Canon

‘Lizette.’ Niall mutters as he presses two narrow fingers on each side of the bridge of his nose. ‘Please, tell me that you’re playing some kind of sick joke on me. Please, tell me that you did not go to John’s house.’ He attempts to keep his voice down, glancing over at my dad every few seconds. ‘What in the world were you thinking?’

‘The only thing that I’ve been thinking about is getting you out of here.’ I clarify, turning to look him in his face. He hadn’t shaved so little brown specks of hair were peppered along his chin. ‘I’ll admit that it wasn’t my greatest moment. Of course, he’s playing innocent. I tried to get him to admit it with my phone but he deleted the voice memo.’

‘Hear me, baby – do not do anything like that, ever again.’ Niall shakes his head several times, his intense stare never wavering. ‘It’s shitty enough that I have to be in this hellhole, I don’t want you out there being Nancy Drew. I gotta keep you safe somehow.’

‘Fine.’ I cave in, not wanting to fight him further on the issue. I wondered if he would tell my dad. To keep me safe, I wouldn’t put it past him. I sink down beside him, with my arms folded across my chest. I hated this feeling. The feeling of absolute helplessness. The feeling of knowing that he was innocent yet I couldn’t prove it. ‘I don’t know I’m supposed to sit on the sideline and see your life ruined.’

‘Lizette, the stories I’ve told you about these assholes are real. I left out all the gory details but they aren’t the type to mess around. If something were to happen to you and I’m in here, how could I ever forgive myself? How in the hell am I supposed to look at myself or your family ever again? Just promise me that you’ll sit back and let your dad figure this shit out. I don’t know the guy but he seems sincere when he was in here talking to me. Please.’

‘I promise.’

‘Thank you.’ Niall’s mouth briefly twitches at the corners to form a smile before he focuses his deep blue eyes on the metal floor. ‘Your dad wants to know things about Damon, with all the details. I don’t know if I’m ready to tell him everything that I know.’ Niall speaks up after a couple of seconds of silence, ‘He says that he can’t help me if I don’t help him.’

‘You mean the murder and all of the stealing you did with Damon?’ I whisper, coyly slipping my fingers through his. His hands always felt warm. Incredibly warm. They were so soft, I loved his hands. ‘When do you have to decide?’

‘I guess before the DA gets here which is any minute.’ He groans staring at my dad who was lost in his phone, ‘Tell me what to do.’

‘What?’ I blurt, completely off guard. ‘Niall, I can’t do that.’

‘You can,’ He insists giving my hand a tight squeeze, ‘There is no other opinion in this world that I care about. I can hardly get dressed without your opinion on my sweatshirt.’ He speaks, dramatically with a small smile on his face. ‘Just help me out here.’

‘I think that if you’re going to get out of here and move on with your life, you have to do what you have to do.’ I shrug, rubbing his skin with my thumb, ‘but I’m not going to push you towards the option where you end up in jail right beside Damon.’

Niall opens his mouth to respond when my dad joins us in the cell. I drop his hand and stand to my feet to leave. Niall lets out a low groan, pressing his dark hair against the wall. ‘The DA’s on her way. Time to go Liz, I’m sure you have a stack of homework you could be doing right now.’

‘Okay,’ I murmur, turning back to face Niall, I mouth a silent I love you to him and he nods his head in return. I watch as he mouths it back offering me a lazy wave of his hand. ‘I guess I’ll see you later.’

‘See you.’

Niall’s Point of View

‘Straight home Lizette.’ Her dad throws in as she retrieves her backpack from the desk. ‘So, have you given it any more thought?’

‘Before I say anything, I need to know that this won’t come back to bite me in the ass.’ I say as I’m being escorted to the room where the DA’s waiting for me. ‘I made some mistakes by following him around for all of those years.’ Some was an understatement.

Lizette’s dad eyes me cautiously, running a hand across his face. Clearly, he was contemplating it. ‘Listen, if what you tell me is good, I’ll see about the DA getting you immunity.’

‘Alright, what do you want to know first?’

I run through all of the tedious, boring details about all the time I’ve spent with Damon. Including the murder, the drugs, the stealing. All of it. If Lizette’s dad didn’t hate me before, he definitely did now. I could just see it on the look of his face. Absolute disgust. He probably couldn’t believe that I was the person that spent so much time with his daughter. Truth is, I’m not that person anymore all of because of his daughter. I’m not sure he’d believe that though. The DA doesn’t say much. She just jots down a bunch of lines into her legal pad. The two of them stand up and go into the hallway to whisper about me. I wish they just did it here. Why leave me in suspense and torture me like this? I bet Lizette’s dad got off on watching me squirm and sweat. The ultimate payback. The door slowly creaks open and they ease their way into the uncomfortable metal seats. Why was everything in this damn place metal? ‘Mr. Horan, do you think that you can tell this information of yours to a jury?’

‘Wait, what?’ I cough out, ‘That wasn’t the deal. You said that I could just tell it to you, not some jury.’

‘This information is too vital. We need to attach a face to these words and stories.’ The DA urges, looking up from her notes. I wonder what she wrote about me. I wish I could just look at it even for thirty seconds. ‘If you do your end of the deal, I’ll do mine. You can go off to NYU in a couple of months with none of this on your record, or more importantly, behind bars.’

NYU? I furrow my eyebrows at her, how could she know about that. I definitely didn’t mention it. ‘I told her.’ Lizette’s dad chimes in to ease my wandering mind. ‘In my line of work, people don’t get the chance to make things right much and they hardly ever take it if they do.’

‘So, what do you say, Niall?’

I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to talk to Lizette any more tonight and I doubt the DA would hold her breath for an answer. I purse my lips, picking at the skin against my thumb nail. I could feel their eyes on me, burning into me. ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ I confirm with several nods, ‘I’ll do it.’

‘Great, I’m happy to hear that. I’m going to draw up the paperwork and you should be released by tomorrow morning.’ The DA gathers her papers before carefully shoving them down into an expensive leather bag.

‘Thank you.’ I mutter as she leaves me with Lizette’s dad, ‘thank you, too. Really, I mean you could’ve just let me rot in here, I appreciate it.’

‘I just have one condition of my own,’ He stands up and leans against the door with his jacket slung over his shoulder, ‘leave Lizette alone.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Leave her alone,’ He clarifies with an arrogant shrug of his shoulders, ‘I knew from your father and your brother that this wasn’t a good arrangement. This just furthered that thought. My little girl used to be so happy and so carefree. I knew that she was hiding something from me but I never thought it would be something like this. Something that could have gotten her killed if this guy is as bad as you say he is. If you care about her like you say you do, then let her go off to Georgetown, stress-free. She doesn’t need the baggage.’ With that he has an officer escort me back to my holding cell.

Baggage. Just when I thought I was winning him over.

Lizette’s Point of View

My dad doesn’t say much when he came home from work. He muttered some sort of vague response saying that he couldn’t get into the details just yet. I’m guessing he was still pissed that I kept so much from him. After dinner, he takes Elijah and retreats to the other room. His only good child. Elijah hasn’t disappointed him or lied to him – yet. I excuse myself and head to my room to finish up my English paper. My fingers anxiously hit at the keys before I erase all my work, line by line. None of it sounded real or original. Maybe I was too busy wondering if Niall ate dinner yet. He probably hasn’t eaten in days, refusing to touch the cold sandwich they slid between the bars. I could surprise him at his apartment with a nice, hot pot of spaghetti. Whenever he gets home. He was coming home. It was just a matter of when. As I rest my fingers along the keys, my phone lets out a chime. The specific chime that I set for Niall. I feel my body go numb as I reach for my phone on my bed. It was him.

Are you busy? I want to talk. – Niall.

That definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. I pull my lip between my teeth and send back a quick sure. He asks me to meet him at his apartment since he can’t get his car out of the impound lot until tomorrow. I grab my keys, avoiding the alarming glare from my laptop and the paper I’m neglecting. My dad ears perk up at the jingle of my keys as he turns his attention towards me.

‘I’m going to Niall’s, I’ll be back before curfew.’ I chime, slipping out the door before he could object.

The drive seemed longer than it ever has. I never noticed how many lights there are between my house and his apartment. I kept hitting every single red light. Finally, I ease into a space and take the elevator up to his floor. I give the door three light knocks in spite of the key in my hand. Niall opens the door with his dark hair tousled over his head and a pair of navy blue sweats on. He offers a weak smile and slowly extends his arms out to me. I fall into his grasp, closing the hole that’s been missing for the last few days. His skin feels warm and smells like his usual Axe body wash. I’m guessing he just took a shower. He doesn’t say anything as he buries his face into my hair. ‘Is everything okay?’ I question after a while to look up into his eyes.

‘Define okay,’ He murmurs in return while leading me back to his room. ‘I’ve had a lot of time to think about, things. I’ve actually had nothing but time really.’

‘Oh yeah?’ I wonder sitting down on his bed beside his legs, ‘What kind of things? Like you and me things?’ He simply nods his head in return, looking everywhere but my face. ‘Want to feel me in?’

‘I can’t help but wonder if given the opportunity would you change anything about us, or your life.’

‘Where’s this coming from?’

‘I told you that I’ve been thinking, so would you?’

‘No.’ I immediately blurt, ‘I love you.’

‘No, no, I know that you love me and all but that’s not answering the question. Your dad was talking all of this shit and as shitty as it was, it kind of made sense. He said that you were happier before I came into the picture and all I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.’

‘You make me happy.’ I insist as he sits up in the bed, ‘Why would you even listen to my dad? I’m pretty sure deep down he’s never been 100% okay with us.’

‘He’s your dad, of course I care what he thinks at the end of the day. He will always be in your life and I don’t want him hating me for the next 50 years.’ Niall kicks his long legs around the side of the bed and walks over to let his window up. ‘He said that I should leave you alone if I really care about you and I’m just wondering if that’s true.’

‘No.’ I stand to my feet and wrap my arms around his torso, ‘I won’t let you. We’re in this for the long run, that’s what you told me. Unless you lied.’

‘Long run, it is.’ He speaks after a while, his eyes never leaving the parking lot.