How I Met Him

The rest of the week passed by pretty quickly, even though I saw Niall two more times following that day. Soon enough, it was Christmas break, and I was more than thankful for it. Christmas time was my favourite time of the year, as well as my parents’. We played soft Christmas music, hung up decorations around the house, and finally got around to getting us a tree for that year. It was a brilliant tree, hanging up at almost 10 feet, near touching the ceiling, and it was pretty wide. Definitely the biggest tree we’ve ever got, and I was happy to have decorated it with almost all the people that I loved.

“Hun, why don’t you call Niall over to help us around the house? Who knows, maybe I’ll get around to getting some gingerbread to make cookies and a house,” she grinned widely at me, her eyes crinkling at the edges.

“But we haven’t made a house since… Since forever,” I reminisced quietly. I was 10, and Daniel was turning 13 that month. Mum had made a fresh batch of different shapes and sizes of gingerbread, and Dad had gotten out the gum drops, different coloured sprinkles, icings of different textures, and the ideal materials to make one. We were sat around the dinner table top that dad unscrewed and laid flat on the ground, in our cheesy matching socks and reindeer antlers. We were so happy, we were a complete family

“Maybe we should start again, since you know, we’ve got another one the way,” mum softly said, coming behind me and hugging the life out of me. She kissed my cheek and patted my phone which was in my front pocket of my sweater. I walked into the kitchen and dialed his number.

“Hello?” Niall muttered after a few beeps. I chuckled quietly to myself before looking at the time. 2:39 pm.

“Good afternoon, is this Mr. Niall Horan?” I decided to play a prank on him, and put on my best posh accent.

“Yes, this is he. However, if this is a business inquiry, please talk to my manager before coming through,” he grumbled in his rough morning voice. I pulled away before giggling again.

“Even your girlfriend?” I felt tingles running up and down my body, with a mix of butterflies in my tummy.

“Even my gir- Emma?” He sounded more alert before chuckling deeply.

“Hi Em, babe, good morning, good afternoon, good… Good good.”

“Morning, handsome. I’ll excuse your morning vocabulary if you agree to my next statement,” I bit my lip.

“Anything, doll. What’s up?” I could hear him stretching and pulling back the curtains, and images of him being in his low-waisted boxers, with messy hair, a pink face and material prints on his back and stomach appeared in my mind.

“I miss you, first of all. Second of all, my mum wanted to invite you to our yearly Christmas traditions, what do you say to that?” I heard him thinking and debating before I caught on.

“Oh, come over, she said she was gonna make some gingerbread for us if we were good!”

“I’ll be there in 30 minutes time!”

“Be careful while driving, please. Roads are busy and icy, and I don’t want to lose you yet.”

“Oi, woman! Just let me get ready!” I heard a couple seconds of rustling, knowing that he really did get up.

“Sorry for worrying. That's enough, get here soon, Ireland!” I giggled, and twirled a part of my hair. Nope, he hasn't changed me at all.

“I'm already in the shower! And to prove it -,” I heard a quiet squeak and water raining on something hollow, “bye, babe.”

“Later,” I smiled to myself and hung up.

I shook my head, and went back to help my mom get the decorations from the guest bedroom we had. Dad was remaking our living room so that we were couch-free, and sitting on sofa cushions and mattresses for our movie marathons. Our traditions were silly, but I loved them nonetheless because they were different from other families’ traditions.

“So how are you and Niall? You seem to be great friends, you’re always texting him and what not.” Mum began our conversation, sneaking in a sly glance while she reached to get the box of ornaments. I blushed getting the tinsel and tried to hide it from her.

“Um, we’re good. We’re kinda… More than that. We’re together,” I whispered in the utter silence, messing around with the yarn that somehow found its way into the wrong box.

“Hon, that’s great. He is genuinely a sweet guy, even though we haven’t seen much of each other. Your dad likes him too. Well, enough to tolerate him, but I’m sure Niall could get extra points if they go out for golf or a football match,” she hinted. I widened my eyes and shook my head vigorously.

“I’m not telling dad. No way, not at all. Dad might kill him. No, no way in hell!”
“Oh, why not! Plus, he’s the first guy to walk in through that door who was here for you,” my mom said nonchalantly.

“Thank mother, you’re amazing,” I snapped at her. I bit my lip and muttered an apology. I got the couple boxes from her hands and descended the steps where I found my dad trying to jam in the VHS and working the DVD. I heard an extra voice, and almost immediately, there was a huge grin on my face. I set the boxes down beside the stairs and greeted Niall. I nudged my head to the kitchen as an indication to go there.

“Hi baby,” he muttered in my ear as soon as he got into the kitchen. I turned around to face him and I leaned in to kiss his sweet pink lips. A permanent blush took residence on my face and his as the kiss went on. His fingers went straight to my hair and mine to his shirt collar. I pulled him closer, and he tugged on my hair.

“Hello babe,” I mumbled against his mouth. The tingles were now stronger than ever, and they raced up and down my spine, my toes, my legs, fingers, hands, anywhere you can imagine. I snuck another kiss or three before I rubbed his ears. A soft groan was let out from Niall and I stepped back to let him have his space. He pulled me back to his chest though as we hugged officially, with him kissing the top of my hair.

“I’ve missed you. A lot, actually. Who knew two days without Emma could be painful?” He joked and I laughed quietly into his chest.

“You smell good. Now let’s go, before my dad gets suspicious,” I toyed with his collar on his button up.

“And your mom? She would be fine with this?” He half-heartedly joked. I nodded before lacing my fingers with his and playing with them.

“I already told her about us, if that’s OK. I think she kinda knew, but whatever, right?” I bit my lip and looked at his soft blue eyes. He nodded and kissed my lips again.

“I told the boys about us too. I couldn’t keep it a secret, they’re my brothers.” He admitted. I nodded and kissed his throat.

“Em, darling, could you get the bed sheets from the dryer?” Dad called out to me. I grabbed Niall’s hand before dragging him to the laundry room. I instructed him to get a basket as I grabbed the heavy, hot load and dumped it in the basket.

“So, what’s with the no couches? And the massive tree! Never seen anything bigger!” His accent slightly defined at the end of it.

“Family traditions. First night together, we watch Home Alone eat pizza and drink hot coco, and sit on the cushions and mattresses. It’s better than it sounds, I promise. I think our home has the best Christmas on the block!” I eagerly said to him when we walked down the hallway to the living room.

“Is this Bublé? Do you have the physical copy of his Christmas album?” His eyes lit up, brighter than anything that I’d ever seen.

“Yeah, my parents are in love with Michael, they always have him playing. They’ve got most of his CD’s, except they’re stacked away. Do you wanna borrow our copy or something?” I sat on the mattress, bringing him down with me. Thankfully, my dad didn’t notice our touchy-feely attitudes, but mum certainly did and she winked at me before busying my dad with mixing up the discs and what not.

“Nah, I’ve already got like 3, one for the car rides, one for my house, and one for our studio. The boys are already sick of my man-crush on him,” he chuckled. I smiled at him widely, and got up.

“Come on, let’s go,” I reached my hand toward him. He looked at me in confusion. I rolled my eyes and nodded to the tree.

“We gotta dress the tree now, smartie!” I giggled and pulled him up.