The Pretenders (Niall Horan)

Chapter 15

"Wow! That was incredible!" Niall exclaimed as we walked towards the car park behind the building. Niall had requested that he drove me home in the car. So Tom parked our car and caught a taxi home.

I giggled at his enthusiasm. "I'm glad you think so."

"You sound unconvinced..." He trailed off.

"I'm not!" I shrugged. "I don't know, it was too perfect, it felt weird."

"Well, it was an amazing night. Ten years from now, maybe even twenty, you should be remembering how successful the night was, not how stressed you were." He paused. "And you should also remember how gorgeous and incredibly hot your date was."

"Oh, I'll remember that especially," I said, playfully winking at him.

"Good, I don't want you forgetting it," he bumped his shoulder against mine.

"I won't." A cold wind blasted across the car park, causing me to shiver.

Niall noticed and watched the goosebumps form on my arms. "Here," he said, removing his suit jacket and placing it on my shoulders. "We don't need you getting hypothermia, do we?"

I tried not to laugh. "Not this again," I groaned, pulling the jacket closer to me. It smelt exactly like Niall, soap and men's deodorant.

"I think you would look nice in a suit," he said. I tried to figure out whether he was joking. He smirked slightly as he watched my confused face and that was when I realised that he was joking.

So I decided to play along. "I think that you would look really nice in this dress," I said, doing a little twirl to make the skirt flare outwards.

"Damn, he should've established this earlier," Niall chuckled. "Then we would've been able to swap so you could wear my suit and I wear your dress."

"Oh," I said, pretending to pout. "But I would love to see you in drag."

"I would love to see me in drag too." He paused as he thought. "OH MY GOD!" He squealed. "WE COULD HAVE A PAMPER NIGHT AND DO EACH OTHER'S NAILS AND HAVE FACE MASKS AND YOU COUD DO MY MAKEUP THEN WE'LL HIT THE TOWN!"

I placed a hand on his chest to stop him jumping up and down. "Whoa there, cowboy. Don't get too excited."

"But Grace," he whined, lengthening the 'ce' of my name.

"Maybe."

"Maybe, what?"

"I'm saying maybe to the pamper night."

"YAY!" Niall screamed, doing a celebratory Irish jig around me.

"Calm down. I only said maybe," I said, rolling my eyes at his sudden energy burst.

Niall stopped automatically and began to walk calmly beside me, like nothing ever happened. He was still pouting; making him look like a child whose mother wouldn't allow them to buy ice cream. I wanted to laugh, but I held it in.

"Why did Tom have to park at the very back of the car park?" I groaned, kicking a piece of gravel, making it skitter into a storm water drain.

"Your legs sore?" Niall asked.

"Yeah, and these heels are killing me."

He didn't say anything, but simply swept me off my feet, into his arms and carried me the rest of the way back to the car.

"Thanks," I said as he placed me down beside the car.

"No problem," he replied, opening the door for me.

I slid into the passenger seat and Niall sat in the driver's seat beside me. "All right, let's get you home before your mother kills me," he said, starting the engine.

"You do realise that she was joking? She probably went out with Amanda anyway."

"Either way, I want to make a good impression."

"Is that so?" I asked, adjusting Niall's jacket that was still on my shoulders. "I think you already have."

"Gracie! Oh my god! Did you just compliment me?!" He squealed, placing a hand on his chest in shock.

"Two hands on the wheel," I scolded.

"Sorry, mother."

We didn't talk much on the rest of the way home, though when we were stopped at intersections I would glance over at Niall to find him looking at me. But then he would look away once I caught him. I decided to ignore it; it meant nothing.

Niall pulled into the curb outside the bookstore and unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'll walk you in," he offered.

I nodded, yawning. "Yes, thanks."

We got out of the car and slowly walked towards the door. I took Niall's jacket off and handed it to him. "Thanks," I said, smiling at him.

"Thank you for inviting me," he said, returning my smile.

"It was no problem."

"Listen, Grace. There's something I want to tell you and I've been wanting to tell you for a while now but..." He trailed off as our eyes locked.

I nodded slightly to tell him to go on.

He was silent for a moment, taking his time to think about what to say; a slight blush on his cheeks. "I wanted to tell you that... I'm really glad we're friends. You're a really nice girl."

"Thanks, Ni. I'm glad we're friends too," I said. "I think I should go inside, I'm really tired."

"Goodnight," Niall said, pulling me into him. He was so warm, sheltering me from the cold night air.

"Night. Drive safe."

"I'll see you soon," he said, kissing my forehead. It was less than a kiss, almost a brush of lips against skin. I prayed the heat in my cheeks was just internal.

"I'm looking forward to it." I gave him one finally hug before turning to go inside.

"Bye, Gracie. Thanks again for inviting me," he said as I opened the door.

"Bye, Ni," I replied, trying to take in the scene one final time before I closed the door. Niall stood with his hands in his pockets, his hair slightly ruffled, looking right at me, wishing me goodnight.

I sighed to myself, knowing I had to shut the door, so I did, receiving one final wave from Niall as the door swung shut.

*-*-*-*

Hey hey heyyyy!!!!

I don't have much to say today. So...

1. I think the new update of Wattpad is very nawce, but it kinda freaked me out coz I thought I published this like twice because I had no idea what I'm doing.

2. I don't know if I told you guys but yesterday I had the first part of a creative writing course and it was incredible and I'm really hoping some of the stuff I learnt (or will be learning) will help make this book A LOT better. And I was just feeing really inspired so I wrote like three chapters of this when I got home. WHOOOO GO COURSE!!!!!!

Qotu: What's your favourite Disney movie?? (I forgot to do this when I first uploaded this oops) Tbh I can't even answer this question.... Too hard, too hard.

So anyhoo...

VOTE, COMMENT, SEE CINDERELLA WITH ME?!?!?!? (Lol I'm actually seeing it today, soz maybe next time ;)) (<Double chin hehe)

I'm going mad.

Love and cuddles,

Maggie xx