Canon

Niall’s Point of View

‘Hey, you.’ Lizette beams as I walk into homeroom. I couldn’t comprehend just how someone could look so good, especially at 8AM. Lizette did it off some kind of way. Every day she looks good. Out of my league most of the time. I sneak in a quick kiss while her friend, Rose is off in some deep conversation with Zayn. Zayn hadn’t said more than two words to me since our run-in with Damon out in the parking lot. I definitely wasn’t complaining though. I’ve been trying to cut him out for the last couple of years. Straight after gym, I was taking my mom over to my dad’s place for some kind of early dinner. Her idea. God knows why she wants to sit down with the man after all these years. It’s not like he’s changed – he’s actually gotten worse if you ask me. ‘You seem tense,’ Lizette comments crashing into my wandering thoughts, ‘is it about later?’

‘I love you but can we please not talk about my damn family. I’ve been trying to forget about it all night.’

‘Okay.’ She offers me one of those sympathy smiles, like some parent about to tell their kid that they’re getting a divorce or some kind of bad news. If I didn’t know any better I would think that Lizette actually feels sorry for me. I hated it. Especially when she thought she needed to sugarcoat things or walk on eggshells around me. ‘Where should we get lunch? McDonalds again?’ Lizette teases with one of her infamous laughs that made me feel warm all over.

‘Is there any other place that we’d get lunch?’ I look up from the set of notes for my history test later on. I knew the material but homeroom was the longest hour of my life so I had to kill the time somehow.

‘You guys are so cute!’ Rose remarks, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. ‘Why don’t we have a place?’ She then directs her attention towards Zayn who was lost in his phone.

‘How about you pick the place and we’ll make it ours?’

‘You have to make sure it’s not too far away and it’s fairly cheap if you’re going to be going there basically every day.’ Lizette advises, apparently, she was enjoying this. I stifle out a laugh as she rests her hands under her chin, intrigued by the conversation.

‘Alright, I’m officially naming Taco Bell our place.’ Rose announces after looking up nearby fast food places around the school. I make a face to Lizette, unimpressed. Sure, McDonalds isn’t exactly gourmet food but it’s sure as hell better than Taco Bell.

‘Whatever you want.’ Zayn retorts, clearly he couldn’t care less.

‘Someone’s quiet this morning.’ Lizette mentions once we’re in the hallway after Trigonometry, ‘You’ve never made it a full period without some snide comment about Dr. Werner. What gives?’

‘How much of an asshole would I be if I just avoided my mom for the rest of the time she’s in town?’

‘A pretty big one, actually the biggest asshole.’ Lizette furrows her eyebrows with concern and I already regretted bringing it up. ‘She did say that you could just drop her off at his house. If it’s such a big deal to you, why don’t you do that?’

‘I don’t know.’ I mutter, as we get closer to her next class. ‘I can’t trust Greg to make sure shit doesn’t hit the fan.’

‘How about this, I’ll go with you and it gets to be too much, we can just leave? I feel like you’re going to constantly regret it, if you don’t do this for her. She’ll probably end up doing it on her own anyway but I’m sure she’ll appreciate you being there with her.’

‘Alright.’ I grab her by the waist to press her against my chest. I just wanted to be near here for a while longer. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you.’ She muses with her face in my sweatshirt. ‘See you at lunch.’

‘See you.’

Lizette’s Point of View

I watch as Niall walks off to his next class with his hand wrapped around his neck. He’s been stressed out ever since his mom floated the idea of sitting down with Bobby and Greg. Actually, floated wasn’t the best word. She drowned Niall with the idea of sitting down with Bobby and Greg. He hasn’t said a single word to either of them since we found out that Jack was Greg’s son. I could already feel my hands growing sweaty as I thought about Niall being in the same room with them again. He might feel the need to finish what he started on his apartment floor. Sitting on his sofa the other day, I could swear that I smelled Greg’s blood in the air. I knew that I was just imagining it but I could shake the site of his blood stains on Niall’s floor. ‘Hello, Earth to Lizette!’ Rose snaps her finger directly in my face. ‘Did you hear what I just said?’

‘Not exactly. What was it?’

‘I was saying how we need to start looking for prom dresses before all of the good dresses are gone.’ She speaks exasperatedly, ‘do you want to go today?’

‘I can’t.’ I blurt almost instantly, ‘I’m helping Niall with this Trigonometry assignment we have.’ I loved Rose like my sister but she was too close to Zayn. She could absentmindedly start talking about Niall’s mom and then somehow Damon would know. He’s already ruined whatever relationship Niall had with his dad so I wanted to keep Maura far away from him.

‘Fine, tell your boyfriend that you’re mine this weekend!’

‘All yours.’ I smile while tying my smock around my waist.

Before I could properly have time to prepare for the absolute worst, I was sitting in the backseat while we waited for Maura to come out of her hotel. I run my hand up and down his arm to calm him down. Niall hardly said a word during lunch and gym, his silence was frightening. I guess he was prepping for the worst too. Maura comes down dressed in a simple pair of black pants and white button up blouse. Her blonde hair was pulled away from her face and into a bun. ‘At least she didn’t wear the pearls.’ Niall mutters just before she slides down into the car.

‘Hi, how was class?’ She wonders as she fastens her seatbelt, ‘you’re nearly at the finish line, aren’t you?’

‘Feels like the longest marathon.’ I decide to speak up as Niall stares blankly ahead. ‘Maybe after exams and prom, time will start flying.’

‘Prom? Are you going? I want dozens of pictures.’ Maura questions and I could see Niall scrunch his nose from the driver’s seat. I think back to missing homecoming when I was at Niall’s house while he attempted to calm down a drunk Bobby. It felt like our relationship really came full circle at this point.

Niall comes to a stop outside the familiar house and I couldn’t remember the last time I was here. Niall moved out and never looked back. Maura doesn’t wait before rolling out of the car and making her way to the door. Niall exhales deeply before rushing to catch up to her. He reaches back for my hand while not breaking his stride. I hold onto his hand firmly while he uses his key to let us into the house. Maura walks slowly and quietly into the house as Niall leads the way through the living room. ‘You can just sit there. I’ll try to find him.’ He points to the lopsided sofa, still holding my hand. ‘C’mon.’

Niall guides me into a small bedroom, one I hadn’t been in before. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts were lined up carefully on the dresser. Bobby’s room was fairly neat. His clothes were perfectly hanging in his closet and his shoes were lined up evenly. The bed was made and his pillows were fluffed. Niall glances around the room with knitted eyebrows, clearly he was confused too. ‘Where is he?’

‘No idea. His room’s never been this clean.’

I open my mouth to respond when there’s shuffling towards the front of the house. Bobby throws his bright green hat aside as he flicks his cigarette out in the grass.
‘Well, well, well. Look who decided to come crawling back after all.’ Bobby slurs, slightly stumbling as he walked.

‘I told you that you weren’t missing anything.’ Niall coughs out a sarcastic laugh while gesturing over to Bobby.

‘Let’s lie you down, dad.’ Greg comes in with Denise right behind him. He pulls a slouched over Bobby into his arms to provide support. If Greg wasn’t supporting him, he would’ve fell over right into the empty recliner.

‘This is such a shit show.’ Niall pipes back in leaning against the wall.

‘Stop.’ I whisper, grabbing a hold of his hand to make myself closer to him. ‘Don’t make it any worse, please.’

‘Baby bro, I haven’t seen you in ages!’ Greg walks over to Niall with open arms.

‘Get the fuck away from me.’ Niall growls lowly pushing himself from the wall with his jaw clenched tightly, ‘Lizette’s the sole reason that I’m not beating your ass all over again right now so if I were you I would start thanking her for being here.’ Suddenly, we weren’t holding hands any more – his fists were bound tightly at his sides.

‘Niall.’ Maura breathes out, finally making herself known.

‘What in the hell?’ Bobby leans in for a better look at his ex-wife and nearly ends up falling into Greg. ‘Get her out!’ He shouts causing Denise to jump. Her back presses against the glass door causing it to open wider. I wondered if the neighbors would call the cops on Bobby or if they’re just to use to his outbursts at this point.

‘Bob….’ Maura stands from the sofa, daring to inch closer to Bobby. ‘Please don’t push me away, I want to make amends. I’m in town and I couldn’t leave without talking to you.’

‘Get the fuck outta here!’ With that, Bobby drags himself to his room and slams the door so hard that a crooked picture of Niall and Greg falls from the wall and shatters.

‘I’ll try to talk to him.’ Greg chimes in before disappearing down the narrow, dark hallway.

‘Pizza’s here.’ Niall mutters as he tugs on his wallet from his tight black jeans. He places the two large boxes down onto the counter before returning to his place along the wall.

‘Hello dear, would you be Denise?’ Maura glances over at Denise. Somehow, I forgot that Denise was standing near the door. She clearly was preparing herself for another Horan brother fight to break out.

‘That would be me ma’am.’

‘Oh please – call me Maura!’ Maura fans her off before throwing her arms around her small frame.

I had to admit that Maura brought a certain warmth with her – even in a situation like this one. She was constantly emitting this feeling of pureness. Somehow, she was finding a way to open herself up to Denise while Bobby shatters more things behind the security of his wooden door. ‘Greg told me so much about you during our visit in Ireland. It’s so nice to finally meet you.’

Greg comes back before waiting in the hallway. I try to figure out what he’s whispering to Bobby but he turns his back to all of us. Denise runs a hand through her hair frustrated or nervous. I wasn’t sure which one. Niall hooks a hand around my waist and pulls me back towards his old bedroom. He takes the bed while I anxiously stand against the door.

‘I can’t tell you the amount of times I imagined this exact moment when I was a kid,’ He starts after a long period of silence, ‘I would pray every single night that my mom would magically come back to us and everything would be okay again. It was all I wanted for my birthday and every Christmas it’s what I asked Santa for. I always pictured us dressing up and going out to some fancy ass dinner to celebrate. I would’ve gave anything to have happy, normal parents back then. It’s dumb, I know. I hate how now it’s tainted. If that makes any sense. I had this perfect concept and now it’s overshadowed by whatever the fuck that shit is in there.’ Niall forcefully wipes a single tear away from his cheek as he sinks down to the floor. I squeeze in between his legs and rest my head on his chest, allowing myself to listen to his heart beat. ‘You’re the single greatest thing in my life. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘You will never be without me.’