Canon

Niall eventually came to a stop in front of a fairly small diner with several cars parked outside of it. He throws his head back against the seat silently as he cuts the car off. I open my mouth to speak but quickly close it not wanting to push this conversation about his mom.

‘I’m sorry,’ Niall murmurs catching me by surprise, ‘you didn’t come here for this. You left your own shit and now there’s my shit.’

‘I came here for you,’ I clarify touching his inked arm, ‘good or bad, you are the reason that I’m here.’

‘I love you.’ Niall seals the three words with a gentle kiss, ‘you know that right?’

‘I love you.’ I chime back in return unfastening my seat belt, ‘are we getting out?’

‘Yeh, I think you are going to love this. It’s one of the best places in all of Mullingar.’

Niall places a hand on my back and leads me to the diner’s front door. We take one of the empty booths and slide in together. Niall’s arm is wrapped around my shoulder as he leans in to grab a menu the two of us can see. Electric butterflies soared in my stomach as Niall didn’t pull away and held me close to him. I was used to Niall being affectionate, yes but only at his apartment. Ever since I got to Ireland, Niall was showing me the side he often hid. Niall orders the food and tells me to trust him because he would get me the best thing in the entire diner. So I did. I ate one of the biggest burgers I had ever seen in my life. I thought for sure I would singly need a forklift to lift it high enough to eat. The fries were greasy and covered with tiny grains of salt, which were good enough that you didn’t even need ketchup to compliment them. After we finished our food, Niall orders this huge chocolate chip cookie with two scoops of creamy vanilla ice cream for us to share.

‘Mmm.’ I smile pleased, already using my spoon for another bite, ‘that is amazing.’

‘See, what did I tell you?’ Niall smirks, feeling accomplished.

The tiny bell rings signaling another customer walking through the glass doors. Niall stiffens beside me dramatically. I had only seen Niall this tense a few times since I’ve known him. When Damon showed up while we were eating together, when Greg showed up at the school, and right before he broke Louis’ nose. Just to sum it up, there was no good that could come from Niall tensing up. I look up at the door to see some tall blonde with legs for days stroll into the diner. Guys at a nearby table whistled their approval to her. She makes eye contact with a girl about the same age waiting at a table in the back.

‘You know her?’ I whisper over at Niall as she slowly begins to walk directly past our table.

‘Niall?’ she questions before Niall could even open his mouth to reply. I really wanted to know what his answer would’ve been if she hadn’t beat him to it. ‘Oh my goodness, that is you.’

‘Hello, Tara.’ He swallows loud enough for me to hear.

‘It’s been awhile.’ She shifts her weight over uncomfortably, ‘hi, I’m Tara.’

‘Hey, Lizette.’

‘Oh, you’re American?’ Tara questions with a tone I couldn’t decipher, ‘it’s been ages, how have you been?’

‘Good, and you?’ Niall keeps his response short and straight to the point.

‘Good, good. I better get going, my friend’s waiting for me but it was great seeing you.’

‘Is everything okay?’ I wonder as Tara sways her hips with every step she took.

‘Yeah.’ Niall speaks, but I wasn’t convinced. ‘you ready to go?’

‘Okay.’ I bite my lip as Niall drops several bills down on the table, a very generous tip from what I could see. I follow Niall out of the diner and slide down into the black rental car. The car ride is dead silent, like when I first met Niall all those months ago. We make it back to the hotel and I follow Niall into the building. He grabs my hand while we wordlessly wait for the elevator. I slip my fingers between his and give him a tight squeeze letting him know that I was here for him. He gives me the tiniest sign of smile pulling me into the elevator with him. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ I wonder sitting down on the large, soft bed.

‘She’s just someone that I used to screw around with.’

‘It seemed like it was a lot more intense than that.’ I mutter looking over at Niall who cautiously stood on the other side of the room.

‘Okay, it may have been somewhat more than that,’ Niall walks over to me and gets down on his knees to stare me in the eyes, ‘but know this, I have never cared about anyone the way that I care about you. Ever.’ He places a large hand on my thigh and starts using his thumb to draw tiny, slow circles.

‘What happened with her? Was it bad?’

‘Yeah, it was bad.’ He nods shaking his head, seemingly disappointed in himself, ‘we used to screw around when I’d come home a few years ago. I didn’t know that she was falling for me or whatever or maybe I just didn’t care then. I used to be really fucked up but I promise that I am not like that anymore Liz.’

‘I know Niall, I know you’re not.’ I place my hand over his trembling hand. I could tell that Niall was completely out of his comfort zone by bringing up a piece of his past. ‘You’re not that person anymore.’

‘She was clingy as hell towards the end of it all. I said some dumb shit just to get her to leave me alone. I threatened to spread the pictures she sent me all over the town. I knew that they would get back to her father, who’s one of the main churchgoers there is in this town. He’s traditional and right down the straight and narrow. She finally took a hint and she left me alone. I stopped seeing her when I came back to here.’

‘Did you two make up? I mean, she seemed pretty excited to see you. I didn’t sense any built up anger or resentment when we were talking to her.’

‘I ran into her a few months after all that happened and we ended up hooking up after that, again. I was dumb; we were both careless at the time. Honestly, she couldn’t say no to me and I took advantage of her feelings for me. I disgusted myself for months after I finally ended it completely with her.’

‘It’s a good thing that you finally ended it though, so she wasn’t put through that anymore. I just wish that she could get to know the you that I know.’

‘Yeah,’ Niall purses his lips as his phone lets out a loud chime, ‘it’s Greg. My nan’s party is tomorrow night so I’m sure he’s trying to see if I can get something from the both of us. Hello?’ he answers as I run my fingers through his hair while he talks with Greg.

I felt bad for Tara, honestly. She knew the person that Niall used to be, the person that he now hates. I had the great pleasure of meeting this surprisingly caring Niall, who sneaks over in my house in the middle of the night just to lay with me and laughs at his own jokes or the guy who explains every part of one of those Syfy movies he loves so much without getting annoyed. The one silently holds me because it comforts him to know that I’m physically there with him. The sweet guy that clutches his pillow in the middle of the night while he snores even though he swears he doesn’t. The same guy that I was head over heels in love with.

‘That feels really good.’ Niall looks up at me once he’s off the phone with Greg, ‘he was just letting me know where the party is.’

‘So, you are going?’

‘With my mom there, there is no way that I could do it without you. Please tell me that you’ll go with me and be with me every step of the way, no matter how bad this gets.’

‘I promise that I’m not leaving you and I will support every decision that you make tomorrow night, even if I don’t agree with it.’

‘I love you.’

‘And I love you.’

…

Before we knew it, it was already seven at night and we were in the car going to some banquet hall for Niall’s grandma’s birthday party. I hold the present from Niall in my lap as he uses one hand to drive and the other to anxiously bite his nails. I knew how much he didn’t want to do this or how uncomfortable he would be but he was doing it for his grandma, who he thought the world of. I loved him for that. He parks behind the line of cars and kills the engine with one long breath. This time, Niall was the one to extend his hand out to me as we neared the door.

‘It is going to be fine, trust me.’ I whisper as Niall push the double glass doors open revealing the people inside.

‘Here we go.’ Niall mutters under his breath pulling me inside of the room full of people.