Canon

‘The homecoming queen has decided to grace us with her presence, finally.’ My dad speaks dramatically as I walk through the living room. ‘Thank you your majesty.’

‘Anything for my adoring country.’ I play along doing the Miss. America classic wave. ‘Your queen would like breakfast.’

‘Pancakes are in the oven.’ Mom answers shifting uncomfortably on the sofa, ‘where are you off to?’

‘Niall’s picking me up.’

‘And where is Niall taking you?’ dad speaks with a tone that I couldn’t decipher.

‘I’m not sure. We’re just hanging out – is that okay?’

‘I don’t know the guy barely said two words to us the other day and hasn’t made the slightest effort to knock on the door. It just makes me wonder.’

‘Wonder what?’

‘Wonder what he’s hiding.’

‘I wouldn’t say that’s fair seeing how you haven’t gave Niall the same welcoming that you gave to Scott.’

‘I’ve known Scott for years. His father is a good friend of mine and for Christ’s sake the kid still calls you Lizzy Lizard. I don’t think I have to worry about Scott any time soon.’

‘You’re striking Niall out before he even stepped to the plate.’

‘Sometimes the pitcher just knows.’

‘And sometimes the pitcher jumps the gun and makes mistakes.’

‘Stop,’ mom chimes in sitting up on the sofa, ‘the baby doesn’t like you two going back and forth – neither do I.’

‘I’m actually not too hungry anymore,’ I close the oven and grab my purse from the back of the sofa, ‘bye mom.’

‘Real mature Lizette.’ Dad calls after me as I close the door hard.

I wait for five minutes before Niall’s familiar black Mustang pulls into the driveway. I adjust my bag and hurry out to the passenger side.

‘Hey.’ He nods towards me as I slide down into his car.

‘Hi.’ I fasten the seat belt after settling down into the leather material, ‘how are things?’

‘Are you asking about my drunk of a father?’ he questions with curious eyes.

‘Yes…’

‘Well he’s hung over right now. I probably won’t see him until late tonight where he’ll either give some shit of an apology or head down to the liquor store for a repeat.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be – I mean I guess all of our parents do something that we can’t stand, right?’

‘My dad’s quite controlling when it comes to my life.’

‘What is one thing that you did for your dad rather than yourself?’

‘I played the violin for five years.’

‘You didn’t…’ Niall replies with wide eyes and a bright smile.

‘I did – I finally told him that I wanted to do some things through school and he bought him.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Volleyball. This is the first year I’m not playing.’

‘Why not?’

‘It just didn’t interest me anymore I guess.’

‘What is one thing that you’re terrible at? I have this feeling that you’re this over-achiever who can do anything after reading about it for five minutes.’

‘I can’t swim.’

‘You can’t swim?’ he inquires with curiosity laced in his voice.

‘No, I have this extreme fear of drowning.’

‘Daddy didn’t throw you in any prestigious swim class for smart babies?’

‘He tried. I just get really bad anxiety over it. I’ve lost count of the instructors that quit on me.’

‘Maybe you never had the right one.’ Niall replies running a hand across his inked arm.

‘Where are we going anyway?’

‘I’m not sure, where do you want to go?’

‘Rose just sent me a text. She invited me to hang out with her and Zayn at his place. Do you want to go?’

‘I guess so.’

‘Are you scared you’ll run into Louis or something?’

‘I’m not scared of anyone.’

‘Everyone’s afraid of someone.’

‘Not me. No one sends chills up my spine or causes my heart rate to accelerate. No one strikes up an ounce of fear in me.’

‘You’re a take-no-shit kind of guy.’

‘Shit doesn’t sound right coming from you.’ He laughs tilting his head back, ‘we’ll go over there for a little.’

‘Okay.’

Niall drives to Zayn’s apartment complex and parks his car. I follow him to the entrance then to the elevator. He leans against the wall playing with lip ring staring at the floor.

‘What are you looking at?’ he looks up catching me off guard.

‘You.’

‘I swear I’m not that interesting.’

‘It’s the tattoos.’

‘Those aren’t either. Most of them are shitty.’

‘I think they’re perfect.’ I respond as the doors to the elevator glide open.

Niall looks at me before he leads the way to Zayn’s apartment. He gives the thin wooden door a hard knock before backing away. Zayn opens the door slightly confused but Niall makes his way in anyway.

‘I didn’t know you two were together.’ Rose speaks with a sly smile, ‘what were you up to?’

‘Just picked her up from her house.’ Niall speaks flopping down on Zayn’s small sofa. ‘And you?’

‘Just watching this Rocky marathon.’ He points to the TV, which was showing Rocky III. ‘On all day.’

I squeeze onto the sofa beside Niall causing our knees to brush up against each other.

‘Do you have enough room?’ he asks slightly moving over towards the center of the sofa.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

‘So homecoming queen where did you run off to last night?’ Zayn questions bringing a bottle of cold beer to his lips.

‘Out.’ I briefly glance over at Niall who looks over at me.

‘Homecoming queen?’ he raises an eyebrow curiously.

‘Yeah I found out last night when I came home that I actually won.’

‘Oh yeah? Who was the king?’

‘Scott.’

‘Well isn’t that great?’

‘It doesn’t mean anything.’ I whisper to him quietly.

‘Rose, wanna run down to the store with me right across the road so we can get some shit to eat?’

‘Only if you don’t call it shit anymore. That doesn’t make it appealing.’ She grabs a hold of Zayn’s hand and he pulls her from the sofa.

‘Come on.’ He laughs shaking his head at her before slipping out the door.

‘Please don’t make a big deal out of it.’

‘I haven’t said anything.’ Niall defends leaning back into the sofa.

‘That is exactly my point. It always when you don’t say anything, that’s when I worry.’

‘He’s always going to be in the way, isn’t he?’

‘Who? Scott? He’s completely out of the way. He has never been in the way – not in the way of you.’

‘Somehow he just keeps popping up. He’s like some goddamn fly that you can’t shake.’ Niall stands to his feet as he pulls a cigarette from its pack.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To smoke.’ He twirls a bright blue lighter between his fingers as he walks towards Zayn’s patio door.

I sit on the sofa for a few long moments before standing to my feet and swinging the patio door open. Niall leaned against the black railing looking down at the city below. He blows the smoke from his mouth slowly before turning to look at me.

‘What?’

‘This isn’t fair what you do.’

‘What do I do?’ he asks bringing the cigarette to his lips.

‘You talk and then you cut me off. You always get to say what’s on your mind and how you feel then you just leave. You don’t give me the chance to talk and I’m sick of it. You cannot just say what you want then walk away. It doesn’t work like that Nia-…’ Niall presses his lips to mine grabbing a hold of my face.

I begin to feel myself melt into his body. His mouth tasted like a combination of cigarettes and mint toothpaste. I could feel his small lip ring as I further the kiss. Niall’s large hands move from my face to my back and he pushes me into his chest. Once he pulls away he stares down at me with his mesmerizing blue eyes.

‘Not bad.’ He smirks pleased removing a loose strand of hair from my face.