So Long

Nobody spares her a second glance as they bustle around, but Claire expected this. She stumbles to a stop when a tech bolts across her path, frowning when he doesn’t even bother saying sorry. Shaking her head, she continues through the corridors, occasionally looking down at the text message, until she catches a glimpse of Paul stood in the doorway of a room just ahead.

She tiptoes closer and taps him gently on the shoulder. He turns, grinning widely when he sees her, and Claire lets herself get swept up into his exuberant embrace. Her spine pops once, twice, then he’s setting her back on her feet.

“He’s already out there.”

“Good.” She pauses, raises a brow. “And this is -?”

“Still a secret, yeah. C’mon.”

Claire’s heart starts racing the deeper they get into the building. Paul ducks down yet another hallway; she scrambles to keep up, his strides much longer than hers.

Thankfully, it isn’t much longer before he gestures to a seat in the front row, off to the side a bit, and she hugs Paul tightly again then sits. The girl next to Claire stares at her without shame.

“I’m not the star, sweets.”

Claire’s words seem to jolt the girl back to reality, and she stammers out an apology and faces the stage. Her gaze keeps cutting to Claire, though, as if she can’t believe that Claire is here. Neither can Claire, to be honest.

The last two months have been spent practically on her own. Niall finished recording his album and immediately set off on a promo circuit. They have had to keep their relationship alive via FaceTime chats and text messages.

It was Rhiannon’s idea, said mostly in jest last week, but Claire certainly ran with it. Four days of back-and-forth with Paul, who did most of the work to get this organised, and now Claire is sat in the audience for Niall’s last promotional performance before his tour.

Claire shrinks back in her seat as Niall takes the stage. It would be just her luck that he sees her before he even starts singing, and that would just ruin the surprise. Well, half of it.

Even Paul - Hell, even Mully - has no clue about the full details of the other half. All they know is that Niall’s schedule is cleared of anything and it’s all Claire’s fault.

“Nice to meet ya, what’s your name?” Claire sings along under her breath, as everyone around her dances in their seats.

This isn’t her favourite song off the album, not by a long shot. It still makes her smile, makes her want to be the girl he sings about - even though she has something much better.

She has his heart and his attention, and nothing can ever compare to the feeling she gets whenever he’s around. Even after almost sixteen months of him being in her life, Claire never fails to get that “knees shaking, heart racing, palms sweating, drowning with love” kind of feeling.

Niall sees her just before the song ends. He has been smiling the entire time, but Claire sees how it brightens even more, spreads fully across his face. She blows a kiss in his direction just to watch his cheeks flush brilliant pink.

Someone whistles sharply to her right, and she bustles out of her seat and through the door. Paul’s lips twitch when she jumps onto his back, but he doesn’t drop her on her ass. He just holds her more securely then carries her piggyback to the green room.

“You came!”

Claire lets Niall hold her close even though he’s sweaty and hot. “I did. Surprised?”

“Beyond surprised. Wait, is this why I was being rushed out to the stage?”

“Yeah, we didn’t want you to see I was here quite yet.” Claire pokes his nose, kisses him softly. “You did amazing, darling.”

Niall’s cheeks flush again, and Claire steps back so he can do what he needs to do. It doesn’t take long at all for him to change out of his suit into something more appropriate for the streets. He still looks fantastic, and she can’t help but find it unfair that he always looks like he’s stepping straight from a magazine. He slings an arm over her shoulder, steering her from the room, and the others follow.

“Question for you, my love. What are your plans for the next week?”

Niall’s brows furrow as he stares down at her; it requires all of her willpower to not word-vomit her plans, but then he’s blowing out a breath, his expression smoothing out.

“None. This was the last thing until tour.”

“Good. Let’s get going.”

He doesn’t say anything, but the confusion on his face is more than evident. Claire wonders how long it will be until he asks for more information. To her surprise, they make it all the way to his hotel room without any questions.

His blue eyes scan over the room - everything is neatly packed away, his bags stacked by the wall. She had stopped by after landing to wait for Paul’s text that it was okay to come to the studio, and though the room wasn’t exactly a mess, she had taken it upon herself to get everything put in his suitcase, not a thing left out except an outfit for him to wear tomorrow.

“What’s the rush?” he asks with a quiet laugh, stumbling slightly when Claire pushes them further into the room.

“No rush, really. I just… want to spend as much time with you as possible without having to worry about something as trivial as packing.”

Niall seems to catch the meaning of her words, because he ducks down to kiss her, hard and demanding and leaving her breathless. Her head spins as he steps away to put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. The locks click into place with finality.



“Fucking hell, I hated being away from you,” he whispers into the semi-darkness of the room, and Claire presses closer, fingers trailing light circles along his clavicle.

“I hated it, too. Which is why I arranged it with everyone that, for the next week, we are not to be bothered unless it’s an actual emergency. No superstar things, no family, no friends, no social media or paparazzi or anything. Just us. We’re leaving first thing in the morning. And don’t worry, your passport is already packed.”

“Yeah? Where we goin’, then?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

His bafflement is far too amusing, and Claire giggles as he pouts. They fall quiet then, just enjoying being in each other’s presence. It’s rather mind-boggling that it’s been just over four months since she let it slip that she loves him, and they have been the most amazing four months. Even when they aren’t physically together, she has yet to have a day go by where she isn’t happier than she ever dreamt of being.

He drifts off to sleep within minutes, but Claire can’t. She’s too excited. Between working every day and not getting much time with him, her life became one monotonous blur over the last few months. But now that she’s here with him again, she feels like she can breathe easily. And the idea of spending seven interruption-free, “no responsibilities except for using condoms” days to focus solely on him, remind him of how much she loves him…

Well, Claire can’t wait until the plane touches down in Papeete so they can while away the hours under the hot sun and heat of Bora Bora.