Niall's POV
I reached my hand out desperately through the fog. Tears rapidly raced down my cheeks as I blindly looked around.
"Where are you?!" I choked out, my voice heavy with pain.
There was no response. Nothing. Nothing but the damn fog that dominated the atmosphere. I let out another sob and covered my face with my hands before allowing myself to fall.
I was expecting the air to whistle through my ears as I fell considering I was standing on fog. But instead of the air, I felt two strong arms wrap around me and pull me into a warm body.
I felt my body melt as his voice whispered into my ear. "Shh. It's alright. I'm here. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
I turned around to face him; lifting my baby blue eyes up to meet his delicate brown ones. He smiled gently down at me as he cupped my face in his hands.
"I love you." He whispered before leaning down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned forward as well. Just as our lips were about to meet, the solid form of his body vanished. My arms dropped to my side and that was the moment I began to fall downward viciously through the fog.
I began to scream as I fell. The tears that cascaded down my cheeks began to leave a trail upward. I cried out. "Liam...Liam!"
"Niall...Niall, wake up. Come on, now." A voice murmured through my sleepy state. My eyes immediately popped open and I looked up to find Louis standing over me with a concerned look on his face.
I scrambled into a sitting position on the couch I was sleeping on and realized my face felt puffy from crying.
"You alright, mate? You seemed to have been dreaming something pretty upsetting there." Louis asked me, breaking my thoughts.
I rubbed my eyes and let out a yawn before giving him a laugh. "What? No. No, I wasn't having a bad dream. I...uh..."
"If you weren't having a bad dream then why were you crying while thrashing about and muttering Liam's name?" He asked with a raised brow.
I felt all the color drain from my face as I struggled to think of an excuse. I looked down at my fiddling hands and looked back up at him when the color finally returned to my face.
I gave a nervous laugh. "Well...okay so I was having a bad dream. But...I was screaming because me and Liam were being chased by these...bounty hunters and they caught me. So, naturally, I began to call for Liam to rescue me. You can't tell me you wouldn't be scared now would ye?"
This time I raised an eyebrow at him and he only let out a sigh before shrugging. "I guess I would be scared."
I let out a triumphant grunt. "Then there ye have it."
Louis opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by Harry and Zayn coming into the living room arguing. A smile tugged at his lips as the both of them continued to yell into each others faces. It was kind of painful to listen too considering every time they yelled they're voices were raise an octave.
"Why did ye touch it in the first place?!" Growled Zayn. "I've told you a billion times NOT to touch my mirrors!" I snorted. Typical of them to be fighting over something so silly.
Harry gave him a look that would've sent the Grim Reaper under the covers. "You only need one. ONE mirror! And don't exaggerate you Bradford Buffoon! You've only told me about 150 times not to touch your mirrors!"
Zayn let out a sarcastic laugh. "Me? The buffoon?This is coming from the boy who still drinks kittens milk by begging for more! You don't even have to say a word! 'Look at me: Harry to the frickin' Styles!' and they're practically tossing it at you!"
"You bastardly idiot! Kittens don't have milk! CATS do! And yes, they do give me their milk because, unlike you, I can at least get it!" Harry snapped at him. His curls were practically bouncing at each word he threw.
Zayn was about to retort when Louis and I finally jumped in. Louis went over to put an arm around Harry's shoulder and gently pull him away from Zayn.
I stood next to Zayn, ready to grab him if needed, and ran a hand through my hair.
"Would the two of you just chill? Goodness, we have an interview in half an hour and we don't need the two of you to be fighting." I scolded. Wow. I was actually beginning to sound a bit like Daddy Direction.
The moment that his nickname went through my mind, I felt my cheeks burn but instantly forced it down. I narrowed my eyes at the two boys and they acted as if they hadn't heard me.
"You're such an idiot! Why can't you just stay out of my stuff?" Zayn hissed at Harry. Louis put a hand around Harry's mouth so he wouldn't say anything. Harry began to struggle in his grip but gave up after a couple minutes into realizing Louis was stronger than him.
I let out a sigh and looked at Zayn, making sure to give him my best puppy dog look. He glanced at me and was beginning to shake his head when I spoke.
"Zayn please? Please. I'm asking you, as one of your best mates, to not fight with Harry. Please?" I softened my eyes to make them a little more convincing. Zayn thought for a moment, his face becoming more and more calm. After a couple seconds, he finally let out a small sigh and looked over at Harry who was still being held by Louis.
"I'm...sorry, Haz. Let's just...forget about this, shall we? It's a silly thing to fight over, eh?" Zayn said to him, awkwardly. I smiled brightly at Louis who returned it and slowly began to release Harry.
Harry threw Louis a small glare before curtly nodding at Zayn. "Yeah...sure. Let's just forget it."
"Forget what?" A voice cut through the tension. I felt my body stiffen slightly as my eyes darted past Louis and onto the boy who always made my heart jump just from his presence.
Liam came into the room with his tussled hair beautifully going all over the place and his warm brown eyes filled with confusion. I swallowed barely when he stood next to me and looked around at each of us.
"Nothing. It's, uh, nothing." I blurted out. Harry, Louis, and Zayn each gave me the same look that said 'don't tell him.' Liam looked at me and raised an eyebrow, making his lovely face look even more confused. I swear, my legs were beginning to feel like jelly.
"You sure, Niall?" He asked me, quietly. I knew he could tell what was up just from the way I was acting. But I wanted to tell him that it wasn't what was going on that was making me act all jittery. I wanted to say it was him. He was causing this. Not that I would tell him, anyway. I couldn't.
I gave him a small nod and threw a desperate look towards the other three who were standing there looking intently at the two us. "Right, lads? Nothing's going on. Right?" I ground out the last word a little too roughly but I didn't care. All I wanted was for them to stop look so dumbstruck and save me from doing something stupid.
Liam looked at them and they finally snapped out of it. Louis nodded and wrapped an arm around Harry to give him a friendly squeeze. "Yeah! Everything's all ship-shape! We're doing fine and everything is wonderful!"
Zayn gave him a look and I was practically sending him the look 'don't overdo it.' Louis caught on to it and swallowed before looking at Harry.
Liam let out a barely audible sigh and ran a hand through his hair, tussling it even more. I resisted the urge to go over and run my hand through those curly locks. Why did I have to be the one to develop these feelings? And for my best mate, of all people! Why was fate so cruel?
I plastered a big smile onto my face and clapped loudly enough to make everyone wince. "So! Let's uh...get ready, eh? Big interview, ye know."
All of them nodded and began to go off and get ready for the interview. I watched each of them go and leave the living room to do who knows what and I decided to go and get something to eat.
I entered the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge, slightly noticing my stomach begin to growl. I let out a small chuckle. "Hold your horses."
Once I opened the fridge and began to scavenge for something to eat, I felt someone's eyes on me and instantly shot my head up only to have it smack against the ceiling of the fridge. I let out a sharp groan of pain and clutched my head.
Note to self: Never, ever stick your head in the fridge again.
The person that was watching me let out a small gasp and quickly came over to help me. I cautiously removed my head from the fridge, rubbing it incisively, and looked up to find that it was Liam.
He gave me a concerned look at that instantly caused all of the pain in my head to vanish. I bit my lip as he began to inspect my head.
"Are you alright, Niall? That looked like it hurt." He asked me, eyes wide with worry. I nodded quickly, unable to force any words out.
Liam stepped back slightly to look at me and let out a short laugh. "You had me going there for a second. I thought you were about to knock yourself out."
At that, I snapped out of my thoughts and let out a laugh of my own. "Why would I want to knock myself out? That would hurt. Well, it did hurt, actually. But now it doesn't."
A smile came onto his face at the mention of it. "It doesn't? Why is that? Did the pain just suddenly vanish?" He joked.
I felt something inside me flutter as he laughed. My mind began to go a to a thousand different places and, without thinking, I spoke. "Maybe it disappeared because you're here to make it all better."
Liam stopped laughing and stared at me with an expression I couldn't read. I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood. Why did I just say that?
It was silent for a couple minutes when he finally spoke. "Maybe so." His eyes were a little distant and I could tell he was thinking hard about something. I nervously ran a hand through my hair and clenched my jaw together.
When he finally came back to his senses, a smile was plastered onto his face. A smile I'd never seen on him before. It was almost...mischievous. Though, just as I was about to contemplate what it meant, it instantly vanished and was replaced with his normal sweet smile.
"So, you hungry, eh?" He asked me. I snorted and viciously glared at the fridge.
"I was but now that I think about it, I am never going near that fridge again." I replied while keeping my eye on the evil rectangular-sized box. Liam shook his head in amusement.
"Sure you will. You'll eventually forgive it. Besides, it's not the fridge's fault you got distracted." He pointed out, the same mischievous smile coming onto his face.
I gave him a shocked look. "What? I was not distracted!"
He rolled his eyes. "Sure. You weren't 'distracted.' You just decided to smack your head up inside the fridge." He gave me cheeky grin and I pouted.
"You. You distracted me so it's your fault!" I accused, dramatically.
The smile on his face grew even wider and in less than a second, I was up against the fridge with him towering over me. Liam placed a hand over my head and leaned down to whisper to me.
"I distracted you? Now why is that? Were you thinking about me, Nialler?" He chuckled.
I felt my face burn red and scrambled for something to say. When nothing came out, he pulled back a little to look at me. Our eyes met and I was suddenly drowning in those brown eyes.
We stood like that for a couple minutes. Just staring into each others eyes when a loud thud from the other room caused the both of us to jump away from each other.
The both of us looked over to find Louis and Zayn wrestling in the living room. It was apparent that Louis was winning considering the triumphant look on his face as he pinned Zayn helplessly to the floor.
"Ha! I WIN!! Admit defeat, Malik! Admit it!" Louis exclaimed, tugging Zayn's arms as he was sitting on his back. Zayn groaned in pain and struggled to get Louis off his back.
"Alright...ALRIGHT!! I admit it! I lost! Now get off!" He finally tossed Louis onto the floor and stood up so quickly that it made my eyes hurt. He rubbed his shoulder and gave Louis a dirty look who, in return, only smile cheekily at him. It wasn't until I looked towards the couch that I noticed Harry was sitting there recording the whole thing.
He snapped the camera shut and smiled at me when he saw me staring. I rolled my eyes and let out a small laugh when Louis began to do his little dance.
"I won! Ha ha! Take that you Bradford Bad Boi!" He wooted and finally calmed down when he looked at Harry. "Did you get it?"
Harry nodded. "Definitely." Both he and Louis looked at Zayn, amusement on each their faces. Zayn raised a brow and shrugged.
"What are you looking at?" He asked.
The both looked away, obviously trying to hide their laughs. Liam let out a little sigh and glanced down at the watch on his wrist.
"It's about time to leave. Come on, now. We don't want to be late." He told us. Louis stomped his foot childishly but obeyed and began to follow Zayn and Harry out the door. I began to head towards the door as well when I noticed Liam hadn't moved.
I glanced back at him, blushing slightly at the earlier event, and nodded my head towards the door. "Coming, Li?"
He was staring intently at something on the ground and shook his head as if to clear it before giving me friendly smile. "Yeah. Of course."
I watched as he walked past me and out the door before I followed after.
Strange. I thought to myself.
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Well, there's chapter one for ya! Please comment and tell me what you think!! Oh, and vote, too!! Thank you!! :D
♥♥♥Lots of love♥♥♥
July 25, 2012