Niall's POV
'We should probably get started on lunch no?' I ask her.
'We? I thought you were cooking. Now you need my help?' She teases.
I laugh and then correct myself, 'I mean, I'll get started on making lunch. But you can't be just staring at me like that. You'll make me nervous and I'll mess things up.'
'Okay? What do you need me to do? We can continue working?'
'Or! OR!! We put some music and you sing.'
'You obviously meant we.'
'I sing for a living! I deserve a little break. Today, it's your time to shine!'
She laughs and says, 'Yeah right, as if you can shut up whenever there's music playing.'
'Yeah, fair enough.'
'What are you cooking anyway?'
'Guess.'
'Hmm, chicken roast with a side of mash?'
'What?! How did you know?'
'Lucky guess?'
'Am I that predictable? Really?'
'No! Of course not! I just know you?'
'We met less than a week ago!'
'True, but I've been around for longer, I know more about you than you know about me. You keep forgetting that you have more than 20 million followers on Instagram.'
'Yeah, I guess.'
'Besides, you know how I feel about predictability.'
'You think it's comforting!'
'What? Is that a bad thing?' She argues.
'Well... I don't know...'
'I don't think it is. If I don't and it's my opinion, then why should it matter?'
'Yeah, alright.'
I connect my phone to the Bluetooth speaker then play a random playlist. I wash my hands and start with taking the chicken out of the fridge and put into the glass pan.
'Hey, Ni, don't forget to season it!' She teases.
'The Seasoning Was On!! Seriously! I don't get why people kept freaking out about that!' I shout.
She starts laughing loudly at that, making me turn around. Seeing her like that just makes me happy. I have no idea what she's been through, but I know she's been through a lot. I see the fake smiles, and I see the sad lifeless eyes. Sure they're not always there, and it does make me feel better, maybe us hanging out is really helping her. Or maybe like she said, it's just happy moments. But even if it's temporary, at least I can make her happy. And that makes me happy.
'What?' She asks after the laughter died down, but the smile not leaving her beautiful face.
'Hmm?'
'You're staring. And smiling.'
'Am I?'
'Yupp!' She looks at me raising her eyebrow and a knowing smirk on her face.
'No... Stop it... I know what you're doing! It's not gonna work!'
'What isn't?' She chuckles.
'That face! It's mine! You copycat! I invented that! You really think it's gonna work on me?'
'I think it already is.'
'No it's not!'
'Right, so you're telling me that your face right now is not almost as red as the tomatoes on the kitchen counter over there?'
'No it's not!'
I turn around and focus on the cooking instead. I add all the necessary ingredients, while we sing along to the songs blasting from the stereo. And finally, put the chicken in the oven.
'Do you really not want me to help? Can I at least do the dishes? The sink is full and that's annoying.'
'You're my guest here! I'm not letting you do the dishes.'
'Well then. Try and stop me.'
She lifts her sleeves up, puts her hair into a ponytail, walks towards the sink and just starts washing the dishes. I mean I could stop her. But the only way I can think of involves my literally picking her up and taking her out of the kitchen. But if I want to get rid of my stupid little crush on her, I think it would be best if I stick to the minimum physical contact possible.
Chloe's POV
We spend two hours in the kitchen, I help him with the minor things, letting him do most of the work as he insisted. But at the same time, we just chat and exchange stories. I know that "I know him" for a long time now, but there is a lot of stories and event that are thankfully not public. Getting to know him on a personal level made me really relieved that he stills manages to keep some things private and he can still have fun with his friends and do crazy stupid stuff and not have it on the internet forever.
Finally, the oven starts beeping.
'This is the second best sound on earth right now!' I gush.
'Hungry?'
'Starving!'
'Yeah, I don't know why it took so long! Sorry.'
'It better be delicious Horan! Cause I don't think I can wait another half hour for food delivery from outside!' I threaten.
'It's gonna be fine. There are the salad and the mash anyway. It's not like I completely screwed up!'
He takes it out of the oven and carefully places it in the middle of the already set table. He cuts through it and gives me a piece before putting one in his plate. Once that is done, he serves the rest of the food that we (he) prepared.
'You know I can serve myself. I'm not a baby.'
'Just let it happen.' He insists.
I take a bite of the chicken, 'Oh Wow!' I gush with a mouth full.
'Is it good?'
'Good Seasoning Niall!' I tease him.
'But jokes aside! Is it good.'
I swallow the almost burning hot delicious food, 'Perfect.'
The way he smiles at that comment. Just so happy with his achievement. I mean it's just chicken, it's just food, but he prepared it from scratch and it's really tasty. It makes me happy seeing him like that. I know I've said I should get over my feelings for Niall, pretend they don't exist. But it's moments like these... I feel like it's okay. Being around him, discussing anything with him, listening to his stories. This is enough for me. I like this. I'd never ask for anything more than that. Okay, yes I love him so much. But I'm not really asking for anything in return. I don't care if he loves me back the same way I do or not. All I care about is being a part of his life, and making sure he's okay. And if he's not I'd do anything I can to help him get better.
This is just perfect.
'By the way!' He starts with a mouthful, 'You said the second best sound when the oven started beeping. What's the first?'
'Ugh, sometimes It's annoying how well your memory is. I mean that was like 10 minutes ago!'
'Well... Don't say stuff in front of me if you don't want follow-up questions.'
'Fine. So, to me, and get ready because this is gonna be so cheesy, the best sound on earth, in my opinion, is your laugh.'
'Awww!'
'I know! I'm adorable.'
'Why though?' He asks.
'Why am I adorable?'
'No, I mean why do you think it's the best.' He chuckles.
'Hmm... well... It always managed to cheer me up. And it's so contagious, It's almost impossible for me to hear you laugh and not laugh along. And if I'm not, then it would at least make me smile. It just has this life in it and it just spread happiness. It's just a wave of positivity.'
'Okay, now that! Is cheesy!' He laughs.
'Hey! I'm a writer! I have to be cheesy at times! And sometimes it just comes naturally. I can't help it! I don't always think before I speak. Sometimes I just whip up in a second a long lovey-dovey speech and once I start nothing can stop me. But you're not that far off, I mean you're a songwriter! I'm pretty sure you could come up with the cheesiest love song in the world in 20 minutes!'
'How dare you! I can do it in 5! In 20 I'd do much better than a cheesy love song! I wrote my second favourite song in 20 minutes!'
'And named your first album after it! Yeah, I know.'
'So shall we?' He asks.
'What?'
'After we're done eating. I'll try to write a cheesy song in 5 minutes. You'll time me.'
'Really?'
'Yeah, I like a challenge. But it's just for fun, it's not like I'm gonna do anything with it.'
'Alright.'