Vigilant | N.H.

Thirteen.

January 11th, 2016

NIALL'S POV
I roll over to see her gathering her belongings to leave. I gently tap her shoulder, causing her eyes to meet with mine.

"Stay," I softly call out. Her gentle eyes go wide in shock. "Stay," I repeat in a pleading tone. She nods and kindly smiles.

"Okay."

I feel the warmth of her body inch closer to mine as she curls up onto my chest. Her head rests over my heart and the silence of the room focuses on the thumping sound of my heartbeat. I place my hand on her shoulder, pulling her even closer. I lift her damp, sweaty hair off of her back and twist it up into a sloppy bun. She giggles, knowing it won't hold without a ponytail secured around it. The vibrations from her laughter flow over my chest, sending a warm sensation throughout my body.

"Do you want to take a shower?" I ask as I softly run my fingernails up and down her back. "Mhm," she says in a barely audible tone. She sits up and wraps the satin sheets around her before making her way into the master bathroom. She disappears into the shadows behind the mahogany door, only to appear once again in the beaming moonlight.

"Niall?" she calls out as she covers herself "Yeah?" I respond in a concerned voice.

"Can you um...would you mind..." she trails off, unable to form her words. "Are you okay, Blair?" I say as I sit up.

"Can you come shower with me?" I smile and nod as I make my way into the doorway where she's standing. I shut the door behind us and dim the lights as she turns on the running water, trapping a thick layer of steam into the room. We stand in front of each other, tangled separately in shades of white. I slowly begin to drop the material from my body, exposing every inch of me completely. Her glossy eyes meet with mine, avoiding any eye contact with my body.

This is different than anything we've done before.

Her arms delicately untuck the material as I watch the soft material lower towards the cold marble floor tiles. We carefully step into the shower as a heavy cloud of steam hits our pale faces, blushing them with a hot shade of pink. The scalding water cascades over our bare bodies, leaving our skin red and tender. My eyes rise to meet hers and immediately lock. She moves closer to me, letting her hands dangle by her side. I focus on her soft facial features and admire the freckles that trail from the top of her cheekbones, all the way to the tip of her nose. I watch the pupils of her droopy, almond-colored eyes dilate and constrict with each blink, drawing me in more and more. Her eyelashes mellowly bat at me as her blush lips hesitantly part.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful your eyes are?" her sweet words bring a soft smile to my face. "No, you haven't," I answer her in a quiet voice. I can feel my face start to blush from within. "Well, they are." The shower water hitting on the white tiles almost completely drowns out my voice.

"You...you are just beautiful," I shyly compliment back as I run my fingertips over her soft freckles. I gently curl my hand under her sharp jaw, slightly tilting her head up at me. She presses her plump lips together before parting them once again. "Thank you," she says as her eyelashes bashfully flutter.

"Turn around," I try to say in a non-assertive tone. "Let's get you washed up." I grab a new bottle of Dove body wash off of the shower shelf.

"You use woman's soap?" she lightly chuckles.

"Surprisingly I don't," I chuckle as I pour the white liquid onto the shower puff. "I actually bought it for you to use when you're here." Her laughing comes to a halt as she turns around and looks at me.

"I thought this was a one-time thing?" she tries to hide her smile.

"Blair," I cut myself off and try to compose my words. "Like I said before, you're not too bad to spend time with." She pretends to be offended and scrunches up her face.