Hold Onto Me

“What’s your favorite color?”

Eyes closed, a smile on my lips, I couldn’t believe I was still here. Watching the Avengers turned into watching both Captain America movies, and by the end of the second one, we were both far too tired to move.

I was laying flat on my back with Niall curled up next to me, his aftershave intoxicating me to the point my already exhausted mind could barely think straight.

“Blue.”

I could feel his lips turn up into a smile. “I could’ve guessed that, I suppose.”

“Birthday?”

“September thirteenth,” he murmured. “I’m twenty-one.”

“I was born February twenty-ninth,” I said. “I am as well.”

He took a deep breath and snuggled his face closer to my neck. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Three older brothers, one that’s my twin,” I whispered, but I immediately wanted to change the subject. “They don’t live here, however.”

“I have one brother who lives in Ireland,” Niall said. “He’s married and has a little boy.”

“Named Theo?”

Niall actually pulled away from me a bit so he could stare at me, and one eyebrow rose, despite how tired he was. “Yes? How did ya know that?”

I gave him a rather sheepish smile. “All this getting to know each other . . . what’s my name?”

I saw the surprise flash across Niall’s eyes. “Wow . . . ye’re right. I didn’t even realize . . . what is yer name?”

“Theo.”

Niall’s eyebrows rose. “Wow.”

I gave him a tiny smirk. “Mmm. That’s how I knew you had a nephew named Theo. When I met Juliet and Gracie, they both informed me of the hot Irish member with a nephew named Theo.”

Niall’s nose curled. “Which was the bitch?”

“Gracie. Juliet was the one insisting she leave us alone.”

“I like her.” Niall snuggled back into my neck and sighed. “Why did we do this? I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Mmm, me too, but at least you get to sleep in, you lazy bastard,” I said, but just the reminder that I had to get up made my heart physically hurt. “Fuck.”

Niall laughed. “Aw, what? Hard ta work with no sleep?”

I pulled my face away from him so I could give him a hard stare. “I’m permanently marking on someone’s body. Yeah, it’s a bit hard to work with no sleep.”

“I’ll bring ya coffee, if ye’d like,” Niall offered.

“I don’t drink coffee. Unless you count the rocky road coolatta I get from the café next door, hold the coffee, extra chocolate”

Niall’s eyebrows rose. “Monster then?”

“I would marry you if you could find me a purple BooKoo,” I informed him, and with a sigh, I actually sat myself up. I was thankful for the curtains at the moment, but I knew when I turned the light on, it was going to hurt. “Sadly, they don’t make those anymore, and I have to drink a bloody Amp. Green, usually. The purple and red are just awful.”

Niall laughed. “Alright. I’ll stop by around lunch, if ya’d like.”

My eyebrows rose. “That’s sweet, but you really don’t have to. I usually starve myself and then devour an entire fridge full of food—except days Juliet has a chance to bring something by.”

“Is that where tha pizza came from?”

I nodded and stretched my arms out in front of me. “Bacon pizza . . . my second favorite, unless I’m in the mood for cheese. It varies day-by-day. My all time favorite pizza is turkey, but it’s so hard to find. And not all restaurants that sell turkey pizza use good turkey, so that makes it even more challenging.”

“I’m simple,” Niall laughed. “Pepperoni for me.”

“That’s called boring,” I disagreed.

He raised one eyebrow in my direction. “And cheese pizza isn’t boring?”

I didn’t have any arguments there, as it was the most boring pizza of them all, so instead, I changed the subject. “I suppose my burgers are boring as well. Ketchup and cheese for me, bacon in just the right places.”

Niall laughed. “What? That makes no sense! Ye can’t go wrong with bacon.”

My nose scrunched. “Some places don’t cook the bacon enough, and it’s still a bit raw. Makes the whole burger nasty.”

“Alright, alright,” he said, holding his hands up. “I’ll give ya that.”

“The best fries in the world are probably the one from the sports bar just a block down the street from the parlor,” I informed him. “Have you ever been there?”

Niall’s eyebrows knit together. “What’s it called?”

“Augusta’s, and even though whoever made the sign for outside can’t spell the name right and the staff are a bunch of rude pricks, the fries are the best in the world,” I sighed. “The steak’s pretty damn melt-in-your-mouth, too.”

“I will definitely haveta try it,” Niall said, giving me a rather large smile. “You . . . probably have ta be going, don’t ye?”

I didn’t want to, but I knew I needed to look at my phone. The light was as blinding as I feared, but it showed me that I did, in fact, have to go. Actually, I was running late.

“Shit!”

Niall scrambled out of my way and helped me climb out of his beyond comfortable bed, and he helped me find my shoes.

“Do ya have time to stop by yer house?”

“No, but I have shoes at the shop,” I said, biting my lip. “I swear, I’ll get these back to you.”

I was surprised when he stopped moving entirely and gave me a large and crooked smile. “No. Don’t worry about it. The stuff looks better on ye anyways.”

My face heat up again, and I averted my eyes away from his face. “Uh . . . thanks, I guess.”

A brief silence filled the room, and I couldn’t decide why it was there. This wasn’t goodbye forever, even if it needed to be, but it felt odd.

We had been together for over twelve hours . . . and I felt close to him.

So, I very nervously stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, for everything. I expect we’ll see more of each other.”

Niall gave me a nervous smile. “Of course we will. I’m bringin’ ye lunch. Starving yerself is never a healthy solution, and it breaks my heart ta think about.”

I laughed. “It’s not that big of a deal. You really don’t have to.”

“I know,” he said, but the nervous smile grew into a much larger one. “I want to. Ye’re not someone I wanna let slip away.”

“It’s probably best that you do,” I said, and saying the reality out-loud almost knocked the breath right out of me. I had thought it the entire night, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit it out-loud . . . but I just had, and he didn’t understand it at all.

I understood.

“Wh—?”

“I really have to go,” I interrupted, and I stepped past him before he could stop me. “I’ll text you, or something.”

I didn’t hear what Niall had to say to that, as I was too busy rushing down the hall and towards the front door. The sunlight coming in through other windows was already too bright for my tastes, so when I actually opened the door, I was nearly blinded.

And then I remembered that I didn’t drive. My car was still at the parlor.

Shit.