Niall's POV
It's late in the after afternoon, with her hand securely in mine, I guide her to the top of the hill. With some persuasion, I get her to lay down on the ground. Side by side, fingers interlaced while I hold her hand close to my chest, we enjoy the autumn breeze and watching the clouds floating above us.
'What happened here?' She asks me.
'What do you mean?' I ask looking at her.
'Whenever you bring me to a place, and you have that look in your eyes, the wandering look, thinking back at the last memory you have of this place. I know something happened here. What is it? Did you used to bring her here?'
'Who?'
'May...'
'Oh! No... Actually, the first and last time I was here was the night I met you. On the second anniversary of her death. I was feeling like shit. Deo and Conor wanted to help me feel better. So they brought me here and made me scream and shout. Apparently it makes you feel better. It gets all the anger and frustration out. And then I felt better, so we drove around and ended up in the pub where I met you. Damn that feels like ages ago now.'
'9 months approximately. We met around Christmas? We're in September now. Crazy how fast time goes.'
'Yeah...'
'So why bring me here?'
'I just thought of this place a few days ago. And it was filled with heavy and somewhat negative emotions. This beautiful place deserves a better memory than this. Then I heard this song. And it talked about turning a sunset into a sunrise. And I liked the idea! Thought we could try it.'
'What? You want to stay here all night? Awake? In here? All night?'
'Yupp! Just you and me and the stars.'
'I mean sounds charming but how do you suggest to pass the time? It's gonna be long! I mean we can't even watch a movie?'
'We'll make our own movies!' I suggest.
'Okay. You still haven't finished that story. Do it now.' She orders.
'What story?'
'You know, a few months ago! I asked you for a bedtime story and you never bothered to finish it?'
'I never bothered to finish it? I recall it's you who fell asleep before I could do that!'
'Okay fine! So finish it now! Pleaseee! I wanna know what happens to the princess.'
'I don't remember how the story goes!'
'I do!!' She cheers.
'Of course you do!' I laugh at her excitement.
'Okay so!!! The Princess was feeling lonely because she didn't have any friends. And then her parents were throwing a ball and she was excited because she gets to meet new people and sure they're most likely to be all snobby and acting all high and mighty when they're actually really shitty people but she was hoping there would be more people like her who she can be friends with.'
'Okay...'
'So what happens next?' She asks eagerly.
'She meets new people and makes new friends and fall in love with a prince and they get married and live happily ever after?'
'Booo!!!! Nooo!!!' She yells.
'What? That's not how these stories go?'
'No!! It's not that straightforward!! You have to introduce new characters! Plot twists! Obstacles and challenges everyone has to go through in order to get to the happy ending! And sometimes there isn't even a happy ending!'
'Okay, well if you know so much then you do it!'
'Fine! So she goes to the party! She goes around trying to make friends. She accidentally crosses a mean girl so that the character would have an enemy of some sort. And then she makes new quirky new friends, just to make it as cliché as possible. Ooh!!! We can do a side character arc where one of the princesses she becomes friends with is gay and is depressed because her parents are making her marry a guy because monarchy for some fucked up reason have to have a king and a queen and can't have two queens even though let's face it with two queens life would be much better. Okay back to the main character. So the princess makes new friends. And starts developing a crush on one of the princes from the party but of course that mean girl tries to do everything to stop her from getting with him. The Princess and the Prince start spending time together and start to get closer and he starts having feelings for her and her for him. Everything seems to be falling into place. She even stops fighting with the mean girl and be nothing but kind with her showing her how it feels to be loved and cared for and teaches her how to treat people with kindness and how useless and stupid it is to bully people and that there is a much better and healthier way to get after what we want.'
'And then they lived happily ever after?' I ask.
She stands up gasping.
'Nooo!!! That's when we discovered that the Prince is already engaged to be married to another Princess!!'
'Ugh let me guess and she's her long lost sister?' I chuckle.
'No, but I like the way you think!' She paces around while thinking and talking way too fast. 'Okay! I got it! It's her cousin!'
'How is it her cousin and she didn't know?'
'Because they kept the alliance a secret! Because her dad is a mean old bitter king that everybody hates and the good king, the prince's father wants to better his reputation by making them relatives.'
'Really?'
'Or or!!!!' She jumps up and down in excitement, 'oh my god!!! Noo!!! He's engaged to her friend!!! The gay one!!! They don't know who they're engaged to each other because they're against it and it's their parents who arranged it for them!!! Oh my god, this so sooo goood!!!!! So then all three work together to overthrow the system. The friend ends up marrying the mean girl who's not mean anymore and they become queen and queen and take over the whole world and the princess and prince become their loyal advisors and get married and have a bunch of kids and everyone lived happily ever after!!!'
I start clapping loudly and cheering.
'Okay, I gotta admit that is much better. You should write a book!'
'Nah!'
'Yess!! It's a great story!! People will love it!! You have the talent!! I've read some of the short stories you've put online!'
'Those are shit!'
'No, they're fucking not!!' I argue.
'Forget it. Do you realise how expensive it is to publish a book?'
'Maybe. But first of all, writing it is for free! And, once it's done, I can help you publish it. You know I support you through everything! This could be your big achievement. You're not even gonna try? Are you seriously gonna live your entire life knowing you could've been a successful published author but didn't because you're too lazy or scared to pick up your goddamn laptop and start writing!'
She calms back down from all the excitement and lay again in my arms sighing longly. We spend the night talking. Exchanging stories, dreams, secrets. It's in those times where I really believe she's the one. She's my soulmate. Because if you can spend time with someone that will make you forget about where you are and make the time goes without you being aware of it. When spending time with that person is only about you and them being together, transcending the laws of time and space. That's when you know it's the real thing. That's when you're a 100% sure that this is something special. This is something to hold on to as tightly as you can and never let go.
'And... new day!' I say as the light starts breaking from the horizon.
'Great can we go home and sleep now?' She says already standing up and pulling me up.
'Way to kill the romance. You were the one that was "awww babyyy I can stay here forever!!" Not even an hour ago.'
'First of all, I don't sound like that. Second, that was true until I realised how sleepy I am and how exhausted my body it. I need a comfy mattress and pillow and covers. Come on please.'
'Yeah, alright. Let's go home.' I agree.
'Thank you for bringing me though.'
'Thank you for sticking around.'