He'll Always Be My Home

I paced back and forth across Niall's driveway and looked around at our neighborhood. It would be weird having to leave this place when we got a little older. The colorful houses, green lawns, the kids that were nearly always outside playing. Today it was very cloudy, looked like it might rain. All the kids were inside which left it unusually quiet. I didn't like it. If I could, I would go either back down the street to my house or inside Niall's. But I had to wait here for Niall to arrive. He would be returning from Dublin in about twenty minutes. I couldn't wait to run and hug him and tell him in person how proud I was of him.

I was honestly a little scared about the whole situation. I mean, from here on out we will almost never get to see each other. And if he keeps advancing through the competition, which he will, then it'll slowly get more and more difficult to see him. We just got together. The idea of us being torn apart so quickly is scary. I could never tell him that though. It would just cause problems. The last thing he needs to be worrying about right now are problems with our relationship. We've been through literally everything together, I doubt fame and fortune could break us.

I took myself away from my thoughts for a moment and glanced up to see Maura's, Niall's moms, car heading this direction from down the road. I could feel the excitement rise up through my toes and spread throughout my whole body. They pulled into the drive way and before the car had even stopped Niall jumped out and ran towards me. I jumped into his arms and he spun me around. He was holding me so tightly I felt like I might burst, but in a good way, if that's possible. He put me down and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I heard his mom just sigh and walk up to the front of the house.

"Baby, I am so proud of you. You have no idea. You can ask Brittany, I was literally screaming and crying." I started tearing up and he just let out a small chuckle before pulling me back into his arms.

"Thank you, love. I've never been happier. Everything is just so perfect right now. I can't believe they said yes. I went just in case they might put me through but I never thought they would actually say yes!" His words were slightly muffled because he had his face snuggled into my neck. Just then a couple of the neighborhood kids ran past.

"EW. THEY'RE HAVING SEX! GROSS!" One of the little boys screamed in a high pitched voice. Okay, so now these little kids come out to play?

"I think you're a little confused there, lad. But hey, at your age I'm amazed you even know that word." Niall said with a laugh. He looked at me and winked before grabbing my hand and pulling towards the front door of his house. We got inside and of course, he walked straight to the kitchen. I sat down on one of the little stools they had around the island in the middle of the kitchen. Niall was rummaging through the fridge and picked out three or four different things before finally closing the door and settling down on a stool across from mine.

"Hungry there, babe?" I said laughing at his big pile of food.

"Just a tad. Mum wouldn't stop for food! She said I'd eaten enough!"He got a look on his face like that was the worst thing anyone could do.

"Because you had sweetheart! It's only an hours drive between here and Dublin! We ate before we left and you STILL had me stop." Maura walked into the kitchen just as Niall had finished speaking. She shook his head at him before going over to the pantry.

"Oh come on mum, you've had me for 16 years now! You should know that food is basically air for me!" Niall yelled with a mouth full of food.

"Niall! Don't talk with your mouth full! And chew with your mouth closed! God, you pig." She stood with her hand on her hip and waggled a finger at him. I couldn't help but to laugh a little bit.

"What're you laughing at over there, missy?" Niall gave me a funny look that made me laugh even harder. I could barely get enough air to speak and explain myself.

"You two! You guys crack me up!" My giggles started to calm down a little bit when Niall stopped making his face.

"Oh, Lulu. You're so sweet. Anyways, I want to make you dinner tonight. What would you like?" Maura had been calling me Lulu for as long as I could remember. It changed between Lulu and many other names like Lolo, Lu, and Lo quite often though.

"Whatever Niall would like. He's the big star over here." I said reaching for his hand across the counter top. He looked up from his food and smiled at me.

"Well, if you're letting him pick I'll have to cook all the food that we have in the house! Maybe even some of the furniture too!" We all let out a laugh at that.

"How bout you're walking tacos then? Those are always the best." Walking tacos were the best things ever invented. You take a mini bag of Doritos and put all the fixings for tacos in it. Then you mush it all up and it's like a taco salad except with Doritos. It was so good. I'm amazed Maura hadn't won some kind of award for them yet.

"OH MY GOD YES. LAUREN I LOVE YOU. THOSE ARE SO FUCKING GOOD." Niall burst out of nowhere.

"Niall! Watch your language young man!" Maura waggled her finger in his face again.

That night was perfect. It was pretty much just a family night. Niall's step dad was out, but even without him it just felt complete. Maura, Niall, and I all sat around their table and talked about everything there was to talk about. That's probably one of the best parts about knowing Niall for so long. His mum had become another mum to me. His whole family really, his brother, Greg, before he moved out, and his step dad. It felt safe being around them. They were all so care free and non-judgemental. I don't know what I would do without them.

Two weeks later~

Niall had left again a couple days after that. He had to go start his "training" at "bootcamp", whatever that meant. He would come back a visit as much as possible, but it was rare and difficult for him to leave. So for the past month or so, I'd been miserable. I literally just sit at home and be a bum on my couch. Except for when I had to watch the kids for my mum, who STILL hadn't returned yet. I wouldn't be able to go visit him myself until the end of July. I didn't even know where this bootcamp business was being held, I just knew that the weekend I got to go see him would be the day they judged all the boys again. Just imagine if they didn't put him through while I was there. I would be no help at all. I'd probably be more upset about it than he was.

Today was a more difficult day. I was sitting on my bed with a big tub of ice cream watching some American TV show called Friends. I don't know why it was even playing over here, but I loved it. The only part that bothered me is every time a couple would do something together, I would think of Niall. I don't know why I was being such a baby about the whole thing. It'd only been two weeks since I'd seen him last.

"Hey, loser." Brittany said busting threw the door. I jumped and the spoon I was holding went flying out of my hands.

"God, Brittany! You scared me!" I yelled at her and got up to retrieve the spoon. I walked down stairs and put it in the sink and put the ice cream away.

"Wow, thanks for the warm welcome. I love you too." Brittany and I both had a knack for being sarcastic. I think that's one of the reasons we get along so well.

"How'd you even get in here?" I gave her a puzzled look.

"Your mum gave me a key. She said she was worried you would forget to feed yourself and die." Typical. My mum would do that too.

"Well, obviously I haven't forgotten to feed myself." I said gesturing the freezer that had the ice cream in it. She just rolled her eyes and started looking for food herself.

"Listen, I'm taking you out. I don't care what you say. You need to leave this house. You're becoming a hermit." Damn, tough love.

"But.. but.. Brittany. It's uh.. cold outside. Yeah, that's why I can't leave." Smooth Lauren, real smooth.

"Shut the hell up. Go shower, you filthy thing." I obeyed and walked upstairs to my bathroom.

Showering did feel good. I let the hot water relax my body and let the steam clear my mind. I guess hadn't realized how long I'd been sitting there because Brittany yelled at me through the door asking if I had drowned. I reassured her that I didn't and finished bathing. I got out and towel dried my long dark hair. It was naturally curly/wavy and if I played my cards right, I could get it to look just right.

Based on Brittany's outfit, I guessed that we were going to be going to a club. She was wearing a tighter floral print dress that had a thick brown belt that sat just under her chest. She accompanied that with a pair of plain black pumps and a leather clutch. I put on a similar outfit, just different patterns and such. I did my make up simple as always. Just some powder and a tad bit of eye liner and mascara. I put on the finishing touches, rings, necklace, perfume. All of those things and walked down stairs.

"Hey, sexy lady. Alright! Let's go!" Brittany said practically dragging me out of the house.

We got to the club and danced our hearts out. Brittany flirted, I stole sips of peoples drinks when I could, and that's pretty much how the whole night went. I hadn't turned 18 yet so I wasn't allowed to drink but I could still go in and since Brittany was 18 she would buy drinks and sneak them to me. The night was fun, but pretty uneventful. Besides, the whole time I couldn't get Niall out of my head. I tried to make it unnoticeable but I could tell Brittany knew how I was feeling. I would catch her giving me sympathetic looks every now and then. I just couldn't wait until next week.