I'm Yours (1/3 of Niall Fan Fic)

Hi, so this is my first story. I don't really know how to use Wattpad, so bear with me! There will be gaps inbetween a few chapters and that's only because my pages document went all funny, so please ignore that :) This is also the whole story and I am much too lazy to put it into parts :)

Other than that, please enjoy xx

Chapter 1

It was a normal Saturday afternoon, sitting on my double bed, eating nutella and scrolling on tumblr, reblogging pictures of my favourite band, One Direction and texting my wonderful boyfriend Ben. 

I had my nutella on the right side of me, a silver spoon sitting in the jar, my laptop in front of me and my homework I was supposed to be doing on my left. 

Scrolling through Harry Styles, palm trees, some random chick in bikinis on my dashboard, same old, same old. I then heard a knock on my door, I quickly changed tabs into Facebook and answered.

“Come in!” I said, it was my mum, Patrice.

“Grace, you’ve been sitting on that computer all day, go out side or do something active!”

“Mum, I don’t sit on the computer.” I smart assly replied.

“I don’t care where you sit, just come and be social!” She snapped. I picked up my phone that just vibrated from a text from Ben and shook it to show mum I was being social, she gave me a dirty look. I groaned, standing up. 

“Fine! What am I supposed to do though?” Just as I said that, my phone vibrated again. It was a text from my best friend Millie. 

‘Hey, you need to come over to see me, k?’ The text read

I groaned again as mum walked off, I was still in my pajamas and couldn’t be bothered getting changed.

‘whyy? i cant be bothered getting dressed!’ I sent the text and jumped back on my bed, my bed creaked.

“Grace!” My mum bellowed at me.

“Okay, okay, I’m up, I’m up!!” I screamed back. I decided to text Millie back telling her that I will come over, considering mum will make me get changed or do something I’d rather not do.

‘nm, I’ll be there in 10.’ I sent the text and got ready to go to Millie’s house.

I decided to wear my high wasted shorts with my One Direction shirt I recently bought. I tied my blue van’s up on my feet and grabbed my ear phones. I told mum I was going to Millie’s house and left. Millie’s house is about a 7 minute walk so I plugged in my ear phones and blasted What Makes You Beautiful. I was texting Ben, telling him that we need to catch up after I’d seen Millie and he agreed. 

After a bit of walking I got a text from Millie ‘Far out, hurry up, the suspense is killing me!’ 

I just laughed and ignored it.

I got another text, “Uh, Millie!” I said out loud, but it was Ben. He was canceling on me, saying he has “other things” I sighed and sent back “k” being too annoyed to write anything else.  As I was coming up to Millie’s house, I could see someone standing at her door, I was guessing it was her. 

As I got closer she started yelling to me “Hurry up! Come on!” I started jogging, as I was jogging, I pulled out my ear phones and shoved them in my pocket with my phone. She came sprinting towards me jumping up and down screaming.

“Oh, my god! Guess what!” She screamed, shaking me by the shoulders. 

“What, what?” I said as she continued to shake me and scream in my face. “Millie, what is it!?” I yelled angrily at her. Millie is an easy going person and didn’t get offended by this but just grabbed my hand and led me into her house, where her mum, Liz, was standing at the door, with the biggest grin on her face.

Liz welcomed us inside “Come in, come in, exciting news. Hey Grace, how are you?”

“Hi Liz, I’m well thankyou, a bit confused actually….” I replied politely, slightly laughing.

“It will all make sense soon.” She assured me.

We walked into Millie’s room, it smelt of perfume and deodorant. There was a big poster of One Direction that Millie got from the Fabulous Magazine, the same poster I tried to steal when Millie was in the bathroom, but she heard the poster being pulled down and started throwing toilet rolls at me. I put my phone and earphones down on her bed and she lead me into her main room. The main room had 3 double seater couches and a big flat screen tv with a small coffee table sitting in the middle of the room. Millie and I sat down on a couch and Liz sat down opposite us. Millie’s eyes started watering up, I gave a shocked look at Millie, then to Liz.

“Don’t worry Grace!” Lucy said as she handed Millie a slip of paper.

“Millie, tell her!” Lucy said. Millie started crying.

“Grace, oh my god, Grace, One Direction are coming to Adamstown!” I started crying, Millie hugged me and we started screaming.

“Look.” Millie said, handing me the two items. One the items was a flyer. The paper had  the ‘1D’ sign. The writing said, ‘One Direction book signing, Adamstown, 22nd August, 1:00pm, Adamstown Hall.’ I lifted my head and looked at Millie, she smiled at me with tears in her eyes.

“Yes, Grace, we’re going to the book signing!” She told me and I started crying again.

Liz started talking, “We tried to get tickets for the concert Grace, but they went so quickly and we weren’t sure when the tickets were coming available, so I thought I’d take you girls to a signing!” She beamed beamed, “Oh and I bought both of you ‘Dare to Dream’, ‘Forever New’ and their CD.” 

“What?! Oh my god!” We both started screaming and crying, “Thankyou so much!” We both ran and hugged Liz.

We decided to go shopping that day to get clothes for the signing. Niall is my favourite, so I decided on shirt with a leprechaun on it and Millie got a shirt with a carrot on it. We got some shorts and some white shoes. We bought a turtle to give to Liam and a Koala to give to Harry. We bought a necklace and got a turtle charm, a clover charm and a carrot charm. We decided to make a remote charm because we couldn’t find one in any of the shops.

When we arrived back at Millie’s house, we decided to paint carrots on our white shoes. We painted small, orange carrots on the tops of the shoe and painted the brim of the shoe in green. We found some old metal that we would use for the remote charm and out lined the metal with black paint and put dots on it to look like a remote.

I decided to go home later on, I was tired and needed to tell my mum about the signing, Millie walked me home, we had downloaded the CD to our iPod, so we listened to the cd on repeat. When we got closer to home, I saw an unfamiliar car parked by my car.

We were about 3 houses away, I recognized the car, it was my dad’s. I told Millie to go home, “Grace, be careful okay?”

I opened the front door a little bit, I could see my mum sitting on the couch, crying and my dad standing up in front of her with papers in his hand. He was yelling at her. I closed the door to go around the back but the door re-opened and a hand grabbed me, pulling me inside. “Get in here.” Dad growled at me.

Chapter 2

I pulled out from his grip and started to run off but he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. 

“Let her go!” My mum screamed at him. He shot her a dirty glance and pushed me down on the couch next to my mum. She held me in a tight hug, with tears in her eyes. 

“What the hell is going on?” It was my brother Damon, “Who’s yelling?” Damon is a year younger than me, he’s 15. Damon spotted dad, “Crap!” 

He sprinted up the stairs, dad started yelling at him and ran after him. Mum went after Dad, 

“John, leave him alone! Please!” I could hear mum yelling after him. 

I picked up the phone and called 000 fumbling with the numbers on the phone. 

I could hear banging on doors, “Let me in!” I could see mum trying to pull Dad away from the door, I looked at the phone that was still ringing and then I heard a thump. I saw mum lying on the ground, crying and my dad with his fist raised. 

“Mum!” I shrieked, she looked at me and mouthed ‘Run.’ My whole body reacted at once and I sprinted outside as fast as I could, the sound of my dad banging on my brother’s door following me out. I ran around to Damon’s room, hoping he was okay and saw that he had a rope and was climbing out.

“Hurry Damon, he’ll be out here soon or in your room sooner!” I was panicking. What if he did more to mum?

“I’m trying!” He snapped, only getting angry because of his fear. He jumped down and we ran out the front and jumped in a bush. I could still hear banging on the door. 

“Where’s mum!?” Damon asked, panic stricken. 

“He hit her….she was lying on the ground, she wasn’t unconscious, she was bleeding though” I said quietly. He looked and me with tears in his eyes. 

Someone answered the phone “Hello, this is triple zero what can I do for you?”

“Hello, yes this is Grace Salvatore.”

“Oh Grace, is everything okay?” It was my mum’s friend Kayla.

“No, dad’s back, he hit mum!” 

“Are you at home? We’ll be there right away, don’t do anything stupid!” They hung up. We heard a bang inside, a door came crashing down.

“Where are you Damon?!” Dad started yelling. Damon and I sprinted out of the bush and ran up the road. We heard a door slam and saw dad come out of the house, just as that happened, a police car zoomed past us and straight towards out house, we decided to keep out distance and stay where we were until someone came over. 3 police men had Dad restrained. 

Mum’s friend, Kayla crossed the road and came up to us, I was hugging Damon and he was crying. 

“We have your dad restrained and we’ve checked your mum, she just had a blood nose, she’ll be fine.” 

Damon ran over to Kayla and hugged her, “Th-thankyou so mu-much.” He stuttered

“It’s okay Damon, everything’s alright now, you should see your mother now, she’s worried.”

“Thankyou.” I said to her as we walked back home. Kayla hopped in the police car and left with dad in the back. We went through the front door, mum was sitting on the steps. 

“Thank God you’re okay!” She hugged us both. That night we slept with the lights on. Damon slept in mum’s room on the floor and so did I. 

The next morning I woke uncomfortably and went downstairs, mum was making breakfast, I hugged her and we started talking about what happened, I told her what happened after dad hit her. Mum wanted me out of the house today, just to clear my head and so Mum and Damon could fix his room. I decided to visit Ben, surprise him, he’d cheer me up, he always does. 

I walked there, it’s only about a 15 minute walk, it gave me some time to think. I had my earphones in, but turned down low, low enough for me to hear my thoughts. I thought what could’ve happened if I left the phone and ran and the police didn’t come, would dad’ve chased us down? Would he’ve run off? What would’ve happened if I didn’t open the front door when I arrived home? 

Before I knew it, I was at Ben’s house. I knocked on the front door.

“Hello? Oh hello Grace!” It was Ben’s mum

“Hello, how are you?”

“I’m good thankyou, Ben is in his room.” 

“Okay, thankyou!” I walked through his hallway, lined with pictured and flowers and walked straight into his room. 

“Hey Ben!” I said as I opened the door. I saw him sitting on the bed, kissing another girl. I stood in the door way, completely horror struck, I couldn’t say anything.

“Uhh, who are you?” The girl ask. The anger inside me bubbled and I couldn’t hold myself back.

“I am his girlfriend!” I screamed back. Ben was simply sitting on his bed, white-faced.

“You’re cheating on me Ben? Are you cheating on me? How long has this been going on? How long have I been part of your stupid game?” I spat, tears pouring out of my eyes. One of the people I could depend on, I really could never depend on him.

“Grace, please listen to me, I can explain!” He tried to plead with me.

“How can you explain this, you had your mouth wrapped around another girls! You can’t explain it! You have no explanation!” The other girl sitting by Ben was completely confused and out of the corner of my eye I could see Ben’s poor, innocent, clueless mum, standing by.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I can make it up to you!” He tried again.

“No way. no way!” I stormed out, on my way I apologized to his mum. “I’m so sorry you had to see that!” I ran down the road, tears streaming down my face.

“Grace, wait!” Ben ran out of his house towards me. “I love you!” He said.

I slapped him. I slapped him harder than I’ve ever slapped anyone and I could feel the adrenaline draining from me after the slap.

I didn’t want to go home, I didn’t want to see my mum, I didn’t want to see my brother, I didn’t want to see Ben and I never wanted to see that bitch that was with Ben ever agin, I went to Millie’s house. As I was walking there I got about 20 text messages from Ben, I ignored them and turned off my phone.

I knocked on the door, my mascara was smudged from crying, Millie answered the door.

“Oh Grace!” She hugged me tight and led me to her room. She sat me down on the bed and I told her everything. Dad coming home, him hitting mum, me calling the police, sleeping in mums room, going to Ben’s hoping he would cheer me up, seeing the girl and slapping Ben. She face had the expression of shock and sadness. I couldn’t control myself and simply broke down and cried to her.

“Hey, I know things are bad, but guess what we’re doing very soon?” She said trying to cheer me up, she reached into a bag and pulled out the carrot shoes we bought when we went shopping. I smiled. 

“There’s the happy Grace I love seeing!” We both laughed.

My phone vibrated, I considered leaving it, but it was mum.

“Hello?” I answered

“Hey baby, can you come home now? We’ve done Damon’s room again!” 

“Yeah sure mum, I have a few things to tell you anyway.”

“Okay hun, see you soon!” I hung up. “I have to go now, they’ve finished Damon’s room! I might come by tomorrow!”

“Okay, bye and remember, when ever you’re sad, think of next week!” We smiled at each other and I left.

It was just starting to get dark when I got home, I hugged mum as I walked in and she showed me up into Damon’s room.

“Whoa! It looks great!” I complimented. “Better than before, I reckon!”

“It does, doesn’t it Day?” Mum said.

“I love it!” Damon smiled. Seeing my family together and happy...made me happy

Chapter 3

That night, before I went to bed, I talked to mum about what happened.

“Mum,” I started, “When I went to Ben’s yesterday...” I tralied off, hoping she would catch on.

“What?” Mum asked.

“Well.....”

“You didn’t! Grace you’re only 16!” 

“What?! No mum, I saw him with another girl!”

“Oh, sorry....wait, you saw him with another girl?”

“.....they were all over each other.” I said quietly.

“Oh baby.” She sighed and quickly hugged me, I tried my best not to cry.

I changed the topic, “Oh mum, I was going to ask you when I got home the other night, but... things cam up...” Mum nodded and I went on. “Well, Millie’s mum ..... she wants to take Millie and I to,” I paused and smiled. “To a One Direction book signing!” I started screaming. “Can I go mum, please?!” 

“Of course you can!” Mum smiled. “But what are you going to wear, you need a book for them to sign don’t you?”

“It’s okay, we went shopping the other day and Liz has bought Millie and I the books!” I said excitedly. 

“Well, looks like you’re all set!”

- - - - - - - - - 

The next morning we dropped Damon off at my aunty’s so he could hang out with my cousin and then we went to Millie’s. We drove in the driveway and Millie came running out. We hugged each other and Millie welcomed Mum and I in. Millie and I went into her room while our mum’s talked about the signing.

“It’s Friday, it’s so soon, only 4 more days! It’s on Monday!” Millie said!

“I can’t wait!” We both started screaming.

“Okay, so I heard that the boys don’t like the girls who scream or cry, they want to make us laugh and smile, not cry, so no crying!” I informed Millie.

“It’s going to be hard to control my strong emotions for Harry, you know? And how are you going to control yours with Niall?”

“Hmp, I don’t actually know, we’re going to struggle, but we want them to like us, so, no crying or screaming, deal?” We shook hands.

“Now lets look at our stuff and sort it out!” Millie excitedly said.

We emptied the bag. We pulled out my shirt with a leprechaun on it and Millie’s with a carrot on it. We took out our denim shorts and white shoes, with carrots on the tops and the shoe edges green. We got the turtles, one for Liam and one for Harry and got out the Koala for Zayn. We found the necklace’s with the turtle charm, clover charm, carrot charm and the remote charm we made. Millie found a small scrapbook, 

“Grace, we should write our twitter name’s and a little message for each of the boys in it to give to them!” Millie exclaimed.

“Best idea in. the. world!” I agreed.

On the first page we wrote.\:

“For Niall, Harry, Louis, Liam and Zayn. With lots of love 

@kiss_me_niall (aka Grace) and @Millie_Styles_x (aka Millie)”

On the next couple of pages I wrote my own letters to the boys, one page for each of the letters for the boys. On the first “letter” page I wrote to Niall, second Louis, then Harry, Liam and Zayn. 

Millie then wrote hers, Harry, Niall, Louis, Zayn and Liam.

By the time we were finished, it was nearly dark. 

Liz came in, “Are you girls finished? I just got a call from your mum Grace, she said you have permission to stay the night, she dropped off clothes before, do you want to stay?” Liz asked.

“Uh, of course!” I replied

Lucy sat down on the bed. “So, Grace you’re going to stay over here Sunday night, the book signing is on Monday and I’ll take you in the morning and you call once you’ve got your books signed and I’ll pick you up and you’ll stay the night again. Is that okay?”

Millie and I looked and each other and said, “Absolutely!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

So I woke up Sunday morning, completely forgetting I would be seeing the lovely boys of One Direction tomorrow and I checked my phone, only to see my background, which was of course a picture of One Direction. My heart started beating fast again, almost like I was having a heart attack and I started sobbing, I was so excited. 

I remembered I couldn’t cry tomorrow, I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle that when I cry over a picture and I’ll be seeing them in real life, very, very soon.

I pulled my self together and got changed. I ended up wearing a singlet and some shorts, I didn’t care about looking good today, all Millie and I would be doing is finding out as much as we can about the boys and how we can get them to like us!

A thought hit me as I was packing my bag for tonight. 

What if the boys don’t like Millie and I? What if when we get there, they’ll just sign our books and shoo us away? What if they don’t accept our book we made for them, or our presents? I started worrying. 

I texted Millie ‘uhh, just thought, what if they dont like us?’

I got an immediate reply, ‘honestly, who wouldnt like us? lol kidding. they’re not like that, you know that!’

I sighed, I suppose she was right, I texted back ‘lol yeah x I’ll be at yours soon kay?’

I shoved my phone in my pocket and grabbed my suitcase and dragged it down the stairs, smiling the whole time. 

“Hey smiley, what are you so happy about?” I turned to my right and saw Damon.

“Oh hey Day! Didn’t mum tell you?” I asked curiously.

“Tell me what?” 

“That I’m going to a One Direction book signing tomorrow?!” I nearly screamed at him.

“Oh them. they’re gay, I’ve told you one million times.” He criticized.

I laughed, “You can’t say that about your future brother-in-law!”

“Okay, okay, fair enough!” He surrendered and walked away towards his room. “Oh Grace, by the way.....have fun!” He yelled out

“Thanks!” I yelled back

I put my suitcase down by the door and walked into the kitchen. Mum was making pancakes. 

“Good morning Mrs. Horan!” Mum said and winked at me!

I started screaming, “Mum don’t say that! You’re getting me over excited!”

“No, I’m just getting you ready!” She handed me some pancakes and maple syrup, we sat down on the table and ate.

“So, I’m expecting a few things.....” Mum started. “I expect possibly some photos and I’ll tell you what I do not expect!” 

“Now what’s that mum?” I asked with a smile

“I don’t expect a British boy brought home! You can’t bring one home!” 

“Is an Irish one okay?” I asked slyly.

“Sure!” Mum and I both laughed.

I went into Damon’s room to say goodbye.

“Damon, I’m going now! I’ll see you on Tuesday!” I said

“Oh, bye!” He waved, “Have fun now!”

I walked out of his room and joined mum in the car.

We pulled into Millie’s driveway, I hopped out of the car and I heard a scream behind me. Millie had came bursting through the front door and tripped over. She was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes, at least I think they were tears of laughter. 

Lucy stepped out of the front door and saw Millie laying on the ground.

“Vas happenin everyone?!” Millie said.

“Millie!” Lucy said laughing, “Get up!” Lucy helped Millie up and Millie limped over to me.

“Are you okay?” I laughed.

“Yeah, hurt my knee a little! S’all good though.” 

We then remembered at the same time about tomorrow.....

We both started screaming, jumping up and down.

“OH MY GOD!!” We were screaming.

“Ow, my knee!” Millie complained, we started laughing, then back to screaming.

“Grace, Grace, I’m going now! I’ll see you on Tuesday!” Mum said, trying to talk to me through my screams. I realised what she said.

“Oh, sorry, bye mum!” I hugged her and she kissed my cheek, Lucy took my suitcase inside while Millie and I ran into her room.

We opened our laptops, opened the tabs to Twitter, Tumblr and the One Direction site. We stalked information on Tumblr One Direction fact blogs and looked at photo’s. Stalked the boys on Twitter, hoping they would tweet and did some more photo stalking on the One Direction site. We stayed inside nearly all day, looking at photo’s and finding information!

We only left Millie’s room for lunch and snacks. The boys didn’t tweet all day, we were a little disappointed, but we’d be seeing them tomorrow, so it didn’t matter. 

The signing was at 1:00pm tomorrow at the Adamstown Hall. Lucy was going to drop us off as soon as we woke up! 

We had our dinner, pizza and chips with tomato sauce! We had a can of coke each and left the dinner table into Millie’s room. Emptied our bag full of things we need for tomorrow.

We took out our shirts and lay them down on the ground, the same with our shorts. 

We put our shoes on top of our shorts and put socks in them. We put our necklaces above our shirts and the boys presents, our books and the scrapbook for them in a bag. We searched Millie’s room for her camera and put it in the same bag. Our phones were on the table in Millie’s room. We hopped in bed and opened our laptops. Lucy walked in. “Now girls, I know how hard it’s going to be to get to sleep tonight, but do your best, I’ll wake you up at 6 tomorrow morning, okay?” We agreed and Lucy left the room. 

I looked at Millie and asked, “We’re not getting any sleep tonight are we?”

She looked at me, “Nope!”

Chapter 4

Lucy came in in the morning, at 5:50am. 

“Girls, get up! I don’t care how much sleep or how little sleep you got, you’re going to a One Direction book signing!” 

I quickly sat up and Millie gave a little squeal.

“I’ll make toast while you get ready.” Lucy said and left.

Millie sat up and grabbed my hands. “OH MY GOD GRACE!” She yelled at me. 

We both started screaming with excitement and jumped out of bed and started jumping up and down. 

“Let’s get ready!!” I said.

We put on our shirts, our shorts and our shoes. We walked into Millie’s bathroom. She straightened her hair while I put on mascara and foundation. After I finished my makeup I went into Millie’s room and got our necklaces came back to the bathroom and put mine on. Millie finished straightening her hair, so I did mine while Millie put on her necklace and makeup. 

We finished with both our hair out, makeup perfect, necklaces on straight and shirt tucked into our shorts. We walked back into Millie’s room ...... well, we ran and picked the bag up with the presents, camera, books and the scrapbook in it. 

Millie took the bag and I took our phones, we put the bag down on the couch and Millie took her phone from me a shoved it in her pocket, I did the same.

It was about 6:15am by the time we’d got changed and done our hair and makeup, so we decided to have breakfast, nutella on toast! 

We sat down and ate, Lucy brought over some juice. “After breaky, I want you to brush your teeth and then we’re out of here! Okay?” Lucy asked.

Having a mouth full of nutella toast, trying to eat it very, very quickly and trying to talk was a struggle. “Mmmm.” Millie and I muffled together.

We finished our toast, wiped our mouths, took a swig of juice and ran to the bathroom. We brushed our teeth furiously until they were clean and white.

We came out of the bathroom, I picked up our bag and Millie grabbed 2 bags of chips and put them in the bag. We started walking to the door.

*BEEP BEEP* 

Lucy beeped at us and we sprinted into the car. She started the car up and started driving.

Millie looked at me, I saw her out of the corner of my eye and started screaming, so did I.

“Okay, okay!” I said, trying to stop Millie screaming. “MILLIE!”

She stopped.

“Now remember, no crying OR screaming!” I cautioned.

She nodded.

“We don’t want a bad impression on our selves!”

She nodded again.

“Make sure you actually talk, don’t just be all speechless, they’ll be less interested!”

Again, she nodded.

“Uhhh, I think thats it.” I finished, “Now you can scream!”

Millie started screaming straight away and I soon joined in.

We very soon pulled up to the Adamstown Hall, there were already heaps of people lined up outside the Hall. Lucy took a park and gave Millie and I both a kiss on the forehead and sent us off. 

“Don’t forget to call me once you’re done okay?” Lucy reminded and drove off.

“What’d she say?” Millie asked

“That we ..... uhhh ....have to call her ....” I said, distracted by all the people.

We walked nearer the hall, being pushed by people. People taking photos, people talking on their phones, girls crying and screaming. We had to line up before the boys came. It was all really overwhelming, I could tell Millie was getting a bit bothered by all the fuss.

“Hey, don’t worry, we’ll be seeing our future husbands soon!” I said to her, trying to cheer her up. She smiled.

“I wish!” She laughed.

We stood outside for a long time, in the line, but as we waited, the line got longer and longer and I am so glad we came earlier. 

We would see girls step out of their car with shock written all over their faces due to how long the line is, I could see they were worried they wouldn’t get their books signed. 

I don’t know how far back we were but we couldn’t see the entrance to the hall, so I’m expecting a fair way back. Just as I was thinking that I heard girls screaming. I turned around to see a black van driving along the road, Millie grabbed my arm and started shaking it. “Oh my god Grace, it must be them!” Millie exclaimed. “What time is it?”

I opened my phone, the clock showed 12:45.

“It’s quarter to 1, thats probably them!” I replied as the van vanished behind the Hall.

A few girls chased after the van screaming, but the van was too fast and they gave up. 

“When are they going to let us in, uhh!” Millie said impatiently.

“Hopefully soon.” I comforted.

Just as I said that, some girls at the front started screaming and the line moved forward, we were being let in.

Chapter 5

We were actually walking through the doors of the Adamstown Hall, to see Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik. Millie and I were speechless walking through the large doors. The girls around us were screaming and crying, screaming to their phones, talking to their family and friends.

All the girls at the front were running forward trying to get to the boys quicker, weaving in and out through the zig zag que, like the ones when you have to line up at the museum or something.

The line was long, very long. By the time we had even got through the doors, half an hour had already passed. I don’t know how long the boys are staying but I hope they stay long enough for us to see them. Security guards were standing around, making sure people don’t push in. I saw a few girls try to slip into the next row, but the body guards caught them. There were about 15 rows, we were in the 14th one at the moment. 1 row down, another 14 to go, at least we were getting closer.

By now, I could just see over the top of all the head and see the boy’s beautiful faces. 

“Look Millie, I can see them!” I said loudly, over all the noise.

“Oh my god, Harry looks so hot!” Millie said, starstruck.

I laughed. “Yes, yes he does!” I agreed.

“HE’S MINE!” She yelled at me.

I laughed again and she joined in. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t want him, I want Niall, you know that!” I said and winked at her, she smiled.

We decided to get out some food, considering it was quarter to 2 and we were very hungry, by now, we were in the 13th row. 

We got out our packet of salt and vinegar chips, we chowed them down very quickly, but agreed not to eat the other packet until later.

“So, when we’re about at row 7 we’ll get out the books and presents and stuff, okay?” I asked Millie.

“Uhh, sure. What row are we in now?” 

I looked around for a sign. I saw a security guard standing near one, it said row 11.

“Row 10.” I answered.

She squealed under her breath “And the time?” She asked

I took out my phone and checked the time. “2 o’clock!” I answered. I also saw I had a few texts, I was looking at my phone with a confused face. 

“What is it?” Millie asked.

“Uh, just a few texts.” I opened my inbox and saw 15 texts, from Ben.

“Uhhhh!” I groaned loudly.

“What?” Millie asked, worried.

“Ben keeps texting me!” I said angrily.

“Seriously, don’t worry about him! We’re seeing our future husbands in 8 rows!” She comforted and reminded me.

“8 rows?!” I asked excitedly. Millie nodded and took out the other packet of chips.

We had eaten both packets of chips, we had our books out of the bags, the presents out and we were 5 rows away from the boys. The time was 2:42pm. We were so excited, we were so close to them. Moving forward, the time seemed to be slowing down. I was smiling the whole time, then I felt my phone buzz and my face dropped, Millie noticed.

“What now?” She asked, annoyed.

“My phone.” I said angrily.

“Here!” She grabbed the phone out of my pocket, for a second I thought she was going to throw it away, but she put it on silent and turned off vibrate. She handed it back.

“Thanks.” I said.

We walked into row 4. I turned around to see all the other people back in row 15, I actually felt so sorry for them, they’re probably worried that they won’t be able to get their books signed. As we were moving forward I could still see people walking through the big Adamstown hall, they’re probably thinking the same thing. 

Millie looked at me while we walked past the “Row 3” sign, her eyes started to well up.

“No crying!” I said sternly to her.

She wiped her eyes. “Right, no crying!” 

I could see the order the boys were in, first of all we would go to Zayn, then to Harry, Louis, Liam and lastly, Niall. 

Louis and Harry were laughing together.

Niall was smiling at all the girls that walked by him and whispering numbers to Liam after they left. Liam did the same.

Zayn was laughing non stop, Harry whispered something to him and he laughed even more. They seem like such fun guys to be around, I can’t wait to finally see them.

We stepped into row 2. I checked the time on my phone, it said 3:00pm. I also saw I had another 5 texts, from Ben. I was about to text back saying “Please stop texting me, I’m very busy!” but Millie snatched the phone off me.

“You can’t be texting your ex right in front of your future boyfriend!” She warned

“Husband.” I corrected

We smiled at each other as we stepped into row 1. We only had to walk about another 20 meters before we saw them. The line moved quickly and finally, we had to wait behind 4 more people and then we would be getting our books signed.

I stepped to the front of the line and the body guard indicated for me to move forward. I took a step forward towards Zayn.

I walked up to him and smiled. 

“Hi Zayn!” I said enthusiastically.

“Hello!” He said loudly and smiled as I gave him my book. 

I handed him the Koala. “This is for you!” I said and smiled.

He smiled at me, “Thankyou, I love it!” He replied.

He signed the book and passed it on.

“Bye!” He said to me and winked, I smiled.

I stepped over to Harry.

“Hey babe.” He said.

“Hi!” I said loudly.

He gave me a smile, one of those smiles that just melts you inside.

He signed the book. He looked up to me, smiled and nodded.

“BYE!” He yelled, as I stepped towards Louis.

“Helloooooo!” Louis said to me.

I laughed, “Hey Louis!”

When he signed my book, he made his signature really big.

“There you go babe!” He said and passed the book onto Liam.

“Bye!” He said and winked at me.

“Bye!” I said

“Hey love!” Liam said to me

“Hey!” 

I handed Liam the turtle we bought, “This is for you!”

He laughed, “Thankyou so much!” He said as he signed my book.

He passed the book onto Niall.

“Bye, thanks for the turtle!” Liam said as I walked to Niall.

“Bye, bye!”

Now, I stepped over towards Niall, I was so nervous.

“Hi Niall!” I said

We smiled at each other “Well hello there!” He then asked me, “What’s your name?” 

I replied, “Grace!”

“Well then ...... “ Niall said as he wrote in my book. He wrote:

‘Hey Grace! I love you! Niall xx’

He then turned the book to the back and wrote something in the back page, but I couldn’t see what he wrote. 

I almost forgot about the scrapbook Millie and I made for the boys!

“This is for you guys!” I said to Niall and handed him the book.

“My friend and I made it.” I told him and pointed behind me to where Millie was standing.

“Aw, thankyou!” He smiled. He gave my book back to me.

The security guard ushered me away.

“BYE GRACE!” Niall yelled

“BYE NIALL” I yelled back, with the biggest grin on my face. I started walking away.

“OH GRACE!” Niall yelled, I turned around.

“Don’t forget to check the back of your book.” He said sheepishly and winked at me.

I opened the back of the book and saw:

‘Hey Grace, call me tomorrow, we should hang out!

I hope to get a call!

p.s don’t tell anyone xx’

I looked at Niall and he smiled at me. The security guard grabbed my arm and took me away. I stepped out of the hall and waited for Millie. 

I stared at the back of my book, that Niall Horan had written his number in.

Chapter 6

Millie walked out of the hall to look for me, I was standing there, with the book in my hand and tears running down my face.

“GRACE!” Millie screamed and she came running over to me, I quickly turned the page to the front of the book, remembering what Niall had written about it being a secret. 

I looked at Louis big signature, Zayn’s scribbly one, Harry’s cute one, Liam’s messy one and Niall’s note and his perfect signature, on my page. 

Millie appeared next to me. 

“OH MY GOD GRACE THAT WAS AMAZING!” She yelled in my face.

We both started screaming.

After a while I realised there were still a lot of people outside waiting to even walk in the doors. After 3 hours they hadn’t even got inside. 

Millie noticed me looking at everyone else.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Millie said, trying to comfort me.

She looked at my book.

“Oh my god, Niall wrote that?” She asked pointing to Niall’s note and signature.

I laughed, “Yeah.” 

“Aw, lucky, he really liked you.” She smiled at me. “I’ll call mum to come and pick us up.” Millie dialed her mum’s number and asked her to come and pick us up. 

While Millie and I waited, we sat down, talked and admired our books more. I was tempted to look at what Niall wrote at the back of the book, but I decided not to.

“Oh my gosh!” Millie said worried. “Did you give them the presents and the scrapbook?” 

“Yes, it’s okay, I gave it to them.” I laughed. “Don’t worry!”

“Thank god!”

After about 10 minutes, Lucy pulled into the Hall’s carpark. We jumped up and sprinted up to the car, carrying our empty bag and hopped in the back seat. 

Lucy turned around to us “So, how was it?” She asked.

Millie and I looked at each other, “IT WAS AMAZING!” I yelled

“BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!” Millie yelled

We both started screaming and Lucy shook her head and drove off.

It takes 10 minutes to get back to Millie’s house, so we looked at each others signatures in our books. 

Millie couldn’t get over Niall’s message to me but Harry did a heart on hers so she was very happy with that.

We arrived back at Millie’s house at 10 to 5 and we ran into her room and balled our eyes out. This is probably the happiest I have been since I found out about the actual signing. 

I decided to go home that night and tell mum about everything. I think Niall would understand if I told my mum about him giving me his number.

“Do you really have to go?” Millie asked, “Who am I going to fan girl with?” 

“Yes, I have to go, I’m tired and you can fan girl with your book that Harry did a love heart in!” I replied.

Millie giggled, “Okay!”

Lucy drove me home because it was getting dark. I ended up getting home at 5:10pm. Lucy dropped me off out the front and left, I walked to the front door and knocked. Mum answered the door. “Grace!” Mum exclaimed, “I thought you were staying at Millie’s?” She asked.

“I had to ..... uhh, I’ll explain in a bit.” 

“Okay, come in.” I stepped inside to see Damon sitting on the couch watching television. He turned around,

“HEY!” He yelled, he jumped off the couch and ran over to me. He hugged me.

“Uhh, hey Day.” I hugged him back. He backed away, smiled and walked into the kitchen.

Mum had walked over to the couch and was sitting down.

“Grace!” She said, “Come sit down and tell us what happened and how it went!” 

Damon walked past me with a packet of chips and I followed him over and sat on the couch opposite them. 

I told them everything from arriving at Millie’s house on Sunday to seeing Liam at the signing, then I went onto talking about Niall.

“I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. He asked my name and wrote a little note in the book.” I showed them what he wrote.

“D’awwww, O.M.G Grace!” Damon said in a high pitched voice.

“Shut up!” I said sternly at him and continued my story, “Then he wrote something in the back, I gave him the scrapbook and left. He stopped me just before I walked out and told me to check the back of my book and I did and ......” I trailed off.

“What?” Mum asked confused.

I turned to the back page and gave the book to her to look at. As she read it, her eyes got really big and when she finished she smiled. She reached over to me and gave me a high five and asked, “Will I be meeting him?”

I awoke that morning to my phone buzzing. The time said 10:00am.

‘i couldn’t sleep all night, haha, too pumped!’ Millie had texted me. 

I obviously got more sleep than her. I rolled my eyes and then I remembered Niall wanting me to call him! I grabbed my book and turned to the back page, I typed in Niall’s number, took a deep breath and hit the call button. 

It started ringing and after about 5 rings, someone answered.

“Hell-ooo?” I heard Niall’s voice.

“Um, hi Niall, it’s Grace, from the signing yesterday...”

“GRACE!” Niall yelled into the phone, I could hear laughter in the background, “I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO RING! WHERE YOU BEEN?”

I laughed, “I’ve been sleeping!”

“Oh ..... okay!” We laughed together “So, are you allowed to hang out today?” He asked me.

I started smiling, “Uhh, yeah, I talked to mum last night.”

“Cool, can I come and pick you up in about half an hour?” 

“Yeah thats fine.” I agreed.

“Oh and is it alright if the lads come too?” He asked, “They want to meet you.”

“Yeah that’s fine, it’ll be really good!” I said.

“Well, I’ll see you soon.” Niall said to me, “Oh and text me your address!”

“Okay Niall, see you soon!” I said and hung up.

I texted Niall my address for him to come and pick me and I received one back straight away: 

‘alrighty, see u soon xo’

I lay back down on my bed, breathing heavily, I checked my clock, Niall would be here at about 10:40am, the time was 10:12am. I decided to get dressed, I put on my bra, a new t-shirt I brought from Factorie, the same shorts I wore last night and my army boots, I did up my hair and put a bit of mascara on. 

I remembered mum will probably see Niall, I ran downstairs to tell her.

“Oh, you look very dressed up, where you headed?” Mum asked suspiciously.

“I just got off the phone to Niall!” I said excitedly, “He’ll be here in about ..... “ I checked my phone to see the time as 10:30, “He’ll be here in about 10 minutes!” I clarified.

“Ooooh.” She winked at me.

“So, he’ll pick me up, when he comes, just direct him to my room, okay?” 

“Okay, can I at least say “hi”?” She asked

“Yes mum, you can say “hi”. Just introduce yourself, blah blah, whatever and then direct him to my room, I’ll just be on my laptop.” 

“Okay, okay!” 

I walked off to my room.

A few minutes later I heard a knock on the door, I closed the lid of my laptop and bounced off my bed to open it. I saw Niall’s beautiful face.

My face immediately lit up, I was trying not to scream.

“Hello gorgeous!” He said to me, he grabbed me and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back.

“Hi” I said, speechless.

He laughed, “Are you ready?” 

“Umm,” I stopped, turned around back to my bed, picked up my phone and faced Niall again, “Yep!”

Niall and I left the house.

“Bye mum!” I said as I hopped in Niall’s car.

“Goodbye Mrs Salvatore!” Niall waved and sat in the driver’s seat.

Chapter 7

We drove around town for a bit and pulled into the Mall, we hopped out of the car and Niall said, “Are you ready for food?”

“I’m always ready for food!” I replied.

He laughed, “We’re going to meet the lads at Nandos, is Nandos okay?”

“Of course!” We laughed together and started walking towards Nandos.

We walked through the doors and chose the biggest table, the table had 8 seats. I sat down and Niall sat next to me. He pulled out the menu and looked over to me.

“How hot can you go?” He asked curiously.

“Well, I can do mild but I could probably go hot.” I smiled at him, “You?”

“Extra hot.” He said with a cheeky smile. 

I laughed and shook my head.

He changed the subject, “So who were you with yesterday, you said you made something with your friend?”

“Oh, yeah, I was with my bestfriend Millie.”

“Oh, I think Harry fancied her.” He said and winked at me.

“Well,” I started, “She will be very pleased to hear that!” I laughed.

“Does she like Harry?” 

“It’s more like love!” We laughed together.

“It’s a shame he as a ...... ” He stopped, “Shit!”

“What?” I asked.

He took a deep breath, “Okay, so I’m guessing Harry will be with his girlfriend, Melanie, but she’s such a bitch,” He shook his head, “And she’ll probably hate you.” 

“Why?” I asked slowly.

“Because she hates pretty much everyone except Harry.” He said, “Just don’t listen to anything she says okay?”

I nodded, “I won’t.” 

About 1 minute later Louis, Zayn, Liam, Harry and a girl who I was guessing to be Melanie, walked into Nandos. A smile lit up on my face, there was One Direction, standing right in front of me and 1/5 of One Direction was sitting next to me, I was just waiting for me wake up, but I didn’t. It finally felt real.

“Hello lads!” Niall greeted them.

“Hey!” Liam said 

“Vas Happenin?” Zayn greeted

“HELLO!” Louis said loudly and Harry smiled, he was walking with Melanie and they were holding hands.

Louis sat down next to me and Melanie, Harry and Liam sat opposite us.

“Hi Grace,” Harry said, “Niall hasn’t stopped talking about you!” He laughed and shook his head, “This is Melanie.” He looked towards the girl.

“Nice to meet you!” I said politely and smiled.

She sighed, “Wish I could say the same.” I looked at Niall, he looked at me with a worried expression, I shrugged to show him it didn’t bother me

“Grace, you’re a fan right? You went to the book signing yesterday and stuff?” Liam asked me. I nodded and smiled. “How are you not jumping up and down screaming?” He asked, laughing afterwards. I laughed with him, 

“I don’t actually know, on the inside my organs and lungs and my heart are having a party!” I exclaimed, everyone laughed except Melanie.

Louis put his arm around my shoulder, I looked at him and he started at me intently and was looking deep into my eyes. He then quickly looked up at Niall and said, “You were right,” He smiled at Niall and looked back at me. I must’ve looked very confused because he chuckled and said, “Niall told us you had beautiful eyes.”

Niall and I were at the counter ordering the food for everyone, I must’ve still been blushing from what Louis had said earlier because Niall was laughing at me.

“What’s funny?” I asked him.

“You’re still pink from before!” He answered me, still laughing. 

I laughed along with him until the girl came to the counter. 

“What would you like?” She asked in a careless tone.

“Could we please get, 4 large burgers, 2 extra hot and 1 mild.” Niall ordered his, Harry’s and Liam’s. 

“2 mild wraps and a bottle of coke.” I got mine and Louis’ and and a bottle of coke for us all to share. We took the coke and sat down. 

I could hear Harry talking to Melanie. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?” He whispered to her, in a caring tone.

“You know I don’t eat in public, you idiot!” She replied angrily, Harry looked upset and stared off into his menu. Louis could see me staring at them in shock, he nudged me.

“Don’t look or she’ll claw your face off.” Louis said gave me a cheeky smile.

“Why doesn’t he break up with her?” I asked, flabbergasted.

He suddenly turned serious, “She was the thing that made him happy, whenever he was with her, he was smiling, but now she’s getting out of control, but he’s worried he won’t find anyone he loved as much as her.”

I snorted, “There are so many girls out there that would love him like anything and would be willing to date him!” 

“Like who?” Louis asked.

I thought for a minute. “Like my bestfriend!” I smiled, winked at him and turned to Niall, who was staring at the waitress who was bringing over our food. 

Damn, I thought to myself.

I nudged Niall and looked towards the girl, “You fancy?” I asked, raising my eyebrows, with a slight grin. I must admit, she was very pretty.

He looked shocked, “What?” He asked stunned, “Her?” 

“Yeah, you were just staring at her!”

“She’s carrying the food!” He said loudly, he smiled at me, I smiled back.

Louis lent over and whispered to me, into my ear, 

“It’s really you.”

Chapter 8

We ate our meals and left Nandos, Niall and I walked behind everyone else. We could see crowds of girl snapping photo’s and whispering things. I could hear things like:

“Who is that?” 

“She’s really ugly!” 

“What if she’s dating one of them!”

“Ew, she’s fat.”

“Why is she with them?”

I could feel the tears coming into my eyes, Niall put his arm around my shoulder and I rested my head on his shoulder. 

“DON’T, listen to a word they say!” Niall started quietly in my ear.

I looked around to the girls again and saw the shocked expressions on their faces.

“If she touches Niall, I will kill her.”

“Whats her name?”

“Oh my god, she’s dating Niall.”

“No, Niall’s mine!”

Zayn turned around to see Niall and I, when he saw me with tears in my eyes, his face dropped to worry, he shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it babes.” He said and smiled. Harry heard Zayn talking to me and turned around as well and gave me a genuine smile, Melanie then roughly elbowed him in the ribs, he winced and turned around. I gave Niall an upset look, to show I felt bad for Harry. Niall gave a sympathetic look and looked down.

“That bitch made him sad!”

“I’m going to cut her!”

Zayn started talking to the girls. 

“Stop it!” Zayn said relatively loud. “Just stop it!” He said louder. 

Niall looked at me and shook his head. I put my hand on Zayn’s shoulder. He turned around. I mouthed a thankyou to him.

“I’m so sorry,” Niall apologized, as we walked towards the car. I gave him a half smile and shrugged.

We hopped in the car, Liam drove, Louis sat in the front, Zayn and Niall sat in the back back and Harry sat in the middle of Melanie and I. 

I started talking to Harry, “So Harry, how did you and Melanie meet?”

He thought for a moment, “We were just out at Nandos before we were like ..... big and she came over and talked to us!”

“And I took your breath away!” Melanie said in a bitchy tone.

“Hmp, yeah.” Harry said, rolling his eyes.

“You know what’s annoying?” Melanie started.

“You!” Louis said loudly, the whole car erupted in laughter. Harry was trying to hide his smile with his hand, but Melanie still saw and slapped him hard on the shoulder.

“Ow!” He said.

“Don’t laugh at him, you’re only encouraging him!” She snapped back.

“Do you know what is actually annoying?” Melanie tried again.

“I already said you!” Louis replied, in a pretend impatient tone. 

He turned around to see Melanie’s reaction just as she was about to slap him, he quickly dodged her and resulted in her slapping the car seat. She muttered something under her breath.

“No, Louis! What is actually annoying is Niall has just met Grace and he’s already got her number and everything!” Melanie said, in a rough tone. Niall and I looked at each other, confused.

“What do you mean “Everything” Mel?” Niall asked, in his Irish accent that just melts you away. 

“Just, I don’t know, just everything!” Melanie used as an excuse, “You haven’t stopped talking about her since you met her, which was at the signing yesterday ..... and thats annoying!”

“It doesn’t matter if he talks about her Mel! There’s nothing wrong with that, or her!” Harry stepped in.

“Don’t take their side you great oaf!” She snapped at him. 

Harry turned to look at me, he mouthed sorry, I shook my head, put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, he smiled back and took out his phone.

I turned around to Niall and Zayn, they looked up at me, I gave them the “Who the hell does this chick think she is” look and mouthed Melanie. Niall’s eyes got really big and breathed in sharply and pulled out his phone, he was busy typing away when I got a text. I sat back down on my seat and pulled out my phone. Niall had texted me. 

It said: ‘Ask Haz if he wants to meet Millie!’ I turned around to Niall and smiled. I turned my head from Niall and faced Harry.

“Harry,” I started, he turned around to face me, “Do you want to meet my bestfriend?” I asked with a smug smile. 

“Yeah of course!” He said excitedly and beamed.

“I’ll call her and you can talk to her!” I said

“Alright,” He agreed, “Was she the girl after you at the signing?”

I thought for a minute and remembered, “Yeah, she was!” I answered while plugging in her mobile number. “Just a warning, she might scream!” I winked at him and pressed the call button.

After about 5 tones I heard voice.

“HELLO DERE!” Millie screamed into the phone.

I laughed, “Hi Milz!”

“Vas happenin?” She asked, with a Zayn “Vas Happenin” accent.

“Um, there is someone really special here wanting to talk to you.” I hinted. I looked over to Harry and he smiled.

“Ooooh, who is it?” She asked, excitedly.

“I’ll give the phone to him, but you have to promise to stay calm!” I warned. I could hear Harry chuckling beside me.

“HIM?” She nearly yelled into the phone, “Oh my god, are you setting me up with someone? Is he hot?” Harry could obviously hear what she was saying because she started laughing again.

“No, to question one and a big yes to question two!” I looked at Harry and winked, he smiled at me.

“PUT HIM ON THEN!” Millie yelled.

“Okay, okay!” I answered, smiling and I handed the phone to Harry.

“Hello?” He said, in his hot British accent.

There was a pause, “Who’s this?” I could hear Millie’s voice, I could hear a hint of excitement.

“This is Harry Styles!” 

“Wha-what? Are you serious?” Millie asked, stunned.

“Dead serious!” Harry answered with a smile.

I got a text from Liam: ‘Millie’s address? Can we surprise her?’ Louis turned around to face me and I smiled at him and replied back to Liam, telling him her address.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” I heard Millie’s voice on the phone

Harry laughed, “It’s okay Millie, just relax!” Harry said as we pulled into a familiar driveway, Millie’s driveway 

“I don’t believe this!” I heard Millie’s voice on the other line. Harry stepped over me to get of the car and walked up to the front door, I saw Melanie and her face of jealousy.

I could hear Harry, “If you don’t believe me, then step out the front door!”

About 30 seconds later the front door opened and I saw Millie’s face, she was holding her mobile at her ear, when she saw Harry she screamed a little and Harry opened his arms and hugged her.

Chapter 9

I hopped out of the car to go see Harry and Millie. Millie was nearly in tears. She had her head down in Harry’s shoulder and he was rubbing her back. She looked up and saw me, she mouthed thankyou to me and I smiled in return. I could hear Niall and Zayn get out of the car. Niall came up behind me and put his arms over the back of my shoulders, I looked up at him, “She happy?” He asked me, smiling. 

“Over them moon!” I replied, shaking my head. I looked over at Millie again. 

Harry grabbed her shoulders and pulled her off him, he looked her in the eyes and mumbled something to her that made her turn bright pink, she immediately started beaming. He continued talking to her quietly, but my attention turned to the talking in the car

“Who’s that chick who was hugging Harry?” I heard an annoying voice ring through my ears.

“That “chick” is Grace’s bestfriend Millie!” Louis replied, annoyed.

“Why is she hugging Harry?” Melanie replied.

“Why not?” Liam asked, in his mixed up accent. 

Louis and him stormed out of the car and walked up to us, Niall moved to my side and Liam put his head on my shoulder, having to bend down a little.

“I swear that girl will end me!” Liam said in my ear.

I shook my head and laughed.

“Harry would be so much better with your friend!” Louis said to me. 

Just as he said that, a hand appeared on Louis shoulder, he quickly ducked down the ground and dodged the incoming hand, about to hit the back of his head. Melanie was there standing behind him fuming. 

“For God’s sakes Louis! Harry and I are very happy together!” Melanie yelled. By this time, everyone was staring at her, even Harry and Millie.

“Aren’t we Harry!?” She yelled at him, he didn’t answer. “WE’RE HAPPY TOGETHER!”

Harry walked up to Melanie, he stood right in front of her.

“Melanie,” he started calmly, “You need to leave.”

Melanie’s face dropped.

“You need to leave and I don’t want to see you again.” He continued, still calm. Tears filled her eyes.

“I need you to delete me off your phone contacts, off your facebook, off anything you ever had me on.” She wiped her eyes and stood up straight.

“Fine, I didn’t actually like you anyway! I was only using you for publicity!” She said and stormed off. 

‘I was only using you for publicity.’ were the words that turned Harry’s face blank, his eyes looked sad. I walked up to him and hugged him. He buried his face in my shoulder and cried. 

I told Millie I’d bring the boys back tomorrow, she agreed and walked back inside while the rest of us hopped in the car and Liam drove to my house to drop me off. 

Harry and I sat in the back back. The whole drive back home, he sat with his face buried in my shoulder, crying. When we finally pulled up at my house, after Louis giving Liam the wrong directions, I looked down at Harry, still nestled in on my shoulder.

“Haz, I have to go now.” I whispered quietly to him, he looked up at me with his red puffy eyes and nodded. Zayn opened the door and I jumped out, Harry followed. When I got out all the boys were waiting for me. I hugged them all, 

“Stay strong, okay?” I whispered to Harry as I hugged him, he hugged me even tighter.

I went to hug Niall but he stopped me.

“I’ll walk you to the door!” He said and smiled.

We reached the door, “Today has been really fun!” Niall said, looking down at the ground.

“It was great, thankyou so much for bringing me out and letting me meet all the guys!” I said, looking over to the boys, who had already hopped in the car.

“Can we do it again, tomorrow?” Niall asked me. “And you can bring Millie, I bet she’d love to hang out with Harry!”

“Yes! Definitely!” I exclaimed. “Give me a call in the morning and I’ll get Millie to walk here!” I said and smiled.

“Alright,” He said stepping forward, “Bye!” He hugged me and walked back towards the car.

“Bye!” I yelled out to them all, I saw hands fly out of the car windows, waving at me. I waved back and continued to wave until I couldn’t see the car. I stepped inside and walked into the kitchen. 

“GRACE!” Mum yelled out to me. She ran up and hugged me, “How was it?” She asked.

“Well, we went to Nandos with all of them, then we went to see Millie, so she could meet Harry, but then Harry dumped his girlfriend because she’s a bitch. But the day was really, really great mum!” I said and smiled.

“Well, umm ..... I’m just cooking up dinner now, you hungry?” She asked.

“Yes!” I said with a smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I woke up the next morning, Wednesday morning to be exact, at 9:52am. I stretched out and relaxed for a bit. My mind went back to yesterday and Niall wanting to catch up again today. I decided to have breakfast first, I walked downstairs with my phone in my hand. I walked into the kitchen and pulled out a box of cereal and poured it into a bowl with some milk, I sat down at the table and started eating. Damon came racing down the stairs, 

“Hi!” He said, enthusiastically to me.

“Morning Day!” I replied.

“So...” he started, “How was your date?” He asked and raised his eyebrows.

“Damon, it was not a date, we went out for lunch, there were more people there!”

“Still, it was a date!” He said and walked to the cupboard, grabbing out the nutella.

I rolled my eyes and kept eating. My phone started going off. 

“Ready .... I sense that is him!” Damon said looking at my phone.

I poked my tongue out at him and answered.

“Hey Nialler!” I said, watching for Damon’s reaction. 

“Hey, Grace!” I heard Niall on the other line.

Damon started jumping around, pointing to me and poking his tongue out at me, showing that he was right. I started laughing.

“What’s funny?” Niall asked suspiciously.

“Oh, sorry, just Damon.” I said, still half laughing.

“Who’s Damon?” asked Niall, sounding a bit down.

“Niall! He’s my brother!” I said loudly, Damon made a disgusted face and left the kitchen.

“Oh.” Niall, started laughing, “That’s alright then!” He said in a manly voice. “So we still up for today?”

“Oh yeah! I’ll tell Millie to come over asap!” I informed him. “How’s Harry today?

“Meh, not too good, he won’t come out of his room,” He said, a bit down, he then perked up, “He will when I say we’re all going to hang out though!” 

“Good, now you pick me up from my house ..... when?” I asked.

“An hour?” Niall suggested.

“Yeah, that’s good, Millie will be here!” 

“Okay then, I’ll see you a bit after 11!” 

“Bye!” I said goodbye and hung up.

Chapter 10

I quickly went into mum’s room to tell her the plans, she was lying in bed, snoring. 

“Mum!” I said in a hushed voice.

“What is it?” She asked dopily.

“Millie’s coming over then Niall’s going to pick us up and we’re going to hang out with them okay?” 

“Mmmm.” Mum murmured and rolled over. She wasn’t going to remember this conversation, I had to tell Damon.

“DAMON!?” I yelled out.

“What?” He walked down the stairs.

“Can you tell mum when she wakes up that I’m with Niall and Millie? And Louis, Liam, Zayn and Harry?” I asked.

“I can’t remember all those names, but I’ll tell her you’re with your boyfriend and Millie!” 

“No! Don’t say boyfriend because he isn’t even my boyfriend, just say Niall okay?” I asked him sternly.

“Ha, fine!” He walked off.

I grabbed my phone and texted Millie, she said she was going to be here in less than half an hour. 

I went into my room to get changed, I started pulling out a few things when I got a text. It was from Niall:

‘Look good for me okay? ;)’

I laughed and replied back:

‘Um, don’t i always :P’

I didn’t have anytime to do anything else before got a quick reply back from Niall:

‘Yes you do :)’

I smiled, I could feel my face turning red. I didn’t reply because I’d be seeing him soon anyway. I got changed and waited for Millie in the front lounge room. The door bell rang and I answered it, I saw a familiar face. Millie hugged me.

“Thankyou so so so so so so so so so much!” She continued to say.

“Millie,” I tried to fit in. “Millie!” She stopped and looked at me. “It’s okay love!” I patted her shoulder and went to sit down on the couch, she followed me. She was scanning channels and I was checking my “ messages (1) ” I opened the text, from a number not saved on my phone. The text said:

‘I’m coming over, i’ll be there in 5 - ben”

“Oh my god!” I said, with the look of shock on my face.

“What?” Millie asked, with no reply. “WHAT GRACE?” I picked up my phone and showed her. 

“The hell? Who does he think he is? He can’t just invite himself over anymore, he’s not your boyfriend!” Millie practically yelled. “Tell him he’s not coming. Remember Niall, he’ll be here in about 5 as well!”

“Umm, what do I say?” I asked nervously.

The text ended up saying:

‘No you are not! No way!

I am with friends and

you can’t just invite yourself over, no, you’re not coming!’

I heard a car pull into the driveway. “Lets go quick before Ben comes!” Millie suggested.

Before I heard any cars doors open, I heard a knock on the door. I looked nervously at Millie and answered the door. Ben was standing at the door, Niall was 5 meters behind him. I gave Ben a horrified look.

“What. Do. You. Want?” I asked angrily at him. Niall started walking away, Millie got past me and started talking to Niall. 

“Please, Grace! Forgive me!” Ben pleaded. As Ben said that, Niall walked up next to me and put his arm around my waist. 

“Is there a problem babes?” He asked, looking at me then at Ben. I shook my head violently. Ben’s face was as pale as a ghost. 

“Then, lets go.” Niall started walking and he took my hand. Him and I sat in the back back together. 

“What did he do to Grace?” Niall asked me.

I looked down and told him quietly, “He cheated on me.”

Niall’s eyes grew large. “He did what?” He asked again, horrified.

“He......” I started, but Niall shushed me.

“Shhh, it’s okay.” He comforted. I could feel the tears in my eyes, Niall wrapped his arms around me, he lifted my chin to look at me. He looked deep into my eyes. Louis turned around from the front seat to face us. “Uh, Nialler, I hate to interrupt, but you might want to check your phone.” 

Niall let my chin go and pulled out his phone, he checked his texts. 

“Oh no!” He said, reading the text.

“What is it?” I asked, wiping my left eye, free from tears. He looked at me and put his thumb to my right eye, wiping the tears.

“We have to go to the UK tomorrow!” He said sadly.

“WHAT? ARE YOU COMING BACK?” I asked loudly.

Millie was looking worriedly at Harry, “Grace, shh, it’s okay, we’ll be back in a week!” Harry assured me. 

He looked at Millie and put his arm around her and starting talking to her, I looked back at Niall and sighed with relief. He started laughing and put his arm around my shoulder, “It’s okay, I promise I will come back, I would never leave without you!” 

“Thankyou!” I said to him.

“So, we have the whole day to kill before I leave tomorrow!”

We pulled into the mall, where we were yesterday and hopped out of the car. We walked around, looking in shop windows.

“Eleanor and Danielle are going to meet us....” Louis started, “Where were we meeting them?” He asked Liam.

Liam shook his head, “We’re meeting them in the food court!”

“OH YEAH!” Louis said loudly.

Niall and I were leading the way, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders and a head rest on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Harry.

“Thankyou so much for yesterday.” He thanked me. 

I smiled at him. “It’s fine Harry!”

I finally got to meet Danielle and Eleanor, they are both so lovely and so nice. 

Danielle really took a liking with Millie and Eleanor and I really connected. 

“Have you got any hate yet from hanging around the boys?” She asked, concerned.

“Uh, yeah, yesterday when we were coming out of Nandos, I could hear girls whispering things.” I told her.

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn to ignore it, I promise!” She assured me.

“So!” Louis started announcing. “What is everyone going to have for lunch?”

Everyone started looking around, Niall came over to me as I was looking around, he slipped his hand into mine. I looked at him and smiled, “What are you getting?” I asked him.

“Umm, I was thinking.....” He kept looking around. “I don’t know! What are you having?”

“I’m going to have Subway.” I told him, releasing my hand from his grip and walking into the Subway que. 

He walked up behind me, “Good idea, I’ll have subway too!” 

I ordered mine, six inch, white bread, cheddar cheese and meatballs.

Niall looked at me, “Is that it?” He asked me, shocked!

“Yeah......” I said, “Why?”

“That’s not very much!” He then ordered his. 

Niall ended up getting a footlong, white bread, chicken teriyaki with swiss cheese, he also ordered a few cookies for us to share and a large drink for us to share.

We found the boys and sat down at a table. Niall started chowing down into his and I just stared at him, shocked, because he was eating so much and so quickly.

“You get used to hun!” Danielle told me. Niall looked up and me, with a confused expression on his face.

“What!” He demanded, wiping his face with a napkin.

“Uhh, nothing!” I said, laughing. He shook his head and continued to eat.

We were all nearly done. Niall had finished his footlong and was now eating the last cookie. I was amazed at how much he could eat. We decided to look around the mall a bit more. We walked out and looked around in some shops, we started walked into Jesse’s and we heard some screaming behind us. 

“Harry, Harry, oh my god Harry!” Some girls came running up with phones in their hands,

“LOUIS!” Some others yelled and ran up to Louis.

“Liam! Liam!” More girls ran over to Liam.

“Zayn! Vas Happenin!” Other girls ran to Zayn. 

They were all getting pictures and autographs with the boys, but only about 4 girls seemed to be interested in Niall, Harry had about 15 girls squirming around him. Millie and I stepped away from the boys, trying not to get squashed by the girls. We got dirty looks, stares and whispers. 

We finally managed to get away from all the girls and all the fuss and rushed back to the car. It was about 2:30pm now. We waited in there for a while just talking, but Niall was quiet.

“What wrong Ni?” I asked him. He looked up at me in shock. “What? What did I do?” I asked, confused. He narrowed his eyes at me, 

“What did you just call me?” He asked slowly. I looked at him, confused again. “Did you call me ‘Ni’?” I thought for a bit.

“Yeah, I guess I did. Why?”

He smiled, “No reason!” He said happily. “I like it!”

I laughed, “So, you didn’t tell me what’s wrong!”

“Uhhh, it’s nothing.”

“Come on! You can tell me!” I said, smiling.

“I’m just going to miss you, when we go away.” He said slowly and quietly.

“Awww Nialler!” I wrapped my arms around him. 

“Where do we want to go next?” Liam asked everyone, still parked in the Mall car park.

We were all squashed in the car, Niall and I in the back back. Danielle, Zayn, Harry and Millie in the back, Eleanor and Louis in the front seat and Liam was driving.

“The zoo?” Zayn suggested.

“YES!” I yelled. Everyone turned around to me and looked at me funny, “I like the zoo.”

“The zoo sounds good to me!” Niall agreed, in his amazing Irish accent. He smiled at me and Liam drove off. 

As we were driving off we heard banging on the car doors, we looked out the window and saw heaps of girls, banging on the doors and flashing photo’s. Millie was right by the window on the right side and Danielle on the other. Millie ducked down and Liam tried to get away quickly. Girls were standing on front of the car and Liam couldn’t get out.

“Just.....” Louis started. “Beep the horn or something!”

“No, it’s rude and they might think we don’t want to see them!” Liam answered.

“But we don’t! We want to go to the zoo!” Louis winged. I must’ve looked worried,

“Don’t worry Grace, we’ll get someone out here to clear it up!” Niall comforted me and gave me a warm smile. I smiled back.

“Lou, do you want to call the police?” Harry suggested. 

Louis turned around to him, “Sure my love!” And winked. Louis pulled out his phone and dialed 000.

10 minutes later, the police arrived. They got everyone to move away from the car and instructed us to go home. 

We drove off, I pulled out my phone to check the time, it was 3:43pm. 

“What time does the zoo close?” I asked.

“3:30 I think.” Liam answered me.

“It’s quarter to 4.” I said, disappointed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do it another day.” Harry said, turning around to me, smiling.

“What are we going to do now?” I asked, sighing afterwards.

“Do you just want to hang out at a park?” Danielle suggested.

“Good idea!” Louis agreed.

We pulled up at the park, Liam, Louis and Eleanor hopped out of the car and Liam opened the door for Niall and I. When we got out, everyone else was already running around the park. Louis was running in circles, Harry was chasing Millie, because she slapped him playfully, Liam was giving Danielle a piggy back and Eleanor was climbing up the playground. 

Niall took my hand and brought me under the playground into the tube tunnel. We sat in there, uncomfortably. 

“I’m going to miss you!” He said, “A whole week!” He said, shaking his head.

I laughed, “Yeah!”

“I’ll call you everyday!” He promised, “And if I don’t you better call me!”

I laughed again. “Okay!”

“Pinky promise?” He asked.

“Pinky promise!”

Chapter 11

All throughout the week Niall was away, he called all the time. He stayed up late so he could catch me in the morning because of the time differences. When I wasn’t with Millie, Niall would sing me to sleep on the phone, he always sang  “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. It’s my all time favourite song, it must be his as well because he sings it with no hesitation. We talk until we’re wetting ourselves with laughter, we talk until either of us falls asleep. If I’m tired, he’ll tell me he’ll be a phone call away. When he’s tired, his voice goes all crackly, he tells me not to laugh at it, but it’s too cute. He tells me to keep Millie as a bestfriend and tells me to stay away from guys like Ben. He tells me to never stop smiling.

I stayed with Millie most nights the boys were away, I go to her house or she stayed at mine and we would skype the boys if we got lonely or missed them. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tomorrow I’d be seeing Niall and the guys again! 

I hadn’t talked to Niall all day, so I decided to call him. I plugged his number in my phone and it started ringing. I rang for a while and I heard a voice, but it didn’t sound like Niall.

“Hello?” I heard Harry’s voice.

“HARRY!” I screamed into the phone, excited.

“Oh Grace! Hey!” He said. “I would put Niall on but he’s sleeping right now!”

“Oh thats fine! I haven’t talked to you in ages anyway!” I laughed.

“Yeah!” He agreed, “We all miss you so much!”

“I miss you guys too!”

He paused, “How Millie?” I almost forgot that Millie wanted me to let Niall know to tell Harry that she was sick.

“Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot!” I exclaimed. “She’s not very well!”

“What?” Harry asked, shocked. “Oh my god! Is she okay? What wrong with her?”

“She’s not dying or anything, but she’s vomiting.”

“Oh.....my.....god!” He went on, very worried. “I have to call her! Will she answer?”

“Maybe.....”

He started breathing heavily, “I have to call her! Sorry Grace! Bye babes!” He hung up.

That was fine, Millie really did need to talk to him, she missed him so much. I sat around for a while, wondering what to do. Oh, did I mention I’d be seeing Niall tomorrow? Oh, I did? Well, I’ll tell you again, I’M SEEING NIALL TOMORROW!

It was about 8:00pm and I was still so bored, I was thinking what to do, then I got a text. It was from Niall, it said:

‘I was dreaming about you and forgot I hadn’t talked to you today hehe, you up?’

I smiled like a goon at my phone and replied back:

‘Yes! Call me, please!!’

I got an immediate vibrate on my phone and I answered straight away, without even checking who it was.

“OH MY GOD, I MISS YOU SO MUCH!” I yelled into the phone.

I heard a different voice on the other line, “Really?”

I stopped, “Who is this?” I asked slowly.

“Do you really miss me Grace?” They asked me again. I didn’t reply, I was scared. “I’m coming over!” They said and hung up. I was scared, I didn’t know who I said I missed, or who was coming over, for all I knew, it could be some creepy pedo guy.

My phone rang again, I checked it before I answered, it was Niall.

“H-Hello?” I answered, worried.

“BABES!” Niall yelled into the phone.

“Ni, did you call me before?” I asked cautiously.

“Well I tried, but the line was busy, why?”

“Because I answered another call before, thinking it was you saying, “I miss you so much!” and they replied saying “Do you really?” and they said the were coming over now and it wasn’t you and I don’t know who it was! I’m scared because it could be anyone and it’s dark and.” I stopped and groaned. I started breathing deeply.

“Grace, Grace, shhh, it’s okay, is your mum home?” Niall asked.

“Yeah,” I answered, nearly sobbing.

“I want you to sit on front of your door, blocking it and I’ll try to make you feel better!” 

I moved off my bed and placed myself, my back resting against, tears filling my eyes.

“Well you done done me and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted and I fell right through the cracks” Niall started singing to me, my favourite song.

After a while of sitting by the door and Niall singing to me, I heard a knock at the door downstairs.

“Oh my god!” I whispered. Niall stopped singing.

“What? What is it?” Niall asked, worrying

“Someone’s here!”

My heart was in my mouth as I listened for someone to answer.

“Oh, who could that be?” I heard my mum, say to herself.

“Please be no one bad, please be no one bad!” I thought to myself.

“Oh, what do you want?” I hear my mum ask, in a bitchy tone. 

“Grace said she wanted to see me!” The voice said, it sounded familiar.

“I don’t believe that!” My mum answered, “How did she say she wanted to see you?”

“She said she missed me and I said I was coming over and she agreed!” The voice said, getting annoyed. 

“Wait here!” My mum said and closed the door. I could hear footsteps up the stairs and a knock on my door.

“Niall I’ll call you back,” I told him, “Come in!” My mum walked in and saw me, my eyes still red and puffy from sobbing before.

Mum sighed, “What now?” She asked

“Who. Is. At. The. Door?” 

“It’s Ben.” She told me, with shock on her face. “He said you wanted to see him?”

“No. I thought Niall was calling me and I said “I miss you so much” and he said he was coming over and he hung up, but I didn’t actually know who it was and I was scared.” I said, looking down. She sat on the bed next to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“What do you want me to do?” She asked.

“Tell him to fuck off!” I said and she smiled.

“Okay!” Mum agreed and marched off. I heard steps down the stairs and the door opening.

“Fuck off!” My mum said angrily and slammed the door. I heard her re-walking up the stairs and she walked in, I was laughing. She smiled at me. 

“Now, you better call Niall back and tell him it was nothing!” She said to me and winked.

“Okay mum!” I smiled and laughed again, “Oh and mum!” She stopped and turned around. “Thanks,” I thanked her, she smiled and walked out.

“Niall!”

“Grace? Are you okay? Who was it? Is everything fine?” I heard Niall’s voice on the other line, worried. I chuckled.

“Everything is fine, but it turned out to be Ben and he came over, I got mum to tell him to leave though!”

“Oh thank god!” Niall sighed with relief, “Next time you answer the phone, make sure you check who it is!” I could imagine the cheeky smile he’s making right now.

“Ha ha ha.” I said sarcastically.

He sighed, “I miss you!” 

“Aw, I miss you too Ni !”

“It’s been super quiet without you!” He laughed, “It’s usually you and Louis making all the noise!”

I laughed, “I guess it is!”

“What did you do today?” He asked me.

“Ummm,” I thought for a while, “I went to Millie’s house in the morning, but then she got sick and I came home.” I could hear “mmhmms” from Niall. “And I hung out with mum for a bit, we went down the street and had lunch.” 

“Oooh lunch, what’d you have?” Niall asked, with so much curiosity.

I laughed, “Just some chips.”

“Only?!” Niall asked, shocked, “You seriously need to eat more!” I shook my head to myself and laughed, “I’m not kidding!” He said.

I laughed again, “Oh Ni, it’s about 10 here now and I’m kind of tired.” I informed him. “Oh my god, I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW!” I yelled. He laughed.

“Yes, you will, remember, I’m always a phone call away!” He reminded me and hung up.

I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.

Chapter 12

I woke up the next morning at 10:00am, I sat up very quickly remembering I’d be seeing Niall again today, at lunch time. I got up quickly and ran downstairs, taking them 2 steps at a time and ran into the kitchen, mum was up making pancakes. 

“Oh, what are you running around for?” She asked, shocked that I had run in so quickly.

“NI IS COMING BACK TODAY!” I yelled jumping up and down screaming. 

Mum shook her head and placed the plate of pancakes in front of me with some maple syrup. I poured a heap of maple syrup over my pancakes, drowning them. I ate them as fast as I would, but I was very hungry. I checked the time on our clock, it said quarter to 11. 

I walked into Damon’s room to say good morning, I opened the door to see him lying on the bed, with his phone above his head, texting away. 

“Good morning Day!” I said to him. He looked at me and smiled, dropping his phone on his face. I burst out in laughter, he threw his pillow at me but I caught it and threw it back.

“Mornin’!” He said to me, laughing. He stopped. “Why do you look so happy?” He asked with a smile.

“Mmmm, no reason!” I said, swinging on my heels.

“What is it?” He asked, slyly.

“Uh, no biggie just that-” I stopped, “JUST THAT I’M SEEING NIALL AGAIN TODAY!” I yelled and jumped up and down. 

When I stopped, he said, “Oh really? And when do I get to meet this man?” He asked me, “After all, he is my future brother in law right?” 

“Ha ha ha, yes! But you are never going to meet him!” I said evilly, “MWA HA HA!” I yelled and closed the door.

I walked into my room and looked for something to wear. I decided on my tie dyed shirt and my shorts, I wore my hair down with a cute turquoise headband. I put my shoes on and waited down stairs in the lounge room, flicking channels on the tv and saw the news. 

“One Direction in London!”

The program talked about the boys being in London and also been seen with another girl. There were pictures of them all together including the girl, but most of the pictures had Zayn and the girl in them. 

I was a little worried, I must admit, but she looked like she had a thing for Zayn, not Niall, there were no pictures where they were together, or even standing next to each other.

I checked the clock again, it said 11:53am. Half an hour to an hour and I’d be seeing Niall again, I was so excited!

After a while of watching the news, texting a few friends, I heard a car beeping outside. I opened the door to see Niall standing in front of the car, beaming. I looked at his hands and he was holding a Labrador puppy. I screamed when I saw him and ran up to him, he transferred the puppy to one of his hands and hugged me with the other, he kissed me on the cheek. The car drove off while I was still hugging Niall.

He started laughing, “Um, Grace, I have something for you.” I let go and stepped back. He handed me the puppy, my eye’s started tearing up.

“Oh my god Niall!” I said though my tears.

“Aw, don’t cry.” He said, hugging me again. He let go and I stared at the white fluffy Labrador Niall had bought me. It looked up at me and licked my face, Niall and I both laughed. 

“What are you going to call it?” He asked, giving me a warm smile. 

“I actually have no idea!” I said laughing.

“Can we go inside?” Niall suggested.

“Yeah sure!” 

I opened the front door and Niall and I walked in, he looked around. I showed him where everything was and introduced him properly to mum and told her about the dog. Mum was just as happy as I was about getting a dog, she’s always wanted a dog but we never could afford it. She thanked Niall so many times and even gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

We walked into my room and I put the dog down, it explored my small room, I sat down on my bed and Niall sat next to me, we both watched the puppy stumble around the room. 

“Is it a girl or a boy?” I asked him.

“A boy.” He said, smiling.

“I think I’ll call him.....” I thought for a moment, “Sam!”

“Thats a great name!” Niall approved. His phone started making a noise, he read the text he received. “Oh, Liam’s coming to pick us up, Millie’s with them!”

“Where are we going?” I asked curiously.

“Are you ready to see our house?”

Chapter 13

Liam came to pick us up, everyone came out of the car to see me. Niall was holding Sam while I said hello, Zayn hugged me first, Harry second, Liam then Louis. 

“Ahh Grace!” Louis started. “Grace, have I missed you!” He said, kissing my forehead. I saw Millie and I ran up to her and hugged her as well.

“Feeling better?” I asked her, excitedly.

“When Harry called, yes!” She said and laughed. 

Harry came up behind her and kissed her head. 

“Did you like your puppy Grace?” Harry asked me, smiling.

“Oh my god, yes!” I said, “I love him so much!”

“Who, the dog or Niall?” Millie asked, with a strange expression on her face.

“Well, I was referring to the dog, but Niall’s alright!” I said winking.

“He’s the whole package!” Louis yelled out from the car. 

“MILLIE!” I heard Niall yell.

“Nialler!” Millie greeted him, she ran up and hugged him.

“I bought Millie a puppy as well!” Harry informed me.

“Aw my god, did she like it? What did she name it?” I asked him.

“She hasn’t decided yet, it’s a girl and she was going to ask you for ideas!” He said to me, laughing. I laughed with him.

“Come on everyone, lets go!” Liam yelled. 

Harry and I smiled at each other one more time and we hopped in the car. Mille, Harry and Liam sat in the back. Zayn sat in the front and Louis drove. Niall and I sat in the back back. Millie had her head resting on Harry’s shoulder, he was holding her hand and he had his arm around her. She was holding her puppy on her lap. They were discussing what Millie should call her puppy.

“I should call it Harry!” She said laughing. 

“You really shouldn’t!” Harry said, kissing her on the cheek, they laughed together.

Her puppy was a Labrador as well except hers was chocolate colour.

I looked down at Sam and up at Niall, he smiled at me, put his arm around my shoulder.

We pulled into the Direction driveway and Liam stopped the car.

I hopped out of the car and looked around the outside of the house. The house was white, it was two story and it was beautiful. Harry and Millie ran off into the house. Louis and Liam had the dogs and put them in a little enclosure they had made, they jumped around and played together. Niall came up to me and put his arm around my shoulder, “Do you like it?” he asked about the house, walking me forward.

“It’s beautiful!” I replied.

“Yes, you are!” He replied, with a cheeky grin on his face. 

He ran forward and opened the door for me to walk inside. I stepped in, the house smelt fresh, it was so lovely.

I first thing I saw was a stair case, that leads left and right once you reach the top, Millie and Harry were standing there, Harry hugging her, he then led her to his room. To the left is the large kitchen and the right is the lounge room with a flat screen t.v. 

Louis walked in past me and stood in front of me, he grabbed Liam, who was about to walk  straight past him and stood him next to himself.

The girl that had been seen with the boys was sitting on the couch, Zayn walked up to her and hugged her, they walked outside together.

“Welcome!” Louis said to me, he out stretched his arms, “Welcome, to our crib!” 

Louis turned to Liam, “Now, you, go get some drinks for our lovely lady, whilst Niall here.....” Louis grabbed Niall from behind me, “shows her around. CHOP CHOP!” 

“Yes, sir!” Liam marched off into the kitchen. Louis walked into the lounge room and sat down on the couch. Liam didn’t end up getting drinks but walked into the kitchen and back out and sat next to Louis, he gave Niall and I a cheeky grin on the way past and shook his head.

Niall showed me the kitchen, the lounge room and showed me the tennis court, which is out a door from in the lounge room. He also told me that there is a beach, walking distance from the house. 

He then took me up stairs, to where the rooms were. 

We walked into Zayn’s room, the room far right. Zayn’s room was tidy and had a double bed in the middle of the room, a bookcase, stacked with books, a wardrobe and a desk, which had a radio player on it and a laptop.

The next room along was Louis’ room. Louis room was quite messy, there were a few clothes lying around and he had his double bed pushed up against the left wall, un-made and with a laptop lying on the covers. Like Zayn’s, he had a bookcase, but with less books a desk and a wardrobe.

The next room was Harry’s, we decided not to go into Harry’s room, wouldn’t want to interrupt anything, Niall told me it was like Louis room, messy. We also walked past a bathroom with a large bath and a double headed shower.

The room, second from the left was Liam’s room, we walked in the door and like Zayn’s room, it was very neat. The bed was in the middle, right and it’s sheets were neatly made. The desk was behind the bed, top, right corner with a laptop case sitting on it. There was only a small bookcase in Liam’s room and his wardrobe was on the left side of his room.

Niall led me our of Liam’s room and to the room far right of the stairs. 

He looked at me, “You ready?” 

I laughed, “Yes, I am ready!”

He opened his door, I walked in, the bed was in the middle, back of his room, the desk was  to the right of me and the wardrobe was in the middle, left against the wall. His guitar was sitting next to his bed on a stand, his bedside table had song lyrics on it. I walked over to his bed and sat down. Niall picked up his guitar and started strumming, he turned over a sheet of paper on the bed side table and studied it. I sat there watching. He put the guitar strap around his body and started to play and sing, smiling the whole time.

“Well you done done me and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted and I fell right through the cracks, but I’ve been trying to get back” 

I think the hairs on my arms were standing up, I had goosebumps!

He put the guitar around his back and stepped closer to me, singing without the guitar, quietly to me.

“I won't hesitate no more, no more. It cannot wait I'm yours

There's no need to complicate.”

He lent in closer, I could feel his breath on my skin.

“Our time is short.This is our fate, I'm yours”

He lent forward and our lips touched

CHAPTER 14 (MILLIE’S P.O.V)

I woke up Thursday morning after a long talk on the phone with the lovely and gorgeous Harry Styles last night. I was tired because I’d been super sick yesterday and I stayed up late to talk to Harry, but he made me feel better and now I’m fine! I checked the time, 10:33am, I wonder what time Harry would be coming home. I decided to get changed, I got dressed in a high wasted skirt and tucked my striped shirt into it. Oh whoops! I can’t wear stripes, I just remembered, Louis will kill me. I took off my shirt and threw on a loose shirt with the face of a random chick on it. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen and put on some toast. While I was waiting for the toast, I grabbed out the juice and the nutella. I waited in front of the toaster, waiting for it to jump out and attack me. 

Waiting, waiting, waiting, wai-POP! 

“AH!” I jumped back and screamed, I cursed and went forward to collect the toast. I spread the nutella over my toast, poured my juice and sat down at the table, munching on my toast and checking my texts. I had ones from Grace and Harry, ummm, check Harry’s first, it said:

“Hello beautiful, we’re just on the plane now, see you soon x” 

I smiled but decided not to reply back, he sent that at 9:00am and he’s probably still on the plane. 

I checked Grace’s, it said:

“hsguvbceiuwh, we’re seeing our boys soon, omg!!!” 

I laughed and replied back, saying:

“I KNOW RIGHT!!! I’m gonna stop textin but ill see u soon xo” 

I sent the text and went to the bathroom to do my hair. I put my hair up in a pony tail so my hair hangs over my shoulder, my hair was curly from having a plait in last night, I thought it looked nice so I didn’t do anything else with it. I brushed my teeth and went back into the lounge to watch t.v. I was getting so annoyed because nothing good was on! I changed to the music channel, hoping the music would cheer me up, oh and what came on? What Makes you Beautiful. And no, I didn’t dance around like a great lunatic....*shifty eyes*

Okay, I lied, yes I did dance around like a great lunatic, but it is an amazing song!

As the song finished and I sat down, I heard a car door outside, I went to the front door and opened it, I saw Harry, holding a leash, which was connected to a chocolate Labrador. I ran up to Harry and jumped into his outstretched arms, he picked me up and kissed my cheek. 

“I missed you so much!” He whispered in my ear, then kissed my cheek again.

The car that dropped him off drove away. I let go of Harry and he put me down and I bent down to the puppy.

“Who’s this?” I asked, patting the dog.

“I bought him for you!” He told me, as I picked up the chocolate lab. I looked at Harry with wide eyes.

“This gorgeous little thing is for me?” I asked.

“All of it!” Harry said with a cheeky smile, I hugged him again and the pup licked my face.

“Hahaha ew!” I screamed. 

Harry and I were laying on the grass until Louis came to pick us up after he dropped Niall of at Grace’s. The puppy lay in the middle of us and we had a discussion on what I should call her.

“How about Lucy? Dana? Georgia?” Harry suggested a few names. They didn’t really fit with her though, I’d have to think about it.

“Ehh, I don’t know!”

“Neither!” He said, sadly.

“It’s all right, I’ll ask Grace what she thinks!” I said and laughed.

Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight and smiled at me.

Louis pulled up into my driveway. They all hopped out of the car, Liam came up to me first and hugged me, Louis hugged me and kissed my cheek and Zayn gave me a big bear hug. We all hopped in the car and set off to Grace’s again to pick up Niall and Grace. I held my little puppy on my lap. 

We arrived in about 2 minutes and they were already waiting outside, Grace was holding a puppy like mine, but white. She handed it to Niall and walked towards the car. Louis stopped the car and jumped out as fast as he could. Zayn got there before him and hugged Grace and Harry pushed past Louis and hugged her as well. When Louis finally got his turn, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and a big hug. I hopped out of the car to see Grace and Niall, Grace saw me and ran up to me. She gave me the biggest hug. We let go of each other and as we were talking, Harry came up behind me and kissed my head. He asked Grace about her puppy, but I looked over to Niall and he saw me.

“MILLIE!” He yelled out to me, I laughed.

“Hi Nialler!” I ran over to him and hugged him. 

“We missed you!” He said to me.

“I missed you guys to!”

“Did you look after Grace for me?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Of course I did! And did you look after Harry for me?”

He laughed, “Yes!” He smiled at me.

“Come on everyone, lets go!” Liam yelled out, I gave Niall one last smile and hopped in the car. Harry sat in the middle of Liam and I, Grace and Niall sat in the back back and Zayn sat in the front while Louis drove. I rested my head on Harry’s shoulder, he held my hand and put his arm around my shoulder. I looked at the puppy. 

“I should call it Harry!” I suggested, smiling cheekily at him.

“You really shouldn’t!” He said, kissing my cheek, we both laughed.

We arrived at the boys house. It was so amazing, so bright! I opened the door and started walking, Liam took the puppy, advising me he was just putting her in an enclosure they had made with Grace’s dog Sam. Harry jumped out and grabbed my hand, we ran past Grace and Niall and into the house. Harry let me in and it was so big, Harry took me right up the stairs and I stood at the top.

“This is amazing!” I said. Harry smiled at me and hugged me, just as Grace and Niall walked in. Louis stared talking and Harry and I went into his room. He walked in before me and I followed. His room was kind of messy, but he picked up the clothes from his floor and thew them into a basket. The head of his bed was against the left side of the wall and the desk was at the end of the bed. The wardrobe was opposite the bed on the right hand side and to my left was the bookshelf, there was also a seat. I sat down on the bed and he sat beside me.

“This place is amazing!” I commented.

“It’s really something isn’t it?” He agreed.

He looked at me, I looked back, our faces almost touching. I smiled and looked away, he pulled my chin back to his face and lent in. Our lips touched.

Chapter 15 ( back to Grace’s p.o.v )

“GRACE!” I heard someone yell from outside Niall’s room. Niall stopped the kiss and backed away, looking down, red faced. I walked to Niall’s door and opened it.

“Yeah?” I replied back. It was Liam.

“Uh sorry, I wasn’t interrupting anything was I?” He asked me. I looked back at Niall who was walking towards the door.

“No, nothing!” Niall said, smiling at me.

“Do you guys want to come down to the beach? We all are and it’s really warm!” Liam suggested. “We’re going to back to Millie’s so she can get her bathers and we can get yours!”

“Yes, yes, yes!” I said excitedly.

“Well, lets go!” Niall led me by the hand, down the stairs and into the car, everyone was waiting for us.

“Well, ya took ya time!” Louis exclaimed. “What were you doing?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Nothing, Tommo!” Niall answered him with a shy smile.

We pulled into Millie’s driveway and she jumped out of the car quickly and Harry followed her, the came back 2 minutes later and Millie had her bikinis and a towel in her hand. 

We then pulled into my driveway and I jumped out and went through the front door, Niall followed me. We went up into my room and I scrounged through my bathers drawer. I ended up taking some rainbow, tropical like ones with a big circle in the middle of my chest, they were strapless. Niall followed me out of the house and we drove off to the beach. 

When we arrived at the beach, Zayn got out the towels and a picnic basket with sandwiches in it. Millie and I went into the bathroom to get into our bikini. 

We got changed and walked out, carrying our clothes. Harry took of his shirt and picked her up, she started screaming and he took her down to the waters edge and took her out further into the waves and dropped her in. Zayn, Louis and Liam already had their shirts off and were running into the water. I started walking towards the water, when I realized Niall wasn’t following me. 

“You coming Ni?” I asked him. He looked away from me and crossed his arms.

“Nah, I’ll be right.” He said, looking down. I walked over to him.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“It’s er, um, nothing, just not in the mood!” He said, putting on a fake smile. I was about to say something but then Liam called me over.

“Oh, Grace, can I talk to you for a minute?” He said, coming out of the water. I looked at Niall.

“I’ll be back.” I told him and ran across the sand over to Liam. 

“What’s up?” I asked Liam, as I reached him, I looked down his wet body, along his amazing abs, he interrupted my imagination.

“Um, I was just thinking you looked a little dry.” He grabbed me into a hug, I got all wet, I started screaming. Louis came out of the water and shook his hair all over me. They both picked me up, Louis held under my arms and Liam took my back. Zayn came out of the water and grabbed my legs, they started walking towards the water. I could feel the cool breeze off the water, I was laughing and screaming at the same time. I could see Harry and Millie watching from a distance, laughing. The boys took me in deeper and dropped me in, it was cold to start off with, but I got used to it. I ran to who ever was nearest, which was Louis, I waded over to him.

“Oh no!” He said and waded away from me. I dove into the water, getting closer to him and I jumped agin and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to me. He started laughing.

“No, noo!” He laughed. Liam grabbed my waist from behind and Louis managed to scramble free. I turned around to Liam, who was still holding my waist and grabbed him around the neck, smiling evilly. He let go of my waist and grabbed onto my arms, trying to pull me off. I pounced on him, knocking him over into the water, just as a wave came crashing down. I got dunked and I came back up to the surface, gasping for air, Zayn was near me, in stitches laughing at me. I gave him a glare and started wading towards him, smiling.

“Oh shit!” He said, laughing and paddled away from me. I went under the water and swam towards him, he went deeper into the ocean, jumping over waves, I dived under them. I was just getting near Zayn when Liam grabbed my hand and span me around. I looked at him and smiled.  

He lent closer to my face and cupped his hand over my ear. “Niall!” 

I looked up and saw Niall walking away from the beach. 

“Oh no.” I said, disappointed in myself. I paddled as fast as I can towards the beach again, I didn’t realize how far out I’d actually gone. 

Niall was nearly out of sight by the time I reached the beach, I sprinted through the sand and grabbed a towel on my way and ran into the car park where I saw Niall last. I had the towel wrapped around my waist

I got to the carpark, I saw the car we came in, I ran over to it, hoping to see Niall in it, but he wasn’t in there. 

“NIALL!” I yelled out. I started getting worried. I ran out near the road along the footpath and saw Niall walking. I sighed with relief. 

“Ni!” I yelled out to him. I ran up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, he turned around and faced me. I hugged him, he wrapped his arms around me. After a while he pulled me off,

“I’m sorry.” I apologized, looking at the ground. He lifted my chin.

“Why did you come back, you were having so much fun?”

“It would’ve been better with you there.” I said, looking away from him.

He sighed and hugged me again. “Don’t worry about it okay? There’s always next time!”

Niall and I walked back to his place, he held my hand the whole way. It only took us about 10 minutes to get back to the house. It was getting later now, it was about 4:30pm when we got back. Everyone was still at the beach. Niall and I didn’t talk the whole way back, I felt terrible. We got in a we sat on the couch.

“Ni, I’m sorry.” I apologized.

“Sorry for what?” He asked me.

“Sorry for, for running into the water with Liam, Zayn and Louis and just leaving you there.” I said, hanging my head.

“It’s honestly fine, you can stop feeling bad, we’re together now!” He said, perking up. I smiled at him and got a genuine smile back, I felt better. 

“Oh, my phone is in your room!” I said remembering, “I’ll be back, I’ll go get it.”

I walked up the stairs and into Niall’s room, my phone was sitting on the bed, I picked it up and walked back out of Niall’s room again and saw him standing at the bottom of the steps, holding some flowers.

“I was going to give these to you after we checked out all the rooms…” He started shyly, “But we got caught up a little.” He said sweetly, biting his lower lip. 

“Aw, Nialler!” I said, cupping my hand over my mouth and walking down the stairs and taking the flowers from him, I smelled them and he grabbed my hips and pulled me into a hug.

“I’ve missed this!” He said. I looked at him, he was beaming at me. I started shivering.

“Oh, you probably need to get out your bathers!” He said, laughing. He ran up stairs and I sat on the couch, curled up in a ball. He brought down a blanket, a baggy singlet, some sweats and a jumper. He threw the clothes to me and excused himself while I got changed.

When I was done, I yelled out to him, “I’m ready!” He walked in, I was sitting on the couch, he smiled and picked the blanket from off the ground, sat next to me and put the blanket around both of us. He had put a movie on “Charlie St. Cloud”, my favourite movie, but I was not looking forward to it because I cry every time. 

Niall put his arm around me and I snuggled into his shoulder.

We were up to the part where Charlie was late to baseball with his little brother and his brother didn’t end up being there and never came again. Tears were rolling down my eyes, I tried to cover it up but it was too noticeable.

“Naw, don’t cry!” Niall said, wrapping his other arm around my body. The time was now about 5:40 and Niall got a text from Liam, it said:

‘Sorry, we went out for chips, we’ll be back at about 10 tonight, we’re just gonna hang out, u and grace ok?’

He replied back with.’yeh, we’re fine, just watchin a movie, see u soon’

At 6:00 the movie finished, Niall got up and made some burgers, he made two for himself and one for me, he offered two, but I refused. He put extra hot sauce on his, just the way he likes it. We finished our dinner watching “Love Actually”, Harry’s favourite movie, Niall said he enjoyed it as well. We were watching and Niall was about to finish his first burger.

“Try it with super hot sauce!” He dared me and put the burger near my face. I laughed.

“Uhh, no thanks!” I said, pushing it away. 

“Come on! It won’t hurt!” He said, trying again. I considered it, but decided not to.

“Nah!” 

He sighed, looking down and pulling the burger away, but then quickly pushed the burger to my mouth, trying to force it in, laughing. I grabbed his hand and pulled it away, laughing, but he’s stronger than me and broke free.

“No Niall!” I muffled because the burger was in my face.

He laughed, “Okay I’ll stop now.” and he threw the rest of the burger in his mouth. 

By the time he had finished both his burgers, I had just finished my one and I was stuffed. Niall put the plates in the sink and sat back down, wrapping his arm around my shoulder again, I lent my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. 

During my sleep, I felt a head rest on top of mine. I also heard doors opening and others talking, I felt being picked up and placed in a bed and someone next to me. From then on I fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 16

I woke up the next morning, I sat up and looked over next to me and saw blonde hair, facing away from me. I rubbed my eyes and lay back down on my pillow. Niall’s room was dark besides the light from the clock, I didn’t bother to check the time, but it felt too early, I went back to sleep.

I woke up again, snuggled against Niall, my arm was over his stomach and my head on his shoulder. I’m one of those people who snuggle up to things when they sleep. I lifted my head and looked at Niall. He opened his eyes dopily and smiled at me.

“Good morning.” He said, quietly.

“Mmm, morning” I mumbled. “Sorry.” I said and sat up, moving away from him. 

“It’s fine, you were keeping me warm!” He replied, also sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

He hopped out of the bed, stretching. I flopped back onto the pillow and he laughed.

“I’m going down, you can come down when you’re ready.” He told me and walked out.

I lay there for about 5 minutes more and hopped out of bed. I checked my hair in the little mirror and decided I looked decant enough and walked out and down the stairs.

“Good morning sunshine!” Louis greeted me. 

I laughed, “Morning everyone!”

Liam pulled out a chair next to him and I sat down. 

“So,” Louis started, resting his face in his hands and his elbow on the table next to me. “What did you and Niall get up to last night?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. I laughed.

“We just watched a couple of movies!” I said, shaking my head.

“When we got in, you guys were sleeping on each other!” Liam joined in.

“Louis and I carried you both into Nialler’s room!” Zayn said, looking at Niall. Niall’s face was bright red. I just laughed, I then suddenly stopped and my face dropped.

“What is it?” Liam asked. I put my hands on my face.

“My mum won’t know where I am!” I said, freaking out.

“It’s okay! I got Millie to call her last night when we were out for chips, she said you fell asleep on the couch and your mum was okay with it.” Harry informed me. I put my hand to my heart.

“Oh thank god!” I said, then sighing with relief. Harry got up and went to the cupboard and opened it, looking inside.

“For breakfast you can have either,” He started, “Cereal, cereal, cereal, cereal, cereal, cereal, cereal or cereal.” He finished and looked back at me.

“I’m going to be odd and have cereal!” I replied. 

“Me too!” Niall perked up.

“Get your own!” Harry instructed him, with a wink afterwards. 

We had our breakfast and Zayn started clearing the table. 

“I’ll help ya mate.” Liam offered, taking my plate away and stacking them up with the rest on the sink.

“You will probably want a shower?” Louis asked me, “From the swimming yesterday!” He said, elbowing me in the ribs. 

I laughed. “Yeah, would that be alright?” I asked.

“Nialler?” Louis said, looking at him. Niall jumped up.

“Follow me!” He said, smiling. 

I followed him up the stairs and he led me into the bathroom. He opened the door and saw the bathroom I saw yesterday. 

“The towels are there and yeah.” Niall said, awkwardly.

“Thanks” I said smiling. 

He walked out and I looked at the shower, trying to decide which of the two shower heads I would use. I spun around and chose the one I got closest to, the right one. I stripped off my clothes and turned the hot tap on, I waited until it was hot enough and turned up the cold and hopped in. 

There were so many soaps and shampoos and conditioners, I didn’t know where to start. As soon as I was about to start washing myself with some lovely smelling soap, I heard a knock on the door.

“Um, Grace!” I heard Niall’s voice. “It’s just me, I was wondering if I could come in to get my clothes, I’ll close my eyes!” He promised.

“Yeah, that’s fine Ni!” I approved and he walked in, squinting his eyes, I turned my back to him, I could hear him knocking over things, trying to find the clothes.

“Sorry, Grace, but where are the clothes?” I turned around and looked for them.

“Oh, they’re just on the bath!” I told him. He started feeling around for them and ran straight into the bath, toppling over and falling into it. I stopped my shower and wrapped a towel around my body. I walked over to the bath to see Niall still lying in there and his eyes still closed.

“Niall you can open!” I told him, he opened his eyes and looked at me, he smiled. I offered him my hand and pulled him up, he used my hip as support. 

His face was inches from mine, his hand was still on my hip, he moved me closer and he lent forward, pressing his lips to mine.

Chapter 17

“ARE YOU DONE GRACE?” I heard Louis shout from downstairs. Niall and I ended the kiss. Niall started deeply into my eyes, I started into his, his perfect bright blue eyes. He smiled at me and picked up the clothes he came in to get,

“I’ll be back.” He told me and left. 

I stepped in front of the mirror and put my hair in a ponytail. There was a knock at the door.

“Me again, I have some fresh clothes for you!” Niall said, walking in and handing me a pink singlet and some shorts. “Millie dropped some stuff of for you this morning!” 

“Thanks!” I said, taking the clothes from him.

“I was actually wondering if you’d like to come to the beach, just you and I and we go swimming and stuff.” Niall said, shuffling his feet and looking down.

“Yeah!” I agreed, “I’d love that!” Niall looked up and smiled.

“I’ll get your bathers for you and once you’re changed we can go!” He said, running out the door to get my bathers, I smiled to myself. He came back in carrying my bikinis.

“Here you go, I’ll be waiting for you in my room!” He said and walked out. I put my bikini on and my clothes over the top. I walked out of the bathroom and yelled down the stairs.

“I’M DONE LOUIS!” I saw him nearly run out of the lounge room and up the stairs.

“Finally!” He said, smiling at me and walking into the bathroom. I walked over to Niall’s door and heard him playing his guitar, it was an un-familiar song, I knocked and walked in.

“Hey!” He greeted me, “You ready?”

“I think so!” 

“Lets go!” He said and stood up, he brought his guitar and some sheet music.

We walked down the stair and he picked up a bag with towels and food in it, he put the sheet music in there and put it over his shoulder.

“Do you want me to carry the bag?” I offered, putting out my hand. He hi-fived my waiting hand.

“I’ll be right!” He said and winked.

We arrived at the beach, it was a warm day but there weren’t many people around. We chose a spot and put our stuff down. Niall lay out the blankets and put the basket of food down. 

“Lets have lunch!” He said happily. 

I laughed and agreed, “Okay!”

We had two sandwiches each and Niall brought two cupcakes that he’d got Liam to buy down the street. They were chocolate with blue and green icing, they tasted amazing.

We ate our cupcakes and I must’ve had icing on my face, because Niall reached over and wiped my mouth with his finger, I decided to be cheeky and bite his finger.

“Oi!” He yelled at me, smiling, I smiled back and we laughed together.

By the time we were finished our lunch, it was 2:00pm.

“Ready to go swimming?” Niall asked me, getting excited.

“Yes!” I said and stripped off my shorts and t-shirt. Niall left his pants and shirt on and ran forward.

“Um, excuse me!” I said, grabbing his arm and stopping him. He turned his head around and looked at me, eyes wide.

“What is it?” He asked, worried.

“You can’t go in wearing your shirt, what will you wear back?” 

“It’s warm, I’ll be fine!” He excused. I shook my head.

“Nu-uh! Take it off!” I said, spinning him around so he was facing me and I put my hand under his shirt attempting to lift it off. 

Niall started giggling, “Stop!” He said through his giggling, “No! I’m ticklish!” I stopped and looked at him.

“Oh?” I started, “Is that the case?” I jumped forward and started tickling him. He started running away but I grabbed his shoulders and continued to tickle him.

“Wait, wait, wait!” He said, grabbing my wrists. “If I take off my shirt will you stop tickling me?” He said, out of breath. I thought for a while.

“Yeah okay!” I agreed. 

He poked his tongue out at me and ran off, unfortunately for him I’m faster than him and caught up. I wrapped my arms around his neck from the back, causing him to topple over on top of me, he turned over and faced me. I smiled evilly and pushed his shoulders over and I lay on top of him. I sat up and started tickling him again, he screamed. He pushed me off and ran away again. I got off the ground and ran after him. He stopped and turned around to face me and started taking off his shirt to reveal his body.

“YAY!” I yelled, “I win!” I ran up to him and he picked me up like a baby. “Wait, what are you doing?” I screamed.

“It’s not nice to boast, therefore you must be punished!” He threatened, walking towards the ocean.

“No, no, no, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I said, trying to get out of his grip, but he’s too strong.

“Too late now!” He laughed.

“Oh my god, no!” I screamed as he stepped into the water. “It will be cold!” 

“It’s lovely Grace, stop being a sook!” He said, laughing afterwards. I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked down at the water. The water was a bit below Niall’s hips.

“ONE!” He started swinging me, “TWO!”

“NO!” I screamed.

“THREE!” He threw me in, but toppled over himself because I was holding onto his neck.

I came back up out of the water laughing, 

“That was your fault and I had nothing to do with it!” I defended.

“You’re going to get it!” He threatened and paddled after me. I splashed him and waded away. He was faster in the water than me and grabbed my hips spinning me around to face him, he smiled evilly at me and took me into a hug and threw us both down into the water. I came up gasping for air, when I did come up, Niall was already up and laughing.

“Now we’re even!” He told me. I glared at him.

“Fine!” I said, walking over to him.

“What are you going to do!” He accused me. I laughed.

“I’m actually not going to do anything!” I told him, he backed away.

“Can I trust you?”

“Of course!” I promised and he stopped walking away. I waded over to him and stood very close to him.

“Hi!” I said to him, smiling like an idiot. 

He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me. I put my hands around his neck and through his hair, he moved one of his hands down and rested it on my hip. 

Before long, a wave crashed into us, breaking our kiss, I fell over into the water and Niall was very close to falling! We both laughed and Niall walked over to me, offering his hand, when another wave crashed down, causing him to fall over. I stood up and so did Niall.

“Want to go back in?” He asked me as I walked to his side. 

“Yes!” I agreed, “I don’t really want to drown!” I laughed.

“I don’t want you to drown either.” He said, looking into my eyes. Another wave crashed against out backs and Niall saved me from falling. 

He laughed. “Okay, lets go!” 

We reached the beach again.

“I decided we’re not even!” I informed him as we were walking back to our towels.

“What?” Niall asked me shocked, I started running forward and he ran off. I just reached Niall was we got to our towels and food. He tripped over and landed on his back on the towel, I didn’t realize he fell and I fell on top of him. I laughed, my face inches from his again. He lent in and pecked my lips and smiled. I rolled off him onto my own towel and pulled out my phone, seeing the time was 4:00pm.

“Oh my god!” I exclaimed.

“What?” Niall asked, moving closer to me to see my phone. 

“It’s 4 o clock!” I replied.

“So?” He asked, confused.

“I have to call my mum!” I told him, I stood up, “I’ll be back!” 

“Okay, I’ll order chips!” He said, I nodded and called mum, she picked up after the third tone.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Mum!” I said loudly.

“Oh Grace, I miss you!” She said and laughed, “How have you been?” 

I was expecting her to be mad.

“Um, pretty good!” I told her, “Mum listen, I might end up staying at Ni’s tonight as well, is that okay?” I asked her, a bit worried she’d be mad now.

“Yeah! That’s fine!” She approved, “But, I want to see you tomorrow okay?”

“Yes, tomorrow is good, I will see you tomorrow!” I agreed.

“Okay then baby, have a good time!” She said and hung up, I sighed with relief and walked back to see Niall.

“How’d it go?” He asked me.

“Yeah, good! She’s fine!” I informed him.

“Well, the chips are being brought down here, they’ll be here in about 10 minutes!”

“Ooh, good! I’m really hungry!”

“Same here!” He said as I sat down on my towel.

“But you’re always hungry!” I told him,

“True, but I’m very hungry now.” He said and winked. “I need to show you something after we have our chips okay?”

“What is it?” I asked excitedly.

“You’ll see!” He said.

“Will I like it?” I asked, even more excited.

“I think......” He started, “I think you’ll love it!”

Chapter 18

The man delivering our chips came down onto the beach, Niall grabbed his wallet and ran up to him.

“Niall?” The man asked.

“Yes, that’s mine.” Niall said, looking at the food. Niall handed the man the money and brought the food over, he lay in front of our towels and opened it up.

“That was a bit longer than 10 minutes but anyway” He said to me.

“Oh well” I said, checking the time on my phone, he was right, it took them half an hour so it was now 4:40pm.

Niall reached into the basket and pulled out a bottle of coke and 2 cups and poured us both a drink. 

It was 5:00 by the time we had finished, we were about to have a drink of our coke. 

“It’s getting dark.” I said, “What are we going to do?” 

“Oh!” Niall said, jumping up. “I’ll be back.” He said and walked away. I was scrolling through my phone, texting a few people, when Niall came back, carrying some sticks.

“Fire!” He said loudly and put the sticks down on the sand and pulled out a lighter and started a little fire.

“This is cute.” I said, looking at the fire. Niall moved over closer to me and put his arm around my shoulder.

“So, what were you going to show me?” I asked, looking at him excitedly.

“Oh yeah!” He said, remembering. He stood up and went through the music sheets he put in the basket, he picked up his guitar and started playing an unfamiliar tune.

“Baby you could stop the pouring rain, 

you could even stop a hurricane.

You make me smile like a summers day,

you make the tear drops just wash away.”

An immediate smile grew on my face. This was so cute, I had goose bumps.

“When I first looked into your eyes,

I knew you weren’t a surprise,

If only you knew girl!”

The hairs were standing up on my arms, I had shivers down my spine, my insides were fluttering.

“I need you by my side,

No need to run and hide.

I’ve been trying to find a way through

and baby I found you.”

He stopped singing and playing and stood there with his guitar around his body.

“Did you write that?” I asked standing up.

“Yeah.” He replied looking down. 

I lifted his chin, “I love it so much!” I complimented, “Thankyou!” I said.

“You really like it?” He asked shyly.

“Of course I do!” I replied. He dropped his guitar on the sand and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him. Niall gives the best hugs. I let go of him and put my hands on his shoulders, our noses nearly touching.

“You are amazing!” Niall said to me quietly.

“Amazing Grace!” I replied quietly, as he lent in kissing me. 

I ran my hands through his hair, his hands traveled down to my hips. Niall stepped to the side for some un-known reason causing up both to come falling down onto our towels. We were lying facing each other, leaning on our elbow, laughing.

Niall lent in again, taking the side of my face in his hand. My hand went to his stomach, forgetting he’s ticklish. I could feel him smiling through the kiss. I moved my hand to his hair and brushed my fingers through it, he sat up on his knees, bringing me with him. He pulled me up closer to him, both his hands on my face, my hands resting on his chest, I could feel his breathing. 

Niall ended the kiss.

Niall and I stayed on the beach until about 10:00pm. We talked for a while, joking around and he suddenly changed the topic, turning serious.

“I was wondering if.....” He continued, talking slowly, “If you would be my.......”

“Your....?” I encouraged, curiously.

“My girlfriend.” He mumbled, looking down shyly and red faced. 

I turned my head to the side, smiling sweetly.

“Niall?” I said to him. He lifted his head looking at me, still red faced. “Yes! Of course I will!” I replied, answering excitedly.

A smile lit up on his face, he beamed at me and lent forward and pulling me into a hug.

“Thankyou so much” He said, still beaming. He pulled away and held my hands. He kissed my cheek. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and we sat there for a while, watching the waves of the ocean. I shivered in his arms, being still in my bikini and only a wet towel around myself

“Do you want to get back?” He asked, still beaming, obviously still happy about my reply.

“Yeah sure.” I said, wrapping my arms around myself, shielding myself from the cold. “Here.” Niall said, handing my his t-shirt. 

“Thanks!” I said, slipping the shirt over my shoulders, it hung down below my hips. Niall laughed and he wrapped the towel around himself and packing up the basket and his sheet music. He held his guitar around his shoulder using the strap and I took the basket. 

On the way home, Niall played songs and we sang the song together.

“This is our fate, I’m yours!”

“And imma tell you one time, one time!”

“Why can’t you see....you belong with me!”

“Forever young. I want to be forever young!”

“I’d catch a grenade for ya!”

“Hey soul sister! Ain’t that mister, mister on the radio!”

“Cause you’re amazing, just the way you are!”

“Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything!”

After a while, I realized we’d sang about 8 songs and it shouldn’t take that long to get back Niall’s house.

“You smile, I smile, whoa-oh-oh-” He sang.

“Niall!” I interrupted him.

“What?” He asked, stunned.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

“Back home.” He said, confused.

“We’ve been walking for ages!” I pulled out my phone, the time showed 10:43pm. 

“It’s quarter to eleven and we left at about 10!” I exclaimed.

Niall stopped and looked around, with a confused look on his face. 

“Ummm.....” He started, “You are right....” He said, popping his eyes at me. “I don’t actually know where we are.”

I laughed, “Are we lost?”

“I think so!” He said, semi-laughing, “I’ll call Liam and see if he can come and pick us up!” 

He stopped and picked up his phone out of his basket, plugged in Liam’s number and waited for an answer.

“Li?” He said, talking to someone on the phone. He giggled, “I know it’s you Louis” He said smiling, his face dropped, “Oh Harry, sorry mate!” He said, realizing he was talking to Harry. 

“We’re fine, a bit lost actually!” He said giggling. I heard Harry laughing on the other line. “My fault! Yes it was my fault!” He said, smiling, looking at me. “Um, to be quite honest, I don’t know!” He said, embarrassed. 

I started shivering due to the cold, he wrapped his right arm around me while holding the phone in his left hand. He sighed to Harry’s response.

“Yeah, okay, nah it’s fine, we’ll find some where.” He replied, “Yeah, okay, catcha and yes I will.” He finished laughing. He hung up and turned to me, 

“Harry says hi and we’ll need to find a hotel because if they don’t know where we are, they can’t pick us up and it’s late anyway.” I laughed and nodded, we kept walking.

After a while we found a small hotel. 

“Yes!” I exclaimed. He laughed with me.

“Finally!” He said.

Chapter 19

We walked up to the desk and an old, plump lady was sitting on a chair. 

“Um, excuse me?” Niall said to her. She jumped when he talked.

“Oh, uh, what do you want?” She asked in a husky voice.

“We’d like a room for a night please?” He asked. She checked her computer and answered.

“There’s only one left with 1 double bed, is that okay?” She asked. Niall glanced and me and I nodded, smiling.

“That’s fine!” He answered. She passed him the key and directed us where to go.

We walked into our room and flicked the lights on. The first room had a bed, a cabinet, a t.v, a small couch and a sink. The other room had a toilet and shower. That was it. 

“This is.......nice.” I said. Niall laughed,

“Oh well!” He said and sighed. He put the basket down on the ground and lay his guitar down by the bed. I walked over and sat down on the bed, looking around. He walked over and sat next to me, he turned the television on and flicked through the channels, getting very bad reception.

“Umm,” Niall started, embarrassed, “Never mind.” He said, turning the t.v off again. We sat side by side, awkwardly, I yawned. 

“Tired?” He asked me. I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. I lifted it and looked at his perfect features on his face, his eyes, his hair, his smile, his cheeks, there was not one flaw I could find about him. He concentrated on my eyes, he put his hand to my cheek and stroked my face. I blinked tiredly, he laughed and picked me up, placing me under the sheets of the bed. He walked over to the lights and flicked them off and he slithered under the covers. I felt his hand in mine and a warm arm around my body, I squeezed his hand tight and drifted off to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I awoke the next morning and rolled over to find Niall wasn’t there, I sat up looking around. All his stuff were still there, I wonder where he was? The door suddenly burst open and I saw Niall standing there with a plate in his hands and some flowers.

“Some breakfast and flowers for my gorgeous girlfriend!” He said, handing me the plate and flowers and planting a kiss on my cheek. I smiled brightly at him.

“Thankyou so much, this is lovely Ni!” I said to to him. He sat down on the bed next to me and I looked at the plate of food. I saw some toast and eggs.

“There wasn’t heaps of food there, but I got the good stuff!” He informed me.

“No, it’s fine!” I let him know.

“I worked out where we are!” He started, “We’re on route 11!” 

I gave him a confused look and raised my eyebrow. “I don’t know either, but Liam does and he’ll be here soon!” 

I shrugged, “Okay!” and started picking at my food. 

I picked up the toast and spread the margarine over it and took a bite. It was dry and tasted like cardboard. I poked my tongue out and grabbed a drink of water off my bedside table and had a big gulp of water. 

“Not good?” He asked, concerned. 

I shook my head, “Disgusting!” I replied, foully. 

“Try the egg?” He suggested. I took the fork and poked at the egg, I picked some up and put it in my mouth. I squinted my eyes and wrinkled my nose up.

“No better?” He asked.

“Nope!” I said, laughing afterwards. “It’s okay, I’ll get something later.” He nodded and took the plate from me, placing it on the cabinet. 

I stood up following him, I walked beside him, he turned me to face him and looked at me, smiling.

“What?” I asked, smiling back.

“I’m laughing at how ridiculously gorgeous you are!” He replied, still smiling. 

I chuckled a little and looked away, red faced, shaking my head. He walked over to his guitar which was by the bed and picked it up, he sat on the bed and started playing.

“Baby you could stop the pouring rain, 

you could even stop a hurricane.

You make me smile like a summers day,

you make the tear drops just wash away.

When I first looked into your eyes,

I knew you weren’t a surprise,

If only you knew girl!

“I need you by my side,

No need to run and hide.

I’ve been trying to find a way through

and baby I found you.”

I followed him over and sat on the bed next to him. He continued to play while looking at me.

“You blew me away

like a windy day!

You brought me back to life,

I was in deep strife.

Until I found you,

And baby, I found you!”

“I need you by my side,

No need to run and hide.

I’ve been trying to find a way through

and baby I found you.”

He lent in a kissed me, he stopped strumming and put his hand to the side of my face. I put my hand on his ribs, we heard a knock at the door. Niall pulled away from me and smiled, standing up and opening the door. Liam was standing there.

“Finally!” He said with relief, looking at Niall then past him to me. I got up and walked over to stand next to Niall, Liam pulled me into a hug laughing. Niall stood there shaking his head.

“YOU TOO NIALLER!” Liam shouted, grabbing Niall and hugging his tightly, Niall tried to pull away but Liam wouldn’t let go. Liam started laughing, “Okay mate!” He said, letting go. 

“Can we go?” I asked, looking around our horrid room.

“One bed?” Liam asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“I’ll explain later!” Niall said, winking and looking at me afterwards. 

I smiled at him and Liam showed us where he parked. It turned out it was only a half hour drive to get back to Niall’s house.

“Oh!” I reminded myself. “After we go to yours...” I said, pointing to Niall. “I need to see my mum!”

“I’ll drop you off!” Niall offered, I nodded in agreement.

We pulled up into the house. Liam parked the car and we hopped out. I looked over and saw Sam and Millie’s puppy playing in the little pen!

“Aw!” I said, running over to them, hopping in. 

I lay down and they jumped all over me. Sam started licking my face and Millie’s puppy was biting my toe. I started giggling.

“Millie’s one is called Willow!” Liam informed me.

“Aw, that’s such a sweet name!” I said. Liam giggled. “So, Niall, you wanted to explain something?” Liam asked.

“Oh yeah!” Niall remembered, “Grace, Liam, come inside!” He said excitedly.

We walked inside and Louis ran up to me and hugged me, Harry after me and Zayn gave me a wave and a “Vas Happenin?” I smiled at all of them and sat down on the couch by Zayn, Louis sat next to me and Liam and Harry next to him. Niall stood up in front of all us.

“I have an announcement to make!” He said. “Grace?” I looked up and went and stood next to him. Zayn shuffled over to sit by Louis. “I’d like to introduce you....to.....” He started, smiling at me shyly. “To my girlfriend!” He said, pointing at me. 

Louis, Liam and Zayn’s face lit up and they beamed at Niall and I. Louis jumped up and hugged us both.

“Congrats, guys, congrats, congrats, congrats!” Louis said, in a girly voice, “O.M.G this is great!” He continued. 

Zayn, Liam and Harry were in stitches laughing. Louis let go and Harry stood up and walked over, shaking Niall’s hand and Liam jumped up and hugged me. Zayn was still laughing on the couch and finally got up and hugged Niall and I.

“I have to take Grace home now, I’ll be back soon.” Niall told them.

“Will you be back Grace?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, probably tomorrow!” I answered him.

“Aw, okay!” He said and they all pulled me into a group hug. I let go and Niall led me out to the car. 

We jumped in and he started the engine, we started driving.

“When’s your birthday?” Niall asked, “I can’t believe I haven’t even asked you this yet?” He asked, shocked with himself. 

I laughed, “It’s actually in a week!” I said.

“A WEEK!” He said loudly. “ONLY!” He continued. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME BEFORE!?” 

I laughed loudly, “Don’t worry, I don’t want anything!” I assured him.

“You......you don’t want anything?” He asked, confused.

“No!” I said sternly.

He shrugged, “No promises!” 

Chapter 20

We arrived at my house and pulled into the driveway.

“Thanks Ni!” I said, reaching for the door handle. 

“Ahem!” Niall said, cheekily tapping the side of his face. 

I smiled and kissed his cheek, he smiled back. “Bye Grace!” He waved as I hopped out.

“By Nialler!” I yelled as he drove away, I continued to wave until his car was out of sight. 

I put my hand to my chest and exhaled deeply. I walked to the front door and saw mum standing in the kitchen.

“Oh baby, you’re here!” She welcomed me, wrapping her arms around me into a hug.

“Hey mum!” I greeted, hugging her back. She pulled away.

“So?” She asked raising her eyebrows. “Tell me the goss!”

I sighed, “Well,” I started, “Niall kissed me, then he wrote a song for me then he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes!” I said, very quickly, breathing deeply afterwards. Mum looked very confused.

“So...” She started, trying to work out what I had said. “He kissed you? Then wrote a song for you?” She started, waiting for my approval to continue. I nodded, “The he asked you to be his girlfriend?” She finished excitedly. 

I nodded again, vigorously. “Ohhh!” She said, hugging me again, in a tight hug. “Oh my gosh Grace!” She pulled away and we beamed at each other. “Let’s celebrate?” She suggested, walking over to the cupboard and grabbing out 2 bags of popcorn and chips, handed them to me and picked up 3 dvd’s.

We watched a sad movie first, where we both cried our eyes out together, “My Sister’s Keeper.”

We then watching a movie that got us rolling around on the ground laughing, “Dumb and Dumber.”

The last movie we watched, we both nearly wet our pant it was so epic, “Abduction.”

My mum could be my bestfriend, we are so close and talk about everything together and most of the time nothing ever gets awkward, most of the time.

“Hey, um Grace?” Mum started, when Abduction finished. I looked at her and nodded. “Um, you and Niall......you know?” She asked, trying to get through to me.

“MUM!” I said, shocked. She gave me a horrified look, I laughed afterwards to show her I wasn’t mad. “No mum!” I told her sternly, “One, if we did anything like that, you would be first to know! And second, we just started dating!” I assured her.

“Okay!” She said, sighing afterwards. “Thanks baby!” She thanked, hugging me again.

“I think Day misses you, he’ll be awake, you should go see him!” She suggested, I agreed and walked up stairs into Damon’s room. 

I knocked on the door and walked in. I saw a girl and Damon sitting on his bed on Damon’s laptop, they both looked up at me.

“Oh whoops! Sorry guys!” I said awkwardly and walked out.

“Grace! It’s fine! Come back!” I heard Damon call after me. I stopped, turned around and walked back in. I saw the girl giving me a dirty look and I then realised who it was. It was Melanie.

“Oh my god!” I said, staring at Melanie, wide eyed.

“Umm,” Damon started awkwardly. “This is Mel, my new girlfriend.” He continued, still awkward.

“You bitch!” I said harshly to her!

“Grace!” Damon yelled at me. He stood up and pushed me out of the room into the hall.

“What the hell?” He asked me, clearly annoyed. 

“That’s the girl that went out with Harry!” I said loudly to him, “Do you remember me telling you about her?”

“Shh Grace!” He shushed me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I reminded him about Harry and her dating, about how she was horrible to him, so horrible that he broke up with her but she claimed to only date him for publicity.

“Is that her?” He asked, in a hushed voice. 

I nodded angrily. “And she didn’t tell me she dated a famous person?” He said, annoyed, shaking his head.

“How long have you been dating?” I asked him.

“Oh!” He said, realising something. “I bet, she’s dating me, to get closer to you to get closer to Harry!” He said, clearly impressed with his own observation. 

I thought about it then agreed with him.

“Can’t believe this!” He whispered, shaking his head. He pursed his lips, thinking. He stared at me blankly, “What do I do?”

I shrugged, “Drop her.”

“But, we might be wrong?” I blinked a few times.

“Let me talk to her!” I suggested, pushing Damon aside and walking into his room.

“Hello Mel!” I greeted her politely.

“Hi.” I got a bitchy reply.

I cleared my throat and sat down on the bed next to her, she glared at me. “How have you been?” 

“You know it’s your fault Harry broke up with me!” She accused. 

I flinched but answered back, “You’re dating my brother now so why does it matter?”

“It always mattered.” She muttered under her breath.

“Sorry, what was that?” I asked her.

“Hmph, nothing!” She replied.

“So there is no problem?” 

“I guess not.” She mumbled.

“Then why are you so horrible to me?” 

“BECAUSE YOU GET SOMEONE FROM ONE DIRECTION AND YOU GET ALL THE FAME, I WANT THAT, SO MAYBE IF I DATED YOUR BROTHER, HE WOULD GET ME CONNECTED WITH ONE DIRECTION AGAIN AND HARRY MIGHT RE-CONSIDER ME!” She screamed in my face.

I cleared my throat again, “Well Melanie, this has been great! Have fun with that!” I replied and walked out to see a shocked Damon standing by the door. I walked out and closed the door, leaving behind a fuming Melanie. 

“Drop her.” I said walking past Damon and back down stairs.

Not 2 minutes later I saw Melanie storm down stairs and right out the front door, slamming it shut. Damon came down after her, looked at me and shrugged, walking into the kitchen and getting some food.

“So?” He asked, walking into the lounge to see mum and I. “What going on?”

“Grace is dating Niall!” Mum replied excitedly. 

Damon looked and me and half smiled, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head just as I got a text. I checked it, it was from Niall.

“Turn radio, bbc1 !” He informed me. I got up and turned the radio on and changed the station to BBC1. I heard a familiar voice. It was Louis and Scott, the radio man.

“So, um, we’re going to play Gotta Be You right now on radio 1.”

“Thankyou very much Scott!” I heard Louis reply to Scott.

“If you hang on the line, have a little cough, we’ll be back later!”

I heard Louis giggle, “Okay, cya!”

I heard the Gotta Be You! I loved it!

Chapter 21

“Whats this Grace?” Mum asked me, after the song finished. I turned the radio off and walked over to her.

“Thats’s the lad’s new song!” I told her excitedly.

“Was that them?” She asked me, shocked. I nodded.

“I’ll go on tumblr and download it and you can listen properly!” I informed her. 

I walked up to my room and opened my laptop. I opened google chrome and clicked my bookmark “Tumblr.” 

As soon as my dashboard popped up, I saw a picture of Niall and I. We were walking and he was holding my hand, we were looking at each other smiling. It was the night we left the beach after he got upset. I was shocked to see myself on my dash. 

5,486 notes.

There were a few comments:

“Are they dating, cute!” 

“Wait! Someone explain this?”

“Wow, are they dating?”

“Guys, calm down, they might just be friends!”

“But they’re looking at each other like “omigosh, i love chu sa much!”

“^^ lol so accurate!”

I didn’t know what to say. I was so shocked, it felt so weird! I opened another tab, twitter and saw that I’d gone from 32 followers to 4,023 followers! I cupped my hand over my mouth.

“Wow!” I whispered to myself. 

I saw on the bed next to me, my phone going off. It read Niall, I picked it up.

“Hia!” I greeted him.

“Are you on twitter?” He asked quickly.

“Yes!” I said, excitedly.

“I have so many mentions of people asking about us.....what do I say?” He asked shyly.

I giggled, “Whatever!” I said, shrugging to myself, “I don’t mind!” 

He laughed, “Okay!” I heard him typing and saw he had tweeted something.

“For all yous asking, yes Grace and I are dating :D”

“Aw!” I said, laughing afterwards. 

“Well, I have to get back to the lads! Talk to you tomorrow?” He suggested.

“Yes, definitely! Oh and by the way, love the new song, is that what you did over in the UK?” I asked.

“Glad you liked it and yes it is!” He laughed, “Bye bye!”

“Bye!” I said and hung up. 

I re-tweeted Niall tweet about us and checked through my mentions.

“Aw, you and Niall are so cute!”

“Cutest couple!”

“Best couple, you and Niall!”

Seeing these made me so happy! I smiled the whole time reading through all them, following all the people back. I ended up following and reading until 2am and I was so tired. I sighed and closed my laptop and throwing it on the floor. I lay back down on my bed and started dozing off to sleep. 

Just as I was nearly asleep, I got a text. I groaned and reached for my phone. I checked who texted me, it was Harry.

“Hey grace! I need ur help! would millie like it if i took her to movie world? thankss!” 

I smiled. “yes, yes, yes! :)” I replied back.

“thankyou so much! oh btw, nialler has a surprise for you tomorrow, come over at 1 k?”

I smiled, shaking my head. “Oh my gosh! haha ok, i’ll be there! night haz!”

“haha, night babe xo”

I smiled, I threw my phone on the ground, next to my laptop and finally got to sleep.

I woke up the next morning, Sunday morning, at 10:00am. I stretched out, feeling very comfortable in my own bed. I sat up and checked my phone, no texts. I looked around my room then reached down and grabbed my laptop, I scrolled through my twitter. I followed back as many people as I could be bothered. I ended up following another 100. 

It was 11:00 by the time I‘d had enough following and went downstairs, I walked down to see Damon sitting on the couch eating some cereal. 

“Morning Day.” I said to him. 

He jumped up and turned around to face me.

“Oh yeah, I forgot I had a sister!” He said, giving me a cheeky grin, I poked my tongue out at him and walked into the kitchen and started making a sandwich.

“Where’s mum?” I asked him, grabbing out the nutella to put on my sandwich.

“Work.”

“Oh, okay. When will she be back?”

“Later.”

“Thanks for that!” I replied, going back up to my room. I texted Niall, wondering when I’d find out what his surprise was.

“Hey Ni, when do I find out this surprise? ;)” 

I waited half an hour and got no reply. Mum got home and I gave up on the idea of him inviting me over and invited myself over. 

“Hey mummy!” I said, hugging her.

“What do you want?” She asked.

“Pft! What do I want? Nothing!” I said sarcastically. 

She gave me a look, I smiled at her and asked, “Can you drop me at Niall’s?” She shook her head.

“Fine!” She replied and smiled.

Mum drove me there and dropped me off. I thanked her, kissed her on the cheek and hopped out of the car. I took a few breaths and walked to the front door and knocked. 

I waited a while and someone finally answered. I saw the lovely face of Zayn Mailk. 

“GRACE!” He yelled, pulling me into a hug. 

I started laughing. “Hey Zayn!” He let me go and welcomed me in. 

“Where’s Ni?” I asked him as we walked in.

“Oh, I thought you’d know!” He said surprised. “Niall kind of just said ‘I’ll be back later tonight!’ and walked out the door, everyone else is ..... somewhere!” He informed me.

“Oh, okay.” I said awkwardly, “Why aren’t you somewhere with the others?” I asked him.

“Meh!” He said, shrugging his shoulders. “Couldn’t be bothered!” He replied, flashing a smile. 

I shook my head smiling. “Fair enough!”

“Niall won’t be here all day, do you want to hang out with me?” He suggested, smiling shyly.

“Yeah! That’s be great!” I agreed. He smiled and led me over to the couch and we sat down and watched a game of Soccer.

Chapter 22

Yes, it was fun hanging out with Zayn for that hour and a bit.

No, I do not enjoy soccer or even watching it.

I sat forward and stared, looking annoyed at the t.v screen just before half time. I was very happy seeing all the hot guys, but it was so boring. The score was 5 - 3 when the half time siren blew. I lent back, mumbling under my breath. “Hmp, high scoring game.”

He looked at me concerned, “You’re not enjoying this are you?”

“Nope!” I replied, smiling afterwards.

“Would you rather play tennis?” He suggested.

“Oh, yes!” I agreed, jumping up from the couch smiling.

“I’ll get the rackets!” He said, walking away from me and into another room. 

I sat back down and waited for him to come back, the Soccer was still on and I really felt like throwing the remote at the t.v.

When he came back up, I was lying face down on the couch, with a pillow over my ears. He touched my back.

“Ah!” I screamed, jumping up and holding my hands like a ninja.

“Whoa!” He said, “It’s just me!” I sighed and hopped off the couch, taking a racket from him.

“Thanks!” I said, walking past him and outside.

“Excuse me!” He said, stopping me. I turned around to face him, “Yes, I have noticed you are as white as Casper the Ghost and yes you will need sunscreen!” He said, pointing over to a tub of sunscreen. 

I stalked past him and handed the tennis racket back.

“Yes mum!” I said and walked over and applied some sunscreen. 

When I was finished, I kept some on my hands and smeared it on my face like an “Indian Warrior.” I walked over to Zayn.

“This good?” I asked him, pointing to my face.

He chuckled, “Better than nothing!” 

“What about you, huh?” I asked him.

“I don’t burn.” He said, shaking his head.

“Yeah right” I replied, rubbing my hands all over his face. 

“No!” He yelled, trying to pull my hands away from his face. He finally managed to get a grip of my wrists and stopped my from rubbing anymore sunscreen over his face. He raised his eyebrows and gave me an evil grin. He pushed my hands onto my own face.

I started laughing, loud. “Okay!” I yelled, “I’m sorry!”

He stopped, “Even?” 

“Even!”

We walked outside, holding our tennis rackets and Zayn had a bucket of tennis balls. I went up the far end and Zayn took the closest one.

It turned out Zayn was pretty good at tennis, I ended up winning all sets but one, we played 6 sets all up. 

“Well done Zayn!” I congratulated him when we’d finished.

“I went easy on you!” He said to me, jabbing me with his racket.

“Hmm,” I started, “Sure, I’m sure you did!” I said, nodding. 

“Aw! Far out it’s hot!” He said, taking off his shirt. I had to stop myself from looking. “Oh sorry.....do you mind?” He asked me cautiously.

I laughed, “No, it’s fine!” 

I was putting my racket down on the table when I found a hose. I reached over and turned it on a little bit, some cold water started dripping out. I glanced over at Zayn who was facing away from me, having a drink of water. I turned the hose up as high as it would go, still watching Zayn and lifted the hose and aimed it right at Zayn’s back. When it hit him, he jumped up, dropping his water bottle and turned around to face me.

“Aye!” He yelled at me. 

He stood there while I sprayed him with the hose, I was spraying his chest then moved up to his face, laughing.

“AHH!” He screamed and ran off, I followed him with the hose. 

He came running towards me, I continued to laugh.

“Oh!?” He said, walking forward covering his face from the water. “You’re laughing now!” He said, running forward and snatching the hose off me. 

“Oh no!” I said, sprinting away, I figured if I went far enough he couldn’t be able to reach my with a hose, but no, he filled a bucket of water and ran down the tennis court to me.

I sprinted off in the opposite direction, just dodging his aim with the bucket of water. He ran back over to the tap and turned it off.

“Okay!” He announced. “I give up!” He said, walking over to me, raising his hands and puffing. I started laughing and walked up to him.

“I win!” I said, “I always win!”

He looked up quickly and ran towards me, hugging me, getting me all wet from the water over his body.

“No!” I said, trying to push him away, laughing. 

He chuckled, “Okay, okay!” and we walked back inside together. 

We sat down on the couch again, my shirt and shorts were already dry because it was so hot. By the time we had watched half a soccer game, played tennis and had a water fight, it was about 4:00pm.

I sighed, “I better head home!” I told him. “My mum will be here soon!”

“Naw, okay!” He said, standing up. He hugged me, “Today was fun!” He said, laughing afterwards. 

“Yeah, it really was!” I agreed, “Bye Zayn!” I said to him and walked out the door to wait for mum.

Chapter 23

Mum and I pulled into the driveway of our house.

“How was your day with Niall?” She asked me, stopping the car.

“He wasn’t there!” I told her, “But I hung out with Zayn!”

She looked at me blankly, “Who’s Zayn?” I smacked my hand onto my face and started shaking my head.

“Do you know who Harry is?” I asked her, she shook her head. “Louis?” She shook her head, “Liam?” Again, she shook her head. “Mum! They’re in One Direction with Niall!” I screamed at her.

“I only know them as One Direction......” She said.

“Well then, there is Liam, Louis Harry, Zayn and of course Niall!” I told her, annoyed.

“Okay, okay, I got it. Liam, Lewis, Gary, Zayn and Niall.” She revised.

“No mum, Louis and Harry!” I said to her, grabbing her face in my hands. “Louis, Louis, Louis. Harry, Harry, Harry!”

“Okay!” She said, removing my hands from her face. “Louis and Harry!” I smiled at her and opened the car door, walking inside.

“Hey!” Damon greeted me.

“Hello!” I said loudly to him.

“Uh, your boyfriend came around before looking for you.” He informed me.

“Niall?” I asked, confused.

“What, do you have 7 boyfriends?!” 

“No, no, no!” I started, “What was he doing?”

“He just asked me if you were home and I said no and he left!”

“Oh.” I said, still confused. “Okay! Thanks Day. 

I thanked him and walked up to my room to call him, but before I could do anything, my phone started buzzing.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Haaay girl fran!” Millie said, in a high pitched voice.

“Uh, yeah, hi....” I said.

“Sorry, that was weird!” She apologized.

“Yeah, it was!” I said, laughing afterwards.

“Did Niall catch up with you?” She asked.

“Nope, do you know what he wanted?”

“He just said he needed to see you, he’d been to yours then came here.” She informed me.

“How long ago was that?” I asked her.

“Erm....about an hour ago, he was going to go into town looking for you because you weren’t answering your mobile.” She said, “What were you doing?”

“Oh, I was just hanging out with Zayn!” I told her.

“Grace.......?” 

“No! Millie, just no! Zayn is my friend!” I said loudly to her.

“Okay, okay! Just checking!”

We talked for ages, I then finally brought up the topic of Harry.

“So...” I started, “You and Harry eh?”

She had a little laugh, “Yeah, about that.......” She trailed off.

“Yeah?” 

“He, umm.....he kissed me!” She said happily

“Oh my gosh! Aw Millie! That’s so cute! Are you guys going to go out? Is he going to ask you out?” I had so many questions.

“Grace....Grace!” She tried to say through my constant questions.

“Is he really romantic?”

“GRACE!” She yelled into the phone. “Slow down!”

“Oops, sorry!”

“Okay....so, no Harry and I are not dating, but I heard him talking on the phone with someone saying he will later tonight when we catch up!” She said excitedly.

“Awww! Yay!” I said happily for her.

“So....” She started, in an un-happy tone. “The whole of tumblr and twitter and facebook know about you and Niall dating and you don’t even tell your bestfriend?!”

“Oh, whoops, sorry about that!” I said, forgetting to tell my own bestfriend about my boyfriend.

“Uh, yeah!” She exclaimed, “You should be sorry! I’m coming over to your house to kick your ass!”

“Okay, see you soon!” I said and hung up. I started laughing at myself because I’m funny.

Millie texted me.

“K, I didnt mean legit but i’ll be there soon lol”

I shook my head and laughed, I went downstairs to tell mum Millie was coming over.

“Mum, Mil is coming over, is that okay?” I asked her. 

She cast her eyes away from the t.v screen and looked over to me.

“Yeah, that’s fine!” She said, 

“Thankyou!” I thanked and started walking back up to my room

“Oh and Grace?” She asked me, I stopped and turned around.

“Your 17th is soon, what do you want?” 

“Mum, I don’t want anything! I’ve told you a million times, I don’t need anything!” I told her, for the 48957284th time. 

She shook her head. “I guess it’ll be a surprise then!” She said, winking.

I groaned and walked up to my room, “No! No mum!” I said sternly, smiling afterwards so she knew I wasn’t mad.

There was a knock on my door.

“Come in!” 

Millie walked in the door. “GRACE!” She screamed.

“MIL!” I screamed back, walking up to her and pulling her into a hug. I took her hands and sat her down on my bed.

“So...tell me about Harry!” I said.

“Well, when they came back from the UK for that week, I went with Harry to his room and he kissed me!” She told me happily. “And there was this other time when we went shopping together and at the beach and-”

“Millie!” I stopped her, “I don’t want to know your life story I just wa-”

“AND AT MOVIE WORLD!” She said, beaming.

I sighed, “I can see you don’t kiss and tell!” I asked.

“We went to movie world!” She told me.

“Yes, yes I know.” I told her impatiently

“What?! How do you know?” 

“He asked me if you’d like it! Now tell me how ma-”

“Oh! What else did he say?” She asked curiously.

I put my hand to my face and shook my head.

“He said you looked like the angels from heaven! Now tell me how many times you ha-”

“Did he really say that?” She said, smiling sweetly.

I gave up, “No.”

“Oh.” She said, looking down. 

“But he might’ve, he just didn’t say it to me!” I said, trying to cheer her up. 

A smile lit up on her face again.

“Okay, so now....you and Niall!” She hinted, raising her eyebrows.

I laughed, “Well, he wrote a song for me, then he asked me to be his girlfriend!”

“That’s it?” She asked me blankly.

“Well I’m not going to tell you all the details! What do you want to know?” I asked her.

“Have you kissed?” 

“Yes.”

“Have you slept in the same bed?”

“Yes.”

“Have you had sex?”

“No!”

“Has he taken you to Movie World?”

“No.”

“Harry has taken me.” 

I started at her, “Right now, I honestly don’t care!” I said, shaking my head.

She gave me a cheeky grin, “I know you care!” She said, poking out her tongue. 

Chapter 24

The whole night, we stayed up, following people on twitter, like I did last night. 

“How could you do this all night?” She asked me, shocked. “It’s so boring!”

“Well I was bored and had nothing better to do!” I told her.

“I’m hungry!” She told me. 

We both went downstairs to look for food and we smelt pizza. I looked at her and her face lit up.

“Pizza!” We both yelled together and we sprinted down the stairs to see where the amazing smell was coming from.

“Girls!” I heard mums voice from the dining room. “Pizza’s in here!” Millie looked at me with wide eyes and pushed me aside and ran into the dining room. 

I walked in and saw Millie holding a plate with 3 pieces of pizza on it, one already half eaten. I grabbed my plate and put 2 pieces on and Millie and I disappeared up into my room. I think the only time we came out was to either get more food or to pee.

We continued to follow random people and tweet back to them. Millie ended up finding it really fun because of people’s reactions to when she followed them.

“Oh my god Grace, look how cute that is!” She screamed, pointing to her screen.

“OH MY GOD! MILLIE JUST FOLLOWED ME, I’M LIKE CRYING OMG, OMG OMG!”

It was very funny seeing people’s reactions though, they would go crazy and write things like:

“IYGRBJKNWEFDAGB I CANNOT CONTROL THESE EMOTIONS!”

“OH EM GEEEE, I’M SO LUCKY, THANKYOU!”

Then there were other, more annoying ones:

“CAN YOU GET NIALL TO FOLLOW ME?”

“Can you ask Harry to follow me Millie?”

“Ask One Direction to follow my twitter!”

“Ha ha ha ha, no!” Millie said, each time she saw a tweet like that. “Uhhh, no! Lemme think about that, um, no!” 

I stopped her, “Millie, shh, it’s okay!” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. 

I looked at the time on my laptop and saw 3:21am. 

“Whoa!” I said.

“What?” Millie asked me.

“Look at the time! No wonder I’m so tired, shall we sleep?” I asked her.

She sighed deeply, I could tell she didn’t want to. “If we sleep you can dream about Harry!” I told her. She closed her laptop lid, threw it on the floor, lay down and rolled over, facing away from me. I started laughing. “G’night Millie!” I said to her and closed my tumblr tab, seeing that the last picture was Niall and I.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I woke up the next morning to someone shaking me.

“Grace?” I heard a familiar voice. I rolled over and sat up.

“Hi Haz.” I mumbled, tiredly.

“Um, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you but Niall and I have a surprise for you girls, I tried waking Millie but she won’t budge.” He told me.

“Oh that’s okay, we’ll be down soon!” I said as he left. “MILLIE!” I screamed in her ear.

“What?” She asked angrily, with her eyes still closed. “Harry and Ni are here,” I started, “And they have a surprise for us!”

Millie’s eyes flew open and she sat up quickly. She looked at me and smiled happily. She jumped over me and landed on the floor by my bed, she quickly got changed from her pajamas to her clothes. I walked over to my cupboard and grabbed out a singlet and some shorts. We fixed our hair in my mirror and walked downstairs. 

We saw Harry and Niall standing by the door talking to Damon. Oh no.

“Damon?” I asked him, cautiously.

“Hey!” He said loudly to me. 

I gave him a look. “What are you doing?”

He looked confused, “What?” I glanced at Niall and Harry, they also look confused.

“It’s okay Grace!” Harry said to me, “Your brother isn’t chatting up your boyfriend!” He grinned at me. 

I shook my head smiling, I looked back at Damon, still smiling. 

“Get out of here!” I said to him and he walked into his room. 

He stopped and faced Millie, Harry, Niall and I. 

“Bye guys!” He said, waving to Niall and Harry. They smiled and waved back to him.

“Bye Damon!” They both said. I glanced at them. “He’s nice!” Harry said, leading Millie and I to the car.

“Where are we going?” I asked, as Niall walked up to me hugging me.

“Hello beautiful.” He greeted me, kissing me on the head.

“Hi! Now where are going?” I asked, impatiently.

“Just be patient!” He instructed me, as he pushed me into the back of the car next to Millie. Harry sat in the front and Niall drove. 

“Where were you yesterday Grace?” Niall asked me, “I was looking everywhere for you!”

“Oh!” I started, “I texted you and you didn’t reply so I went to the house and you weren't there!” I told him.

“What did you do then?” He asked me.

My heart stopped, “I, uh....” I started cautiously. “I hung out with Zayn.” I said slowly.

“Oh.” He said, dropping his head. “What did you guys get up to?” He mumbled.

“Um,” I said, worried. “We just, uh, watched a bit of t.v then played tennis.” I told him, still slowly.

“It was warm.” He commented.

“Yeah, it warm.” I agreed

“You told me you guys had a water fight too?” Millie blurted out, quickly covering her mouth afterwards. 

I shot the dirtiest look I’d ever given someone in her direction, she moved her hand away and mouthed sorry to me. I shook my head angrily at her. I could see Niall looking in the mirror at us.

“Oh, did you?” He asked me, acting surprised.

I cleared my throat, “Um, yeah!”

“Okay.” He sighed.

I shot another dirty glance in Millie’s direction and she was looking anxiously back and forth between Niall and I. 

When she caught me looking at her, she mouthed sorry another 5 times. I turned back to face Niall, he didn’t look mad....he looked hurt. I looked down at my hands and started fiddling with them, my face red and my eyes started watering, I stopped myself from crying. 

Millie still looked concerned and tried to break the tension.

“So what’s going to happen with these surprises, huh?” She said, looking around at everyone, smiling.

“They’re at our house.” Niall replied blankly. 

“We’ll be there soon!” Harry assured her, flashing a smile in her direction, she smiled sweetly back at him.

Chapter 25

We pulled into One Direction’s driveway, Niall walked towards the front door whilst Harry opened the door for Millie and I. We walked into the house past Niall, I smiled at him when I walked in, but he was looking at his feet.

I saw Niall whisper something to Harry and Harry nodded in return.

“You guys can wait in my room!” Harry said to us. 

I looked at Millie concerned and we both walked into Harry’s room.

“Wow, he’s cleaned it since last time!” She said as we walked into Harry’s room, I closed the door behind us. I started at her angrily. 

She turned around to me and rushed over, putting her hands on my shoulders. 

“Grace! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!” She said to me, pleading. 

I knew she didn’t mean any harm.

I shrugged her off, “It’s fine.” I said and sat down on Harry’s bed. I

 could feel the tears coming into my eyes. She walked over to me and sat by my side, putting her arm around me.

“I know he still likes you, he won’t break up with you, you don’t need to cry!” She comforted me.

I shook my head, “Did you see him? How upset he was? He.....he.” I dropped my head in shame. 

Millie lifted my head and wiped my tears. 

“It’s going to be okay!” She assured me. 

As she said that, we could hear a lot of noise downstairs. We could hear yelling and a lot of walking around. Millie stood up quickly and walked over to the door, putting her ear to it. I started to stand up but she held her hand up to stop me. I stayed where I was, tears still streaming from my eyes and down my cheeks. 

After a while, Millie sat back down and we couldn’t hear anymore yelling, only quiet talking.

“Zayn and Niall......” That’s all she said. The tears fell even harder.

“I’ve ruined it!” I said loudly.

“What?!” Millie exclaimed.

“What if Niall hates Zayn now? Or if Zayn hates Niall?” I started, “It would be my fault!”

“No Grace!” Millie said sternly to me. “It would not be your fault!” She assured me.

“But it would!” I said, still talking loudly, I started shaking and my shirt was becoming damp from all my crying.

Someone burst in the door, I quickly looked up and saw Harry. Seeing his face made me cry even harder. I tried to control myself but I wasn’t doing a very good job. Harry looked horrified. 

“I’m......Sorry!” I blabbed to him. He walked over to me and stood me up, pulling me into a giant bear hug. “I’m.....just....” I started.

“Shh!” He comforted me. I cried into his shirt, I could feel it getting damp as well. 

“I’ll be back!” He told me, pulling me away and walking through the door, I stood there, still crying. Millie walked up to me and took Harry’s place, hugging me. We were the same height but I still cried into her shoulder.

“Grace.” She said quietly to me, pulling me away from her. “It’s okay, I promise you’re overreacting, everything will be okay!” She tried to calm me. 

I shook my head and sat down on Harry’s bed again.

“I have to go!” I said, wiping my eyes, starting to stand up.

“No!” Millie said, pushing me back down on the bed. “Stay!” She instructed me. “Everything will be fine! I promise, you are seriously overreacting!” She told me. 

I again shook my head and Harry walked in again. He saw me with my face in my hands.

I looked up and he was whispering to Millie, she nodded in reply to what he said.

“We’ll be back!” Millie said to me, I nodded in reply and they both walked out of Harry’s room. I put my hands back in my face and continued to cry. I could hear more talking downstairs, no yelling, calm talking. I couldn’t hear Zayn’s voice but I could hear Harry and Millie and every now and again I could hear Niall’s voice chime in. He didn’t sound as upset, which cheered me up a little. I continued to listen, I couldn’t really make out what anyone was saying but I heard “upset,” “cry,” and “blame.”

The talking stopped and I heard footsteps walking towards Harry’s room, I wiped my eyes, but the tears continued to stream down. 

It would be my fault if Zayn and Niall fought, if they started hating each other, it would be my fault. 

My face stayed in my hands as I tried to calm myself a bit, I could hear the door creep open, I was too scared to look up in case the tears came rolling down like bullets.

“Grace?” I heard a shy voice say. I didn’t look up. I could hear the steps coming closer towards me. “Grace?” I felt a hand on my shoulder, I stood up quickly and hugged him. He hugged me back. I cried into his shirt. 

Wait.....who is “he”? 

I pulled away and saw the face of Zayn.

I pushed Zayn away and sat back down on the bed, crossed my arms and looked away from him, red faced with tears still streaming down my face.

“You thought I was Niall?” He mumbled. 

I didn’t answer. I could see him from the corner of my eye, staring intently at me. 

“What. Is. He. Doing?” I heard an angry voice downstairs. 

I cast my eyes to Harry’s door as I heard foot steps marching up the stairs. Zayn backed away from me and also cast his eyes to the door. I saw Niall open the door, he didn’t look at me, he looked straight at Zayn, giving him a dirty look. Zayn returned the look and walked past him out the door, knocking Niall’s shoulder on the way. 

Niall’s face dropped from anger to sadness, he continued to not look at me, he just stared at the wall in Harry’s room. I waited for him to say something, I stared at him, waiting, tears still crawling out of my eyes. 

I couldn’t bear to look at his face anymore, his expression made me want to run far away and never come back, it made me want to curl up into a little ball, lay on the floor and cry my eyes out. I could see, clearly, the hurt in his eyes. There were no anger, no danger, only hurt. I cried even more thinking about his face, his beautiful eyes, sad and not sparkling, his mouth not smiling, nothing. 

I put my face in my hands again and sobbed. I could hear him sigh, long and deep. He walked out of Harry’s room and closed the door.

I cried for a little longer before I could hear more voices downstairs. Again, I could not make out exactly what they were saying, but I heard, “Hit” “Couldn’t stand,” and “Sad.”

“Okay.” I heard Niall say and again, I could hear someone walking up the steps.

I looked up from my hands and saw Millie had walked in. I could feel my eyes were puffy and I was expecting them to be red. She shook her head and walked over to me and sat beside me.

“He hates me!” I sobbed to her.

“No Grace.” She said to me, blankly. “Come on, we’re going!” She said to me, holding out her hand for me to take. 

I pushed her hand away and walked out of Harry’s room. 

I stood at the top of the stairs and at the bottom I could see Harry by the door waiting for Millie and I. He looked around and saw me, Millie walked past me, walking down the stairs and went to Harry, I followed her. Harry hugged Millie and kissed her on the forehead and he walked over to me, pulling me into a giant bear hug. 

“I’m...so....sorry.” I sobbed into his ear whilst he hugged me.

“Don’t worry!” He assured me as he stepped away from me. “Liam is outside waiting for you, he’ll take you home!” He told us and Millie and I walked out the front door to look for Liam. 

We saw Liam standing by a big black car. He looked at us, smiled and opened the car door for us to get in. He walked over to me, also pulling me into a bear hug.

“It’s okay.” He whispered to me. 

He let go and hopped in the drivers seat, I jumped in the back, sitting beside Millie. I looked at her apologetically, she smiled in return.

“It’s fine!” She said to me. 

I sighed deep, I’m was glad I’d cleared the air with her, I don’t want to loose her. I faked a smile and smiled back at her. 

Chapter 26

I decided I needed to organize myself a bit before I got home, I didn’t want to mention this to mum. I wiped my dripping mascara off with a tissue and fixed my hair. Liam pulled into my driveway and I jumped out of the car, giving Millie and Liam a smile on my way. I could see Millie crawling into the front as Liam drove off.

“What are you doing?” I could hear Liam asking her loudly.

“I’m getting in the front!” She told him.

“You’re going to die!” He said to her.

“I’ll be fine!” She said, “Here, I’m in!” 

I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation as they drove off, I checked that my hair was fine and walked to the front door, letting myself in.

“Hey!” Mum greeted me.

“Hey mum!” I replied. She walked over to me and hugged me.

“Now!” She started, “I’ve been thinking, that you should get a job!” She suggested.

“Oh, um, yeah! I’ve been thinking about it too!” I told her, even though I do not want a job and I hadn’t been thinking about it at all.

“I’ve been doing some looking and I found this!” She told me, holding up a the newspaper with an add in it. 

It read:

Clothing designer wanted for the new magazine “One Empire.”

This magazine will consist of Celeb Goss, photos of celebs from our shoots, interviews, posters, fashion, ect.

Call 48286223 for more details.

My eyes widened as I read, mum chuckled. “Would you be interested?” She asked me.

I looked at her and starting jumping up and down, “Yes, yes, yes!” I said.

“Well you better call that number!” She said. 

I took the paper with me and grabbed the phone, I dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up.

“Hello this is “One Empire,” Jenny speaking.” 

“Um hi, my name is Grace and I’d like to apply for the clothing designer from the add in the paper!” I told her, excited.

“Well Grace, that would be great! We just need a few details and we can get you to come down!” She told me. 

She asked a few questions about my age, experience with fashion, payment ect.

“Well Grace, you sound absolutely perfect for the job and we’d love you to come down tomorrow arvo for an interview if that is possible?” She suggested.

“Yeah, that would be great!” I agreed.

“I’ll see you soon then!” She said and hung up.

I put the phone down and turned around to face mum.

“Well?” She asked me.

“I’m going down tomorrow for an interview!” I said excitedly.

“Aw yay!” She said happily for me, hugging me again.

“Well, you better go pick out some respectable clothes for tomorrow and I will start cooking dinner!” She said and walked into the kitchen.

I bounced up the stairs into my room, feeling so happy. I opened my computer and pulled out the tabs twitter and tumblr and opened skype. While all that was loading, I jumped over to my cupboard and looked for some nice clothes. 

I ended up choosing a peach coloured shirt with a black cardigan and a pair of black skinny leg jeans. I lay them out on the floor and got back onto my computer. 

I checked twitter and saw tweets saying.

“There hasn’t been any recent pics or tweets of Niall and Grace...whats up?”

“Are Niall and Grace cool?

“Are they still together?”

I didn’t know whether or not to answer because I wasn’t actually sure myself, I started feeling a bit down again, but I didn’t want to concentrate on that because I had just applied for a clothing designing job, my dream job and nothing was going to make me upset when I was seriously happy. 

Well, that’s what I thought, until I saw a tweet that made my heart drop.

“We’re just on a break whilst the lads and I go away tomorrow for 2 weeks.”

Chapter 27

What? 

Okay, I understand the “taking a break” part, although it hurts, but since when were they going away? For 2 weeks? I could feel the tears coming back into my eyes, I put my face in my hands, I pulled out my phone and texted Millie.

“He says we’re taking a break while he goes away for 2 weeks with the lads!”

As I wrote the text, I tired not to cry. I quickly got a reply.

“What? since when were they going away? wtf?”

I couldn’t reply, I couldn’t see the numbers or letters on my phone through my tears, I blindly typed in Millie’s mobile number and called it.

“Hello?” Millie answered.

“Hey.” I said blankly.

“Oh Grace!” She said, “So what’s this situation with them going away? What the hell?” She asked me, frazzled. 

“Check Ni’s twitter!” I told her.

“Niall Horan.” She mumbled to herself, obviously typing his name in the search bar of twitter. 

“We’re just on a break whilst the lads and I go away tomorrow for 2 weeks.” She read quietly to herself. 

“Oh my god!” She said, angrily. “Why didn’t Harry tell me? Why didn’t Niall tell you before all this happened!?”

I sniffed, “I have no idea!” I sobbed. She sighed deeply.

“What are we going to do?” She asked me.

“I have no idea!” I said again.

“Let’s just forget about it!” She suggested. “Maybe they had no time to tell us....or maybe they weren’t allowed to!” Millie suggested, hopefully.

I sighed again, “Yeah.” I mumbled. 

“Don’t worry!” She said to me.

“Yeah I guess.” I said, upset.

“Other than what’s going on, how are you?” She asked, changing the topic.

“Oh!” I remembered. “MY GOD!” I yelled to her,

“I AM GOING FOR AN INTERVIEW FOR “ONE EMPIRE’S” CLOTHING DESIGNER!” I said excitedly to her.

“Oh my gosh Grace!” She exclaimed, “That’s amazing! I know you’ve been wanting a job like this! Oh my god, how exciting!”

I screamed into the phone to her.

So I’m going to explain the whole situation with being a clothing designer to you, because you might be a little confused.

When I was about 6, my aunty Hannah used to make clothes for me and I used to tell her how I wanted them. I actually had very good fashion sense for a 6 year old and I got compliments from many people. After a while, of people telling me they liked my clothes, I decided to really concentrate on the design of my clothes, they needed to be perfect and it kind of became an obsession. 

When I was a bit older, my aunty showed me how to make clothes and use fabrics and I would make them for my barbie dolls. 

I really looked up to my aunty and when I was with her, I always enjoyed myself, we made clothes together, she taught me how to do things and everything like that.

When I was 10, my aunty passed away from a case of breast cancer. 

At her funeral, I made a flower bouquet from her favourite fabrics. 

I wanted to get a job for a fashion designer to keep her spirit alive and so I could remember her. 

As soon as Jenny said she wanted an interview, my heart remembered my aunty Hannah.

“Well, it’s late and I better get to bed!” Millie told me.

“Yeah same!” I agreed, “I’ll come a visit you after my interview and tell you how it went!” I told her.

“Bye babe!” She said and hung up. 

I sighed deep and closed my laptop, threw it on the floor and turned my light off and dozed off to sleep. 

I was nearly asleep when my phone started going off.

“Hello?” I said dopily. 

“Grace? Hey!” I heard a familiar, bouncy voice on the other line.

My heart sped up a bit and I started smiling.

“Who’s this?” I asked curiously.

“It’s Nialler!”

“NIALL!” I yelled into the phone. 

He laughed, “Hey!” He said.

“Ni, I’m sorry, oh my god!” I blabbed to him.

“Grace, Grace it’s fine!” He said to me, “I overreacted and Zayn and I are cool!” He told me.

I sighed deeply. “Thank god!” I said.

He giggled, “Are we cool?” He asked me.

We kind of weren’t because of the fact they were going away for 2 weeks without telling Millie or I but I was just happy to hear Niall’s voice again.

“Yes, we are absolutely fine!” I assured him.

“Great! Because I need to give you your surprise tomorrow!” He said excitedly.

“Oh um, yeah that’s fine, but I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon.” I told him.

“Oh. What time?” He asked me.

“Um, I don’t know, just whenever I’m ready.” I replied.

“Well, I need to give you your surprise at about 2, so can you get it done before then?” He asked.

“Yeah, I will go there at 12-ish!” I told him. “Thankyou so much for this! For making us right!” I said to him, relived. 

“It’s fine!” He said, “You sound tired, you should sleep, I will see you tomorrow babes!” He said to me.

“Okay!” I said to him, “Bye bye!” I said and hung up.

It felt amazing seeing a tweet from Niall.

“Everything with Grace and I is fine! :D”

Chapter 28

I awoke on Tuesday at 10:00am. I opened my eyes and smiled, remembering I’d be able to see Niall again, but we’d be cool and that I have my job interview. 

I jumped out of bed and stretched my arms above my head and reached down to the floor, stretching my back. I rubbed my eyes and went to collect my clothes off the floor. I looked down at my peach shirt, black cardigan and black skinny leg jeans, I wanted to look nice, first impressions were everything.

I stripped off my pajamas and put on a bra and some undies. I threw on my shirt and cardigan, I wriggled on my jeans and looked at myself in the mirror. I did my hair in a loose bun and put a brown headband in, the head band had a flower on the top. I put on a bit of foundation and some mascara.

I got some black flats from my wardrobe and slipped them onto my feet. I again looked in the mirror at myself and was happy. I wandered downstairs to get some food. I walked into the kitchen and saw Damon sitting at the table.

“Wow! What the hell are you doing?” He asked, shocked at appearance.

“I’m going for a job interview Damon!” I growled at him.

“Ooooh, I got the ‘Damon’” He did the little hand movement with his fingers when he said Damon. I don’t usually call him Damon, it’s always ‘Day’ or ‘D.’

I rolled my eyes and reached for the loaf of bread sitting on the bench, I grabbed out two pieces and made a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese. I ate that up quickly and washed my plate. I wandered around the house looking for mum.

“Mum?” I yelled out.

“Out here Grace!” I heard her call from outside. 

I walked out and saw her lying down on a beach chair.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously.

“Getting ma tan on baby!” She said, trying to sound ‘hipster.’

“Why?” I asked.

“Haven’t you noticed I’m as white as a ghost?” She asked sitting up, pushing her sunglasses down onto her nose, looking over them at me.

“Yeah, but so am I and you don’t see me going around trying to get a tan!” I told her, looking down over my pale body. “And don’t be stupid, you might get skin cancer, not even kidding!” I said angrily to her. 

She sighed, sometimes I think I’m the only mature one around here.

“I guess you’re right!” She said, standing up and reaching for the sunscreen on the table nearby her. 

“Good girl!” I said to her, as I watched her apply the sunscreen.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, looking at me, “You look lovely! Are you excited?” She asked me.

“Yeah, I’m pumped!” I told her, “I’ll call you afterwards but Niall has something for me so I’m going to see him after as well.” I said, awaiting her approval.

“Yeah, that’s fine!” She agreed, looking at her watch. “It’s twelve o’clock now, I’ll get changed into some respectable clothes and I’ll drop you off!”

“Okay, thanks mum!” I thanked her and she followed me inside. 

I walked into the lounge room and sat down on the couch, surfing channels. Nothing interesting was on, so I put on the music channel and What Makes You Beautiful came on after about 2 songs. I smiled the whole time. Mum walked down and announced she was ready.

“I’m ready! Let’s go!” She said, I stood up and walked over to her, shuffling in between some steps to the music. 

“Hey, isn’t that-” She started, pointing to the television screen.

“Yes!” I answered quickly, cutting her off.

She smiled and nodded and walked out to the car, grabbing my purple handbag on the way.

I blasted the music and sang along to the songs I knew and made a remix to the ones I didn’t.

“They’re not the words!” Mum complained, talking loudly over the music.

“Dude! This is my remix!” I told her.

“Dude!” She said, thinking about what I’d said.

I shook my head and continued my remix to the song.

“Stop remixing!” She complained again.

“I’m not! These are the right words, the singer got it wrong!” I explained to her.

“Oh...” She looked confused.

“I’m just kidding mum!” I told her, putting my hand on her shoulder.

We pulled up at the “One Empire” building. The building was so big.

“Call me when you want to be picked up and tell me how it went!” She told me and ushered me out of the car. I jumped out and waved goodbye to her as she drove off.

“Good luck!” She yelled out the window. 

I took a deep breath and pulled out my small mirror in my handbag and checked that my hair and makeup looked okay. I approved and walked inside.

When I walked in, I saw a large room to my right, with a few seats in it and doors all around. The doors had signs on them.

“Interviews”

“Photoshoot”

“Produce”

“Mr. Denny”

“Mrs Harvey”

and then I saw “Clothing”

I smiled.

I walked to the front desk and a women was sitting there.

“Hello!” She greeted me, “You must be Grace?” She asked, holding out her hand. 

“Yes.” I said and smiled, shaking her hand.

“Grace, I am Jenny, it’s lovely to meet you!” She said politely.

“It’s lovely to meet you as well!” I replied.

“Rebecca Harvey will be with you in a moment.” She said to me. 

“Okay, thanks!” I thanked her and sat down on one of the seats. 

I waited for about 5 minutes before someone emerged from the door that read “Mrs Harvey”

“Grace?” She asked. 

I stood up, “That’s me!” I said, walking over to her.

“Grace! I’m Rebecca, it’s nice to meet you!” She said, holding out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too!” I said to her.

“If you’d like to come in?” She said, stepping aside so I could walk into her office. 

I walked in and it smelt wonderful. She had pictures of magazines hanging on her wall and in front of me was a chair and a desk with another chair behind it. She walked by me and sat behind the desk.

“Take a seat!” She offered, I sat down, the seat was so comfortable. 

Rebecca checked through her papers, 

“So your name is Grace Salvatore?” She asked me.

“Yes.” I clarified. 

“You will be 17 in 4 days?” 

“Yes.”

“What made you decide on this job?” She asked me. 

I explained everything about my aunty and how she inspired me to do this.

“That’s so lovely! I’m sorry to hear about your aunty though.” She said, I gave her a grateful smile.

She asked a lot more questions.

“What is your fashion taste?” I answered with “Anything that stands out to me or that looks inviting.”

“Would you be willing to work with others if you’re designing?” I replied with, “Of course! I love working with other people!”

“Would you rather design or fit?” I answered, “I really don’t mind, I love doing both but if I had to pick one, it’d be fitting!”

“If needed, would you also be willing to do some interviews?” I replied, “Yes! Of course, I love being around other people!”

“Would you be able to take some photos if needed?” I said, “Maybe, I’m not the best photographer, but if I needed to, I’d have a go!”

“Do you think of yourself as.....” I finished her sentence with, “I think that I am a fun and nice person to be around and I love making people laugh! I can be serious if necessary, but there is a fun and serious side to me.”

Her final question, “When are you willing to start?” I beamed at her, “Whenever you want me to!” I told her.

“Great!” She started, smiling back at me. “You’re hired!” She thought for a moment. “Will you be able to start on Thursday?” She suggested.

Chapter 29

“Yeah, Thursday sounds great!” I agreed.

“Well, I’ll email you the times later today and I will see you on Thursday!” She said.

“Thankyou so so much!” I said and shook her hand. I walked out of her office and past Jenny, who was still sitting at the front desk.

“Bye Jenny!” I said and waved to her. 

“Oh, goodbye Grace!” She said, “Thankyou for coming down!” I smiled at her and walked out of the big building. As I walked out, I turned around to have one last look of “One Empire.” 

A car beeped at me. I spun around and saw Niall leaning against a red car, beaming at me. I he opened his arms and I ran over to him. He hugged me and I hugged him back, tight.

I looked up and at him and he kissed me. 

“I missed this.” He whispered and smiled, I smiled back. 

We saw flashes and heard cameras going off, we looked to our right and saw a whole lot of paparazzi coming towards us.

“Oop! Let’s go!” Niall said, opening the door for me to get in and he then got in himself.

Once Niall had started the car and we were heading off, we started the conversation on my job.

“So, how’d it go?” He asked me.

“I got the job!” I said happily, beaming.

“Aw, that’s great!” He said, “When do you start?” He asked. 

“On Thursday!” I said to him excitedly. 

His face dropped. “Oh, that’s soon.” He said slowly.

“I just wanted to get in there as fast as I could! I’m so excited!” I said. 

Niall didn’t answer, I looked over to him and saw that his face was upset. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. He looked at me and smiled.

“No, nothing!” He said, stopping the car because we’d pulled into his house. “Let’s get inside.

I walked into the big house and was greeted by four lovely boys.

“HEY GRACE!” They all said together, coming into a group hug.

“Hey guys!” I said back.

“How’d your job go?” Liam asked me happily.

“I got the job!” I said excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. Louis grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me, jumping up and down and screaming.

“OH MY GOSH, WOOO, YAY!” He screamed in my face. 

My eyes felt like they were as big as tennis balls, I was nearly scared he was going to scream my face off.

“Sorry...” He apologized, looking down.

I laughed, “It’s fine Boo Bear!” I said, smiling cheekily at him. 

He looked up and gave me a dirty look.

“Don’t call me that!” He growled. I grinned again.

“Sorry Boo Bear.” I said, walking past him. 

I could fell him grab me around the waist.

“Nialler!” He called Niall over, “Help me!” He said, pointing to my legs. Niall ran around towards my legs and lifted them up. Louis held my arms and they both carried me to the couch and dropped me on it. I started laughing. Niall and Louis stood over me and Louis bent down and started tickling my stomach.

I started screaming and laughing, “No! No! Stop!” I giggled, “Please!”

“Alright, alright!” Liam stopped them. They both stopped and looked at Liam. Louis walked into the kitchen and Niall offered his hand, I grabbed it and he helped me sit up. He sat by my side and lifted me up by my waist and sat me on his lap. Liam and Louis sat on the other sides of us and Zayn sat next to Liam. Zayn wasn’t talking and he looked miserable. The boys turned on the soccer and I groaned. Zayn must’ve remembered when we hung out and that I hated the soccer, because he giggled.

I looked down the line of the boys to look at Zayn, “Shut up, Malik!” I said to him, smiling. He grinned at me and turned his attention back to the television.

I also looked back at the television, frowning at the low scoring game, bored. Niall rested his head on my shoulder, continuing to watch the television. I sighed deeply.

“What’s wrong?” He asked me, concerned.

“I just hate soccer.” I replied to him. 

He moved him face closer to my ear.

“Want to go upstairs?” He suggested, quietly in my ear.

I turned around to face him and nodded, smiling cheekily. He returned with a smile and I stood up. He used my hips as support and lifted himself up.

“We’re going upstairs lads!” He announced, taking my hand and leading me upstairs.

I opened the door into Niall’s room. I walked over and sat down on the middle of his bed. He walked over, taking off his jacket and hanging it on a chair sitting by his guitar. 

He picked up his guitar and started strumming. It reminded me of the first time he kissed me. 

He quickly lost interest in the guitar and came to sit by me. 

“Um,” He started, “Your surprise.....I was going to take you back to England for two weeks with us, that’s why I didn’t tell you about it, but if you’re starting work......and I know you’ll need to get into it on Thur-” I stopped him.

“It’s okay Niall.” I assured him. “Yes, I need to get into work, so I won’t be able to come to England with you, but that’s okay.” I told him quietly. “I loved the thought, so much though!”

He looked down miserably.

“We went away for a week last time, we weren’t dating and I missed you so, so much!” He started, “Now we’re going away for two weeks, we are dating and I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself!” He said, throwing his hands up in frustration. 

I laughed at his hand movement. “When are you leaving?” I asked him.

He looked at his watch. “In approximately 46 minutes.”

My eyes must’ve nearly popped out of my head.

“46 MINUTES!?” I yelled at him, sitting up on my knees. He looked so shocked.

“I only have 46-” He stopped, checking his watch, “45 minutes,” He corrected himself, “To spend time with my beautiful girlfriend!” He said sadly.

“Let’s make the most of it!” I said, jumping onto him. 

He started laughing but we both fell off the bed together. Niall landed on his back with a thud and I landed on top of him.

We were both in stitches laughing. I was about to lift myself off him when someone burst through the door. 

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO DO-” Louis yelled at us, stopping when he saw us on the ground. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, “What. Are. You. Doing?” He asked, with a weird look on his face.

“Grace’s fault!” Niall blamed me, “She pushed me off the bed!” He smiled cheekily.

“Um, excuse me, if you hadn’t of lost your balance, we’d probably still be sitting on the bed!” I replied, smiling back at him. 

Louis shook his head and walked out of the room. I lifted myself off Niall and sat on the bed again. He sat beside me.

“Take two!” I insisted. 

Wriggling closer towards him. He smiled shyly and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, kissing my cheek. He stood up and lent against the wall, crossing his arms and looking at me.

“That’s it?” I said, horrified. 

“Want to take a quick visit to the beach?” He suggested, winking.

I beamed at him and nodded. 

Chapter 30

Niall and I arrived at the beach with 37 minutes until the boys had to leave. Niall and I ran onto the sand together and Niall ran straight for the water, throwing our bag on the sand. I chased him, again, being faster than him, I quickly passed him.

“Oi!” He yelled at me. 

I stopped and turned around to see him bolting towards me. I screamed and continued to run towards to water. He reached me and wrapped his hands around my waist, stopping me from running. We both stopped running and Niall spun me around, lifting me off the ground.

“Niall James Horan!” I yelled to him.

He stopped spinning me and let go of my waist, but turned me around to face him. Holding my face in his hands, he lent in a kissed me. We had run down to the waters edge and as he kissed me, I could feel the waves gently crashing against out feet.

I let the kiss go on before I could tell Niall what I needed to tell him. I ran my hands through his hair and down his back. 

I lent my head away from him and he stuck his bottom lip out. I grinned at him.

“Niall James Horan!” I started, “I’d like to inform you.” I started, professionally. “That you will be absent on my birthday!” I told him, forcing myself to smile, remembering he was going away for 2 weeks.

His face immediately dropped. “Wh-what?” He stammered. 

I smiled at him, “Don’t worry!” I assured him.

He shook his head slightly, “I can’t go!” He said.

“Don’t be stupid, of course you have to go!” I told him, laughing.

He shook his head more violently, “I can’t!” He wined.

I half smiled at him. “You are going and thats final!” I told him, “Now lets make the most of our...” I trailed off, tilting my head to try and read his watch. I couldn’t manage to read it so I grabbed his wrist and twisted it so I could read the time. “Our 33 minutes together until you go to England!” 

He nodded slowly and I lent in and kissed his lips. He put his hand on my face and I quickly backed away, smiling with cheek. I ran into the water and I could hear footsteps coming after me. I laughed and continued to ran. 

After a bit, the water was not far above my knees and I felt a pair of strong arms around my shoulders. I rested my hands on his arms and turned my head to look at him, he smiled sweetly at me and lent in and pecked my lips. He released his hands from around my shoulders and dived under an incoming wave. 

Me, being the clumsy person I am, got dunked by this small wave. I fell backwards and was underwater until I felt a hand grab my arm. Niall lifted me out of the water, laughing.

“You okay?” He asked me, trying to hide his laughs.

I snatched my arm out of his grip. “I am fine, Mr. Horan!” I told him, running away from him, out of the water and back onto the beach. I heard thudding behind me and stopped and turned around to face Niall. I saw him running up to me, smiling. 

When he reached me, he was out of breath. He put his hands on his knees and breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath back.

“Out of breath Leprechaun?” I asked him, grinning. He smiled, shaking his head. He stood up straight and pulled me into a hug.

“I’m so sorry I’m not going to be here for your birthday, beautiful!” He apologized.

“It’s fine! I already have you!” I said, smiling at him.

“I’m going to miss you!” He said to me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

We were all gathered in the airport; Niall, Harry, Millie, Louis, Zayn, Liam and I, saying goodbye.

“Bye, bye, Gracie poo!” Louis said to me, hugging me and kissing me on the forehead.

Harry hugged me, “Cya Grace!”

“Bye, Grace, we’re going to miss you!” Liam said, hugging me.

Zayn awkwardly hugged me lightly, I squeezed him tighter. “Cya Zayn!” I said to him, smiling. He smiled back at me. 

“BYE GRACE!” Millie yelled at me and ran up and jumped on me, hugging me. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” She asked me.

“No! It’s fine! I’ll be working anyways, you go have fun!” I assured her.

“Thankyou, my amazing bestfriend!” She thanked me, squeezed me tightly again and let go.

Millie was willing not to go so she could stay with me, but I insisted she go. When I said she could go, she was ecstatic.

“Thankyou so so so so so so much!” I remember her thanking me.

Niall was standing the furtherest away from me and he walked up, with his arms open. I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me tightly. Niall gives the best hugs.

“Goodbye beautiful!” He said to me, kissing me on the cheek.

“Bye Ni!”

He pulled away and pecked me on the lips.

I waved to Niall as he hopped on the plane to go to back to England, he looked so miserable. He tried to tell me he’d come down for my birthday, but that day they were doing a concert and he wouldn’t be able to make it. 

Millie jumped onto the plane, holding Harry’s hand, they both waved to me and they disappeared into the plane. I saw Niall pop his head out again, he waved once more.

I was still wearing Niall’s t-shirt he let me borrow after we’d been swimming. It was a bit damp from my hair being wet, but it was comfortable. I pulled out my phone and checked the time, it said 2:43pm. I called mum and asked her to come and pick me up. 

“Hey mum!” I said to her.

“Oh hey baby!” I head her on the other line, “How’d it go?” She asked me.

“I’ll tell you later, I’m at the airport, can you pick me up?”

“Um, sure, I’ll be there soon!” She promised and hung up.

She pulled into the Adamstown Airport and I ran to the car and hopped in.

“Grace, Grace, how was the interview?” Mum asked me excitedly. I tried to smile at her.

“I got the job!” I told her.

“Ooooh, yay!” She said, grabbing my arm and shaking it. “When do you start? What’s going on?” She asked excitedly.

“I start on Thursday!” I replied, beaming at her.

“Ohh! How amazing!” She said, flabbergasted.

“I’m stoked!” I told her.

She smiled once more then changed the topic.

“So what were you doing at the airport?” She asked, curiously.

“Niall and the boys have to go back to England for two weeks, he wanted me to go with him, but I said no because work starts on Thursday.” I said looking down. Mum started driving off.

“Aw!” Mum said, putting her hand on my back. “Don’t worry, you’ll be busy with work and the time will fly, I promise!” 

I took her word for it.

Chapter 31

We pulled into our driveway and I slowly got out of the car. Mum was already at the front door by the time I had taken 3 steps. I had my wet clothes in a plastic bag and I was carrying my phone in my hand. It buzzed in my hand. I stopped and checked it.

“heard ur boyf is gone for the weekend, wanna hang? ;)” 

I didn’t need the name on my phone to know who this is. I screwed up my face.

“What is it?” Mum asked me, concerned.

I looked at her and shook my head, smiling. “Nothing!” I replied, while I deleted the text and walked inside, shoving my phone into my pocket.

I trudged into my room and threw my bag of clothes on the floor. I flopped on my bed and rolled over onto my stomach and pulled out my phone from my pocket, hoping to see a text from Niall. I had a text, but it wasn’t from Niall.

“is that a yes bebz?”

I growled at my phone and through it on the floor and it buzzed again.

“Shut up!” I mumbled to myself, directing it to my phone. I slid off my bed and landed with a thud on the ground in attempt to get my phone to see what the text was about.

“Miss you already love! xx” 

I checked the name and it read “Niall”

I jumped up from off the floor and immediately started texting him back.

“Aw, miss you too!”

I was smiling like an idiot at my phone when someone walked in the door, I paid no attention to them and continued to stare at my phone.

“Grace?” I heard someone say. I snapped my head up and saw Damon.

“Hi Damon!” I said to him.

“What are you doing?” He asked slowly, glancing at my phone. I laughed.

“Just texting!” I told him.

He gave me a weird look and walked out of my room. My phone buzzed again, I quickly checked to see what it said.

“do i want me to cum over?”

Ben had texted me again. My eyes must’ve nearly popped out of my head.

“No.”

I replied with a simple “No.” and left it, ignoring him would be the best thing and walked downstairs to spend a bit of time with mum !

That night, Tuesday night, I spent all night texting Niall. Ben texted a couple more times, asking me why I wasn’t replying, but I ignored them, Niall also told me to ignore them. 

I asked Niall how Millie was going and he told me he hadn’t seen Millie or Harry since they arrived in England, they’ve been stuck in their hotel room. 

Niall had to share a room with Louis. Zayn and Liam shared and Harry and Millie shared a room. 

Niall ended up calling me because he said his fingers were getting tired from texting.

“Hell-o?” I answered my phone.

“HI!” I heard Niall yell on the other side of the phone. I could hear Louis laughing in the background.

“Hey leprechaun!”

“Don’t call me that!” He complained.

“Oh come, it’s cute!” I protested.

“It’s not...” He mumbled.

“WHATS SHE CALLIN YA?” I could hear Louis yell in the background. I heard a thud then Louis again, “Ow! Hey, what was that for?”

“Shut up Lou!” Niall said jokingly.

“Can I talk to her?” He asked Niall. 

“Is it okay if Lou talks to you?” Niall asked me.

“Yeah! That’s fine!” I told him and I could hear movement on the other line.

“Hey babe!” I heard Louis.

“Hey Boo Bear!” I replied, cheekily.

“I swear I will hang up if you call me that!” He threatened.

“Don’t you hang up on her!” Niall yelled at Louis.

“It’s alright mate, I won’t!” He assured Niall. “Niall cried on the plane when we were taking off!” He told me.

“WHAT?” I could hear Niall’s shocked voice in the background. “I did not!”

I heard a bed squeak and I could hear Niall and Louis laughter. 

“No! Get off me!” I could hear Louis yelling. “Uh, Grace!” Louis tried to say, “If the phone hangs up....” He started, laughing. “It’s Niall’s fault!” I heard Louis sigh.

“What are you two doing?” I asked.

“It’s okay now, Nialler was just attacking me, he’s stopped now!” He assured me, breathing heavily.

I heard a door open on the other line.

“What the hell are you doing?” I heard someone say loudly, in a mixed up accent, Liam. “You’re making so much racket! We’re going to get kicked out!” He bossed.

“Yeah boys!” I said to Louis on the phone.

“Shut up!” He said to me, laughing.

“No I will not shut up, I’m serious!” Liam said.

“No, no, no, I was talking to Grace!” Louis defended. 

“Oh! Are you talking to Grace?” Liam asked. “HI GRACE!” He yelled. I laughed.

“Grace, I’ll take you out to the main room and put you on speaker so you can talk to everyone!” Louis said, I agreed. “Nearly there! Almost! And we’re here!” He documented. “And you are now on speaker!” Louis informed me.

“Hi everyone!” I said loudly. I heard ‘Hi’s’ and ‘Hey’s.’

“VAS HAPPENIN?” I could hear Zayn, he was the only loud one.

I laughed, “Hey Zayn!”

“What about the rest of us?” Louis complained.

“Yeah!” Niall agreed.

“Hi Louis, Niall, Liam and Zayn!” I said, laughing.

“I’m just the coolest!” Zayn bragged. I could hear thuds and Zayn bursting into laughter. “No! Ow, that one hurt Liam!” He said between his laughs.

“Yes, we were just throwing pillows at Zayn!” Liam told me.

“Oh!” I said, pretending to be shocked, “How rude of you!”

“He was being rude first!” Louis said. I heard another pillow been thrown and I heard an “OW!”

“STOP FIGHTING ALL OF YOU!” I yelled into the phone. I heard Niall giggle which made me smile.

“SORRY MUMMY!” Louis yelled back at me.

“Watch your attitude young man!” I cautioned him.

They all laughed.

“Lads,” I started, “It’s late here, it’s about..” I stopped and checked the time, it said 11:30pm, “It’s half past eleven and I’m super tired!” I told them.

“Niall, what did you two do to get her so tired!” Louis asked him, I can imagine him winking at Niall.

I laughed and Niall giggled again, “No Lou, I’m just tired and I’m going to go to bed now!” I told them.

“Aw, okay!” Louis said, “Bye babe!”

“Bye, bye Grace!” Liam called out.

“Vas happenin bed time?!” Zayn said in the background. His goodbye made me laugh to myself.

“Give me the phone.” I heard Niall murmur to Louis.

“Okay, okay grumpy bum!” Louis replied.

“Hey, it’s me.” Niall told me. “You’re not on speaker anymore and I’m going into my room!” 

I laughed. “Okay Ni!”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow!” He promised. “I miss you!”

“Aw Niall! You haven’t been away for that long, but I miss you too!” I told him, laughing afterwards.

“Yeah but still!” He said, “Oh and after your first day of work, call me and tell me how it goes, okay sleepy?” 

I laughed “Yes, I will, goodnight!” 

“Night, love you!” He said and hung up.

I put my phone down on my bedside table and fell asleep straight away.

Chapter 32

It was Thursday morning, 8:30am when my alarm went off. I rolled over and checked the time. I suddenly remembered I have to start my new job today, I jumped out of bed and started sorted through my clothes just as I got a text. It read:

“Hello Grace, it’s Rebecca! Just letting you know to come in casual clothes today as I have a surprise for you, I hope you like it! See you in an hour!” 

Hmm....another surprise. I shrugged my shoulders and put on some skinny leg jeans and a casual t-shirt. I walked downstairs to find Damon sitting by the door.

“What are you doing Day?” I asked him, cautiously. 

“Chillin’” He replied casually.

I nodded slowly and walked into the kitchen, grabbing an apple, for my breakfast.

“What are you doing?” Damon asked me.

“I’m going to work!” I said smartly, picking up my phone.

Damon burst out in laughter and continued to laugh for a while. He suddenly stopped.

“No really, what are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m going to work! Clothing designer for “One Empire”!” I told him.

“Oh, yeah, mum was telling me about that! I didn’t believe her though!” He remembered, telling me as I kicked him so I could get out the door. He moved and I walked outside and past my car. I was getting my P’s on my birthday, so I couldn’t drive without mum with me, so I decided to walk. It would take me about 20 minutes for me to get to “One Empire” but if I walked quickly it’d only take 10-ish minutes.

I started walking, quickly and excitedly!

I arrived at “One Empire” 20 minutes early. I walked through the bigs doors to see a surprised Jenny at the counter.

“Oh Grace!” She greeted me, looking at the clock behind her, “You’re early!”

“Yeah, I walked here and walked a bit faster than expected!” I told her, grinning.

“Well that’s alright, if you can just walk over to Rebecca’s office and knock on the door, she’s expecting you!” Jenny told me, pointing to Rebecca’s office. I thanked her and walked to the door and knocked.

“Come in Grace!” I heard her say. I smiled and opened the door. “Hello!” She welcomed me.

“Hi Rebecca!” I replied. 

“You can call me Bec!” She told me, I smiled and nodded at her. “So, this surprise...” She hinted. I sat down on the seat in front of her desk and listened to her. “I’ve been talking to the “One Empire” managers in England and they need someone to fit a few people they’re interviewing! I told them I was going to ask you, I completely trust you!”

My eyes widened. My mouth dropped to the floor. My arms left my lap and lay limp down the chair. My whole body when numb.

“Would you like that?” She asked me. I nodded slightly. I out my hands to my face and smiled.

“I would love that!” I told her, excitedly.

She beamed.

She told me all the details.

“One Empire” were paying for all costs; flights, hotels, my transport, everything!

I was to leave tomorrow morning at 5:30am.

I am staying for 5 nights.

I would start work the next day at the England, “One Empire.”

She didn’t tell me who, but I am fitting some “celebrities.”  

“I’m going to talk to your mother and I’ll see you when you get back!” She said to me as I stood up, I shook her hand and walked out of her office, beaming. 

I walked out and saw the seats were now filled with many people, I scanned along all the people and saw a beautiful women sitting down, with her eyes cast down to her phone....it was Demi Lovato!

I really loved Demi Lovato but when she went into rehab, I was heart broken. She came out and released Skyscraper, which is still one of my favourite songs. She broke through an eating disorder and that was something special to me because my brother had an eating disorder and it was scary for everyone.

I stared at Demi for a while before I snapped out of it. I walked to Jenny’s desk, she smiled at me.

“Are you going to England?” She asked me happily.

I nodded, with no expression, looking at her. 

“What is it Grace?” She asked me concerned. 

I looked back over to Demi, who was now reading a magazine. “Is that Demi Lovato?” I asked, wide eyed.

“Yes...” Jenny replied slowly. “Grace, hunny, you’re going to be working with people like her, you need to get used to it!” She told me.

“She’s like, my role model though!” I protested.

Jenny sighed and stepped out from behind her desk and to my surprise, she was quite short. She walked over in Demi’s direction, Demi turned around and smiled at her.

I could see them talking, Jenny then looked in my direction and Demi turned her head and waved at me. I beamed and waved enthusiastically back to her. Jenny started walking back over to me and Demi followed. Demi walked over to me and opened her arms, pulling me into a hug.

“Always stay strong beautiful!” Was the only she said to me before flashing me a smile and walking back to her seat. I looked at Jenny and gave her a thankful smile.

“Thankyou so much, it’s been my dream to see Demi!” I said to her, “Thankyou!” I thanked her another 50 times and left the building. 

I texted mum asking her to come and pick me up, it was too warm to walk back home.

Mum arrived in a quick 5 minutes and I jumped in the car and mum and I set off back home.

“You got fired didn’t you?” Mum asked, down.

“WHAT?!” I screamed, “No! No, mum!” I said to her, shocked.

“Whoa, whoa, then why did you come home so early?” She asked, very confused.

“I’m going to England tomorrow morning for work there. I’ll be gone 5 days.” I informed her, “Is that okay?” I asked, cautiously.

She beamed at me, “That’s great! Yes, that’s absolutely fine! How exciting!” She said, smiling with me.

I sighed with relief. “Thanks mum!” I thanked her. “I have to be at the airport at 5:30 tomorrow morning, can you drop me off?” I asked her, fluttering my eyelashes. She gave me a shocked look.

“What?!” She asked, horrified. “How are you going to get up before 5:30?” She asked, laughing afterwards. I laughed with her.

“I’ll hopefully be able to!” I said as we pulled into our driveway.

I rushed up to my room and was about to dial Niall’s number to tell him the good news.

Chapter 33

“Hellooooooo?” Niall answered on the other line.

“NIALLER!” I screamed happily to him.

“GRACE, GRACE, GRACE!” He yelled back. I could hear laughter in the background.

“Guess what? Guess what?” I hinted.

“What? What is it?” He asked.

Wait....I could surprise Niall by visiting him at his hotel when I go to England tomorrow!! 

‘Grace you are very smart!’ 

‘I know’

“Ummm, uhhhh, I miss you!” I covered up.

“Aw, Gracie, I miss you too!” He told me, “How did the job go?” He asked me excitedly.

“Umm.” I started, remembering I was only told I was going to England, “It was amazing, so amazing, I, uhh, I met Demi Lovato!” I told him. Meeting Demi was true.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” 

I quickly changed the topic. “What are you guys doing down there?”

“Oh, we are doing heaps of interviews and photo shoots and just stuff like that!” He told me.

“Sounds like heaps of fun!”

“Yeah, it’s amazing!”

“Well, I need to go, a bit tired after work today.” I said to him.

“Okay, bye, bye, love you!” He said and hung up.

I would’ve loved to talk for longer but I suck at lying/acting so I would end up blurting out what I was going to do.

I was tired, I wasn’t lying then, so I just decided to go to bed, skipping dinner. I lay down on my bed and fell asleep.

My alarm went off at 5:00am, Friday. I groaned and rolled over, facing my wall. I heard a bang on my door.

“We’re going in 30 minutes Grace!” My mum yelled at me. 

I groaned again and walked over to my cupboard and grabbed a pair of pink sweats and a shirt. I grabbed a pile of clothes I had made last night and threw them in my suitcase. I grabbed a few pairs of socks and undies and threw them in as well. I wasn’t very organized and I probably should’ve packed my bag yesterday.....but oh well. I zipped up my suitcase and tugged downstairs, very tired. 

“Morning sleepy!” Mum greeted me, I tried to smile normally, but failed, turning my smile into a dopey, tired smile.

“Hi.” I mumbled. 

She rolled her eyes, “Let’s go!” 

We pulled into the airport and mum gave me a kiss on the cheek and helped me get my bags, kissing me again.

“Thanks mum!”

“Bye baby!” She said to me, before sending me on my way. “See you in a week!”

I turned and waved to her. “Bye mum!” I yelled.

“I’ll call you tomorrow!” She promised, waving back. 

I gave a confused look to her and set off to find my plane. There weren’t many people at the airport but as I found where I was meant to be waiting for my flight, there were so many people waiting for the same flight as me.

There was a lot of pushing and talking. I’m not the best person with tight spaces and I started getting a bit agitated and worried. I walked around, trying to find a seat to wait at, I ended up standing because there were no seats left. 

There wasn’t a long wait before they started getting people to board the plane, I was one of the first people because I was standing by the desk. I gave them my ticket and started walking towards the plane. 

I love planes, not scared at all, but a 14 hour flight! I was not looking forward to this!

I was glad to be in first class, walking onto the plane and seeing big, comfortable, couch looking chairs. I sighed happily and looked for my seat, there was no one sitting at the vacant seat beside me at the moment, I kind of hoped there was no one beside me. I’m super awkward when it comes to people I don’t know, I get even more awkward when they’re hot.

As I thought that to myself, an amazingly attractive guy walked onto the plane carrying a brief case. He was wearing skinny leg jeans and a casual shirt. He had brown, surfer hair and a gorgeous smile. He was tanned and had deep brown eyes. 

He looked around the seats and he looked over at me, I quickly looked away and pulling out a book, pretending to read it.

“Hello!” He greeted, in an adorable American accent. “Looks like we’re sitting together!” He said, placing his brief case in the overhead locker.

He flashed another perfect smile at me and sat down. I attempted to smile back and dug my head into my book again, well, pretended to.

“What are you reading?” He asked, in a friendly tone.

“Oh umm....” I said, nervously. I turned my book around and saw ‘Meltdown, Ben Elton’

“Meltdown, by Ben Elton!” I told him, awkwardly.

“I love that book! What’s your favourite part?” He asked me, keen.

“Um, well, I just started reading it, so I don’t really know....” I told him, red faced.

He smiled at me again and held out his hand, “My name’s Cooper.” He introduced.

“I’m Grace!” I said, shaking his hand.

“Cute name!” He flirted, smiling again. 

I smiled back and looked into my book again, I saw the page was on and the first words I picked out were ‘No! Jimmy protested.’ It made me think of Louis, then of Niall, seriously, this guy was smoking but Niall was better, I’m not just saying that!

I refrained myself from talking to ‘Cooper’ and read my book, it wasn’t very interesting and I ended up closing it and asking the flight attendant how to watch a movie. 

She directed me, clicking a button, then another one and then another one and I got super lost but I ended up being able to watch a movie. I decided on watching ‘Love Actually.’ I put in my earphones and started the movie.

Harry always went on about how much he loved the movie and it reminded me of that time Niall and I watched it together after we had gone to the beach with everyone, that made me miss him even more. 

I turned off the movie when it had finished, pulled out my earphones while I picked another movie. I decided on ‘Titanic.’ I chose a long movie to make the time pass by quicker and I love the movie anyway.

I put in my earphones again and switched the movie on. 

About half way through the movie, I got a tap on the shoulder. I whipped my head around, taking my earphones out to look at Cooper.

“I’m getting some food....do you want anything?” He asked me politely.

“No thanks.” I replied, smiling and plugging my earphones back in.

Throughout the whole movie, Cooper continued to try to start conversation with me, each time I ignored him, pretending my earphones were too loud. I felt so bad, but he was getting on my nerves. 

Chapter 34

When the movie came to the sad part, where Jack dies, I cried, I did my best to cover it up but I’m no good at hiding my feelings. I was worried about my mascara running and quickly turned off the movie, cleaning my eyes. Cooper looked at me, worried.

“Are you okay?” He asked me concerned.

I looked at him and gave him a grateful smile, “Just the movie.” I told him, laughing afterwards.

I checked the time on my watch and it read 10:49am. Only eight and a half-ish hours to go. Great.

I tried to get into my book but it was actually so boring, I sighed and thought about what I could do. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, not Cooper, although he was nice, he was over flirty, I plugged in my iPod and pumped some music. 

I played ‘I’m Yours’ on repeat, humming to the words, imagining Niall singing it to me. I finally got over that after about 50 plays and put it on shuffle.

‘Come Home to Me - Justin Bieber’ came on and I slowly got tired and dozed off to sleep with my music still going. It was about 11:30. 

‘Whip My Hair - Willow Smith’ came on and woke me up. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at saw Coopers face, my head was resting on Coopers shoulder.

“Oh,” I grunted, sitting up, rubbing my eyes, “Sorry Cooper!” I apologized, red faced.

He chuckled, “It’s fine!”

I rolled my shoulders and checked my watch, the time, pulling out my earphones, my watch read 5:00pm. I stared at my watch in amazement and my eyes as big as bowling bowls.

I could hear Cooper chuckling to himself again.

I looked at him, “How long was I asleep for?” I asked him shocked.

He chuckled again, “For about...” He started, moving his fingers, counting, “Five and a half hours!” He told me, smiling.

“Wow!” I said, wonderstruck, “I’m sorry again.” I again, apologized.

“Seriously Grace, it’s cool!” He assured me, “I hardly noticed because I dozed off as well.”

I sighed and looked through the movies again, mumbling the names.

‘Mean Girls’

‘Twilight’

‘Red Riding Hood’

‘The Lion King’

‘Love Actually’

‘Cool Runnings’

‘Ben Hur’

‘Transformers’

“Oh!” Cooper interrupted me, “‘Transformers’ is an amazing movie, Megan Fox is so hot!” He told me. I gave him a weird look, then smiled and got back to my movie.

‘She’s The Man’

Yes! I love that movie so much, I chose it and plugged in my earphones again.

I tried my best not to laugh out loud but it was too funny. I kept getting weird glances and Cooper smiled every time I laughed.

“Could everybody please buckle in their seat belts” The announcer called, I took out my earphones to listen, “and get prepared for our landing in England. The current time is 6:49pm and the temperature is 13˚, better get out your jackets and jumpers. We will be landing in approximately fifteen minutes to half an hour. We may encounter some turbulence. Thankyou.”

Turbulence? Turbulence?I hate turbulence, I feel sick and I get scared and worried. I gripped onto the hand rests tightly. Cooper must’ve noticed.

“Grace,” He said, gently touching my hand, I flinched as he did. “It’s alright.”

I attempted to smile at him, but failed. I looked out the window to hide my fear.

The overview of London was beautiful, it was dark and you could see all the lights off the buildings and houses. You could see small cars and trucks driving down the road. I smiled looking down at the lights and it made me feel a lot better. I looked down on the city, feeling calm, then we hit some turbulence. I whipped my head around and stared at the seat in front of me. I felt like I was as white as a ghost and my eyes large. I wrapped my hands around the hand rests again, my knuckles turning white. I didn’t feel sick, yet, but I was scared and worried.

I tried calming myself by looking out the window again, but it seemed that every time I looked out the window, we hit turbulence just as I looked out, so I didn’t.

I closed my eyes and started humming. I felt a hand on mine.

“Closing your eyes just makes it worse.” A familiar voice told me, I opened my eyes and saw Cooper. I attempted another smile and again failed.

“Just think of things that make you happy! Maybe why you’re going to London?” He suggested. 

I looked at the back of my seat again and thought, in about less than an hour, I would be seeing Niall. I actually got so excited, I smiled to myself and we then hit some more turbulence. I flinched and looked out the window again. The city was gone and all I could see was clouds. 

Where’s the city? How is the pilot meant to land if he can’t see the city? Or the ground for that matter? What if the pilot is going the wrong way and we go right past the city? 

We started moving a bit more, we lent to the right, Cooper lent to the right, moving with the plane and leant onto me. 

We continued to weave and lean until we finally landed.

Chapter 35

I walked off the plane and into the terminal and I looked for my bags. I felt more calm now that we’d landed and I was fully relaxed and did my best to forget about that plane ride. I felt like I wanted to kiss the ground, I was just so relieved to be back on the safe land. I switched on my phone. A message popped up on my phone.

‘New timezone detected, would you like to change the time?’

I smiled and clicked the ‘yes’ button.

I found the bag pick up and searched for my bag. I waited for a while before seeing a big, violet suitcase. As I waited until it rolled around to me, Cooper appeared by my side.

“Which is yours?” He asked me. 

I pointed to the violet suitcase rolling towards us.

He nodded and we stood awkwardly by my side, he was taller than me, I’m about 5”6 and he’s about 5”8-ish.

My bag was right in front of me and I reached down to get it, but I just missed it and it started running away from me. I gasped.

Cooper luckily noticed my stress and my bag running from me and he reached over and picked it up for me.

“Thankyou so much!” I thanked him, taking the bag from his hands.

“It’s all good!” He assured me. “Umm.....” He started awkwardly, “Would you want to catch up while you’re in England?” He asked me as we both walked away from the bag pick up with both our bags in our hands.

“Oh...um....I’m going to be super busy with work and everything so I don’t know...” I told him, red faced.

“Would we be able to hand out afterwards?” He tried again.

“Um...I’ll probably be really busy with my boyfriend.....” I said, guiltily. 

“Umm....oh....umm....okay.....I guess.....it was really nice meeting you!” He said, still awkward.

“Yeah, you too!” I said, quickly walking away. 

I walked outside looking for my taxi to my hotel. I organized with Rebecca for me to stay at the same hotel that Niall is staying at, ‘The London Lodge.’ It’s meant to be really nice and really fancy. I haven’t stayed at a fancy hotel before so I was quite excited. 

I found a man holding a sign that read ‘Grace Salvatore.’ The man was standing by a limo.

I walked over to him.

“Um, I’m Grace Salvatore.” I told him.

“ID please.” He said professionally.

I searched around in my bag for my passport and gave it to him. He studied it and passed it back.

“Hello Grace!” He said in an English accent. “How are you this fine evening?”

I smiled at him, “I’m good thankyou!” I replied.

“How was your flight?” He asked me, opening the limo door for me to get it and taking my bags from me.

“It was....” I hesitated. “Long and bumpy.” I told him as I stepped into the car.

“How are you enjoying London so far?”

“It’s amazing!” I told him, looking out the window at all the buildings and people and cars.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at ‘The London Lodge.’ It was so big and so....so.....awesome! 

I hopped out of the car, still looking around. The man who drove me walked over to me and said, “By the way, my name is Gilbert!” He told me, proudly. I smiled at him, hiding my laughs. 

He took my bags and led me into the hotel. I didn’t need to sign in or anything, I just went straight up to my room. 

I opened the door to my room and the first thing I saw was a big, fluffy looking double bed. My eyes nearly popped out of my head, I ran over to it and jumped on top of it. 

It was probably the most comfortable thing I had ever lay on. I spread out my arms and legs and lay there. Gilbert put my suitcase and pillow down and told me someone who works here would come up and see me. I agreed and he left. I emptied my giant suitcase and threw everything in my cupboard. I hung up my jackets and long pants and jeans. I folded my shorts and t-shirts and put them in a drawer. I threw my socks, undies and bras in the drawer underneath the first. 

After I’d finished un-packing, I lay down on the bed again and pulled out my phone. 

There was a knock on the door and someone walked in.

“Hello Miss Salvatore, how are you enjoying your room?” A man said, he was dressed in a formal suit and he looked old and was bald.

“It’s so amazing! Thankyou!” I told him.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask!” He assured me and started leaving.

“Um, excuse me.” I stopped him, “I was wondering what room Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson are staying in?” I asked him.

“I can’t give out that information I’m sorry.” He said, sadly to me.

“But, Niall’s my boyfriend and he didn’t know I was coming and I want to surprise him!” I begged. “Look!” I said, showing him my phone. It was a picture of Niall and I that Liam had taken of us at the beach.

“Alright!” He gave up, sighing, “They’re in room 4 level L. But you didn’t hear it from me!” He said, winking.

“Thankyou so much!” I thanked him as he walked out.

I picked up my phone and dialed Niall’s number.

“HEEEELLLLOOOOO?” He answered.

I laughed, “NIALLER!” I yelled.

“GRAAAAAACE!” He yelled back. “WHERE YOU BEEN?” He continued to yell.

“Shh, it’s okay, you can stop yelling.” I told him, laughing afterwards.

He giggled, “Sorry!”

I stood up and started walking out the door. I was heading to Niall’s room. I went to the elevator. I was on level D so I had to go up. I walked into the elevator, still talking to Niall.

“What have you guys been up to?” I asked him, pressing the L button in the elevator.

“Umm, just photo shoots, interviews, not much!” 

“Where are you now?” I asked, making sure he was actually in his room.

“Just in my room, Louis is out with Eleanor.” He informed me. I smiled to myself.

The elevator opened and I walked out and searched for room 4. I didn’t have to look long before I found the room I was looking for.

I covered the phone’s microphone and knocked.

“Oh, hold on Grace, someone’s at the door!” He told me on the phone

I didn’t reply.

He opened the door and I saw him standing there, holding his phone.

“GRACE!” He screamed at me, dropping his phone and pulling me into a hug.

Chapter 36

I hugged him back and he squeezed me so tightly I couldn’t breath, kissing me on the cheek. 

“What are you doing here!?” He asked, loudly and excitedly to me, still hugging me.

I couldn’t answer because he was squeezing me so tight, I managed to fit in a small laugh.

He didn’t let go for a while, but eventually, he did. He took me over to his bed and sat down. I sat beside him.

“So, what are you doing here!?” He asked again, still very excited. 

I couldn’t stop smiling because his reaction. It was so cute and priceless!

“Work.” I simply replied, too happy to say anything else.

He just continued to smile at me, not saying anything, just smiling. I waved my hand in front of his face and laughed. 

“I’ve missed you!” He said, pulling me into another hug. 

I hugged him back, beaming.

He stood up and did a little jig, he put out his hands to me and I held them. He helped me stand up and he took my face in his hands and he looked deep in my eyes.

“This is possibly the best surprise I have ever gotten!” He told me gently. “Thankyou for making my day!” He whispered in my ear.

I looked at him and smiled. Gahh, he’s so cute!

“Now I’m going to make yours.” He started, smiling sweetly at me.

He lent in, wrapping his arms around my back and kissing me. I put my hands on his face and through his hair. He lent away from me and grinned.

“You’re the best kisser!” He told me. 

I smiled and looked away from him, red faced. He lifted my head to look at him. We looked deep into each other eyes and he lent in again, pecking me on the lips and pulling away quickly as there was a knock on the door.

“Nialler! Let us in!” I heard a familiar voice yell through the door. It was Louis.

Niall sighed, smiled at me once more and walked to the door, opening it for Louis. I sat down on the bed and smiled at Louis when he walked in the door. 

“GRACE!” He yelled, running up to me. I stood up and he pulled me into a hug.

“GRACE!” I heard another scream at the door. It was Eleanor.

“El!” I yelled, wriggling out of Louis grip and ran up to Eleanor, hugging her tightly.

“I’ve missed you girl!” She said to me, hugging back.

“Where you been?” I asked, laughing afterwards.

“What are you doing here?” Louis asked me as I pulled away from Eleanor.

“I’m here for work!” I told him.

Eleanor snorted. “Did you really just say ‘I’m’ as in you and ‘work’ in the same sentence?” She asked me, laughing.

“Excuse me Mrs. Louis, but yes I did!” I told her, walking closer to her.

“Sorry Mrs. Horan!” She said, smirking. 

I winked at her and turned back to face Louis and Niall. Eleanor wrapped her arms around my shoulders from the back. 

Niall gave her a dirty look, trying not to smile. He walked over to her, “Excuse me, but that spot belongs to me!” He told her. 

She poked her tongue out at him and walked over to Louis. Niall stood behind me and took Eleanor’s place, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. He rested his head on my shoulder.

“Are you staying here tonight El?” Niall asked Eleanor.

“Oh, um, there’ll be no room.” She said, looking at the double bed.

“Niall can stay in my room?” I suggested, looking around at him, smiling.

He slightly kissed me on the lips. “That’ll do!” He agreed. I smiled at him again.

“Uh, get a room!” Louis mumbled, walking over to his bed.

“We have one!” Niall replied, attempting to ‘shut Louis down’.

“Then use it!” Louis replied, smirking at him.

Niall shook his head. “Let’s go!” He mumbled to me and we left. I waved goodbye to Louis and Eleanor and they waved back. We closed the door and walked to the elevator.

I pushed level D and we waited to go down.

My phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hi Grace, it’s Rebecca!” I heard Bec’s voice on the other line. 

“Oh hey Bec!” I greeted her.

“How are you enjoying England?” She asked me.

“It’s so beautiful!” I replied.

“Hotel nice?” She asked.

“Amazing!”

“Good, good! So we have clarified we only need you down there for a day and a half, which is tomorrow and half of Sunday.” She told me. “So we’ll be bringing you back on Monday, which gives you half of Sunday to have a bit of a look around, sound good?”

“Yeah that sounds fine!” I agreed.

“Okay then, Gilbert will take you to the airport on Sunday!” She informed me, “Enjoy!” She said and hung up. 

I put my phone in my pocket and Niall and I stepped out of the elevator. Niall slipped his hand into mine, grinning at me. We walked around to my room, room number 14, I got out my key and un-locked the door. Niall walked in and I followed him. He sat down on my bed and I sat next to him. We were facing the big window and we were looking out onto the giant city. We could hear cars beeping, people talking, we could see the building lights, it was so beautiful. I yawned and rested my head on Niall’s shoulder.

“Tired?” He asked me. I simply nodded. “You go get changed and I’ll meet you in bed, okay?” He asked me. 

I slowly stood up and brought a pile of clothes with me to the bathroom. I threw them on the floor and searched in them for my pajamas, but I couldn’t find them. I sighed and decided to just wear my undies and bras. I took off my clothes, threw them in the pile with my others and walked out in my bras and underwear. Niall was already lying in bed wearing his track pants and no shirt.

“What are you doing?” He asked me, laughing and rolling his eyes. “It’s cold!”

“I forgot my pajamas!” I complained, wrapping my arms around my waist.

He sat up and opened his arms. “All the more reason we should cuddle!” He said, grinning sweeling. I smiled at him and walked over to him and wriggled under the covers and Niall put his arm around me. 

We lay down for a bit talking, I had my head rested on his shoulder and his arm was around me. He played with my hair with his free hand while we talked. 

“So, tomorrow night I have plans for us.” Niall hinted.

I chuckled. “What are we doing?” I asked him, smiling.

“I’m taking you out for a romantic dinner and movie!” He told me.

I beamed at him. “Aww! What for?” 

He sat up and gave me a confused look. “Um, for your birthday!”

Oh yeah, it’s my birthday tomorrow, if he hadn’t of reminded me I would’ve forgotten. I would’ve like to have forgotten that. I gave him a dirty look.

“I’m doing something nice for you, don’t look at me like that!” He growled at me playfully.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just don’t want anything, from anyone!” I complained.

“Why not?” He asked, “Birthdays are fun and exciting!” He tried to convince me. 

I shook my head in disagreement. “Birthdays are times where you get older and people celebrate the day you get older by giving you presents....who wants to celebrate getting old?” I asked.

“You celebrate the day you were born, because it was an amazing day and you deserve celebrating!” He told me, smiling sweetly.

I sighed and gave up. I nodded and shrugged my shoulders in surrender, he smiled at me, lying back down. I got comfortable again, re-resting my head on his shoulder and he re-positioned his arm around me, holding my hand with his free one. 

I snuggled my head into his shoulder, dozing off to sleep, he pulled me closer. It felt amazing to be back in his arms and I fell asleep straight away.

Chapter 37

I awoke the next morning to someone snoring. I looked up and saw Niall’s beautiful, sleepy face. He still had his arms wrapped around me and he was still holding my hand. I tried to wriggle carefully out of his grip and slither out of bed, trying not to wake him. I got out safely and walked over to find my phone. I searched the pockets of my jeans and found it, I had a text, it was from Louis.

“Hey babe, what room you and Nialler in?”

I replied, telling him we were in room 14 level D and sent it off. I checked the time, making sure I’d be able to get to work on time. It was early for me, 7:34am, I start at 8:30. I sighed and threw my clothes on, skinny leg jeans and a white singlet. I fixed my hair and pulled it into a loose bun and put on some mascara and foundation.

I was just doing the finishing touches on my hair and makeup when there was a knock at the door.

I opened the door and saw Louis standing there.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!” He screamed at me, pulling me into a hug.

I groaned. “Thanks Boo Bear!” I said, laughing, hugging him back. 

He scowled at me and glanced into my room to look at Niall. Niall was laying on his stomach, the blanket half way down his back and had one leg hanging out. He chuckled.

“Wake Nialler and let him know to meet us downstairs at 8, okay?” He told me, still smiling at Niall. 

I chuckled, “Alright!” I agreed and Louis was about to leave but stopped at the door.

“Oh and I have a surprise for you after we both finish work!” He told me, winking and he left. I sighed to myself and walked over to Niall and bent down to whisper in his ear.

“Ni, wake up.” I said quietly in his ear. He didn’t move so I decided to pick up a pillow. I grabbed one off the bed and threw it over my head and onto Niall’s back.

“AH!” He screamed, sitting up quickly. I laughed and hit him once more. “OI!” He yelled, smiling at me and jumping out of the bed and charging towards me. He grabbed me around the waist and picked me up, throwing me on the bed. We were both laughing as he pinned my arms up above my head and lent in to kiss me. I couldn’t help but smile during the kiss, it was so awkwardly funny. 

“Happy Birthday my beautiful 17 year old!” He whispered to me through to the kiss.

I groaned and pushed him off me, sitting up on my knees, crossing my arms. 

“I’m sorry!” He pleaded, crawling across the bed to sit next to me. 

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek, I didn’t react.

He looked at me with pleading eyes, “I’m sorry!” He tried again, more quieter. I again, didn’t react. “How can I make it up to you?” He asked me, grinning.

“Say ‘I love you Grace!’” I instructed him.

“I love you Grace and you’re the best girlfriend in the world and I will love you forever!” He said, smiling at me.

I laughed, “I forgive you!” I told him, walking to the wall and leaning on it.

He smiled cheekily at me and stood up, walking over to me. He put his right hand over my right shoulder on the wall and put his other hand on my face. He lent in kissing me again.

I pulled away, remembering I had to tell Niall to meet the boys downstairs at 8.

“Lou wants you to be ready and downstairs at 8!” I told him quietly.

“He can wait.” He replied softly, kissing me again.

I kissed him back. “Okay,” I stopped, putting my hands on his chest, “Seriously, get ready and get out of here!” I told him, grinning. He smiled back and walked over and picked up his shirt. He threw it on a walked into the bathroom. I pulled out my phone and sat down on my bed. I had 5 texts and the time was 7:52am.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL BESTFRIEND! HARRY AND I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU LATER! LOVE YOU XO! P.S SO GLAD YOURE HERE!” - Millie

“Morning love! Happy, happy, birthday! We all love you and we hope you have an amazing day! Super happy you ended up coming to England! I’ll give you your present when I see you next! xo” - Liam

“Hello sweetie, I hope you have a gorgeous day today! Hope you’re enjoying London! Call me when you’re ready, I really want to talk to you!! xx” - Mum.

“Hey babes ! Happy birthday! I hope you have the best day ever and get everything you want (although you don’t want anything) hehe xo” - Harry

“HEY GRACE! I hope you have the absolute best day ever and I’ll catch up with you later tonight ;) just kidding, but I’ll see you soon!! xxx” - Zayn

I smiled while reading all the texts, I couldn’t be bothered replying, but I’d call mum later and I’ll probably see the boys tonight!

Niall walked out of the bathroom. “Time?” He asked me. I checked the time on my phone, it read 7:58am.

“2 to.” I replied, giggling after saying it. Niall rolled is eyes and laughed at me.

“Care to walk me down?” He asked, holding out his hand. I took it and stood up, shoving my phone in my pocket and we walked out of my room together.

We stepped into the elevator and went to ground floor, as we hit the bottom floor, the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the elevator was Millie and Harry, holding hands, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Eleanor. A smile lit up on my face as Niall released his grip on my hand and all the others crowded around me, singing ‘happy birthday’. 

Louis had tied a ‘50th birthday!’ balloon around my wrist. They we all attempting to pick me up, I tried to refuse, but they did anyway. They ended up dropping me, but Zayn caught me.

I couldn’t help but smile, although I hate birthday’s, I think this one would turn out great!

Just before we were all about to go to work, Liam came over and started talking to me, “Oh Grace, where do you work?” He asked, slyly.

“‘One Empire’” I told him, “Why?”

He smiled, “Because that’s where we are today! We’re having an interview and then going for a photo shoot!” He told me happily.

My mouth dropped open and my eyes grew large. “Woooo!” I whooped, laughing afterwards. 

He put his arm around me, “Do you want to come with us instead of going alone?” He suggested. I nodded happily.

‘Yay!’ I thought to myself.

We all hopped in the big van. I sat in the middle of Millie and Niall. Harry sat in the middle of Louis and Zayn and Liam sat in the front and the driver set off to London’s ‘One Empire’

“It’s so cool you guys are working together today!” Millie said excitedly. 

“You can help me Mil!” I offered, smiling at her.

She beamed at me. “I’d love to!” 

“Only because you’ll get to dress Harry!” I said, winking at her and smiling at Harry.

She giggled. “Well……”

We pulled into ‘One Empire.’ We went to the desk and Millie and I followed the boys. They greeted the lady at the desk and she sent them straight into the interview room. I walked up next and introduced myself.

“Hi, I’m Grace, I work at the ‘One Empire’ in Australia!” I told her.

She glanced at me and pointed to the ‘Clothing’ door to my right. I awkwardly stood there and walked over slowly, making sure I was going in the right place.

I knocked on the ‘Clothing’ door and stood there awkwardly, waiting for someone to answer.

“Just go in!” The desk lady snapped at me. 

I gave a shocked look to Millie and opened the door. The first thing I saw were racks and racks of beautiful clothes, in the section for girls there were long dresses, skirts, t-shirts, pants, jumpers, jackets, shorts and for the boys section there were singlets, shirts, 3/4 shorts, jumpers, pants and jackets.

I walked in a looked through all the clothes, Millie followed me, unsure.

“Hello!” A voice perked up, I jumped and faced my left, where a women had walked out of the door that read ‘Shoots.’

“Um, hi!” I said.

“Are you Grace?” She asked and I nodded. “Well, today you’ll be helping us fit One Direction!” She told me excitedly. I beamed at her.

“You know One Direction don’t you?” She asked.

“She’s dating one of them!” Millie butted in.

The women looked at me and smiled. “Which one are you dating?” She asked.

“Niall.” I told her.

“Aw, how nice!” She complimented, “Well, I am Georgia and I will be assisting you today and tomorrow!” She told me.

“It’s lovely to meet you.” I said, “This is my friend Millie, is it okay if she stays for the day?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’d love the help!” Georgia agreed.

Chapter 38

All throughout the morning, before the boys came, Millie and I searched eagerly in the racks, there were so many things that caught my eye. Every now and again Georgia would come in and check up on us and make sure we weren’t doing anything wrong.

By the time we had looked through all the boys rack and chosen some things we might like to put on the boys, they walked in, it was about 2:00pm.

“Hey babes!” Louis greeted us.

“Oh hello boys,” Georgia welcomed, “this is Grace and Millie!” Georgia told them. They all gave her a weird look at Niall walked over to me and pulled my into a tight hug. 

“Oh, sorry!” Georgia apologized. “I forgot!” She said and giggled. 

Zayn and I exchanged smiles, I got a high five off Louis and a kiss on the forehead from Liam and Harry.

“So, the girls have chosen a few things out, they’ll get you to try on a few things and once we’re all happy, we’ll get on with the shoot!” Georgia told us, the boys nodded. “I’ll introduce you to your photographer soon!” She left and Millie and I walked over to where we placed the clothes we liked.

****    I picked up a blue polo, maroon pants and white Toms for Niall. I handed him the clothes and he smiled at me and walked into the change rooms.

 ***   Millie passed Harry brown Toms, light denim jeans, a white t-shirt and a denim jacket. He took them from her, kissing her on the cheek and went into the other change room.

***     Millie and I chose 3/4, grey shorts for Louis, a red and white striped shirt and some black Toms. He took them and walked into the change room Niall had just walked out of. He opened his arms and span around.

“Wow!” Millie said. “You. Look. Smokin’!” She exclaimed.

“Oi!” Harry yelled from his change room. 

Millie smirked and handed Zayn his clothes.

****     We had organized for Zayn to wear black skinny leg jeans, a white singlet and a grey, loose jacket with white Supras.

I walked over to Niall, studying what he was wearing. He noticed me concentrating really hard and started laughing.

“Shh!” I shushed him, putting my finger to my lips, smiling. “I’m trying to be professional!”

“I can’t help it when you’re doing that!” He argued, “It’s too cute!” 

I grinned at him and walked around him, happy with what he was wearing.

“You’re good to go!” I told him, passing Liam’s clothes to him.

***      I chose a checkered shirt for Liam, skinny leg jeans and some white shoes. He looked very pleased and walked into the change room Harry walked out of.

Millie and I both stared at Harry, my hand on my face and Millie’s on her hip. Niall was texting and turned around and saw Harry, bursting into laughter.

“Niall!” I said, playfully hitting him on the arm. I looked at Harry again, “The jeans have to go.” I told him, searching in the boy’s rack. 

Millie and I were struggling to find something for Harry to wear. 

I saw something that stood out to me, I walked over touching it. It was a shirt made from lycra and nylon fabrics, my auntie’s favourites. I took it off the rack and held it in my hands.

“What’s that Grace?” Millie asked, bouncing over to me. 

I looked at her, my face was blank. “What?” She asked more slowly. I looked back at the shirt.

“Aw, baby!” She said, taking the shirt from me and hugging me. I could see Niall behind her, looking at me, worried. She let go and took me over to where Harry and Niall were standing and I dragged my feet along behind her, Harry was holding a pair of red skinny leg jeans in his hand. Louis and Zayn had now come out of the change rooms, looking lovely.

“Grace!” Harry said to me, distressed, as Niall put him arm around my shoulder. “Please convince this women…” He continued, pointing to Millie, “That these monsters will look horrid with this outfit!” He tried to convince me.

I thought for a moment. “Just try them on and if we don’t like them, we won’t use them!” I told him. He sighed and trudged back into the change room. 

“You okay babe?” Niall asked me, concerned I simply nodded and looked over to Louis.

“You like?” Louis asked Millie and I. Stripes look really good on him and the shorts went well. 

“Yes!” Millie said, excitedly.

“Yep!” I agreed. Louis smiled and sat down, we then checked out Zayn, who, in my opinion, looked amazing in black skinnies.

“Wow Zayn!” I said.

“Wow indeed!” Millie agreed, walking over to him. “You’re fine!” She assured him and he sat by Louis, watching him on his phone.

“I’m done!” We could hear Harry from his change room.

“Come out!” Millie called back.

Liam emerged from his change room. The checkers look amazing on him and the shorts work, I was happy.

“Yeah, you’re fine Liam.” I told him. “Harry come out!” I screamed at him.

The door of his change room creaked open and he stepped out wearing his red skinny leg jeans, white shirt and his denim jacket draped over the top, he actually looked so amazing.

“Haz, what are you talking about?” I asked him, “You look amazing!” 

“You always look amazing but the pants look great!” Millie added.

“Hmph.” Harry puffed and stalked over to Millie.

“Stop sulking Harry, you look fine!” She told him, annoyed.

He smiled at her and I went off to find Georgia, I walked through the ‘Shoots’ door, because I saw her go through there last and I saw her standing by the camera, with who I guessed to be the camera man.

“Georgia, the boys are ready!” I told her.

“Oh Grace, alright, thankyou!” She thanked me and I walked back through the door to Millie and the boys. “Oh, Cooper, you come too, meet the boys and Grace!” I heard Georgia say through the door.

‘Cooper?’ Surely it’s not the same Cooper I met on the plane, as in Cooper, Cooper. I walked over to Niall and stood next to him anxiously. It was going to be so awkward if it was the Cooper I met on the plane.

Georgia opened the door and was followed by a familiar face, yep, it was the Cooper I met on the plane. I quickly looked away from Georgia and Cooper.

“Hey everyone!” Georgia welcomed. “You boys look amazing!” She complimented, looking and Niall and I, Niall had his arms wrapped around my shoulders from the back. “Grace, Millie, you guys did a great job!” I could see Millie out of the corner of my eye, beaming at Georgia, I flashed a smile and looked away again, awkwardly.

“Everyone, this is Cooper, he will be your photographer today!” Cooper spotted me and winked, I went red.

“Hi Cooper! Nice to meet you!” Niall chimed in. 

I smiled at Cooper quickly and looked at my feet.

“Hey Cooper!” Everyone chorused together. I listened awkwardly, shuffling my feet.

“Wow!” Cooper started. “You all look amazing!” He complimented, smiling at me, I gave him a shy smile. “Well, if you’ll all come out here.” He started, opening the door into the photo shoot room and stepping aside so we could go through. Niall took my hand and led me through.

“Now, if you boys could just stand in front of the camera, Grace, I need to talk to you.” Cooper told us. I gulped and followed him into his office.

“Grace,” He started, “I know this is probably very awkward for you right now, but we’re at work, let’s forget about it, please?” He begged. I thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. “Thanks!” He said and stood up. 

We walked out of his office back into the photo shoots. I sat down on a seat behind the camera next to Millie while Cooper took photos. In a few photos, the boys had to do some really different stuff to what I’ve seen before. Cooper’s got them on each other’s backs, sitting on each other’s laps, sitting on each other’s shoulders! It was really funny to watch and Millie and I had our little giggles together. I was actually really happy the way the boy’s outfits worked, Harry even ended up liking his.

Cooper then wanted the boys for their individual pictures, Niall volunteered to go first and the other boys came to sat down on the seats beside us.

“That was actually so much fun!” Zayn said excitedly.

I could hear Cooper chuckling to himself by the camera.

“Thanks Coop!” Harry called to him. Cooper put his thumb up and continued to shoot photos with Niall.

“Alright, who’s next?” Cooper called as Niall walked over to me. Niall held out his hands for me, I took them and stood up. 

“I will!” Harry offered, he jumped up and went over to stand in front of the camera. Niall wrapped his arm around my shoulder again and started talking to Louis, giggling 24/7.

Louis said something, I wasn’t really listening, I was too busy concentrating on what I should do about the Cooper situation and Niall burst out in laughter. I jumped away from him, getting a shock and Harry started laughing along with Niall. 

“Alright Niall!” Cooper stopped him, sounding angry. “You’re either going to have to be quiet or get outta here!” He bossed.

Niall gave him a confused look. “Let’s go.” He whispered to me and we walked away from Cooper, holding hands. 

I couldn’t help but look back, I saw Cooper staring at us, jealousy written all over his face.

Chapter 39

Niall and I got picked up earlier than the other boys because Niall wanted to take me out for dinner and a movie. It was about 6:00pm by the time we were picked up by Niall’s driver. We sat in the back together and set off back and we headed off to a, as Niall put it, ‘a beautiful restaurant!’

We arrived at the restaurant, it’s name was ‘The Gum Tree.’ 

Outside the restaurant was a Gum Tree growing in a pot plant, some seats and heaters. We walked inside and there were chandlers hanging from the ceiling, more seats and tables, the kitchen and a desk.

Niall walked up to the counter and I hung back, remembering I’m awkward in social situations. He talked to the girl at the counter, she was playing with her hair, giggling. This was not acceptable, I walked over to the desk and stood by Niall, the girl gave me a dirty look and sent us to our table. The women took us out the back, there was a beautiful garden surrounded by tables. We sat down on one in the corner and the women left us with the menus.

I looked around, there was a little path that took you over a little stream then leads you to a picnic bench that sat under a big willow tree. It was dark but there were fairy lights hanging from a net which was like the roof and flowers in the garden. 

“This is amazing!” I said, looking around. Niall giggled. I looked back to him and smiled, “Thankyou so much for this!”

“Anything for you babe!” He told me.

I picked up the menu and looked through the wide variety of all the foods. There were salads, meats, entrées, mains, meals for two, meals for six, meals for one. The drinks included wines, beers, cocktails and soft drinks.

I went with a simple bowl of chips with salad and a diet coke. Niall went with the giant roast lamb and a sprite.

Our food came and we started to eat.

“Is that really all your getting?!” Niall asked me, shocked. “You’re not going to jump out and say you’re also going to get the sea food platter?”

I laughed. “Never! I hate sea food and chips and salad is enough for me!”

Niall shook his head, “You need to eat more women!” He told me, laughing afterwards.

“I don’t need to eat more, you just need to learn that not everyone is going to eat as much as you!” I said, jokingly. 

I finished my bowl of chips and salad as Niall finished his roast. 

“You eat very slow.” He told me. I shook my head, smiling. “Want to go for a walk?” He offered. 

I agreed and stood up, taking his hand. We walked around the garden, over the small stream, followed the path to the picnic bench and sat down under the giant tree.

We both looked up into the sky, past the fairy lights. I rested my head on Niall’s shoulder. “This is the best birthday present!” I told him quietly.

“You deserve the best!” 

I smirked at him and stood up and following the path, he followed me. He grabbed my hand and spun me around and pulling me into kiss. 

It wasn’t long before the women who was at the desk appeared behind us, clearing her throat.

“Thankyou for the lovely meal.” Niall said to her politely. She stuck her nose up in the air and we walked back in side, hand in hand. 

Niall paid for the meal and we walked outside to find Niall’s car and driver. 

Niall informed me his drivers name was Ronny. 

We didn’t have to look long before we heard a black car beep behind us, we opened the door and jumped in.

“Home please Ron!” Niall instructed Ronny and we drove off.

“That was so amazing Niall!” I told Niall.

“It was really fun wasn’t it!” He agreed.

I was about to start another conversation when his phone rang, he checked who the caller was and excused himself.

“Hello?” 

“Oh hey Simon!”

“What do you mean?”

“What?!” He asked Simon on the other line loudly.

“Why?”

“So there’s nothing we can do?”

“But we-”

“Can I come and see you?”

“Can we try to organize this?”

“Can we at least discuss it?” He pleaded.

“Please, I’m begging you!”

“Thankyou so much!”

“I’ll get Grace dropped off first and I’ll come over.”

“We can’t be too long, it’s her birthday.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He hung up.

I gave him a confused look.

“Just work.” He assured me, but he looked un-comfortable saying it.

I shrugged. “Okay!”

“Um, so, I have to go and see Simon, I’ll drop you off back at the hotel and I’ll be back in time for us to watch a movie together!” He informed me.

“Yeah, that’s fine!” I agreed as we pulled into the hotel. 

Zayn, Millie, Harry, Liam and Louis were outside the hotel waiting to greet us. Ronny stopped the car and I jumped out in Millie’s arm.

“How was it?” She asked, excited for me.

“Amazing!” I told her, happily.

“Grace.” Liam joined us.

“Hey Liam!” I greeted him.

“This is for you!” He told me, handing me a small package.

I sighed deeply and opened the present and saw the ‘Pandora’ sign on a small white box.

“Oh my god!” I breathed. 

Liam laughed at me as I opened the box and saw a beautiful pandora necklace with a charm already on it. I took the necklace from the box and observed it. It had a ‘Bestfriend’ charm on it. 

“I thought it was cute!” Liam told me and giggled.

“Oh my gosh Liam.” I whispered to him, I looked up and beamed at him. “Thankyou so much! I love it!” I told him. He took the necklace from me and put it around my neck. 

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it so much!” I said, jumping into his arms, hugging him. “Thankyou so much!”

He laughed and let go, “Zayn has something for you too.” Liam told me. 

I smiled and left him and walked over to where Zayn was standing. 

“Hey babe!” He greeted. “Happy birthday!” He pulled me into a giant bear hug.

“Hey Zayn!”

“For you.” He told me, handing me a package similar to Liam’s. I thanked him and opened it. There were two charms, one was an elephant and the other was a heart.

“You always go on about how much you love elephants,” He started, “and I love you!” He said and giggled. 

“Aw, Zayn! I love them so much!” I told him, pulling him into a hug. “Thankyou!”

“No problem babe!”

“Ahem!” Harry interrupted. Zayn let go and I turned to Harry and Millie.

“We’re going to be original and different..” Millie started. “We have…..given…...you…..”

“TELL ME!” I encouraged. 

“You’ve bought you one of those old vintage bikes that you’ve always wanted!” Millie told me excitedly. 

My mouth dropped open, my eyes grew large and I started jumping up and down screaming. 

“OH MY GOSH!” I screamed, leaping onto Harry, hugging him tightly, still bouncing around like a kangaroo. Harry hugged my awkwardly, laughing. Millie was laughing. I jumped away from Harry and bounced over to Millie.

“I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! THANKYOU SO SO MUCH!” I yelled, hugging Millie.

Harry put his arm on my back. “Shhh Grace!” He giggled.

I let go of Millie and took a deep breath, “Thankyou so much!” I said more calmly.

Harry laughed. “It’s fine! It will be at your house when you get home!” Harry told me.

“Thankyou again so so much!” I thanked.

“Anything for you!” Harry said, putting his arms around my neck.

“Ahem!” Millie coughed, crossing her arms across her chest.

“It’s her birthday!” Harry protested.

“Oi!” Niall yelled, jokingly, pushing Harry. 

Harry jumped away from me, holding his hands like a ninja. Niall smirked at him and took Harry’s place, wrapping his arms around my neck. Harry walked over to Millie, kissing her on the cheek.

“We have to go!” Liam announced, uncomfortably.

“Uh, okay! Bye babe!” Niall said, kissing me on the cheek and hopping in the car, Harry gave me a high five and joined the other boys in the car.

Millie followed me up into my room and we sat down on my bed, legs crossed.

“So...you and Harry are….” 

“Dating!” Millie finished my sentence.

I beamed at her and grabbed her hands a bounced with her on the bed.

“Aw! You guys are so cute together!” I complimented. 

“I remember when he asked me out, it was so cute!” She started, “He was so shy and awkward about it!”

I laughed, “That’s adorable!”

“And afterwards he took me to Nandos! How romantic!” She said jokingly.

“Oh my gosh, I wish Niall would take me on a romantic date to Nandos!” I said, winking afterwards.

Chapter 40

We talked for a while and I told her about Cooper. She was really shocked and she said she wanted to punch him, I assured her it didn’t matter but she was fuming.

There was a knock at the door, I stood up to answer it and Niall was standing at the door, he didn’t look happy.

“Hey Ni!” I welcomed. He walked in.

“Mil, Harry is downstairs, he wants to see you!” He told Millie.

She clapped her hands and jumped out the door.

“Bye lovebirds!” She called.

I laughed and waved to her, I turned to face Niall.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Grace?” Niall started, slowly and sadly. “We need to talk..” My heart dropped. 

“What is it Ni?” I asked him, worried.

“The lads and I.....we....” 

“What?”

“We have to stay in England, move back here....” He said, looking away from me, his eyes turning red. 

“You what?!” I asked, shocked.He looked at me, miserable. 

“We have to stay here Grace.” He told me again. I opened my mouth to protest, but didn’t. I looked away from him, holding in my tears, but I couldn’t. I could feel the tears running down my face. Niall reached for my hand which was sitting on my lap, I snatched it away from his reaching hand and wiped away my tears with it. He again reached for my hand, which was now on my face. I let him touch it but refused for him to hold my hand.

“Grace....” He whispered. “There’s nothing I can do!” He told me, putting his rejected hand back on his leg. I nodded and wiped my eyes again, reaching for his hand this time, I rested mine on his. He grabbed it and squeezed it tight.

“I will do whatever I can to keep us going!” He tried, hopelessly. We both knew this wouldn’t work. I had my job back home and he had his all over the world. I shook my head in disagreement, still looking away from him. He lifted my head to look at him. He moved his face closer to me, looking deep in my eyes.

“Yes.” He said to me, quietly. I shook my head again. He lent in, taking my face in his hands, kissing me passionately. I carefully put my hands on his and moved them away from my face and I lent away from him. I looked down, tears streaming down my face. 

I wasn’t in the mood for kissing Niall when I found out he was moving away from me and I probably wouldn’t get a chance to see him again until he came back to Australia which would be in a long time. I placed his hands on my lap and I put mine on top of his. He took one hand out and put it on the side of my face.

“We can work this out.” He said gently to me, wiping away my tears. I looked at him, into his eyes, trying to think of how we could work this out, but there was no way. I snapped my head away from him, I could feel my cheeks burning up and the tears came down faster. I could hear Niall sniffing. He dropped his hand hopelessly.

“We can, we can do something!” He sobbed, trying to convince himself everything would be alright. “We.....we have to!” He tried again, but failed. I could see his eyes turning red and I could see tears running out of his eyes.He looked hard into my eyes, desperately trying to work out what we can do.

I sighed deeply, “It’s too hard.” I told him, deciding for us, tears still running down my face like bullets.

He shook his head violently, “No!” He defended, “It’s not!” He said louder.

“Ni...” I started.

“Don’t give up on us!” He said to me, sitting up on his knees, getting worked up. He shook his head more calmly and sat back down. “Don’t.”

I thought frantically whilst Niall sobbed. We both didn’t want this to end, but I can’t work with long distance relationships and my job is really important to me and his is too. We couldn’t give up our jobs for each other, it would cause more problems than solving any.

I shook my head again.

Niall took my face in his hands, searching my eyes, hopefully looking for answers. His face fell when he found nothing.

“I’m willing to fight for us!” He started, “Why aren’t you!?”

- - - - - - - - - - -

At at the airport the next day after an awkward day at work, walking around with Cooper and Georgia showing me around and now I’m at the airport waiting for my flight. I slipped away from the boys and Millie because I didn’t want to see them, I’m already heart-broken enough, I would cry too much and would end up convincing myself to stay in England, but I can’t do that. 

20 minutes to go, I just wish it would hurry up, the sooner I get on the plane, the sooner I can’t get back.

“Grace!” I heard a voice scream from behind me. I turned to see Niall, tears running down his face. He ran up to me, I dropped my bags and wrapped my arms around him.

“Please, please stay until we work this out!” He begged, sobbed, still hugging me.

I shook my head in his shoulder, I could feel his shoulder getting wet from my tears.

“Grace, look at me!” Niall bossed, he pulled me away from him and grabbed my shoulders, he looked deep into my eyes. “You’re giving up too easily!” He tried to convince me.

I shook my head again, I’ve been doing that a lot lately. “I’m sorry.” I said, dropping my head.

Niall sighed deeply. “I know.” He started, “And I’m sorry for putting all this pressure on you.” He apologized.

I looked at him, into his kind eyes, I could feel his pain, but he’s right, I’m really feeling all this pressure, my new job, seeing Cooper again, Niall telling me only last night that he had to move back to England. It was all so hard.

“Grace!” I heard Liam scream from behind me. I span around to see him running towards me, he jumped on me, wrapping his arms around me.

“Please don’t go!” He sobbed.

“I’m so sorry Liam.” I apologized. “I love you!” 

He pulled away from me and attempted a smile. “Love you too love!”

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders and a head rest on my shoulder. I turned to see a miserable Louis.

“I’m going to miss you so, so much!” He said, turning me around and hugging me. 

These boys are so wonderful, I can’t believe I’m leaving them, I’m not changing my mind, it’s so hard.

“I’ll miss you guys too!” I said, crying into his shoulder.

“Please don’t go! Please, please, please!” I heard someone running towards me, it was Zayn. He jumped into my arms. “Please, I’ll miss you too much!”

“GRACE!” I heard a scream, I let go of Zayn and turned and saw Millie. “OH MY GOSH, YOU CAN’T GO, I HATE YOU, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?” She screamed at me, sprinting towards me, Harry followed slowly, dragging his feet. She jumped on me.

“YOU CAN’T GO! YOU’RE MAKING PEOPLE SAD! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WORK IN ENGLAND IF YOU HAVE TO!” 

“Mil…” 

“I hate you!” She said, looking angrily at me. Harry came up behind her and hugged me.

“I hate you too!” Harry agreed, smiling afterwards. Millie grabbed my shoulders. 

“You can’t go! You will end Niall!” She threatened me, squeezing my shoulders tight.

“Uh, you’re hurting me.” I told her.

“Whoops!” She said, giggling, “Sorry!” She apologized. “Wait! I’m not sorry! You should be sorry! Say sorry!” She bossed.

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled, looking down, starting to cry again.

“Aw Grace, it’s okay, I was kidding!” Millie said, hugging me again.

‘Could all passengers who will be flying to Adamstown please board the plane at gate 4, passengers to Adamstown, please board at gate 4.’

Niall leaped on me and burst into tears.

“Please, just don’t go!” He begged, “Please, don’t!”

“Niall!” I sobbed, “I love you!” He buried his head in my shoulder.

“I’ll never let you go!” He promised.

“You have to Ni!” I said quietly to him. He shook his head violently.

“I’m going to say goodbye to the boys.” I told him and let go. I walked to Liam, his eyes red, he pulled me into a giant bear hug. Zayn was also crying, he hugged me as well. Harry and Millie hugged me together, Millie was crying so much, Harry looked miserable.

I hugged Louis last.

“I love you babe! Don’t forget us!”

“Never Lou!” I promised. I looked at Niall and he leaped on me again.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this!” He sobbed, shaking his head. “Please just-”

“Niall, I can’t, I’m so sorry!”

I walked onto the plane, tears streaming down my face. I looked back and waved and the sobbing Zayn and Liam. At Harry, who was holding Millie, she was crying and Niall, Liam had his arm wrapped around his shaking figure, his hands in his face. I waved goodbye to them all and stepped on the plane.