“Do you know why he would have run away like that?” Erchiel asked Louis the next day over breakfast. Niall and Zayn were still asleep so she talked about what happened with Louis, Liam, and Harry. “maybe you smelled bad cause you were all sweaty.” Liam joked. “do you think?” she asked worried. “I was joking…” “maybe he was uncomfortable.” Harry offered. “maybe…” she thought. None of them wanted to tell her there was a possibility that he liked her. Even they weren’t one hundred percent sure he did but it sure sounded like he did. Louis remembered seeing Niall checking the door way every few minutes. He even asked him about it but Niall just brushed it off and said it was nothing. Along with that there had been a number of occasions where he would asked Harry what he thought about her. Harry thought she was the sweetest girl and said even he would date her if she was ever interested; Niall got a little weird after that but Harry didn’t think much of it at the time. “why don’t you just ask him what happened?” Harry asked. “do you think he would really tell me?” she asked unbelievingly. The boys traded looks, if he liked her, they thought, he might not because of the fear of rejection. But there is a chance he might. The boys took a little while to contemplate the idea but decided that Niall probably wouldn’t tell her, not now anyway. “well, I’d better go before he sees me and runs out of the room again.” She said getting up from her seat at the table. It was easy to talk to the boys Louis and Liam were like the dads of the group and she like to talk to them. Louis was the best one at giving advice and Liam was the best listener. She would admit that talking about Niall being in her room in front of Liam made her uncomfortable; she didn’t want him thinking there was anything between him and her. She was walking towards the door when Niall appeared in the hallway. She froze; when she turned to look at Louis, Liam, and niall, they were gone.Note to self: kick them later… “Niall?” she said cocking her head to the side. Niall looked up and froze. “Oh, hey Erchiel how are you?” was all he could muster out. Harry didn’t even realize he was standing in his red and grey briefs in front of her, probably because he usually was walking about naked anyway. Erchiel tried to look at anything to stop herself for looking…downstairs. She thought his messy curls looked…cute and for the scrawny boy he was he was fairly cut. “I just came by to talk to Louis…and Liam…..and Harry.” “not Zayn?” he joked. “I heard he was sleeping.” She smiled back. “um, Niall I'm not sure if you know this but you are standing in your underwear.” She said trying to suppress a smile. Niall looked down and chuckled. “I guess so, are you going to make a comment about my undergarment choice or my cute face?” He joked. Harry motioned toward the kitchen. “um, do you want some breakfast?” “no I'm good.” Erchiel was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. “do you want to stay? I mean, I can go put some pants on…and a shirt, unless you don’t want me too.” He said giving her a wink. She laughed and decided not to stay. She gracefully walked out the door leaving Niall alone, in his underwear. Niall dragged himself upstairs and threw on jeans and a Ramones t-shirt before coming back down. Louis, Harry, and Liam had been watching the scene with Erchiel from around the corner; once he came back down they came out clapping. “well, you made quite the impression on her, didn’t you?” Louis joked. Niall just shook his head. He didn’t exactly want to hear their thoughts on what just happened. “well, at least this time you could keep it together.” Harry laughed. “I wouldn’t be the one to talk Mr. hands in his pants…” Harry muttered. Louis and Liam laughed; Harry laughed and shrugged it off before grabbing the left over foods from the fridge. “Dude, if you want to impress her, do something! Don’t stand there with your ding-a-ling hanging about.” Liam said. Niall instantly looked down to make sure it wasn’t out; it wasn’t. After his sigh of relief he asked Liam what he could do. “do something fun!” Louis chimed in. “like what?” niall questioned. “take her to an amusement park.” “I'm terrified of roller coasters.” Niall said. “so?” “the point is to make me not look like a….” “a what Niall?” Louis questioned. “a….” “a cat?” Harry suggested. “yes, a cat.” The four of them hemmed and hawed about what romantic gesture Harry was going to do for a good twenty minutes. With no luck from his friends Niall was forced to find out his own way to go about things, but not before getting ripped on for liking her. “so my little man Niall has a crush.” Liam said in his Papa Direction voice. Niall just rolled his eyes. His friends were ridiculous. “Niall has a crush!” Louis gushed, pinching his cheeks. “oh whatever.” “Niall is soo into her… in more ways than one.” Harry laughed. Niall blushed. All the boys erupted with laughter at the dirty joke and patted his back. Niall knew his friends were just poking fun at him and that they meant nothing by it but it wasn’t very fun for him. “so what are you going to do with your hair?” Louis said resting his chin on his fist. “oh! Can I do your hair?” Liam asked. Liam started combing through Niall's blond hair locks with his fingers trying to figure out what to do with it. Niall begged them to stop it but they kept up with it. Niall finally had enough and started messing with Liam and Louis’s hair. After Louis lunged at him with a love bite he booked it out of the room. Liam, Louis, and Harry ran after him. They ran throughout the house for five minutes before Niall finally lost them. Niall decided now is a chance to think about what he would do for Erchiel as a romantic gesture. He thought about his favorite movie Love Actually and wondered if there was any inspiration lurking in the wonder that is Richard Curtis’s wonderful writing and directing. There was the note card scene but that didn’t seem to fit the moment and it wasn’t quite his style. Niall wanted to do something original, or at least not copied from his favorite movie, that he was sure every girl in Europe had seen. I really like her, this shouldn’t be so hard! Think! What does she like? When he paused Niall could hear a women’s voice coming from one of the hallways. She was singing, beautifully he might add. She was singing “Turn Me On” by Norah Jones, which coincidentally, was on the Love Actually soundtrack. Niall as walking around trying to find out where it was coming from when he could hear the sound of Louis talking in the distance; he was getting louder. Turned the corner and saw Louis at the end of the next hall. “there he is!” Louis yelled to the other two before jumped toward him. Niall assuming they’d catch up to him, darted around the corner, trying to find a place to hide. Louis was hot on his trail with Harry and Liam following close behind. Niall panicked and opened the nearest door, shutting it quietly behind him. He pressed his ear to the door and heard Louis and Harry talking on the other side. Niall laughed a little inside as they wondered aloud where he was. When their voices faded away Niall wiped the condensation off the side of his face. He looked around realizing how foggy it was in the room, the bathroom. That’s when he heard the voice; it was the women who was singing before. Right when he realized where he was, the water shut off and a petit hand grabbed a towel off the rod. As the curtain was pulled back he recognized the dark brown hair tied up in a wet bun. When her dark blue eyes met his, a stream of shock shot through them. “Niall! What the hell?!” she cried out. Niall stuttered and jumbled his words before covering his eyes. He wondered if she was as embarrassed as he was. Niall quickly turned away, trying to give her privacy, and tried to explain but she didn’t hear him. “Niall please just go.” She said, a twinge of disappointment and pity in her tone. Without anything else to say he ran out and slammed the door behind him. He ducked down the hall and sat outside his bedroom door; his head in his hands. Louis, Harry, and Liam zipped around the corner and saw him. “There he is!” they yelled running him down. Niall stayed put and shook his head, his curls rocking from side to side. I can’t believe that just happened. That was rather embarrassing for both of us... he thought while Louis, Liam and Harry tried to grab his attention. “Hey man, what's up?” Louis asked. Niall didn’t know what to say, he just saw the love of his life naked, well almost. She was wrapped in a towel; one that barely covered her. She probably hated him now or at least thought he was a creep. However the image of her in that towel wouldn’t be leaving his thoughts anytime soon. She was beautiful, her curves could be seen through the small white towel. Niall loved her curves; she had to have been a size 5 or 6, at least which he loved. He could just imagine her eating with him and not questioning the fat content, or calories, or whatever else his previous dates had. Her skin was plump from all the water and he remembered seeing a bead of water slide down her neck and onto her cleavage before disappearing into the towel. Niall wished he had been that drop of water, the parts of her body it must have seen… he thought. “Harry is everything okay?” he asked again. Niall paused before answering. “Everything was perfect…”
