Niall:
“Ready?” I asked. She nodded.
“1… 2… 3!” we said in union before pouring the little plastic bucket of water on Lux’s feet. She giggled and clapped her hands as if to say ‘Again! Again!’.
I smiled at Aria. “She’s a really happy baby”.
She grinned. “The happiest!”
“We should bring her to the ocean,” I said, eyeing the way that Lux was starring intently at the water.
“Ok,’ she said. I picked up Lux from the sand and began walking to the ocean. I turned around, expecting to see Aria walking beside me. Instead, she was jogging back towards her beach bag.
“Where are you going?” I called.
“She needs floaty’s!” she yelled back. She came back moments later holding little blue arm floats with yellow fish on them and a large, yellow doughnut shaped float with a dinosaur head, tail, and limbs (giving it the obvious resemblance to a dinosaur).
I chuckled. “She’s just dipping her feet in the water love, there’s no need to bubble wrap her”.
She put her little hands on her hips, the way she always did when she insisted that she was right about something. Or wanted to make a point. Or just felt like putting her hands on her hips. “She could DROWN if we don’t put these on her”.
She took Lux out of my arms and slid the little blue arm floats onto her arms. Lux stared at them curiously, her mouth slightly open in wonder.
I laughed and saw Aria laugh too. She was so beautiful today, with her long dark hair in it’s natural curls, her sparkling hazel eyes make-up free, her skin without cover-up, revealing a small scar on her chin. She looked beautiful everyday, just the way she was.
I held Lux’s tiny hand in my own and Aria did the same. Together we swung her up, then back down so her small feet were covered by the sea. Lux laughed happily and so did we.
“I want my turn with her!” Harry yelled. We laughed and handed Lux over to him and Alison. They sat with her on the sand, making sandcastles with the plastic buckets we had bought for her. She stared at them, her face filled with concentration.
“Care to join me for a swim?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she said, smiling. I threw my shirt onto the sand and Aria did the same to her own clothing.
“Race you,” she said with a mischievous grin on her face.
“First one to the rock wins,” I told her.
“Fine”.
“On three?”
“One. Two”. She took off running into the water and yelled “THREE!”
I laughed and took off running after her.
“That’s cheating!” I yelled after her. When the water reached to mid-thigh I began swimming.
“No it’s not!” she yelled back, “it’s called a head start!”
Aria paddled furiously, only a few strokes ahead of me. She looked back at me once, and then went back to swimming.
She reached the cave seconds before I did. For a girl with such little legs, she sure could swim.
The area around the cave was mainly people free. I wrapped my arms around her waist when we got onto dry land and kissed her lips softly.
“I do believe you are part fish,” I teased. She giggled.
“Part mermaid, actually,” she said with a wink and another giggle.
“So, I do believe –since I didn’t cheat after all- that I won the race”.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what winning a race means in Ireland, but in America (and in Portugal), winning a race means to come in first place. Meaning you have to come FIRST. And I clearly came in first”.
“No, I came in first. Because I didn’t cheat,” I teased.
She put her index finger on her chin in a mock thinking expression. “Hmm. I don’t think so”.
‘Let’s make a deal. I declare you the winner this time. But we get a rematch. Deal?”
She giggled. “Fine. Then I hope you enjoy losing”.
“Au contraire, babe. I believe it is you who will lose. From the cave to that big rock out in the ocean?” I said, pointing to a large rock several yards away.
“On the count of three?” I nodded my head yes. “One-“
I took off sprinting and yelled “TWO, THREE!” over my shoulder as I entered the warm water.
“That’s cheating!” she yelled as I began paddling. I laughed.
“No it’s not! It’s called a head start!” I said, quoting her from earlier. She laughed and I could hear the splashing of the water from behind me. She must be gaining on me.
“Copycat!”
“You wish!” I said. After a few more frantic strokes, I reached the rock. I heard her pant as she too reached the rock.
“You so cheated!” she said. I laughed.
“I most certainly did not. I’m obviously a mermaid!” I said, quoting her again. She laughed.
“Niall, a mermaid is a girl,” she said slowly, still giggling. Opps, I had forgotten that.
I batted my eyelashes femininely at her. “Am I a pretty girl?” I asked in a high pitched girl’s voice, earning more giggles from Aria.
“You’re a very, very ugly girl”. I frowned and hung my head, pretending to be saddened by the comment.
She wrapped her arms around my waist and burrowed her face into my chest. “But you’re a very, very handsome boy”.
I grinned at her. “Handsome, huh?” I said to her with a wink. She blushed.
I lifted her up in my arms and looked directly into her eyes. “You’re cute when you blush, you know that right?” I said, making her blush deepen.
“We.. we should get back. They’re going to start to worry,” she said, looking away.
I shrugged my shoulders. “If you think that’s best”.
She nodded her head. “But first, I need to tell you a secret”.
My heart sped up as she stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to my ear. She was so close that I could smell her strawberry scented gum.
“Ready?” she whispered.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
“I’m going to tell you on the count of three,” she whispered.
“Ok”.
“One…” I felt my skin erupt with goose pimples at the feel of her warm breath against my ear.
“Two…” My heart rate skyrocketed. Was her secret good or bad? Was it about me?
“Three,” she said before splashing me with the warm water.
I faux glowered at her, making her giggle.
“Now THAT was cheating,” I said. She giggled and splashed me again.
“What was that for?”
“That was for YOU cheating earlier”.
I splashed her back. “I do believe you were the ORIGINAL cheater. So that was for cheating even earlier than that,” I said to her with a wink.
The simple splashes escalated to a full blown splash war. By the end of it we were completely drenched from head to toe.
“Oi! Loverbirds!” Zayn yelled about ten feet back from us
I saw Aria roll her eyes. Was it because she didn’t think of us as lovers? Or because she didn’t really love me?
“Can we talk later?” I asked her. I needed to know where we stood. What were we technically classified as? Friends? Neighbors? More than friends or neighbors? I was dying to know.
“What is it Zayn the Brain?” I asked when we were caught up with all the others.
He grinned excitedly at us. “We are going to have a bonfire tonight!”
“But…Lux.. Who’s going to stay with Lux if all of us are at the bonfire?” Aria asked.
“Danielle isn’t feeling very well. She went back to her hotel room about ten minutes ago. She and I will stay with Lux,” Liam said. I smiled gratefully at him.
“Oh no you won’t! Just because Danielle is ill doesn’t mean I can allow you to miss a party! I can stay with her,” Perrie said.
“But Perrie, I can’t drink alcohol anyways. I can stay with her,” Liam protested. Or attempted to protest. Perrie was obviously going to win this battle.
“Oh hush Liam! I’m sharing the bloody room with her anyways. Why not? You’re needed around anyway, to keep an eye on the boys and make sure they don’t go to bed bloody knackered”.
Liam groaned. “Fine. But please tell Danielle I’ll call her every hour to check on her. AND I’ll stay with her all of tomorrow night. And take good care of little Lux. She’s a rambunctious one sometimes, that child is. ”.
Perrie smiled her facial expression full of triumph. She knew she’d won the battle.
Aria:
Perrie was so sweet, going off to take care of Danielle so Liam could party. I never understood why some fans were so quick to say such brutal things about her. She was a genuinely nice person, a good friend, a caring girlfriend. Even before meeting her and Zayn, it still fazed me as to why people assumed they were only together because of One Direction’s management. They were obviously sickeningly in love.
But before going to her shared room to keep an eye on Danielle and Lux, Perrie had come with Alison and I to our room to help me get ready for tonight’s bonfire.
At the current moment, Perrie was going through Alison and my clothes to pick our outfits tomorrow. Alison, being used to me forever picking her outfits made no fuss. But I on the other hand…
“Perrie for the thirtieth time today, I don’t need you to pick out my outfit!” I protested. Alison laughed.
“But Aria, we need to make you presentable for Niall!”
“When don’t I look presentable for Niall?”
“Well, from what I heard, you were found in bed with Niall wearing nothing but a pair of knickers and one of his shits…” I felt my face turn three shades redder than a fire truck. Behind me, Alison laughed even harder.
I shot her a dirty look in attempt to silence her. More accurately put, I attempted to shoot her a dirty look, but ended up hysterically laughing alongside her.
Perrie attempted to maintain a serious facial expression, but ended up cracking a grin.
“It wasn’t what it looked like guys,” I protested, “he was just really drunk and I was-“
“Seducing him,” Alison said, still laughing. Perrie burst out laughing too. I couldn’t help but laugh too.
“You wish,” I said, sticking my tongue out at them.
Niall:
“What did you have in mind, mate?” Zayn asked me.
I shrugged. “She cooks for me all of the time. I was thinking maybe before the bonfire, I could make her something to eat. To have a picnic, ya know?”
“Aww, that’s nice of you,” Liam said.
Louis and Harry had gone to the supermarket to pick up booze and snacks for tonight’s bonfire. I was with Zayn and Liam, getting ready to cook a special meal for Aria.
“What should we cook?” Zayn asked. I mentally face palmed myself. The only one who knew anything about cooking was Harry, and he only knew how to back and cook simple things. How in the world were we supposed to create an entire meal based on zero cooking experience?
“Ermm, I dunno actually,” I said.
Liam shook his head disapprovingly. “This is a bad idea Niall. You’ve never attempted to cook before. Why not just order room service or take out?”
“It’s not the same, Li!” I protested, “Aria cooks for me loads of times! And she does it bloody well too. The least I can do is show her I care enough to attempt to cook her a gourmet meal”.
Zayn and Liam both sighed.
“I can see this going horridly,” Zayn muttered.
I’m going to prove them so wrong, I thought to myself. Aria was going to be completely and utterly love struck when she saw the fantastic feast I was about to make her. I had it all planned out.
I would start with a simple picnic on the beach. Using my iphone of course (thank the lord I had been able to afford it with all my earnings from the band), I would play a bunch of music. And we would eat a lovely dinner of homemade pizza margarita, salad, breadsticks, chocolate chip cookies, and champagne. After that we would take a stroll on the beach, and then meet up with the others for the bonfire.
But for some reason, none of the boys were on my side for this. They all agreed it was a good idea, except for the part where I had to cook everything we would later eat.
I could cook. Sort of….
I’d watched Liam cook simple things when we went on tour. I’d watched Harry bake before. And I’d seen Aria cook for me loads of times. There couldn’t possibly be anything difficult about it. Just know a recipe, add the ingredients and heat, have some common sense and viola! A dish has been created!
You can do this Niall, you can do this, I reminded myself.
“Combine one and a half cups of warm water with one quarter of an ounce of yeast in a small bowl,” I read aloud. Liam filled a measuring cup with warm water up to the 1 ½ line. Zayn tossed me a small packet of something. I think it was the yeast?
I poured the water into a bowl and opened the packet which contained what looked like gritty brown flower. I sniffed it and it smelt a bit sour.
If it smelt sour it might taste sour… And I simply can’t have bitter tasting pizza for Aria and I. So I need to taste this yeast stuff to make sure it’s not repulsive.
After all, everything that goes into delicious food taste delicious. Therefore, if the yeast tastes repulsive, then the pizza will taste repulsive. I tentatively dipped my fingers into the little yeast packet, taking a pinch between my fingers before putting my fingers to my mouth and tasting the yeast…
THIS TASTES BLOODY REPULSIVE! I spat out the taste of yeast. When the disgusting taste still lingered in my mouth, I downed a glass of water. Ahh, that’s much better.
Liam and Zayn looked at me oddly, like I was a crazy man. I rolled my eyes. Didn’t they know how disgusting yeast tastes?
“I won’t be adding yeast to this,” I said, turning back to the paper with the pizza recipe.
“Niall, any type of dough needs yeast to rise,” Liam said.
I shrugged my shoulders. There was no way I was putting that gross stuff into the pizza and breadsticks. “I don’t think this needs any yeast,” I muttered, holding the recipe paper closer to my eyes.
“In a large bowl whisk five cups of flour, one and a half teaspoons of salt, and the yeast mixture together”.
“I won’t have any part in this,” Liam said, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. This was no longer Liam Payne. In his place was now Daddy Direction, here to make sure none of the One Direction member get into trouble. Basically meaning me, at the moment.
“That’s quite aright. Zaynie and I can cook,” I said. Zayn looked torn between joining Liam at the table to watch me and ripping every perfectly styled hair strand out of his head. It gave is face a rather constipated looking expression. It was quite amusing, actually.
I kneaded the dough as the directions said, then left it in a covered bowl to rise.
“That wasn’t so hard,” I said smugly. Liam groaned and Zayn covered his face with his hands. Why did they refuse to have any sort of faith in me?
“Niall, the dough is NOT going to rise,” Liam pointed out, yet again.
“Yes it will, Li!” I protested.
I got to work on the cookie dough. Seemed simple enough.
I accidently got a few egg shells in the bowl. Opps, nobody will know. They’ll melt right into the dough once the cookies get into the oven, just like the sugar grains melt.
“Niall. Is that eggshells I see in that dough?” Zayn asked me.
“Ermm.. maybe?”
Liam began hysterically laughing and Zayn threw his hands up in a ‘you’re truly hopeless at this’ sort of manner.
You’re going to see! I’m going to be the best bloody chef in Portugal! The best bloody chef in all of Europe!” I protested.
Aria:
Liam opened the door to Alison, Perrie, and I. I smelt the horrid stench of something burning.
“Ermm, I got the text,” Perrie said, holding up her phone.
Liam bit his lip, attempting to hold back laughter. “They’re in the kitchen,” he said, pointing.
Nothing could mentally prepare me for what I saw before my eyes.
“Zayn, give it back! I can handle this!” Niall whined.
“No Niall! Please let Liam and I handle this!” Zayn protested.
The two boys –correction. The two men- were fighting over a fire hydrant. While the cookies in the oven were burnt black and on fire.
I had never thought it was possible for food to catch fire while in the oven. At least until now…
I sighed and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the fighting boys. What was it again? PASS? Pull… Aim…Sweep… Something? Oh well. It had to be something similar to that.
When the fire was finally extinguished I turned to Niall with my hands on my hips. I didn’t have to ask but I had a pretty good idea as to who started this mayhem.
“Niall honey,” I said in the sweetest, most innocent sounding voice I could muster. “Why was there food in the oven on fire?”
“Ermm…” he said, sheepishly looking at his feet.
“Wow, erm look at the time,” Zayn said, looking at his wrist. “I simply must be going”.
“Me too!” Liam chimed in. “Erm we have that thing right now, right Zayn?”
“What thing?” Niall said, glaring at them.
“Oh you know mate, that thing that Zayn and I always do at this time. We simply must me off”.
“Lads..” Niall said, his face looking nervous.
“Oh we should go too! See you later Aria. See you later Niall,” Perrie said, grabbing Alison by the arm and pulling her out of the kitchen.
“It was nice seeing you again Aria,” Liam said.
“A real pleasure. Bye Niall”.
“Bye,” Niall said.
When everyone had left I finally let out the giggles I had been holding in.
“Who set the cookies on fire?” I asked, still laughing.
He grinned. “I may have possibly done it”.
That only made me laugh harder. How in the world had he managed to set cookies on fire?
“You burnt them,” I said, gripping my sides, my eyes overflowing with my tears of laughter.
“Not burnt exactly… They’re most like crispy”.
This comment made me burst into a fit of giggles. I wiped away the laughter tears from my eyes and noticed a large, silver metal bowl sitting on the counter.
I peered into the large bowl sitting on the counter beside the oven.
“What’s that paste stuff supposed to be?” I asked.
“Paste stuff? Oh, you mean the dough?”
“Dough?” I asked, completely confused. “Niall, this is pure white paste”.
He looked into the bowl. “Opps..”
I groaned, almost scared to ask what it was. But my curiosity overcame my worry.
“What is it supposed to be?” I asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Ermm… Pizza dough”.
He bit his lip, the smile evidently on his face. I couldn’t help myself and burst out laughing. He joined along, indicating he wasn’t the slightest bit mad about my hysterical laughter.
“Pizza dough needs yeast, silly,” I teased.
Niall wrapped his arms around my waist and nuzzled his nose against mine. He grinned and kissed the tip of my nose. “I knew that,” he said, chuckling. Gosh I loved that laugh. It was just so mesmerizing.
I stood on my tippy toes so that my lips could reach his ear. “You keep on making beautiful music with that guitar and angelic voice of yours. Just leave the kissing to me,” I said softly.
I sank back down onto my flat feet. He smirked and leaned in, kissing my lips softly before instantly pulling away. I pouted, making him laugh.
He chuckled. “I like that idea very much”.
I grinned cheekily. “I know”.
He rolled his eyes mockinckly, his smile bright for the world to see, his eyes glistening with happiness. “A bit cheeky now, aren’t we?”
I giggled. “Very cheeky”.
He kissed my lips again, making me completely forget about those burnt black cookies that sat in the oven, the fire that had just been put out literally moments ago, and the paste in the bowl that was supposed to be pizza dough. I just kept kissing and kissing that little Irish man.
6 Months later
Aria:
Niall and I were in his bedroom, on his bed, having a full on make-out session. He had chosen to give me a full apartment tour today. Because I, Aria Raquel Beliza, was moving in with him, my boyfriend of six months.
The past six months with Niall had been the best of my life. We had gone on so many dates together. And a week ago, he dropped the bomb on me, telling me he loved me. I loved him back and we had decided to move in together. Which was entirely fine with Alison, since I was only a door away. That and Harry had been practically living at out apartment anyways.
Alison and Harry by the way, were about as happy as any couple could be. You could tell my Alison’s constant happy chatter about him, the way that they looked at each other, how Harry was always being so sweet to her. That of course, and the fact that those two were basically the literal definition for public displays of affection.
I loved everything about Niall’s apartment. From the neutral color schemes of his living room, to his bright green bathroom with the shamrock theme, to the white washed kitchen with lightly used kitchen appliances, to his pale denim wash colored walls and his blue duvet.
He broke apart from my lips and looked deeply into my eyes, his beautiful ones piercing my own hazel ones. “I love you Aria,” he whispered to me smiling.
“I love you too,” I whispered back smiling.
He started kissing me again, but not on my lips. He kissed my cheek, jaw line and neck. I felt his lips smirk against my neck as I let out a soft moan when he found my soft spot.
He started to suck on that spot, surely forming a hicky.
He stopped after a few minutes to pull my shirt over my head. His lips found my own again and we were kissing again, his hands gripping my hips, my hands entangled in his baby soft hair.
While we kissed I began unbuttoning the plaid shirt he wore. He let go of my hips for a moment to shrug off the shirt then ran his hands over my body, making me shiver.
I untangled my hands from his hair and ran them down his gloriously defined chest and abs. Hello six pack.
He broke apart from the kiss, a bit breathless, making me instantly pout.
“Aria, we should stop”.
“Why?” I whined, drowning out the y.
“Because it’s my first time and your first time. We should only do it when you’re ready”.
“I am ready”.
“Are you sure?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“More sure than I’ve every been about anything in my life before,” I responded before pulling his face back down to my level and kissing him.
Harry:
I was laying beside a sleepy Alison, playing with her hair. I’d finally convinced her to quit straightening it all of the time and leaving her natural curls be.
As creepy as it may sound, I liked watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful asleep, not allowing the stress of college and work to show. She was halfway into her second semester of her freshman year, and mid-terms were coming up, making it harder for me to see her and for Niall to see Aria.
So I’d left my shared place with Boobear and moved in with Alison when Aria had moved in with Niall. It was all working out perfectly.
At the moment I couldn’t wasn’t yet asleep. I never understood how Alison could just pass out before midnight.
It was now twelve to eleven and I finally felt a bit tired. My eyes drifted shut and my head hit the pillow for all but ten seconds until….
Bang bang bang bang.
What in the world was that noise?
Bang bang bang bang.
There it was again!
Bang bang bang bang.
What the fuck was that bloody noise!
Bang bang bang bang.
The noise was coming from Niall’s room. Niall’s bedroom to be exact, as I knew that his room and Alison’s room were separated only be a mere thin piece of sheetrock. Aria had just moved several days ago.
Bang bang bang bang.
So that could only mean one thing!
Bang bang bang bang.
Those two were shagging!
“My ears,” I moaned, shoving my pointer fingers into my ears.
Bang bang bang bang.
I groaned and covered my face with my pillow.
“May god have mercy on my ears!” I loudly groaned.
**********************************************************
It's finally done! Chapter twenty has finally been completed! Wooo!
I am so, so, so, so, so sorry that it took me this long. It's been like what, over two weeks since I last updated. So I'm really sorry to you all about that. To express my sorriness (is that even a word) I'm going to apologize to you all in Portuguese for it: Descupla.
I was going through a bit of a rough patch and found it hard to concentrate on this. Thanks so much to my best friend Alyssa (JustLittleAlyssa) for helping me out through it.
So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :p I guarentee you all , you're in for a suprise in the upcoming chapter. Please don't forget to comment and vote, I'd very much appreciate it :)
Since I missed you guys so much and I took forever to update I'm going to give you guys all an inspirational quote for the chapter!
"Sometimes life has to get really ugly before it can get pretty" - Shay Mitchell
Hugs and kisses!
-xoxo Alexia