Kiss You

Mam always told me about the first time she saw Pop. She was down by the tram station, waiting for Grandma to get off work when he walked in, handsome in his neatly pressed uniform. He'd just finished his first shift at the tram security post and was leaving for home.

She said that she knew he was the one the moment they laid eyes on one another. Mam said that it felt as if time had frozen, as if the universe itself had drawn a breath and held it for that one single moment. I thought it was all a load of horse manure. Until I saw Sam walking through the door of the abandoned country house, held tight in the arms of a uniformed policeman. Her hair was everywhere, and her face smudged with dust and dirt but I couldn't have cared less. She was alive, safe, there.

And after today, she was going to be mine.

The part of me that had long since ruled my every thought regarding the Payne twins was silent for once. I don't think it could say anything any more. Almost losing Sam had forced me to rethink a few things; my relationship with her and her brother for one. Sure Liam was my friend, and everyone who was anyone knew that making a move on your friend's brother was a downright douche thing to do. But I'd stayed quiet for too long.

It'd been obvious from the get go that Sam fancied me. Ever since our first band practice - her quick blushes and uncharacteristic shyness was enough to let everyone know about her feelings. And while it'd been a little amusing at first, the thought of her hair, her eyes and her smile started to do funny things to me as well.

Slowly, beyond my control, I started to like her too. Keeping my feelings quiet through X Factor, our first album releases and public appearances had been easy because management moved us into a dorm and limited our contact with family. It was only when Sam stepped out of the car that day - three days before she was taken - with her hair a lighter shade of the brown it used to be and upgraded clothes that I realized just how much I'd been lying to myself and to Liam. I was smitten with the girl.

But that had been then, before her kidnapping and before the demands and before the mind numbing fear that I might never get to see her again. I might never have the chance to tell her how I felt about her. A selfish thought, I know, considering that Liam and his family were driving themselves bonkers just looking for her but I couldn't help it. The last two weeks had been hell for me. It felt as if someone had poured acid into my chest and swirled it around whenever Samantha Payne crossed my mind.

I knew then that I couldn't do it any more. I couldn't stand back and let the girl who owned my heart - the girl who'd claimed it all those years ago - go on without at least knowing how I felt.

Restlessy, I stood with the rest of the guys. They were as eager as I was to meet Sam, if only to make sure that she was still the same Sam we'd last seen those two weeks ago but propriety made us stay where we were, behind the yellow police tape, eyes trained on Liam and his family as they rushed towards their sister and daughter.

After what seemed like hours the Paynes' moved away from Sam long enough for her eyes to travel the length of the field to rest on mine. She held my gaze and I hers and in that moment, I knew that everything Mam had told me about the 'moment,' about the snap of something inside you - as if you were an incomplete puzzle that had found it's missing piece - was true.

I didn't let myself wait any longer. Pulling away from the rest of the boys, I ran towards her. I could hear them yell at me, heard Harry mutter a curse, but I didn't care. Before I knew it, Samantha was in my arms, her face buried in my neck and she was sobbing.

"Niall..." she breathed, her small shoulders shaking.

I held her close - breathing in the scent that was truly just hers - and cried into her hair.

"I've got you," I told her truthfully, knowing that it would take more than the end of the world for me to let go.

Suddenly, someone was pushing me away. Roughly, a voice spoke. "Stay the fuck away from my sister, Niall."

I looked up to see Liam glaring at me. He held Sam against his chest, forefinger pointed at me.

My next actions were without thought. Before any of us could comprehend what was happening, I had pushed him away and landed a good one on the edge of his jaw.

Samantha yelled and I could hear people running towards us. They were too late though. Liam turned around and sucker punched me in the gut. I doubled over, but not before I managed to drive my elbow into his chest. Before long, we were on the ground, wrestling while Harry, Zayn and Louis were trying to pull us apart. Sam was shouting something, hitting at both our arms. Everyone else was either too confused or puzzled to do anything.

Once Louis had finally managed to pull me away, Liam had split a lip, cut his left eye and bruised a cheek. I felt about as bad as he looked.

"Stay away from my sister, Horan!" Liam kept screaming at me, even after Harry and Zayn helped him to his feet. I growled at him. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You're the problem! Don't take me for an idiot - I know what your kind want from girls."

I scoffed and successfully resisted the urge to spit in his face. "My kind? My kind? You're a fucking hypocrite, you know that."

"Just stay the fuck away from my sister."

"Stop!" Samantha screamed. She was glaring at the both of us. "Whatever is going on between you two needs to stop. I just got back from a kidnapping, okay? You are not going to do whatever it is you're doing now."

Mrs. Payne came up behind her daughter and shot her son a warning look. She didn't look at me. "Samantha, let's get you to the hospital. C'mon."

Sam pulled away from the woman and sucked in a deep breath. She was trembling. Beneath the irrational anger, I wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her.

"I'm alright, Mum," she said, shaking her head. "I just want to go home."

Liam leapt into action then. He cleared his throat and looked at Sam, his voice softening almost instantly. "I'll drive us home."

Samantha shook her head again and - for reasons that I will never know - took a single step towards me. "Niall will take me home, Liam."

The anger that pulsed off of him was almost palpable.

"Bu-!"

Mrs. Payne cleared her throat and Liam's words died on his lips. They exchanged a glance and I knew that Sam was going to get her way. Louis took over then and glanced at the other guys. "We'll follow in the van. Niall, you and Sam can take the Volkswagen."

I could only just nod.

Before long, we were making our way to the silver car that Harry had driven over from the hotel. It wasn't until we were in the car, buckled in, that I could finally look at Sam again. She had bags under her eyes, and dirt in her hair and her shoulders hadn't stopped trembling. I grabbed her hand and held on tight. Reaching for her chin, I turned her head to face me and tried to fight back the wave of words that I wanted to say.

Keep it simple, boy.

"I can't believe it took me a kidnapping and a near death experience to realize."

She blinked at me, tears brimming over. "Realize what, Niall?"

"Realize that I love you."