*sequel to More Than Best Friends*
It's been eighteen years since Jessica and Niall have heard from Demi Lovato. Their life had been perfect, they married each other, raised a couple of kids, and had a marriage anyone could practically dream of.
T...
I stare up at Niall, my arms are crossed across my chest, as I wait for all the kids to take their turns in saying goodbye to their father. For the next year they are only going to see him through the screen of a phone and a total of three weeks.
It's been months since Niall shared the news with us, but today is the day that he is leaving for the United States. He's going to be nine hours behind our time, performing, joking around with his best friends and living the life that he used to live.
While in the mean time, I have to quit my job in order to take care of my children.
"Alright, guys, one more goodbye before I make you guys go into the house," I say softly.
The kids hug their dad one more time, lingering longer than they have wanted. I hear Niall mutter a be good to your mum as he hugs them one last time. Watching them hug him for the last time makes my chest feel heavy.
When the kids are in the house, Niall walks over to me, wrapping his arms around me. I place my head against his chest, sighing as I wrap my arms around his torso. I'm going to miss him. No matter how mad he has made me about leaving, I am going to miss him so much.
"Jess," he says softly.
"Don't, please," I whisper, "Don't try to convince me this is a good idea. Just don't ruin the moment."
Niall pulls away from me, making me take a step back too. I feel his hands cup my face before he leans down to press his soft lips against mine. I immediately kiss him back with everything that I have, my hands grabbing his shirt to pull him closer.
"I love you. I love you so much, Jess. Don't forget that while I'm on tour, please," he says, his lips brushing mine.
"I love you," I say back, standing on the top of my feet before pressing my lips against his once more.
"I will call you every day, even if you don't pick up, okay?"
"Niall, it's okay."
Only a couple seconds later, we pull away from each other. When Niall turns around to head towards his car, I feel my heart tighten at the sight. My eyes fill with tears watching him get into the backseat of the black sedan. When the car drives off, I hear the door of the house open and within a second all three kids are scattered around me.
Nathan is standing in front of me, Emma to my left and Sydney to my right.
"Alright," I say sighing when the car disappears, "Lets go get your stuff and get you guys to school."
"Really, Mum?" Emma asks softly. "Dad just left and you're making us go to school?"
"You can't stop life just because your father went on tour," I respond, sighing. "It sucks, I know, but life continues to go on."
Half an hour later, I am sitting in the parking lot of the private school that the kids go to. I have just dropped Nathan off at his school and now I am completely alone, staring out at the football field.
Niall is gone once again, but this time, he is with the woman that made me suicidal. The woman that completely ruined me, and for some reason he's allowing it to happen. I don't know why he would think it's okay, that this would have been okay for me.
Sighing, I look down at my phone and see the picture that Niall sent me of the boys and him standing in front of their private plane. He looks happy to go back on tour, and I don't blame him. Singing and performing is something that he has absolutely always loved to do.
I might have sound whiny and greedy about him going on tour, but at some point it will need to stop. He is missing things in life with his kids, and that's what hurts.
My phone vibrates, showing a text message that Stephanie sent me:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Stephanie is Harry's wife, and someone who gave up her life in the spotlight for her kid, Elliot. I am probably closest to her than any other wife of the boys, but that's mainly because Harry and Niall have been so close for years, even through the years.
I immediately head into the direction of Stephanie's house, and within ten minutes I'm there. Stephanie immediately rushes out of the house, pulling me into her arms.
"I'm sorry, Jess. Harry told me," she says as she holds me.
I wrap my arms around her, hugging her back, "It's okay. I know he's not going to do anything."
"Well, yeah, the man is completely and utterly in love with you. I'm more worried about that bitch than anyone else."
A laugh escapes my mouth, before she pulls me into her home. I greet Elliot, pulling him in a hug, "How are you?"
"I'm doing good, Aunt Jess. How are you?" Elliot asks smiling.
"Doing great. No school today for you?"
Elliot shakes his head, shrugging, "Mum told me it was up to me. I don't think I want to put up with all the questions regarding dad, you know?"
"Makes sense," I say giving him a smile.
"Well, if you're not going to school today, you can spend the day cleaning your room. Aunt Jess and I will be in the kitchen, okay?"
Elliot sighs, walking away from us and towards the stairs. I chuckle as I walk towards the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle from their fridge.
"Are you really okay?" Stephanie asks as she looks up from her phone and into my direction. "It's got to suck knowing Niall is going on tour with that bitch."
"Yeah," I shrug. "I'm fine. It sucks but I trust that Niall will do whatever is necessary to keep her away from the kids and I."
Stephanie nods in agreement, and just afterwards, the front door opens once again revealing the other three girls. All three of them are sulking as they walk in, obviously not excited about their husbands leaving for another tour.
It's no lie we all thought that time was done with. I mean at almost forty years old, would anyone expect the One Direction guys to still tour? I wouldn't.
We spent most of the afternoon hanging out, talking and watching movies. When it's time for me to go pick up the kids, I take them home and immediately start working on dinner. All kids are quiet, and probably upset.
I don't blame them.
"Mum," Sydney says softly as she walks into the kitchen. I turn to look at her and see tears in her eyes. I immediately turn the stove off and walk towards her, wrapping my arms around her. "I miss dad."
I feel my heart ache and my eyes fill with tears, "I know, baby, I'm so sorry," I whisper into her hair.
I hear the other two kids walking behind me, and within seconds they join our hug. All three of my kids are completely torn because once again their dad is on tour. The promise that their dad made was broken.
I don't know how Niall is going to make this up to the kids, but I hope that he is going try like hell.
_____________
Second chapter. Yay. Here we go! Hopefully you liked it.
The clock on that text message thing isn't right. I just forgot to change it 🤣 I realized it afterwards.. but oh well!
