How I Met Him

“Pizza. Favourite colour, go!” Niall said loudly, speeding down the lanes of London. We cha5nged the game around, from boring old questions, to saying the first thing that was related to the question followed by another question.

“Eep! Umm, purple! Favourite song of 2011!” I laughed loudly and looked at him. He looked at me strangely and parked at the side. He stopped the engine and turned to me.

“OK, that's about 10 questions that we've got the same answer to. I bet that you're my other half! Or maybe you're stalking me,” he looked at me in a playful manner. He got out of the car, and rushed to my side, opening the door. That gave me a moment to compose myself and think about what he just said “you’re my other half.”

“Oh, very funny Niall. You lost the round, boy. Apologies to you, but now I get a free slushie!” I grinned to him and got out of the car. He groaned and mumbled to himself, and gently grabbed my hand.

“That's like, the third slushie I owe you. Does this mean it's not our last hang out?” He winked at me and pulled me underneath his arm again. He led us to the grand entrance of the snow carnival and walked to the admissions box.

“Two adult tickets please,” Niall grinned to the lady behind the desk, and I took out my wallet to pay. I looked around the place, and it looked quite fun, despite the children running around. “What are you doing, beautiful? If I do recall, I asked you out, therefore I do the paying,” he pushed my wallet back inside. I maintained a stubborn push-back, until the lady gave us the tickets and the wristbands.

“After you, m'lady,” he smirked at me. I was shocked, but I had gone inside before him. I quickly turned around and I pouted.

“That's not fair, and you know it, Niall! I'll feel bad if I don't pay. What about lunch on me?” I protested. He chuckled, gave me a kiss and shook his head.

“No, babe. Not at all, I'm taking you out. Don't argue, or I'll take you to that ride,” and he pointed to a pretty high sled-ride. While we were playing the question game, I might've mentioned that I was totally afraid of heights or anything close to.

“But-!” and with that, he pulled me to the first activity, which was ice skating. We had walked all the way to the other side, where we came to another entrance with bold letters saying 'ICE RINK', and entered. He lead me to the desk where we took our shoes off and got skates.

"So.. A size 39.. Isn't that a bit small?" He questioned me, while locking his skates up. I blushed and finished locking mine, and I smiled at him.

"Yeah, but I can't help it. I'd rather have small feet than large feet. I hate feet, though, they're so ugly and disgusting," I expressed my opinion, while grabbing his hand to go. He laughed at me once again, and took the first step in successfully.

"Magical. I need to have support and everything to even put a toe in. Mind helping me?" I asked sheepishly. I heard his melodic laugh again, and blushed. This boy knows how to get to me! He led me inside, and we skated off slowly.

"So what are your plans for today, other than hang out with me?" I joked with him, giving him a small nudge. He pretended to ponder at the sky and stroked his chin a couple times. He shrugged and faced me to skate backwards. Show off.

“You’re going to fall like that, Niall,” I warned him skating slowly and tried to catch up to him. He bit his lip softly, slowed down, and skated next to me. Our hands were brushing subtly, and I just really wanted to grab his hand right there and then, but I didn’t want to seem too forward, so I let them bang together a couple of times. We skated half a lap in silence, before he spoke again.

“I’m not doing anything tonight, except for hang out with you. I expect our departure at midnight. Or when the carnival closes, which ever comes after, you OK with that, darlin’?” he asked me.

“I would love to, except for my mum went totally anal about last night, she yelled my ear off!” A chuckle came out from his mouth, and I blushed again before weakly defending myself, “it’s not funny! She yelled at me for like 30 minutes, and then it was my dad’s turn, and he got super pissed. I’m pretty sure they called my extensive family and told them what had happened,” I muttered quietly.

“Oh Hon, you’re going to love life when you live alone,” he cheekily pinched my cheeks and skated around me cockily.

“Oi, Niall, you’re going to trip us both!”

“Babe, I’m a professi-” Niall lost his balance and tripped on me. I felt my head hit the ice and something knick my fingers. I kept my eyes closed and stayed on the ground. Almost immediately, I felt someone grab my head and lay it on a hard cushion.

“Emma. Emma, are you OK? Emma sweetie, I’m so sorry. Emma?” I felt the same person tap my elbow, until I recognized the voice. I sat up and I rubbed the back of my head. Niall worriedly looked at me, and tried to hold me up.

I started giggling softly, and looked at his face again, which caused me to laugh louder and uncontrollably. I tried to cover my mouth to muffle my laughter, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know what was so funny, but maybe it was the fact that I had warned him a couple of times. I must’ve jinxed him

“Emma, are you OK? Can we get the paramedics, I think she’s gone crazy,” he said to himself before he joined in on my laughter.

“Quite ironic how you were about to say ‘professional’, yeah?” I giggled again and got up. He got up as well, laughing, and removed any snow that was hanging on himself and I. I said thank-you, and he reached for my hand, capturing it in his own. I smiled to myself, and lifted my head to look at him.

“Hold still, you’ve got blood on your cheek,” and he leaned in to wipe it with his finger. I looked at his face, which held concentration, focus, and worry. I moved on to look at his deep blue eyes which were looking back at me. I was mesmerized and I could barely breathe. That’s exactly what he was, breath-taking.

“You’re gorgeous,” I blurted out to him. I widened my eyes and I stepped back carefully and looked down again. I forced a small and quite awkward laugh and I bit my lip. Loser, why would you say that? You know he’s not going to say anything to that but thanks. Dumbassdumbassdumbass.

“Thanks, love, you’re quite gorgeous yourself,” and he gave me a gentle kiss to my cheek. I shivered, and I smiled to myself. He squeezed my hand as we finished the first lap around.

“I think this activity is past over. Sorry again, love, I didn’t mean to. I was only bluffing about my professionalism. That’s probably the first time I’ve skated in 5 years, and I guess it’s safe to say, I’m not doing it again,” he apologized and kissed my cheek.

“No worries, it was an accident. Other than the goose egg on my head, and this baby cut on my finger, I’m all good,” I grinned a toothy-grin as we exited the rink. He swung my hand around, which made me giggle and happy.

“Favourite movie?” I asked him after a while, still swinging our arms.

“I actually don’t have one; I just prefer the adventure/action genre. And you?”

“I’m a typical girl; I like sappy, sad, romantic-comedy movies. Like the Notebook or A Walk To Remember . Or, ooh! Sometimes I like watching horror movies; except for I have night terrors for the next two weeks. It’s a win-lose situation, I guess,” I shrugged. We continued to talk about movies until we got to the food court area. In those 5 minutes, I learned that he too likes horror movies and that would be what we’re going to watch that night. I still have time to convince him to watch a romantic-comedy.

“OK, Taco Bell or Burger King?” Niall pondered to himself. I decided to help him a bit, so I steered him to Taco Bell.

“Tacos are better,” I stated happily. I ordered for myself, paid, and waited for him to the side.

“First, you’ve got to recommend something good, and second, I didn’t get to pay, babe. What happened to our deal?” Niall pursed his lips at me. Oi. I bit my lip and ordered him a couple soft tacos, nachos, cinnamon stix, and a drink. He paid, and we both waited to the side.

“So, what’s after this? Are we going to continue the carnival or are we going to move on to the movie?”

“Wait, we’ve got to get on a serious topic. What’s your consequence for breaking a rule?” He interjected. My eyes boggled at this and I looked like a fish with my mouth opening and closing.

“A rule! It was never a rule, Horan! You just said so, I never complied with it!” I stubbornly said, slightly turning red. He bumped my hip with his, and when I returned back to him, he gave me a bone-crushing hug and a big kiss on my cheek. He’s quite touchy, why is he acting like we’re a couple? My flamed cheeks turned even redder than before, and I tried to hide in his chest, hugging him back. He then leaned down to whisper in my ear, his upper lip tickling it slightly.

“Are you still blushing, love? Our foods done and I’m kinda hungry, heh.” I didn’t want to move, but unfortunately, I had to. I sighed in his gray jacket, and moved away unwillingly. My bangs were slightly in my face, and I blew them away and pouted.

“I like your hugs. They’re quite soft and comfy, like a pillow!” I exclaimed happily. We both laughed and got our meals to sit down. He picked a location inside the warm cafeteria, close to the bins. I shot him a questioning look as we sat down and he shrugged.

“Not to sound arrogant or cocky, but I am quite famous, and people do notice me. I don’t think there are many fans or paps around here, so we’re safe, but we can’t be too careless,” he explained while stuffing his face with one of the soft tacos. I smiled at him, and ate my dry nacho crisps and cheese dip. When I looked up, I saw that he had sauce all over his mouth, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I took one of the napkins and I wiped the corners of his mouth.

“You sir, are a messy lad, yeah?” I held the napkin up to him as evidence. We continued eating and talking, sharing stories of our lives. I loved listening to him, sometimes he would stumble over words and his t’s and h’s. In my opinion, it was one of the cutest things about him. I also noticed how he made jokes every time he could possibly jab one in. Though, it always ended up in him laughing and me trying to understand the joke. I didn’t mind, his laugh was musical and amazing.

We finished eating and threw away our trash. I cleaned my hands with a sanitizer I had in my purse, and offered some to Niall who instantly took it and squirted the transparent goo on his hands. I stuffed my hands in my jacket pocket, and so did Niall. I was a little sad that we weren’t touching, but we eventually came close enough so that our shoulders and elbows brushed. We walked outside the carnival and to his car. He quickly started the engine and warmed up the car. I tried to take advantage of it by putting my hands to the air vents. Niall turned on the radio to low and drove out of the parking lot like a professional.

“What next? It’s only half three, do you fancy going to a movie now or later?” He asked me. I didn’t know what he preferred so I told him that it was up to him, I didn’t mind at all.

“Movie now, I guess. I hope there’s something good to watch, lately it’s been complete shit, excuse my language,” he expressed his opinion. I quickly agreed with him and we continued to point out what we liked and disliked about today’s media.