Lost in London

Reilly woke up in the morning to Niall's bare chest underneath her head and their limbs a tangled mess. She was fully clothed and he was half clothed as they had been the night before. But they had switched sides of the bed at some point during the night. Her arm was draped over his stomach with one of his arms over it, while his other arm was somehow linked through hers and wrapped around her waist. Nothing about the way they were made sense.

He stirred as she carefully tried to untangle herself from him so she could get up, but his arm tightened around her. "Why do you wake up so early even on the weekend?" he mumbled sleepily, lowering his face into her hair.

She chuckled softly. "I'm a creature of habit," she told him, her voice hoarse from sleep. "Now let me get up so I can make breakfast."

His arm tightened around her even more and he breathed into her hair. "But I like this. It's comfy. And you're warm. If you get up, I'll be cold," he rambled.

She pressed her face against his chest and laughed again. "Okay. I get that. But I really need to pee, also," she told him.

"Fine," he whined, stretching out the word. With a groan, he released his hold on her and she sat up, sliding her leg out from underneath his as she did so. "But let me make breakfast," he said just as she was opening the bedroom door.

"You aren't even awake," she called over her shoulder on her way down the hall.
She had only been in the kitchen for a few minutes when she heard him coming down the hall, but she already had dishes and food out on the kitchen counter ready to be prepared. Niall walked right into the kitchen and started taking things out of her hands, shooing her away.

"You never want to let anyone take care of you," he said, gently bumping her with his hip.

"That's because I'm perfectly capable to taking care of myself," she replied, trying to grab a knife from in front of him, but he pushed her hands away before she could. "You guys never let me do anything for you. If you come over here, you bring food. If we go out, you pay for me. Has it ever occurred to any of you that maybe, just maybe, I want to do nice things for you, too?" she huffed, walking around the counter to the table in defeat.

Niall watched her carefully, a smile stretching slowly across his face. "You're so cute when you're angry," he said and she shot a glare at him, though her cheeks were turning pink. "You remember anything I taught you on the guitar?" he asked. She stared at him but didn't respond, which only made him laugh. "Go get my guitar and practice some while I make breakfast."

She stared at him for a moment longer before ultimately ignoring his suggestion and turning to her textbooks on the the table. She had a few assignments for school to work on, and now was as good of a time as any.

She got through an entire assignment before Niall brought plates of food and cups of tea over to the table. She closed her book and pushed it out of the way so he could set everything down. He sat in the seat next to her and they began eating in silence.

"Thank you," she said after a few minutes.

Niall grinned. "You're welcome," he said.

Silence fell between them again, but she didn't let it settle. "Where did you want to take me today?" she asked, remember what he'd said the night before.

"Mmm," he hummed, chewing the food in his mouth before speaking. "I was thinking we could be tourists today," he said. Reilly looked at him like the idea was utterly ridiculous. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun. I'll be from Ireland, and you can be from America."

Something about the way he said it made it impossible for Reilly not to laugh. She nearly spit her food all over the place, and then almost choked in an attempt not to. "Not really a far stretch," she told him when she finally had everything under control.

"Precisely."

They finished eating and she went to take a shower and get ready for whatever it was Niall had planned. When she came out of her room, Niall was in the shower, and her kitchen had been cleaned. She sighed and sat at the table to work on more of her school work.

By the time Niall came down the hall, Reilly had finished nearly half of her school work. She turned and shot a glare at him, but it didn't last long. His hair was messy from being towel dried, and fell across his forehead in the way she hated that appealed to her so much. Her heart fluttered and she turned away from him before he could see her the blush tinting her face.

"What did I do now? Are you mad because I cleaned up the mess I made in your kitchen?" he asked. She rolled her eyes even though her back was to him and said nothing. "You're a really hard girl to try to please," he commented, taking a seat at the table next to her. She looked up at him for a moment but still didn't say anything.

It was still early, so she spent some more time working on her school work, and then Niall gave her another guitar lesson. It went much like the previous one, with him sitting close behind her, his face next to hers while he softly explained what he showing her, and his hands on top of hers. In some ways it almost seemed to be too intimate a thing for friends to share, and in others it seemed so extremely innocent.

When Niall finally deemed it to be the right time, they got into a cab. He gave the driver an address, and proceeded to dodge all of Reilly's questions about where they were going. Her dislike of surprises amused him, which only frustrated her, and, in turn, further amused him.

The taxi finally came to a stop, and in her usual stubborn manner, Reilly tried to pay, but Niall wouldn't let her. She began ranting at him just as she had earlier that morning as they got out of the car, but interrupted herself mid sentence when she took in their surroundings.

"Isn't that-?" she began, and Nial cut her off.

"London Bridge, yes. We had to cross it to get here, but you were too busy askin' too many questions to notice, I guess," he said.

"What are we doing here?" she inquired.

Niall laughed and began walking. "I told you. We're being tourists," he said as he walked up to a ticket window. "Two, please," he said to the girl in front of him as he pulled his wallet from his pocket. The sign above the window told Reilly that they were at something called The London Bridge Experience. Her interest was piqued, as she knew some of the history of the bridge, but not enough to be sure what was in store.

They only had to wait a little while for the next tour to start, so there wasn't a lot of time for Reilly to ask questions. And Niall's answer was simple enough, he'd never been there. He'd heard about it, and he'd checked it out online and thought it seemed like fun.

Inside, the damp air made Reilly's skin itch. But she didn't say anything as they walked with the rest of the group they'd been put into. She stayed close to Niall and once she'd adjusted to the atmosphere began to enjoy herself.

When the tour ended, they had the option to leave or to continue down into the tombs. Reilly took one look and shook her head. "No," she said.

Niall looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Come on. I've heard this is the best part," he told her.

She shook her head again. "No. No way. Not happening," she protested.

He stared at her for a moment in disbelief, and she continued shaking her head at him. "Come on, please," he pleaded but she didn't seem inclined to give in. "Do you trust me?" he asked. Reilly cocked her head to the side and gave him a questioning look. "Do you trust me?" he repeated when she didn't answer, holding his hand out to her.

With obvious reluctance she took hold of his hand. He laced his fingers with hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Darlin', I promise," he assured her as they walked toward the entrance.

After a bumpy entrance, they found themselves inside a maze. They were near the front of the group, as they navigated through it, a choice that could have been considered the wrong one every time something would jump out at them. Niall took it all in stride, but Reilly screamed several times and held tightly to Niall's hand as though it was her lifeline.

He felt a little bad that he'd had no idea she would be so frightened. He gently squeezed her hand when he could to remind her that he was there, and that she was okay. And by the time they were exiting, she was shaking very slightly, still gripping his hand with all her strength.

"I'm so sorry," he said as soon as they were outside.

She took in a deep breath and looked up at him. "It's okay," she said. "It was actually kind of fun. I just don't do stuff like that very well," she told him.

It took awhile before she finally let go of his hand. The afternoon was spent being tourists, just like Niall had said he wanted to. They walked over to an old operating theatre museum and got to see what it would have been like to have an operation in the 1800's. Some of the old surgical instruments creeped Reilly out, while Niall found them to be really cool.

After that they wandered through a park. Their hands bumped a few times before Niall finally took hers in his. Reilly told him about how she, Louis, Zayn, and Liam had played soccer with some of the boys' fans the night before. She left out the part where some of the fans borderline harassed her, because she knew how much he loved the fans, and she didn't want to start anything with him. And if she was being honest, she had no problem with them, only the approach they took in asking her the questions that were in their curious heads.

When they left the park, they wandered around the streets, stopping in various shops and commenting on buildings, and enjoying comfortable conversation. Eventually Niall got hungry and they found a place to eat. While waiting to be seated, a small group of girls approached them. Niall immediately dropped Reilly's hand and greeted the girls.

"Can we have a picture?" one of them asked.

"Yes, of course," Niall said with a goofy grin. It didn't seem to matter that he'd been doing this for the better part of three years, it always amazed him when someone went out of their way to talk to him. "Do you mind?" he asked Reilly, motioning to the camera the girl was holding.

Reilly took the camera and the girls gathered around Niall. He stretched his long arms around two of them, while the other two stood in front and crouched down a little. "Squeeze in," Reilly encouraged, and the girls obliged. She counted to three and then snapped the picture. "Okay, now everyone make a funny face," she said. Niall shot a smile at her before screwing up his face. Reilly giggled and took the picture, and then held the camera out to the girls. The one who took the camera thanked her quietly.

The girls weren't done, though. They had things with them they wanted signed and Niall happily obliged. He stole a quick glance and Reilly to make sure she was okay as he did so, but she didn't notice. She seemed off in her own world.

"Is she your girlfriend?" one of the girls asked him shyly.

A smile broke across his face. "No, she's not my girlfriend. Just a very good friend," he told them.

"Oh," the girl said. "Well, she's really pretty."

"I'll give you that," he said, looking over at Reilly. She felt his gaze this time and glanced over at him. "She is very beautiful," he agreed. "That's somethin' you should tell her, though, not me."

The girl looked almost horrified at the suggestion. "I don't want to bother her," she said.

"I'm sure she wouldn't feel bothered," he said, but the girl just looked down at the ground. "Ah, well that's alright. I can tell her later if you want." The girl looked at him and shrugged. He chatted with the girls until the hostess was ready to seat them. He hugged all of them quickly and wished them a good night before he and Reilly went to their table.

After they ate, Niall suggested they go back to his place to watch movies. Being a little tired from walking around all afternoon, Reilly agreed, and they got into a cab. This time she paid attention to the short drive across London Bridge.

When they got to Niall's, he grabbed a couple beers from the refrigerator and let Reilly pick the first movie. They sat on opposite ends of the couch, but by the end of the second movie, she was practically asleep in his lap.

He chuckled to himself as he looked down at her when the credits started rolling. "Too tired for another movie?" he asked. She looked up at him, her eyelids heavy, and shook her head. He laughed again. "You sure?" he asked, and she shook her head again. "You can go sleep in the guest room, if you want," he offered.

Reilly shook her head stubbornly. "I'm want to watch another movie," she argued halfheartedly before yawning.

Niall chuckled again. "Alright. Come on," he said, shifting underneath her. She sat up, and he turned off the TV and stood, reaching for her hand. He pulled her off the couch, leaving the empty beer bottles on the coffee table, and leading her down the hall to his room. She climbed onto his bed without question while he put on another movie. He sat next to her on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. She scooted next to him and rested her head against his shoulder.

She dozed in and out of sleep throughout the movie. Occasionally, she would comment on something and Niall would jump, thinking she was asleep. It was getting to the end of the movie, and she had been silent and still for a long time, her breathing slow and even, when she must have half woken up again.

"Niall," she said softly, and didn't wait for him to answer before continuing. "Do you think someday we'll tell our children about each other?" she asked.

Niall glanced down at her but didn't say anything. Her eyes were closed and her face was relaxed. She looked so peaceful in that moment, like the most beautiful angel. He wasn't entirely sure she wasn't talking in her sleep. He kissed the top of her head and looked back to the TV. Her question echoed in his head.

Part of him was glad she wasn't fully awake when she asked the question, because he wasn't sure what he would have said. With all his heart he hoped that one day he would get to tell their children stories of how they met and fell for each other.