What I Thought Was Love

Chapter Five

I woke up with Mr. Poppers sleeping next to me on my bed. This was the first time I woke up in my own bed in a week, all the other days I was with Niall. I decided to stay home and just have a lazy day, I got out of bed and put my hair in a bun, then put on leggings and an oversized sweater. I made a TV dinner and cuddled up to the TV. Niall had been calling me all day, but I knew he didn’t already learn his lesson. I need to show him that I’m not just there for sex, I want a real relationship and if he doesn’t feel the same then I’ll just have to learn to get over him.

It was around 5:30 and just when I was about to cook myself dinner Niall sent me a text.

“Come over at 6:30?” At first I was angry at his text, he didn’t even apologize? And he expected me to just comply? No.

“And if I don’t” I said.

“Trust me, you don’t want to miss this.”

I could imagine the smirk on his face as he sent that, I started smiling but immediately remembered I’m angry with him.

“Okay.” 

I didn’t bother to change, I figured I would go over and Niall would give me some long speech about how he was sorry. I knew I wouldn’t believe him, there’s no way he could feel sorry after only one night. He’s probably just horny.

I arrived at Niall’s but only the kitchen lights were on, so I had to navigate my way through the dark halls to the kitchen. When I reached the kitchen Niall was standing there, “Hello love.”

“What is this?” I smiled looking at the kitchen table, which was adorned with a red tablecloth, two candles and rose petals. I could feel myself blushing. I was so caught up in the beauty of the table that I had hardly noticed Niall.

“Ahem” I heard him cough. When I looked at Niall he was wearing nice khakis with a nice white button up shirt. It was only then that I was embarrassed about what I was wearing.

“Oh god, I look terrible compared to you.”

“You look absolutely stunning” Niall said, I could sense the truthfulness in his voice. I blushed as Niall took my hand and guided me over to the table, pulling out my chair for me. Once I was seated he poured a glass of wine for me, I noted that it was the same wine we had at the restaurant on our first date. He must have remembered it was my favorite. He then brought our plates of food over.

“Steak, I hope you like steak,” he said unsure. Which only reminded me that he still doesn’t know much about me.

“Steak is fine Niall”

“Well, I’ve been thinking. About what you said yesterday, how we don’t really know each other. So, this dinner is for us to get to know each other.” He said and then took a sip of wine.

“Sounds like a deal.” We started a game where he would ask me a question, I would answer and then ask him a question.

“Okay, you start!” I said to Niall.

“What’s your full name?”

“Rosemarie Jane Huntington”

“Woah! That’s a mouthful,” Niall mocked.

“Hey!” I laughed shooting him a funny face “What’s your full name?”

“Niall James Horan. How old are you?”

“I’m 27, you?”

“I’m 29, are you just going to keep asking me the same questions as me?” he winked at me. We kept playing all through dinner and when dinner was over Niall poured me a new glass of wine and we decided to keep playing. There was still so much I wanted to know about him.

It was getting cold so Niall suggested we go to his room and start a fire in the fireplace, I agreed with him. I watched as he slid on some boots and went outside to retrieve some wood for the fire. I made my way to his bedroom while he was getting the wood and sat on his bed waiting for him. He walked in and laughed when he saw me sitting on the bed.

“You complain about us having sex, and then you go and sit in my bed and get under the sheets” he said sarcastically.

“Well, I can leave if you would rather-“ I said in a slightly serious, but joking way. I saw the worry in Niall’s eyes grow as I pretended to get out of bed.

“No! Stay! I still want to know more about you! No sex, I promise.”

I laughed at his promise and slipped back under the sheets. I watched as he started a fire, I could see the concentration in his eyes as he carefully set up the wood.

When he finally started the fire he ran over to the bed and leapt onto it next to me. I found it adorable, but I remember the glass of wine in my hand.

“Niall!” I yelled as the wine splashed out of my cup onto my lap. He started to laugh uncontrollably. “Keep it up Horan!” I yelled at him.

“I’ll get you a change of clothes,” he said, still laughing hysterically. I watched him go to the wardrobe and pull out a pair of pants and a shirt. He walked over to me but he threw the extra clothes out of my reach. He unbuttoned his button down and took it off. Then he removed his undershirt and tossed it to me.

“Here you go love, this one’s already warmed up for you.” He said nonchalantly. He then pulled another shirt over his head, followed by a hoodie. I stood up and faced away from Niall and removed my sweater, revealing my blue lace bra. I could practically feel Niall’s gaze on my back as I then removed my leggings too. I heard Niall walking over to me, I turned around to pick up the sweats from the bed when I felt his thumb rub over the base of my neck. I knew exactly what he was doing.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Oh, that”

“‘I am always with you, Rose.’ What does that mean?” Niall asked after he read my tattoo. I ignored his question as I pulled the warm shirt over my head, leaving the cold sweats on the bed. I continued to ignore the inevitable question; I walked to the other side of the bed and pulled the sheets over my legs. Niall crawled under the sheets and sat next to me.

“You can trust me Rose,” Niall said trying to coax the meaning out of me.

“Rosemarie”

“What?”

“Please don’t call me Rose, my name is Rosemarie,” I said sternly. I could see the confusion in Niall’s eyes when I suddenly got so serious with him.

“My mother said that,” I stated bluntly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you” he apologized. There were a couple minutes of complete silence; the only sound was the occasional popping of the fire.

“What? Your mum?”

“Yes, she developed breast cancer when I was young girl. She passed away only a year after her diagnosis,” I felt the tears welling my eyes. “She knew her time was coming and wrote me a letter. She signed it with ‘I will always be with you, Rose.’”

“Oh my god Rosemarie,” Niall said sympathetically. He sat up and pulled me onto his lap. I cried into his shoulder for a few minutes until he tilted my chin up and gave me a soft kiss on my lips.