I had just had a call from my landlord telling me I needed to move out of my flat by next month. What the hell was I going to do? I didn't have enough money to move anywhere else in London and I was on tour right now! I might have to quit the only job I've ever had that I liked because my dickhead of a landlord was making me move out.
"Scheisse!" I shouted to myself out of frustration.
"Ava? Are you ok? I don't speak German but that sounded bad" Tara asked me before hugging me gently, I didn't answer but just hugged her tight and started crying out of frustration. Tara didn't question me any further, she just hugged me back and rubbed my back gently.
"Tara? Ava?" I heard my favourite voice ask me, again, I didn't turn to look up at him or let go of Tara. Warm, strong arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind me, so I was in a Niall and Tara sandwich. After a few minutes, Tara let go of me and started to walk away slowly as she had work to do before Niall went on stage that night. I turned around in Niall's arms so I was facing him and buried my face in his chest, after a while I felt Niall's shirt becoming wet from my tears and he must've noticed as he gently pulled away and took my face in his hands and brushed his calloused thumbs across my cheeks, wiping away my tears gently. When I looked up at him, he had a fond, though slightly sad, smile on his face and his warm blue eyes were sparkling in the light of the dressing room.
"What's wrong my love? You can tell me anything, you know that right?" Niall asked me with a serious look on his face, and I knew I could and I knew he would listen and give me the best advice he could but this was embarrassing, Niall didn't know what it was like not to have money, he had been a multimillionaire since he was 16. However, the concerned look on his face made me want to tell him everything.
"My landlord just called me and said I needed to move out of my flat by next month and I can't afford to move anywhere else in London" I mumbled, avoiding eye contact with him but I could still feel his piercing blue eyes on me. He put a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up into his eyes,
"I'll help you think of a way to get around this Ava. We'll sort this out together, I might be your boss but I'm your friend as well" Niall said firmly, holding eye contact the whole time. Although his words did reassure me a bit, I didn't really know what Niall could do to help me and I was shocked when I heard his suggestion.
"We have a few weeks off so I'll help you move out and you can move into my flat for a while if you want?"
"I couldn't do that to you, Niall! You already do so much for me"
"Ava, you're my best friend, it really wouldn't bother me, my flat's big enough, there's a couple of spare rooms so you can decide which one you want. If I'm being honest, it gets quite lonely there by myself sometimes" he said as he pulled me into a tight hug again and kissed the top of my head gently, being held in Niall's arms made me feel loved in a way I had never felt before.
The next day
I was now sitting in my flat which was no empty except a few empty boxes that Niall and I were getting ready to put in his car, it was too short notice for us to hire a van to move my stuff so we've had to do multiple trips with Niall's car which had taken a while as I lived in a much poorer area of London than Niall. He had connected his phone to the speaker in my kitchen and was dancing and singing along with the music while helping me pack, it had been quite fun, seeing Niall getting distracted from packing my clothes into boxes because he had started doing air guitar again. I couldn't help but smile and imagine how fun it would be living with him and spending so much time with him outside of tour.
We had loaded the last box into the boot of Niall's shiny, black Range Rover, and were now on our way back to Niall's flat, now mine as well, I guess. I giggled quietly to myself, listening to Niall swear at the other cars, we had ended up stuck in London rush hour traffic and the car hasn't moved in a while.
As I walked into Niall's flat for the first time, he gave me a tour and I couldn't help but be shocked by how big it was, it was definitely the biggest flat I had ever been in.
"Are you sure this is a flat Niall? It's fucking massive! The living room is bigger than my entire flat!"
"Yeah it's massive" Niall mumbled with red cheeks.
After Niall had carried my last box into my new room he had collapsed onto my bed and watched as I started unpacking my stuff into the en suite and my clothes into the wardrobe.
"Should we order a takeaway? I can't be bothered to move, let alone cook" I heard Niall ask from my bed.
"Sure, what stuff do you have near here?" I asked, not sure what type of takeaways they would have in such a posh area of London.
"Chinese?"
"Yeah that's fine"
While we were waiting for the takeaway, I got changed into sweatpants and a hoodie that both belonged to Niall (and therefore were way too big for me) as I hadn't finished unpacking my clothes. When I left my room I saw Niall standing in the kitchen putting the takeaway on two plates while wearing his navy blue shorts and one of his merch hoodies. We're sitting on the sofa watching a movie Niall said was good on the biggest tv I had ever seen. I got up and put my empty plate in the dishwasher as I had seen Niall do when he finished his, it would take a while to get used to living with him and get to know his habits and house rules but I was enjoying it so far. When I went back into the living room I saw that Niall had lay down and his head was now resting where I had been sitting, I coughed awkwardly, not knowing what to do or where to sit. He lifted his head up and motioned for me to sit back where I had sat before, while I was getting comfy, he grabbed a grey, knitted blanket and rested his head in my lap and pulled the blanket over us both. I jumped slightly, not expecting him to rest his head on my lap but relaxed quickly and put my hands by my side, not sure where to put them.
"You're in the Horan house now, Ava, and we cuddle here" he smirked up at me before turning back to the tv. When Niall was distracted by the tv, I placed one of my hands in his fluffy brown hair and started running my hands through it and gently tugging on it, as I did so Niall let out a moan and pushed his head back into my hands to show he was enjoying it.
Once the movie finished, I expected Niall to get up, but he kept lying there so I bent down to look at his face and saw that he was asleep. I smiled fondly at his relaxed, peaceful face, I didn't want to wake him up but I needed the toilet and if I let us sleep here we would both have very sore backs in the morning.
"Ni? Wake up love" I nudged his shoulders and whispered in his ear, he immediately started grumbling under his breath and slowly opened his eyes.
"Mmm, Ava you're so comfy and warm" he mumbled in a deep voice with a thicker Irish accent than he normally had once he saw me and started snuggling his face into my thighs.
"Ni, you need to go to bed and help me with the dishwasher because I don't know how to use it" I let out with a chuckle and gently pushed him off me.
"Don't bother with the dishwasher, I'll do it in the morning" he mumbled before finally standing up with a groan and I watched as he padded down the corridor to a closed door which I assumed was his bedroom. He gave me a quick hug and a kiss on my forehead before he opened the door but before it shut, he turned around and said,
"Good night Ava, I'm already enjoying having you here" he said as his lips curled, "if you need anything just wake me up."
"Good night Ni, thank you so, so much for letting me stay here, I really appreciate it."
"Mi casa es su casa" was all he said before closing the door behind him. I couldn't help myself as I smiled at the closed door after he was gone. I shook my head and carried on down the corridor to my new room and sighed as I shut the door behind me. I quickly used the toilet, brushed my teeth and washed my face before changing into one of Niall's tshirts and flopped down onto the bed, tired after a day of moving all of my stuff. I fell asleep as soon as I shut my eyes, surrounded by the smell of fresh laundry and a scent that was purely Niall.