PERIPHERY | NH |

TWENTY TWO

Niall

"Damn you look like shit."

I roll my eyes at Parker as I sit down in his living room across from him. "Gee thanks, love you too."

I'm sure he wasn't wrong though.

After I found Hunter in her bedroom, tears in her eyes over the pictures and the comments about us — about her — I couldn't shake the feeling deep in my stomach.

"So what brings you to my house this early in the day?" Taking a drink from the bottle of water in front of him, I do the same from the reusable cup I got from The Masters last year that seems to go wherever I go.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I look up at the ceiling hoping for a sense of guidance. "I need to talk to you about something. Something important."

Important?

That was an understatement

"Okay, I'm listening." Pulling his feet up onto the couch, he turns his phone on do not disturb and sits it on the coffee table. "Talk to me."

Glancing at my own phone with a quick smile, I shoot off a text message to Hunter about bringing pajamas to my place tonight. Secretly hoping she doesn't mind keeping them there.

"I'm dating someone." I peek at him with one eye open to see a smile on his face. "What? Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Is it Hunter?" His simple question makes me smile. "I kind of figured something was going on with you guys. I mean, you aren't a very obvious person by any means but there's just something in the way you talk about her."

"What do you mean?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Parker scratches the stubble on the side of his jaw. "Like, you don't go above and beyond when you bring her up — but you just have a different tone when you talk about her. Almost like a sense of wonder, something along those lines. How long has this been going on?"

"Well, I think that in all honesty I was a goner the day we met, but without sounding like a total idiot I'm pretty sure the day that she said she'd rather eat leftovers than go out with me I knew she was what I needed." Running my hand through my hair, I bite my bottom lip out of a nervous habit. "But as far as us being together it would be since your birthday. When it comes to that it isn't even a proper 'together', we haven't even thought about like, titles and shit."

Just the idea of putting a title on Hunter and I's relationship made me nervous as fuck.

Not that I think it would change anything between us or the way we already act, but that I would feel like she would want to share that with more than just her best friend. That she would want to post about her boyfriend on social media.

Who doesn't want to post cute pictures with their partners?

I know that I would.

I mean, just look at her.

But it was something we just couldn't do — my life wasn't meant for those things anymore.

"Since my birthday?!" His eyes are wide as I cover my face with my hands. "I'm sorry.. You've been keeping that a secret for this long!? Niall — that was a month ago!"

One of the best months of my life.

Yeah, that sounds cheesy as shit but who fucking cares? She makes me happy and makes me feel like a regular person, something she proved in the simple things we did — like begging me to let her pay for stuff whenever we've ever done anything that even slightly involves money.