Call Me a Thief

Once Niall and I began walking towards the more tourist-infested part of city, more people seemed to recognize him. It was an endless chase; when we escaped one crowd, there was another facing us. Well, not so much us than just him. A part of me felt bad, his flushed cheeks showing evident discomfort and his face looking down toward the ground. It wasn't long before we had a consistent group of girls and paparazzi that began following us, saying Niall's name repeatedly, and throwing out questions left and right. 

Picture? Autograph? Who's the girl? Pose? Niall? Niall? Niall? Where's Harry? Louis? Zayn? Liam?

To be honest, I was horrified. As a child a part of me always yearned for fame and fortune, but if this was the price to pay then forget that dream. The crowd grew thick and impossible to move through, but Niall kept his head down and kept moving forward. 

"Just don't say anything," he told me, "Keep your head down."

Following his advice, I watched our feet slowly move along the sidewalk and noticed Niall reaching into his pocket for his phone. What seemed to be seconds later (maybe time just stood still in mobs), the crowd parted a bit as a car pulled to the edge of sidewalk. Niall gripped my hand tightly and plowed towards the vehicle, yanking open the door and pushing me lightly inside. He climbed in after me, a small smile on his otherwise annoyed face as he closed the door.

"I think I lost a chunk of my hair?" I laughed, trying to lighten the mood as I rubbed the back of my head in a spot I didn't realize was sore until then.

Niall looked down at his jacket with a frown, "I lost some buttons."

I looked out the window to see the many faces looking in with large grins and phones and cameras in front of their faces. They tapped the glass even as the car peeled away. Slowly but surely, every last person was gone in the sea of walking faces and we drove the final block to the movie theatre.

"I'm sorry about that," Niall looked at me and pouted a bit. "Normally it's manageable, but with word out that I'm here and that I've been spotted with a new, nameless girl... Things get kind of crazy."

Reaching over, I squeezed Niall's hand. "There's nothing to apologize for. It's absolutely okay."

"I love our fans so much," Niall said with a sigh, looking out the window at the movie theatre. "I owe them my life. But I really wish they would let me keep buttons on my jacket for longer than a week."

We both laughed as we got out of the car and went straight into the theatre. The best thing about being in buildings was the lack of paparazzi. Even the fans seemed to respect Niall's privacy more when he was inside a place rather than outside. Only a few girls asked for photos, which I happily took for them. After all, I'm not going to be mad over a few girls making their lives complete by stumbling across their favorite celebrity.

The next movie playing happened to be some bloody action thriller, which wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, but being with Niall made anything sound okay. As we sat in the theatre, he turned to me with a dreamy expression, his sunglasses once again off of his face. I smiled back, wishing I could have a snapshot of his face to keep locked away in my favorite memories.

Reaching for my hand, he gave it a light squeeze as the preview started and turned his attention to the screen. We voted on which movies looked worth seeing and which didn't, based off of the special effects and actors chosen. Niall told me which notable celebrities were nice people and which we're complete asses.

"Don't trust her," he whispered with a laugh, pointing to a blonde on the screen that I didn't recognize. 

Once the movie began and the lights dimmed entirely, I had to aggressively bite down on my lower lip due to the bout of electricity that seemed to be dancing between Niall and I. Even through our jackets and through the gap between us, I could still feel him in the wildest way imaginable. The movie was incredibly difficult to focus on, because everything in me wanted Niall to be my focus instead.

It felt as if I was lost in a novel, because surely chemistry like that couldn't happen in reality.

Niall moved his hand from mine and placed it on my thigh, his fingers doing their usual routine of tracing circles.

Well that didn't help my focus any.

Leaning my head onto his shoulder, I tangled our arms together and gripped onto his bicep, the electricity becoming even more vivid at the contact. Lightly, I felt Niall's head lean against my own, and we rested like that until the credits began rolling with a vulgar rock song blaring.

Instantly Niall sat up, looking at me with eyes much darker than their usual color. His face was flushed and his expression unreadable. 

“I wasn't expecting that ending,” he mused aloud, grimacing at the screen.

Nodding my head in agreement, I just watched the flashing words on the screen. “It was most definitely a lame way to end the movie.”

"I'm exhausted," Niall changed the subject, his eyes darting back and forth between both of mine when I returned my gaze to him.

"Too much hardcore action for you?" I asked, getting to my feet and watching him do the same.

Niall laughed and whispered, "not enough."

Unsure on whether or not I was supposed to hear that remark, I began the walk out of theatre and picked apart his words. Not enough action for him? Was that a genuine critique of the movie or a hint at something much more R-rated? There was a familiar fuzzy feeling growing in the pit my stomach at the thought.

Feeling my face grow hot, I excused myself to the bathroom and stood in front of one the mirrors, my hands on the edge of the sink. To be honest, I looked like a hot mess. My hair was matted down from where I was resting against Niall and my make-up was smudged. Not only that, but my expression was that of a love-struck teenage girl. With a deep inhale, I put on my most casual face and fixed my appearance, wanting to pull myself together on the outside at least.

My thoughts, however, were running entirely rampant with material much more suitable for the raunchier parts of that movie than for real life.

Exhaling slowly, I calmed myself enough to exit the bathroom. As I turned a corner, I saw Niall waiting patiently, his eyes looking down at his phone screen. He had an uneasy expression, one a lot different than the face he was making only moments ago.

"Is everything okay?" I questioned softly as I approached him. My eyes darted to his phone screen which had the twitter app open. 

As quickly as I peeked at the screen, he closed the app, a smiling forming on his still unsure face. "Everything's fine. You hungry?"

Glancing down at my phone screen, I saw it was past midnight. "A bit, but it's getting pretty late."

"That's perfect," Niall told me as we began walking towards the exit, "that means less people will be out."

"Niall," I scoffed, "we're in the city that never sleeps."

He frowned a bit, but shrugged. "Let's play a game called 'how quickly can we find Chinese take-out before the paparazzi find us?'"

Once outside, we darted across the street, our pace incredibly fast but our hands tightly held together. Niall pulled me through people and around light poles, weaving by everything with such intensity that it made me laugh aloud as I trailed behind him. Listening closely past the sounds of traffic and people, I heard Niall laughing also, as he looked back at me and winked.

A sudden bright flash came from across the street and Niall howled playfully, "They got us spotted, but there'll be no casualties tonight, men!"

"Watch your right side carefully; this is war," I went along with Niall and squeezed his palm.

He returned the squeeze and turned back to me. "Here's the plan, soldier," Niall whispered as the one flashing camera turned into two and people began staring. "We'll cause a diversion, and then make a retreat through the alley and onto the next block."

"On the count of three," I whispered back as we stood still. "One, two, three-"

"Look!" Niall yelled, pointing across the street with his free hand. "It's the more famous member of One Direction! Harry Styles!"

Much to my surprise, people and the paparazzi actually turned to see, but Niall gave them no time to look back at us as he tugged me down through a dark alley and onto the next block. He was laughing so loudly I was afraid he might burst, but the sight was so enjoyable to watch. I didn't realize I was laughing too until I was short of breath and practically wheezing as tears rolled down my cheek.

"And wala!" Niall said between his fit of laughs. "Chinese!" He pointed a nearby take-out restaurant that was still open and we walked there much more calmly than we had been moving.

Once inside, I felt much more relaxed. Trying to walk from one place to another really was a battleground when I was with Niall, but at least I had the best person on my side to fight with. We caught our breath and wiped our eyes as we stood in front of the counter. The cashier looked at us like we were deranged, but I couldn't really blame her. Two out of breath, flushed, and cracking up people randomly bursting into the store would be a bit odd.

"Can I help you?" She asked with an accent even heavier than Niall's. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and looked back and forth between Niall and I.

"Ladies first," Niall said in a mockingly proper voice, his elbow nudging my side.

My eyes wandered around the menu above the cashier's head and my stomach growled loudly in anticipation of food. Niall snorted as he tried to hold back laughter and I smacked his arm. 

"Don't laugh at me. I'm starving," I whined. "I'll take the lo mein with black pepper chicken, please."

The cashier nodded and punched it in on the register before looking at Niall. "And for you?"

"The fried rice with general tso's, please," Niall responded, his hand fishing for his wallet. "And two eggrolls."

While we waited for our food, Niall was scrolling through his phone intently and humming along to the pop song playing through the speakers. I realized then that I never properly listened to One Direction even though I knew one of the members. Mentally I reminded myself to do so after Niall had left. It'd be a tad bit too bizarre to do it while he was with me.

One thing my mind could never truly imagine was Niall leaving. My heart expected that life would turn gray and miserable after his departure, but my brain knew that wouldn't be the case. Life wasn't some movie that would start a slow song track whilst showing different snapshots of my lonely life and depression. I would have to force myself to get up each day, get dressed, go to my lessons and to work. I would have to keep putting one foot in front of the other until the world decided that Niall and I should cross paths again. If it ever decided that.

A huge part of me didn't think I was strong enough. It was so unfair that I would be blessed with the best few days of my life only for them to end so quickly.

But that was life. And life wasn't fair. I never had been an exception to that rule and I never would be.

Interrupting my thoughts, I felt my phone buzz from my pocket repeatedly. Pulling it out, I looked down at the screen to see Mackenzie was calling me. 

"'Sup, girl?" I answered, taking a few steps away from Niall, who now was watching me.

"Um, have you checked your twitter recently?" Mackenzie asked with a hint of concern in her voice. I could hear the sound of her typing on her laptop as she spoke.

I grimaced, instantly thinking of how Niall was on it earlier with that uneasy expression. "No, I haven't. What's going on?"

"Well," Mackenzie began, and I heard more fervent tapping, "it seems that the fans have found out who you are... and they are not happy."

Suddenly I felt a heavy sickness in my stomach. The last thing I wanted was to cause drama in such a large fanbase. Nothing in me wanted there to be problems with Niall's career. Surely they would keep the anger and resentment harbored towards me and not him. 

"Damn," I muttered, not knowing what else to say about the situation.

"At least you keep your accounts private, but 1Dgirl97 says she's going to ask her brother to hack you," Mackenzie began laughing. "Oooh, so scary."

From behind me, I heard the crinkling of plastic bags and turned to see Niall standing with our food. He was watching me with a frown and question in his eyes. Figuring it was my sickened expression, I smiled lightly in hopes of making it look like everything was okay. There was no way in hell I was going to drag Niall into this. I could handle a mess of angry girls on my own. 

"Thanks for telling me, girl, but I gotta go," I said quickly, looking away from Niall.

"Aw," Mackenzie replied. "But I miss you. Come home for once in your life."

"I miss you too, lovely," I told her. And I did. It felt as if I hadn't spent time with her in weeks. All my focus had been on Niall lately that I forgot about the other people who mattered. Promising myself to spend time with them, I said goodbye and hung up, looking back up at Niall.

"Everything okay?" He asked me, closing the gap between us.

I nodded with a smile on my face. "Of course, just some roommate drama."

At least it wasn't that much of a lie, I thought to myself miserably, feeling bad that I couldn't tell Niall what was going on. A part of me felt as if he already knew about the fans' lament, but I didn't want to bring it up. I just wanted to keep things happy between us. My last night with him wasn't going to spent worrying about stupid things like threats and rumors.

"There's a car outside waiting for us," Niall told me with a grin. "I was on my phone texting a friend, and he said he'd allow us access to a pretty cool spot to eat and talk."

We both began walking out to the car as I pondered aloud, "What spot?"

"A surprise," Niall looked at me with a smirk as he closed the door and the driver began taking us to the pretty cool place.

In just a few minutes, the car stopped in front of a tall building that wasn't notably different than any other skyscraper in New York. Niall flashed a large smile at me before getting out of the car, and I trailed behind him, a small smile upon my own face. 

Niall walked into the building and I looked around, wondering what on earth went on in here. It appeared to be a hotel lobby, tall plants in the corners of the room and a long wooden welcome desk. A few people in suits were situated into striped chairs, reading newspapers and drinking coffee. They took no notice to Niall and I as we walked to the desk.

A pleasant looking man was standing behind a computer, glancing back and forth between Niall and myself. 

"Mr. Horan, I presume? I was told of your arrival," the man trailed off, his green eyes looking at me. "And guest."

Guest has a name too, I wanted to say snottily, but I bit my tongue.

"Yeah, that's me," Niall nodded; he poked me in the arm and chortled. "And this is guest."

The man grinned warmly and handed a card to Niall, "Please do be careful of Mr. Leslie's belongings."

"'Course," Niall took the card and began moving towards the elevator, looking back at me to make sure I was following.

I was. The sound of my short heels clapping against the marble floors echoed throughout the large room, which was otherwise silent. Stepping in behind Niall, I frowned at him as the doors slid closed.

"Mr. Horan... and guest," I mimicked bitterly, rolling my eyes. "Jeez."

Niall laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "But you're my guest, so that makes you a bit more special."

"Let's not get a big head now, Mr. Horan," I joked, watching the floor numbers climb well into the double-digits.

Niall shrugged, "It's in the handbook."

The elevator stopped finally, and I followed Niall down a long hall full of doors with gold plates on them. Mostly they read off names of important sounding men and women, but a few stated their positions. CEO, Vice President, and finally Niall stopped in front the door that read "Founder". He scanned the card and entered the dark room confidently, as if he was the one who inhabited it most.

"Is there no light switch?" I asked from the doorway, attempting to see past the point in which the hallway light was no longer helpful.

Niall snorted from the darkness and I heard a long zip. A large shutter shot straight up, filling the room with an array of colored lights. A few streets in the distance, time square was glowing beautifully, the lights strong enough to fill the room. I kicked the door closed behind me as I rushed forward to the large window, which took up the entire wall behind the desk. It was one of the most gorgeous views I'd seen since I first moved to New York.

My eyes danced along the colored lights, watching the strings of cars and the small, ant-like people. Large flashing billboards shot out advertisements from everything to adult clubs to fast food. 

"Hey look! They already put the ad up!" I pointed to the sign which displayed, "Les Miserables, coming again next year with an all new cast!" It flashed the colors of the French flag before disappearing and advertising McDonald's.

"With an all new cast starring the beautiful Cassidy Brookes," Niall said softly, his eyes moving from the city to me. "That's what it should say, anyways."

He placed our take-out on the desk behind us and turned back to me, his eyes staring into mine deeply, the same twinkle in them that I saw when we stood together in the bank. Could that really have been only yesterday? Had this man truly only graced me with his presence for three days of my life, for it felt like an eternity that I'd known him. 

The silence between us growing thick, Niall stepped towards me, his body mere inches from my own. My heart beat carried on loudly, gaining momentum as I looked up at Niall. He reached forward and placed his hand against my cheek, watching me intently as he closed the last few inches, our bodies now pressed together.

"How did I get so lucky?" Niall whispered to me, moving his other hand to hold my face completely. "Going to that bakery with you was the best risk I ever took, right next to going to that X-Factor audition."

"Niall," I replied gently, my hands moving to rest upon his chest, "I'm the lucky one... I hope you realize that."

Niall shook his head, laughing quietly as he pulled my face closer to his. My eyes closed as the final gap between us was sealed, his lips firmly pressing against my own. Heat rose my skin instantly, the warmth of his presence and my own happiness making itself prominent. I moved my hands from his chest and tangled my arms around neck, feeling his move from my face to my lower back in a tight embrace. 

He stepped forward, causing my body to press against the glass of the window behind me. I felt his lips pull away slowly, and I opened my eyes, looking at him. Even up this close, he was still as flawless as ever, making my heart skip a beat as he grinned widely. Once again he closed his eyes, his mouth finding mine and we remained like that, lips parting and finding one another again; a beautiful routine that I didn't want to see an end to. 

Finally he pulled his mouth away from mine for the last time and he licked his lips, taking a step away from me. Afraid I might evaporate if I moved, I remained against the window.

"Hungry still?" Niall asked me, an amused look in his eye as he grabbed the takeout that was probably beginning to get cold. 

My mind still racing over the kiss we shared, I just nodded, even though my stomach was so full of butterflies that I couldn't even fathom fitting food in there. Hell, I didn't even know I was still capable of feeling butterflies. It was as if I was sixteen again, receiving my first kiss. Except it wasn't under some tree in a golf course; it was overlooking my favorite city at my favorite time of night and it was with my favorite person who'd bought me my favorite kind of food. I suppose it was fair to say that it was my favorite kiss.

"You're speechless," Niall laughed as he sat on the floor, patting the spot next to him.

As gracefully as I could, I turned and sat next to him, my eyes once again facing the vibrant colors of the city. He was right. I was afraid to open my mouth and speak, but there he was chatting away. The pessimistic side of me said it was because I wasn't as special to him as he was to me, but him kissing me in the first place had to mean something, didn't it?

Didn't it?

Niall handed me my food along with a plastic fork, his lips still curved upwards in a small smile. I took the meal and began eating, wanting to blame my silence on the Chinese rather than on my own stupid girlyness. The food had gotten pretty cold, but it was still a good distraction. I remained staring out at the city, silently chewing and arguing with my pessimistic side.

"When something good happens to me, I can't really ever shut up," Niall said, breaking the silence as he took another bite of food. "Mostly I want to jump up in the air and shout at the top of my lungs, but that's not socially acceptable in this kind of situation."

Chuckling quietly, I looked up at Niall, "I just never know what to say."

"So don't say anything. Silence is just as good as blabbering on like an idiot," Niall poked his fork into a piece of my chicken and ate it, watching me with a little smirk gracing his lips. "It looked good."

I took my own fork and stabbed some of his food onto it, popping it into my mouth with an eyebrow arched. "It looked good also."

Just as I swallowed my food, Niall dipped his face into mine and gently placed his lips on my own, pulling away quickly. "It looked even better."

"Dork," I said with a scoff, rolling my eyes.

In my mind, however, I was jumping in the air and shouting at the top of my lungs, no matter how socially unacceptable it was.