. 70, to about 100. It’s absolutely amazing. Comment, vote, fan, whatever! Thanks for reading!
Hannah xx