Convalescence

XI.

~ mood for the chapter :)

"He really does seem sweet," Jordyn admitted, as they trudged back up the stairs together after dinner. "Honestly."

The tone of her voice seemed oddly surprised, and Lili willed herself not to take offence to that. It was, after all, a nice comment. They'd only spoken on the phone for five minutes, anyway.

"Yeah. He is sweet," Lili responded, already smiling at the sheer mention of Niall. "And he's taken quite the liking to you."

Jordyn chuckled and closed Lili's bedroom door quietly to shut out all the noise her brothers were making in the basement because of their stupid video game. Seriously, could they ever just play it at a normal volume?

"He has, has he?" she asked coyly, jumping on Lili's bed again. "Let's just hope he doesn't end up liking me more than he does you."

She propped her head up with her elbow and bit back a smile. "Although, I don't really think that's possible."

Lili blushed. Although she refused to admit it out loud, she thought the same. 

After Jordyn left to head home an hour later and Lili was finally left alone with her thoughts, her brain began working in overdrive. Like it had been lying dormant all day and was now being startled awake.

'I can promise you no one else exists in my eyes anymore'.

The words echoed and swirled around her head, buzzing and coming to life in every corner of her brain. It was unfathomable that someone had said that about Lili.

Without any warning at all, Niall admitted his very strong feelings for her without hesitation while also guaranteeing there was absolutely no one else who caught his interest anymore. And he sounded genuine.

What was even better was the fact that he admitted it to Jordyn, Lili's best friend in the whole entire world, who he knew meant more to Lili than anyone in her life.

To see him so willingly and so proudly admit what he was feeling to someone that holds that kind of significance in Lili's every day life was unexpected, seeing as that wasn't something that had ever happened to Lili before.

No one had shown that much care or interest in her life. 

They weren't 'together', together, but clearly, he wasn't up for dating anyone else. He'd made that very clear, whether he'd meant to or not.

There had been no dancing around the subject, either. He wasn't giving vague, suspicious answers that would drive Lili insane trying to figure out what he meant.

Everything was just...straight up and clear. She'd never been able to afford that kind of luxury until now. She was used to confusion and uncertainty.

One thing was for sure - she was glad they were on the same page about what was going on between the two of them. She didn't have to second guess everything she did, said, or thought. 

It had been an extremely difficult road for her to navigate these past couple of weeks. 

She had grown so used to decoding secret messages that she really was missing all the clues that had been front and center the entire time.

But she'd managed to get somewhere in the end, and now it seemed as if the treasure was only a stone's throw away.

Lili had been completely honest with Jordyn when she told her that she had no desire to give another person the time of day anymore. She'd become so entangled with Niall that she no longer had eyes for other people.