Fearless

“Rachel,” I broke through her haze. She never seemed to leave the couch, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

She glanced up at me, her eyes shining through the dark like a cat's from the light coming from the television.

“I’m going out again tonight. If you leave the apartment for any reason, just text me, okay? I won’t be able to see your notes.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay sober,” she told me seriously.

I didn’t believe her.

“Okay. But…just in case.”

She turned her attention away from me again, so I walked away from the conversation, slipping out the door and heading down the hallway, not letting my mind linger with her. I had to focus on the positive, that I was going to be hanging out with Niall soon.

About ten minutes later, I found myself in the lobby of Niall’s dorm building. The guy at the front told me I had to wait for Niall to come down and get me, since I didn’t have the student card that would allow me to get through the rotating admittance machine, like the ones at train stations, and I didn’t have a note of permission from Niall to enter the building. God, talk about security.

“Hey,” Niall greeted as he entered from the hallway. “Want to go out to dinner now?”

I shrugged. “We might as well, since you’re already downstairs.”

He grinned and walked past me toward the door. “Great. Let’s get going, then.”

* * *

I burst out laughing as I walked back into Niall’s dorm room with him. “I can’t believe you actually did that,” I accused jokingly.

He shrugged. “It’s not my fault!” he defended. “It was a dare. And I was drunk. What else was I going to do?”

I chuckled again and did a preliminary scan of the room. Niall hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that his dorm room was a mess. He probably understated it, really. It looked like a clothes bomb had gone off, besides a little clear space around one of the beds. Niall’s, I presumed.

But on top of the clothes situation, I saw a couple of dust bunnies hanging out under the desks, and there was a cobweb in the corner.

“Wow,” I expressed simply, not sure what else to say.

“I warned you,” Niall snickered as he pulled himself up onto the one made bed. It was really tall, and I wasn’t exactly positive how he’d climbed onto it so easily.

I must have been staring while I was thinking about what he’d done because he patted the space next to him. “You can come up, if you want.”

“If I can,” I corrected, judging the situation from a distance. From then, I lifted my knee up onto the top of the desk, hoisted myself up, and did a kind of hop over the distance that separated the two pieces of furniture.

“Very resourceful,” Niall commented teasingly. “You could have just climbed up the side, you know.”

He gestured over to the side I’d come from, so I looked down at the bed. Surely enough, on the side of the frame, there were a couple of boards that could act easily as a ladder.

“Shut up,” I laughed, scooting over so I was closer to him. “I like my method better.”

“Whatever makes you happy,” he replied, leaning back against the wall.

I turned around, running my hand through my hair, and saw a little television on a shelf that I was sure was meant for clothes or something. “Is that how you watch your ‘footie’?” I asked with a smile.

“Yup,” he responded. “I have to get up extremely early in the morning to catch it, but it’s worth it. It’s also pretty much the only way that I can force myself to get out of bed to get to work.”

“When the hell do you go to class?” I laughed. “I feel like every time I go to Dunkin’ Donuts, you’re working there.”

He chuckled. “I feel like I always work there, too. But I have classes. I guess you’re just in class when I have them. Or possibly sleeping.”

“I doubt I’m sleeping,” I muttered to myself.

There was a long silence, and I settled against the wall, forcing my back straight, crossing my left ankle over my right.

“This is going to sound awkward,” Niall started suddenly, “but I really like how you’re quiet, but you’re not shy.”

“What?” I laughed, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

“Like, you’re a friendly and outgoing person, but you’re just quiet. You’re comfortable in your quietness. Most people are quiet because they’re afraid they’re going to say something stupid or that they’ll make a fool of themselves, but you don’t. You just don’t say anything if you don’t have anything to say.”

I stared at him, wondering how he’d figured that all out. Had he been observing me, taking mental notes on my behavior? The idea was kind of creepy, yet slightly flattering, at the same time.

“Yup, that was awkward,” Niall stated, blushing a little when he saw the confused look on my face. “Sorry, I should keep my mouth shut.”

“No, no,” I denied, shaking my head. “I’m just…shocked that you noticed that, I guess. Another one of the trade-offs for not remembering anyone’s names?”

He shrugged and smirked at me. “I guess. That…and I kind of watch you a lot.”

If I was a blushy kind of girl, I would have just then. But as it was, I cleared my throat and hopped off the bed, feeling a painful sensation spread up my legs.

I ignored it and started toward the bathroom, which was just outside the dorm room door, an immediate right in the short hallway that led toward the common room that the four dorm rooms shared.

“Coming?” I called to him, poking my head back into his room when I realized he hadn’t been following.

His face turned a bright shade of red as he stared at me. “Um…why do you want me to go into the bathroom with you?”

I realized what he was thinking and let out a loud laugh, shaking my head. “Uh, no. Get your head out of the gutter and stop letting Harry influence you so much. We’re going to do your hair.”

“Oh, okay,” he agreed, reaching into his side table and grabbing a box of dye. “That’s much more appropriate to do with some of my suitemates home.”

I rolled my eyes, still smiling, as I made my way into the bathroom. Niall entered after me, closing the door after him.

I readied the dye as Niall sat on the edge of the tub. When I turned back around, his shirt was on the floor, and he was twiddling his thumbs on his lap like everything was normal.

“Uh…” I trailed off. “This isn’t a strip club, Nialler.”

He chuckled. “I just don’t want to ruin my shirt with the dye, in case any drips or something.”

“So we’ll just ruin your skin,” I mused as I started squeezing the bottle, the color resting on Niall’s pale scalp. “Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll wash off my skin,” he told me. “But I don’t know about my shirt.”

I didn’t either, so I kept my mouth shut.

“You know, I’m perfectly capable of dyeing my own hair,” he informed me, as if I didn’t know.

“I know, but it’s way easier for someone else to do it. Don’t you know that?”

He shrugged. “I’ve always dyed my own hair.” There was a short pause before he spoke again. “Want me to dye yours?”

I let out a snort and shook my head. “There’s no way I could work as a blonde. Especially not the blonde you rock.”

“I dunno. It could suit you.”

“No.”

“Just an offer,” he expressed simply, a small smile emerging on his face. It stayed there the entire time I administered the dye into his hair.

Once I was done, I ran my fingers through his hair, making sure that it covered the whole thing. “Alright, and now we wait,” I expressed, going over to the sink to wash my hands.