Canon

Niall forcefully jerks and rolls in his sleep beside me causing me to sit up in the bed. I try to understand what he’s saying but it all comes out like gibberish. I open my mouth to wake him up when he shoots forward with ragged breathing. I touch his back, feeling the wetness of his skin. The only other time Niall had a nightmare next to me was months ago. Right before he left for Ireland after his first fight with Damon. I never knew what it was about and he refused to talk about it.

‘I’m sorry.’ He mutters running both of his hands through his hair in the darkness. ‘I didn’t mean to wake you up.’

‘Is everything okay?’ I question, leaning my head against his back carefully drawing circles against his skin, ‘do you maybe want to talk about it?’

‘It was just some dumb dream, nothing to worry about.’ Niall retorts repositioning himself on his back, ‘get some sleep.’ I force myself under his arm with my hand on his chest as he tries to calm his breathing.

I purse my lips not wanting to force the issue at three in the morning. I wait for him to fall back asleep but from what I could remember, he never does. The weight of my eyelids over-power me before I fall asleep myself. The next morning, his side of the bed is empty. I find Niall lying on the sofa blankly staring at the ceiling. He attempts to plaster a smile on his face for my benefit but fails. ‘Can I lay with you?’

‘Always.’ He opens his arms and I immediately collapse against him. A feeling of safety and security washing over me. I rest my chin on his chest to stare into his eyes, ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘No reason.’ I lie, turning my head towards the door, ‘I should probably leave soon, I have to meet Rose at the school for more prom prep.’

‘It’s Saturday.’ Niall speaks, slightly offended. ‘We always spend our Saturday together.’ His dark eyebrows were knitted together as he runs his hand up and down my back. ‘I swear that damn school sees more of you than I do these days.’

‘I know, but I promised. This is really important to her so it’s equally important to me. Besides, we can spend our Saturday together if someone signed up to help out with prom.’ I hint briefly glancing back up at him.

‘I see enough of Zayn as it is.’ He scoffs shaking his head, ‘I’ll drop you off.’

‘Okay, just let me go get ready.’

When I finish with my shower, Niall’s sitting on his bed with his arms tucked behind his head. He takes his eyes off of some commercial to eye me from across the room. I could tell that he was hoping that I wouldn’t bring up his nightmare. I steal one of his sweatshirts before grabbing my purse and phone. ‘Ready.’

‘Are you sure there’s nothing I can say or do to get you to stay here?’ Niall jokes as he follows me out of his apartment, ‘How about any movie you want and any topping on a pizza.’

‘You already give me those things.’ I tease pressing the button to the elevator. ‘I won’t be too long and we can do whatever you want tonight.’

I stand across from Niall in the elevator as it slowly goes down. Once we were in the parking lot, his mood changed. Ever since our run-in with Damon, he’s been different. Niall repeatedly swears that he’s fine but I can see it’s bothering him. He looks over his shoulder a little bit more. He walks a little bit faster with every stride. He stands a little bit closer to me when we’re not in his apartment behind the protection of the deadbolt. I can’t count the amount of times that I’ve caught him staring out the window when we’re out in public. He pulls into the gym’s parking lot and kills the engine. I watch as he unbuckles his seatbelt to lean back against the seat.

‘You do not have to wait for me,’ I speak wrapping my hand around the handle. Clearly, he was unconvinced, ‘I’ll be fine. Anyone who tries something will have my very scary boyfriend to deal with.’

‘Lizette-…’

‘Go. Go do something. I love you but you cannot always be around. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself, dad.’

‘Fine.’ He stifles out a laugh to pull his seat forward, ‘Call me for any reason, at all. I love you.’

‘I love you.’ I meet his lips halfway before slipping out the car, ‘bye.’

Being Niall, he waits until I’m all the way to the gym door before slowly driving out the parking lot. Inside, Rose, Zayn, and other members of the prom committee were scattered throughout the gym. ‘There you are!’ Rose exclaims rushing across the gym to meet me, ‘Holbrook nearly slashed my budget in half. We need fundraising ideas, preferably something that doesn’t suck.’

‘Okay, maybe a bake sale?’

‘That would be great but you and I cannot bake to save our lives.’

‘Hey, I bake.’ I defend, folding my arms across my chest.

‘This is coming from someone who loves you and someone who has tasted your cookies, please don’t bake.’

‘I am here on a Saturday for you.’

‘Okay, sorry! I am stressing out. We have four months we need to raise money and fast.’

‘What about a fashion show?’ I wonder, hoping that Rose doesn’t harshly shot down another one of my ideas. ‘We could have it here so we won’t have to pay for a location. Get Zayn to DJ. We’ll hold a raffle for models. We could try to tie in an auction with it. Odd jobs from students. If we sell tickets, food, and whatever else we can make a pretty good amount.’

‘I actually love it. So much better than your baking.’

After Rose felt everyone did a decent job for the day, we were free to go. Of course, Niall was patiently sitting in his car for me to come out. I kiss his lips before fastening my seat belt. ‘How’s the prom going? Did you pick the punch?’ He taunts with an oncoming grin.

‘We’re having a fashion show to raise money so I might be busy next Saturday too.’ I murmur slipping my fingers through his. ‘That alright?’

‘As long as I get you Saturday I’m fine.’ He replies, pulling my hand to his lips to kiss it, ‘My mom called.’

‘What’d she say?’

‘Well, I’m pretty sure Tara told her about what happened. She swears she didn’t know anything about Jack being Greg’s. She didn’t call for that though, she called because she wants to visit with her husband and kid. I think she said something about them having some kind of trip planned for the summer.’

‘Wow, really?’ My mouth forms into a curious O shape. I wondered just how a trip from Maura would look. Would she want to see Bobby? How would that conversation go? Her two sons weren’t on speaking terms at the moment and I doubt they would be any time soon. I distinctly remember how awkward the dinner was at their house back in Mullingar, ‘what did you tell her?’

‘I told her I would let her know. Before you ask, I haven’t decided yet.’

‘Is that offer still up for any movie and any topping?’ I wiggle my eyebrows towards him, attempting to change the subject. He tilts his head back with his rare, hard laugh nodding several times.

‘It’s always available for you.’

Niall’s Point of View

I absentmindedly flip through the channels while Lizette’s washing the dishes. God, there’s never nothing on TV. ‘Baby, I need you to keep me preoccupied.’ I call as the water turns off. I hated the silence. It was deafening. All I could picture the way Damon eyed Lizette in the parking lot. He looked at her like she was some kind of piece of meat. John was basically his lackey. I think he might still be sleeping with his sister.

‘Are you coming to bed?’ Lizette nearly whispers standing in the doorway. She had one of my shirts on and nothing more, looking completely out of my league like always. Wordlessly, she comes over and makes herself comfortable on my lap. ‘What’s the matter?’ Her mouth is turned upside down, upset. Why did I have to be such an open book when it came to her?

‘Nothing, I was watching a movie.’ I lie, turning the TV off. ‘I’ll come now.’

She smiles pleased, taking my hands in hers to lead me down the hall. I lay on my back holding her close to me as she quickly falls asleep. I get up to make sure the door’s locked for the umpteenth time tonight and turn out the lights. I knew that I wasn’t getting any sleep but I lay there anyway. I couldn’t close my eyes knowing what was waiting for me once I did. Another goddamn dream where Lizette gets hurt because of fucking Damon. I look down as she lightly snores beside me without a care in the world. I could never forgive myself if something happened to her. ‘I love you more than anything in the world. I swear on my life that no one will ever hurt you. I promise I’ll make sure of it.’ I leave a kiss on her lips causing her eyes to flutter open.

‘I love you.’ Lizette speaks nestling against me even closer, if that was possible. ‘so much.’

Lizette’s Point of View

Niall tosses and turns in his sleep, for the second night in a row. I watch as he kicks his long legs around to the side of the bed, resting his head in his palms. Without saying a word, I turn on the light and get down on the floor in front of him. ‘Are you sure that you don’t want to talk about it? It’s clearly bothering you.’

‘Just shit about Damon.’ He speaks up after a while, catching me by surprise. I thought for sure he would dodge the questions yet again.

‘Like what?’

‘I really don’t want to relive the gory details.’ And we’re back. ‘Come back and lay down.’

‘Please, don’t change the subject. I want to ask you something,’ I pipe up hesitantly, ‘I don’t want you to get mad but I need you to tell me the truth. Is this stuff with Damon scaring you? I see how fast you walk now and the amount of times you check to make sure the door’s locked. You’ve changed, whether you can see it or not. I do.’

‘I’m not scared of him. Believe me, I’m not. I’ll kick his ass right now, if need be. I just can’t shake the fact that he’ll mess with you to mess with me. I know I can’t be around all the time. I guess, I’m just worried about not being enough.’ All of Niall’s words fall out of his mouth uncontrollably as he stares towards the window. ‘I hate that it’s been so quiet. I just wish whatever it is, he gets it over with.’

I didn’t know how to respond so I just hold his hands in mine. I couldn’t wait for the two of us to get out of this town and never look back.