hi i've finally got my computer back and i'm crying i'm so happy.
p.s. this skips further in the book to the end of their 18 day break.
p. p. s. this may or may not be my favorite chapter.
"Liam I need that thing I asked you to keep safe for me." Niall whispers as Ella sleeps in the tiny cramped room all six of them are sitting in. He's not quite sure why they've all decided to make an ordeal out of showing up at Niall and Ella's flat at five o'clock in the morning, but alas here they all sit. Liam smiles knowingly and he races to the back room of his apartment.
"What thing?" Louis asks as he fiddles with his phone in his hand.
Niall glances at Ella and makes sure that she is still dead to the world as he finally lets all the other boys know what he plans on doing.
"I'm going to propose to Ella tonight." He whispers. Niall is quite proud of himself. And he can't stop himself from letting out a soft laugh as he sees Louis eyes widen. He's left the certain details about his plan out to Harry and Louis because he knows Louis can't keep his mouth shut and Harry would be daft enough to blurt it out to Ella because he'd forgotten it was a secret.
And so instead he'd enlisted the help of Zayn and Liam because he knew both were smart enough to keep their mouth shut.
"You didn't tell me?" Louis all about shouts at Niall. Niall freaks out a little throwing a pillow softly in hopes that it'll shut him up.
"Jokes on you mate I already knew." Harry snorted not once taking his eyes away from his phone. "Went on your computer the other day and found an engagement ring tab open. You're a lucky son of a bitch that Ella isn't nosy or your surprise wouldn't be a surprise."
Niall rolls his eyes then, throwing yet another pillow at Harry this time. He feels Ella stir next to him and motions quickly with his hand to get Louis and Harry out of the room. He's planned all of this so meticulously that he thinks he really can't afford to fuck anything up.
Ella makes this sort of soft raspy groan and stretches out, keeping her eyes closed as she does so. Niall marvels in the wonder that is Ella Compton waking up.
"Good morning sunshine." He whispers out bending to her level and ghosting his lips across her flushed cheek.
"Hmm." She responds, rubbing her closed fist softly against her eyes. "What time is it?" She lets out with a yawn Niall can only classify as pretty damn cute.
"Half seven." He replies laying his head down beside hers and staring up at their ceiling.
"And why are you up?" She questions placing her glasses onto her face. Niall much prefers this Ella, the one who's just woken up and looks adorable in her thick rimmed glasses placed lowly on her nose.
"Because I figured we could make an adventure of the day?" He questions suddenly feeling a bit nervous about what he's doing.
"Oh why not." Ella smiles letting her head fall lightly onto Niall's chest. "Best make the most out of these last few days."
The two get ready then, Niall telling Ella to dress in warm clothing for the cold day ahead of them. Ella lifts her eyebrows in question and Niall just shakes his head, muttering something about a surprise.
By the time the two of them are ready to go, the rest of the boys have all left. Ella had no idea why any of them were raiding her kitchen as she made her way inside to make herself a cup of tea.
She'd greeted them all with kisses and a very confused look. They didn't think twice, to tell her why they were in her flat.
~
"Are we going to Bristol?" Ella speaks excitedly as the surroundings become more and more familiar to her. But then panic settles in and she looks towards Niall. "We're not going to visit my mum are we?"
Niall smiles and makes a grab at Ella's hand. He does the small action partially to calm her nerves, however he mostly does it to stop the shaking and the nerves he himself has.
"Heavens no." He makes a big deal to scoff dramatically. "That woman said she'd have me balls next time I set foot in her house." Niall remembers the hostile old woman he'd not had very many meetings with once he'd decided he wanted Ella in his life for the long run.
Ella's mum had never been a fan of Niall simply because he was famous. And though it shouldn't have hurt him nearly as much as it did, he was still scarred and upset about the last words shared between his girlfriend and the woman who gave birth to her.
He knew from the start, that day he'd bumped into Ella in the coffee shop, that she'd never had a strong relationship with her mum. Ella's mum was a sore subject for both of them.
"Good, I would have ripped your head off." Ella smiles and lets out an airy breath. Niall can only guess it's from relief.
"Always dramatic." He rolls his eyes and turns on the radio, smiling and singing along to, coincidentally, his own song.
~
"What are we meant to be doing here?" Ella questions as they make their way into the coffee shop. Niall looks around, thankful that he can't see anyone who would know who he is. He supposes that's why he fell in love with this coffee shop in the first place. Everyone who came there was old and wrinkled and nice. He laughs now at seeing how out of place Ella must have looked every time she was in here.
"Just having some brunch. I thought today could be a trip down memory lane of sorts." He grabs onto Ella's hand and orders their usual from when they would sneak away from life together and hide in the table in the corner.
"Is something going on or are you just being extra sentimental today?" Ella asks Niall with a smile as they sit in the corner, watching the people around them.
"Sentimental. I have a feeling these next couple of months are going to be crazy."
And the both of them know that what Niall says is true. With the North American leg of the tour coming up in about a week, and then after that press conferences for their new fragrance that's coming out, the two may not have a lot of time to themselves. Plus, once everything is done with the tour, Ella is sure Niall will be working hard on charity work for people who suffer from Early On-sets like he does.
Niall watches as Ella downs the rest of her lukewarm tea and shoves the rest of her scone into her mouth, chewing quickly and getting up pulling Niall along with her.
"Well I suppose you have a lot to show me today, so let's get this show on the road."
~
Their next shop is this tiny tattoo parlor that's not too far from the coffee shop.
Niall thinks back to when they'd stumbled in here drunk and so in love. The two had gotten their first tattoos there, both yelling loud enough for the block to hear that they were going to lose their tattoo virginity to each other.
Ella walked out with a tiny four leaf clover just below her wrist which was self explanatory, where as Niall left with an open book in the same spot, representing Ella doing something she loved to do so much.
"And to what do I owe the visit now?" A loud voice sounds making Ella and Niall turn in surprise. They come face to face with the same intimidating man they'd gotten their tattoos from before. In all reality Sal was as harmless as a fly, but his look and demeanor said otherwise. "You two aren't drunk again are you?" He jokes about clapping Niall on the shoulder.
"No, but we do fancy getting another tattoo?" Ella asks looking towards Niall for confirmation. He nods and pulls a slip of paper from his pocket.
"Had Zayn draw these out." he begins. "But now that I think about it, this is the simplest shit I've ever seen. I thought we could get something simple, not too loud." And Ella knows Niall is talking about the many tattoos that cover his band mates.
She glances down at the paper, seeing a neatly drawn E and a neatly drawn N on the tiny slip. She nods and the two prepare for their newest edition.
Shit, Niall thinks as his tattoo is being done. He doesn't remember it hurting this bad, then again he was drunk last time and so that probably factors in. However, he will not make a peep or cry because Ella did not cry out and he will not be called a pussy by his girlfriend.
"You guys are all set." Sal says once Nialls newly inked skin is wrapped the same way Ella's is.
~
Where are we going now?" Ella bounces excitedly and Niall is glad she's enjoying the day so far. He taps at the steering wheel and last minute, takes a right, sending them in the direction of the park they had their first official date, and the place where they first told each other they loved them.
He supposes this whole day is the big cheesy gesture he was hoping to avoid, but he doesn't mind once he sees Ella's eyes light up again.
The two walk until they find the bench they had a thermos full of tea on at two in the morning. Ella wishes though that it was dark outside, so they could watch the stars as they did that night. They sit quietly staring at the cloudy sky, totally absorbed in totally different things.
"You know, I'd come out here when you were on tour and just stare at the stars hoping somewhere you were doing the same and thinking of me." Ella whispers leaning onto Niall's shoulder and closing her eyes. "I suppose that's the reason I subconsciously bought all those stick on glow stars for my bedroom ceiling." She laughs sending a chuckle vibrating through Niall as well.
And really Niall did the same, staring up at the sky wherever he was at the moment and thinking that there's not other place he'd rather be than with Ella.
Niall places a kiss to the crown of Ella's hair and lifts her up.
"C'mon, there's one other place we need to visit before we go somewhere new."
The two venture further into the park, coming across a large marble slab that's been painted on and written all over many times.
Ella looks and quickly discovers a sentence Niall wrote quickly and shakily on the slab of concrete.
I love Ella more than me beloved Derby.
Oh God, Niall is such an idiot. Ella laughs.
"I love you Ella Mae Compton." Niall blurts out, much like he had the first time he'd spoken those six words to her. It was as if he couldn't get them out fast enough. Only this time, instead of a scared unsure grimace, Niall's lips are curved into a happy smile.
~
The last place the two visit is their flat, where Zayn and Liam, begrudgingly lit up candles and ordered crappy takeout from Ella's favorite restaurant. Ella smiles wide and bright at Niall surging forward for a split second to place the hardest kiss to his lips.
On the dining table sits their notebook of memories, Ella has written in since the moment their therapist had suggested it. Ella looks to Niall curiously because she'd been sure she'd misplaced it after the show in Milan. Niall simply shrugs and smiles.
"Thought you could take us down memory lane again but maybe in your own words this time."
The two sit down and eat for a little until Niall pours two wine glasses full of alcohol and pulls Ella towards the couch.
"Read me your latest entry darling." Niall slurs out, having downed already three glasses of the liquid courage. Ella just shakes her head and opens the leather bound book.
"30th, June. Ella was sick today." Ella pauses and looks towards Niall, completely confused because she sure as hell didn't write this. Niall motions for her to continue.
"She'd explained in full detail during our heated make out session in cold wet clothing that she was sure to get sick from the rain. I knew she would, little bugger has the immune system of an infant. But still, I didn't care.
"But then I saw her all stuffy and miserable in the back of the bus and I felt so horrible because it was all my fault. And I had snapped that picture of her and stared at it for hours after she'd gone to bed, thinking about how lucky I had gotten with a girl like her. And then I really started thinking, although to be honest these thoughts had been a long time running.
"I knew that Ella would stay with me forever if she could. And I knew I wanted to stay with Ella for the rest of my life as well. And so I went searching. I went searching for a piece of jewelry that would explain in depth just how much I wanted Ella to stay with me.
"I'm not good with words. Hell this is the most sophisticated thing i've ever written, and I suppose it's only sophisticated because I've looked up synonyms for some of these words, and taken a quick English lesson from Zayn. But I knew this gift had to tell Ella how I felt when the words escaped me.
"It had to remind her every day that she was mine and I hers. It had to remind her that I loved her more that anything I'd ever loved in my entire life. It had to remind her of me when I wasn't there and bring her some solace on the days when everything became to much.
"And so I bought a ring." Ella looked towards Niall then with wide eyes, where she was met with Niall on his knee. He looked ridiculous she thought, as he looked sheepish and worried at the same time.
"I can't promise you an easy life, but I can promise you all of my attention for the rest of our days, unless there's a derby match on then I'm sorry if it's not my full attention." Ella chokes out something between a sob and a laugh.
"And whatever comes our way, I promise to never push you away because we both know I'm very good at that."
"You're telling me." Ella laughs feeling a few tears trickle down her face.
"Will you shut up and let me finish woman." Niall smiles. "What I was saying was... do ya want to marry me?"
There's her Niall, short and blunt. She's amazed at how loquacious he sounded in the journal and she'll have to remember to give him props for that later on.
"Babe, could you say something? Me knee's starting to hurt." He lets out a soft chuckle that's borderline nervous before Ella's pulling him onto the couch next to her and straddling his waist. She places what she thinks are a billion kisses to his face giggling like a school girl as he fiends being uncomfortable.
"Give me your hand woman so I can put this damned ring on ya!" Niall exclaims, taking Ella's assault on his face as a yes.
As soon as the rock is placed firmly on Ella's fourth finger, she jumps from his lap, lunging into her purse grabbing out her cellphone. She quickly punches in a number and frowns waiting for the person to pick up.
Niall can hear the muffled hello before Ella jumps up smiling like a mad woman.
"Liam guess what?"
A response comes from the other end before Ella's prancing around their living room like a girl playing princess fairies.
"I'm going to be the real Mrs. Horan soon so you can shove it!" And with that she hangs up the phone and lunges towards Niall again.
yes i am mushy... fight me.
but hello i personally could never see niall proposing like this. i picture him just up and coming out like yo do ya want to spend t rest of ur life with me or what !
but hello i am so very happy for this
bye