Since We're Alone |NH|

Chapter 62

Niall's POV

The next two weeks were like a dream.  Ophelia worked her normal days but otherwise didn't pick up any extra shifts before her summer class started again.  On her days off, we took random day trips to the beach or hiking trails. She didn't work Sundays through Tuesdays, so I took her to Joshua Tree one week and the next week she took me to Catalina Island.  In all the time I had lived in LA, I had never taken the ferry to any of the Channel Islands. 

"So, you've never been here?" Ophelia asked, the ocean breeze blowing her hair around her face  even with it pulled back into a ponytail.

"No, oddly enough, I haven't," I said, wrapping my arms around her from behind and resting my chin on her shoulder watching the coastline of California get smaller and the island get bigger.

"I've been here twice.  It's got some great hiking trails with amazing views. We'll rent a golf cart and spend the day exploring. I'm excited!" She said as she turned around to face me, clapping her hands together and slightly jumping up and down like a little kid. 

The smile on her face told me she was.  She loved doing the things we were doing together.  I could tell.  And it made me feel good.  Maggie never liked doing anything outdoors because it would always ruin her hair and makeup. Hell, Ophelia wasn't even wearing makeup today. In fact, most days she didn't. And I loved it. I loved seeing her beautiful skin in its natural glory. 

In the last two weeks she had also spent more time with my friends now that she was spending time at my place.  And the more time she spent there, the more I wondered why I had taken so long.  My friends liked her.  She and Tara had bonded.  Although, she did try to steal her away from me for trivia. Deo and Willie had gone back to London a few days ago, but she had made sure to make them a homemade straight-from-her-Wisconsin-dinner-table dinner for them on their last night.  She and Paul got on well.  Every night, she would make him a drink and he'd have to guess the ingredients.  He usually did quite well but would always somehow miss one or two ingredients to which he'd spend the remainder of the night taking guesses as he got drunk off of them.  It was a game we had all come to enjoy.  And each of them always gave me reassuring smiles, head nods, texts, and talks to let me know that they truly liked her and that they were happy for me.

In the few times when we were out in public together on our own, I never noticed any paparazzi but I remained cautious on that front simply for my own privacy and hers. I didn't want her receiving the harassment that previous girlfriends had endured. And I loved and appreciated that she didn't seem to mind that we couldn't always hold hands as we walked somewhere, or that really any display of affection in public was off limits. And I never felt like she'd pull some stunt the way Maggie had done. She seemed to understand and I did my best to make a conscious effort to try to do those things when I felt secure enough that no one was watching.  Or make up for it when we were home, out of the view of any cameras.  She never complained about it.

"Yoohoo!" I came back to reality as Ophelia snapped her fingers in front of my eyes.  "Where'd you go?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, I was just lost in thought."

"I could tell.  Care to share?"

I smiled at her, "I was just thinking about how much fun I've had these last two weeks...with you." I pulled her in closer to me and wrapped my arm around her shoulder as she leaned her head on my chest.  There were hardly any people on this particular ferry ride, so I felt comfortable being a little more loose with my affection towards her.

"Yeah?  Good things, I hope."

"I don't think I could find a flaw even if I wanted to," I said, burying my face in her neck, kissing it.