Someone Like You: A Niall Horan Love Story

Chapter 12: If Only For an Hour

Piper's POV:

"Don't forget to-"

"I won't, Mom. I love you! Bye!" I yell before she can yell something embarrassing. She smiles and waves, and I can tell she's crying. Niall and I walk up to the stewardess and hand her our tickets.

"Have a good flight!" She says in an overly-chippy voice, gesturing for us to go in. As we walk down the long hallway (I forget what they're called, but the hallway-things connected to planes) Niall and I don't say anything. I guess we're both probably thinking about The X Factor and who'll get far at all.

We walk to the back of the plane and find our seats, sitting down and getting comfortable.

"Are you nervous?" Niall asks me after a few minutes. I don't really know. Right now I'm not, but I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be.

"Not right now. What about you?" He shrugs, but I'm pretty sure he's nervous.

"Don't worry, Niall. They'll put you through to the live shows." His gaze drops from mine.

"I doubt it, but thanks anyway." I sigh heavily and lean back in my chair. Why does Niall never have any self-confidence, even though he's really good? I just wish I could show him how good he is.

"Hi, I'm Liam," a boy about our age says to us as he takes the aisle seat. I stick out my hand and he shakes it, smiling at me. Something about this guy is really familiar.

"I'm Piper and this is Niall."

"It's nice to meet you," he says politely before pulling out his earbuds and resuming a Coldplay song.

I pull out my laptop and put my earbuds in. I decide to go to YouTube and watch some auditions of people who make it through. Dang. These people are amazing. I've only watched a couple, but lemme tell you, this Harry guy is pretty freaking cute. I click on an audition in the "recommended for you" column, and some guy named Liam's audition comes up. Hey, I remember him from last year! Y'know, it's weird that he looks so much like...

"Oh my gosh you're Liam Payne from The X Factor!" I exclaim, turning to face him. His eyes widen a little and he pulls out one earbud.

"You recognize me?" I nod and smile, a teeny bit starstruck. He grins and settles back in his seat. "I wasn't on there for very long."

"Well I remember you." We start talking for awhile about Wolverhamton and Mullingar, about our families, about why we want to audition. I glance over at Niall during all of this, and his face says it all. He's jealous. But why? I'm just talking to Liam, and it's not like I have a crush on him or anything. I love Niall as a friend, but sometimes he's overprotective. I give him a small smile, as if to say "I'm not going to ignore you." He smiles back, but it's not super convincing. What has gotten into him?

After awhile, Liam and I stop talking and just relax into our seats. He falls asleep, and I can hear him lightly snoring. I rest my head gently on Niall's shoulder, letting myself drift off to sleep. Surprisingly, Niall wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. My first instinct is to pull away, but I don't. For a little while, if only for an hour, I let myself enjoy it. If only for an hour.