I'll Be Your Safety

It took me forever to find the perfect birthday present for Niall. I would go out right after work, and roam the streets of downtown London, aimlessly passing by store after store. I used half of this time as alone time; to clear my head and relax for a bit, and the rest of the time was intense thinking. I wasn’t exactly skilled at picking out gifts for guys. Girls? No problemo. But guys? That was a whole different field.

So naturally, my only way of finding out what to buy Niall was to figure out what he was into. When I wandered into his room to ask something, I would look around a little more; over dinner, I would ask slightly better questions. And that’s when I finally figured it out.

I could buy him a guitar.

He had never actually played it in front of me; even after all this time he was too shy to. But almost every single time I went into his room that guitar was in a different place. One day, it was laying across him unmade bed; the next, it was tucked into the corner, seemingly unused. There were even a few days when I would trudge into the front door, greeted by the gentle strum of the instrument, which was always immediately halted when he heard me take a single step into the apartment. He seemed to keep all his creative abilities neatly concealed when he was around me.

But there was this one time. I had tiptoed into the house, afraid Ethan was asleep, and that I would wake him up. Just as I was slipping off my shoes, I heard him preforming a song. It was eerily quiet, making the melodic tunes easy to hear. He was even singing, although his gentle voice was muffled out through the walls. I called out his name, and the playing immediately stopped. He yelled back that he was changing, and would be out in a moment; and that was the end of that.

Completely unsure of how the whole guitar picking business went down, I stumbled into a music shop, and wandered around, perplexed at al the different models and colours. I looked extremely out of place in my neat black dress and ballet flats. My stark white lab coat was slung over my arm, and my hair was done up in a neat bun. Everyone else in the store smelled like incense, and wore graphic band tees. Interesting.

Just as I was staring blankly at a guitar hanging on a wall when a middle aged man wearing faded, slightly bell-bottomed jeans and a tank top, which hugged his uh- curves.

“ ’Ello miss do you need any help today?” He asked in a very thick English accent.

I nodded, “Well, actually I’m looking to purchase a guitar?”

“Oh, Jeffrey can help you with that. JEFFREY?” He shot over his shoulder. Moments later an incredibly attractive man appeared from behind a curtained off section of the store. He, on the other hand, wore a pair of well-fitting black jeans and a loose burgundy tee. I smiled as he walked over. “Hey, I’m Jeff. Your looking to purchase a guitar, I presume?” He placed his hands together in front of him. The other man- who’s name I didn’t get- just grunted and ambled off.

“Well, yes. I am. But you see-“ I trailed off, and bit my lip. “I have no idea which one.”

“Well, you can start me off by telling me; acoustic or electric?” He smiled; his smile was slightly lopsided. It was cute.

“Well, I know that much. Acoustic, I believe. At least, that’s what he’s played.”

“Alright. Then we should probably move over there-“ He pointed to the opposite side of the room “Because we are currently standing in front of a plethora of electric basses.” He laughed.

“Oh, well you guide the way then. I clearly haven’t a clue where I’m going.” I laughed. He led me to the back of the room, where a few other, mildly creepy looking guys were picking guitars right off the wall and running a hand down them, eliciting a perfect harmony.

As Jeff bent down and started rummaging through a box, he asked a few questions.

“So, who exactly are you buying this guitar for?”

“A good friend of mine. I’m rubbish at giving presents, so I thought maybe this would do the trick?” I furrowed my brows. I felt a gaze on my back and I turned around, startling the sight of one of the eerie guys who was staring at me. I shot him a quick glare before turning my attention back to Jeff, who was still rooting around in the box.

“Aha!” He stood up, holding up a small silver key. “We’ll need this for later.” He pocketed the key. “So, you said the recipient plays guitar? How well?”

“He’s been playing for-“ I thought for a moment “Well, I’m not sure exactly when he started, but he used to play all the time on tour, so over ten years?”

“Ah, so he’s a skilled musician.” Jeff chuckled “You said he was on tour? Would he be using this guitar on the road?”

“Well, unless he brings it to New York with him, but that’s the only travelling this instrument would be doing. The band he was in broke up a few years back.”

“He was in a band? Which one?” He asked, genuinely interested.

I blushed, “One Direction? You may not have heard of them, they were more of a teenage girl craze than anything else.”

“Ah, of course, the infamous One Direction. You said he plays guitar, yes?”

I nodded.

“Well then, let me guess which one it is. Hmm, I’ll go with Niall.” He grinned broadly.

I started laughing, “How’d you know?”

“Eh, while being the only boy in the family, and having two younger, easily obsessive sisters, I learned quite a lot about those boy bands.” He searched my face for a moment “Your Niall’s girlfriend.” He stated simply.

“Pardon?”

“You’re the girl my sister was talking about. The infamous secret relationship Niall’s been ‘holding back’ on telling the world.” He put ‘holding back’ in air quotations. I couldn’t help it; I started laughing.

“What?” He laughed along. “Hey, I know quite a fair bit about you. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you and Niall have a son, yeah?”

I pulled a face at him “Creepy, but yeah, I do.”

He pulled his fist towards himself and cheered, “Yes. Nailed it.”

“Well, this is getting borderline creepy.” I giggled, “Which guitar would you pick for him?”

“You’ve got a budget?”

“Not particularly.”

“Hmm. How about I take a run ‘round the shop for you tomorrow, call up a few of my mates down west, and I find the perfect guitar? I’m sure my sisters can give me insight on his playing preferences.” He cocked an eyebrow playfully.

“Sounds great. Just nobody can know, alright?” I waggled a finger accusingly. He held his hands up in the air in defense.

“Alright, don’t you worry your pretty little face off. None of those girls will say a word.” He promised.

“Tomorrow’s a Sunday, which mean’s I have the day off.” I thought for a moment. “Can I come ‘round one?”

“Sounds good-“ he paused.

“Olivia.” I smiled.

“I already knew that.” He grinned. I turned around and picked my stuff up off the floor.

“Thanks a lot, Jeff. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I waved. I then weaved around the shelves of music, making it to the door in one piece. It was cold outside, so, much to my dismay, I had to put my lab coat on. I hated the bugger, but it was the only warmth I had at the moment, so I reluctantly slipped it on and pushed outside into the cool air.

I had just eaten lunch, and was feeding Ethan when Niall burst out of his room, wearing dress pants and a button up shirt.

“Going off to a meeting?” I asked, eyeing his outfit.

“Yeah. It’s a pretty important one. Gotta look my best.” He winked, and then fumbled with the top button on his shirt. “Button or no button?”

I thought about it for a moment, “No button.” I smiled. Niall sighed, then walked over and planted a kiss on Ethan’s head.

“I’ll see you two later.” He waved. Hastily he stuffed his feet into a pair of loafers, and within seconds he was gone. Just then I remembered Jeff back at the guitar store, and mentally cursed. It was fifteen to one, and Ethan I had yet to get ready. I glanced down at Ethan, who was looking around the room and pointing to his toys instead of gobbling down his food.

“You all done love?” I cooed. Gently I lifted him out of his high chair, and whisked him off to his room. I managed to change him efficiently without any unexpected delays, so I plopped him down with his toy plane to play while I changed.

Within fifteen minutes we were out the door. I decided on taking a taxi, since no form of public transport nor walking takes a productive amount of time when you have a two year old with you.

It was a short drive to the shop, only ten minutes from the flat. By the time we walked in the door it was one fifteen, not too bad saying I was with child. I let go of Ethan’s hand, and tried to track down Jeff. I spotted him near a pile of sheet music, laughing and digging around in it with a girl who looked to be around my age. When I was close he glanced up and noticed me walk in. He stood up and waved, and I walked towards the duo.

“Olivia, I found the perfect guitar for him.” He grinned from ear to ear, clearly proud of himself.

The girl jumped up beside him and extended a hand “Hi! My name’s Emily.” She beamed. The two shared an eerie resemblance, so I guessed they were related in some way.

“I’m his sister.” She added in quickly, answering the question I never even spoke aloud.

“Oh, the sister you told me about yesterday?” I asked.

Jeff rubbed the back of his neck “Yeah, that sister.”

“You told her about me? What was it?” She demanded. Boy, did she have some personality.

“Oh, just about your little obsession with someone’s friend.” He sing-songed.

“You did NOT!”

I laughed, “Which one’s your favorite?”

“Harry. Harry for sure.”

I cringed; the Harry subject was still a little sore with me.

“Is he a nice lad?” She pressed. Jeff placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling for her to stop with all the questions.

“Here, I’ll show you the guitar.” he motioned for me to follow him, and we wove around the store towards the till. Sitting on it was a large black leather guitar case. I felt someone latch onto my leg, and saw Ethan tug the corner of my jeans. I lifted him up and placed him on the counter so he could get a better view. Jeff opened the case up, revealing a cedar coloured guitar. I didn’t know much about the instruments, let me tell you that, but this one looked amazing.

“It looks great.” I beamed “But how well does it play?”

Just as Jeff picked up the guitar and started strumming a few chords, his sister walked up, grinning.

“Is that- is that Ethan?” She asked wide-eyed.

“Hello.” He chirped, waving his hand around.

As Emily and Ethan had their moment, I watched as Jeff strummed a few chords on the guitar, obtaining a clear melody.

“Sounds good, too.” I remarked. “I’ll take it.”

Jeff placed the guitar back into it’s case, and I looked around for Ethan. I figured he was just off exploring, so I waited by the till for him. Just as Jeff and I were discussing everything, Ethan tapped on my leg. He was holding up a triangle, and clinked the metal rod against it. I laughed “You like that, love?”

He nodded excitedly. “And the triangle.” I pointed down to Ethan.

“All right.” Jeff stared punching numbers into a calculator. I crouched down to Ethan’s level and played along with him.

“Olivia?” he called. I stood up, making myself visible again. Jeff started laughing.

“I thought you just decided to pop off.” He shook his head.

I smiled, “Nah, this guy’s level is just a little under most people’s sightline.”

“Well, here ya go.” He pushed the case forward. I picked it up, testing it’s weight.

“Thank you so much, Jeff. You’ve been such help.”

“Ah, it was no problem. Just doin my job.” He said nonchalantly.

“Well, if Ni needs anything, to do with this thing, I’ll tell him to come ‘round here.” I started towards the door.

“Bye!” He called out.

“Thank you!” I replied. I pushed the door open for Ethan, who scrambled out, delightedly clinking the triangle. Just as the door was about to close I heard Emily squeal, “She called him Ni! I’m going to faint.”

I grinned, walking to the curb and promptly hailing a cab. I motioned for him to open the trunk, and slipped the large instrument in as Ethan crawled into the back seat.