Lightweight

Chapter Six

"Can you believe that?" Niall exclaimed once they were in the safety of the van, "That's fucking amazing! I've never seen anything like that."

"Annie stole our thunder," Harry whined in a mock tone and poked Annie's sides from the seat behind her and she swatted him away instinctively.

"Sorry, guys," Annie apologized for the unexpected uproar she had caused and they all laughed at her. Annie caught Paul's eye looking at her in the rear view mirror and he gave her a reassuring wink. She now really regretted the way they had met.

Annie looked out of the tinted window of the white discrete van that was now bringing them back to the hotel trying to wrap her head around what had just happened moments before. Wasn't it just a night ago that Niall's fans were threatening to end Annie's life and now she had them screaming their love for her? Teenage girls were something Annie was sure she would never understand. But the way they screamed her name, it was something Annie had never experienced before. Sure, at fights she got cheers but those were from men looking to see a good fight, they definitely were not screaming how much they loved her, thankfully. The feeling of Niall's hand enveloping hers brought her back to her surroundings. The way he interlaced his fingers with hers made Annie's heart race. Was it really that easy? Did all Niall have to do to make the butterflies in her stomach flutter into overdrive was to touch her? Annie knew he didn't even have to do that; the mere thought of him would do the trick sufficiently enough to spread an even coat of blush along her cheeks.

"Thank you for coming with me. Us, I mean," Niall leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"It wasn't that bad," Annie admitted and looked out of the window as the sound of rain hitting the window in a sporadic pattern turned into a steady stream of downpour.

"Where did that come from?" Annie heard Zayn mutter from the back seat and close the open window that he was using to aerate the van of the smoke from the cigarette he was smoking. She wondered why he smoked if his whole career depended on the richness of his voice, something smoking would definitely hinder, but didn't ask. Just because Annie wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her career didn't mean that everybody else was just as careful and paranoid.

"Here," Niall said and draped his jacket around Annie's shoulders, "You're going to need this when we get out."

Annie complied with him and slipped her bare arms through the already warmed up sleeves of Niall's jacket. It felt weird having Niall looking out for Annie and taking care of her. She didn't need his help, she could have just as easily walked through the rain without a jacket but it also felt nice knowing that there was somebody in the world who cared if Annie got cold from the rain.

"You didn't have to do that," Annie said. Why she couldn't just let a sweet gesture be and go with the cute moment was beyond me.

"I know," Niall smiled and scooted closer to Annie so that their thighs were touching, something Annie was well aware of. Her blush was prominent against her tan skin and it was beautiful. Niall stared at her for a minute, stunned that the girl sitting next to him was actually his and then recovered quickly. Annie was not his. Annie didn't belong to anybody but Annie. But Niall belonged to Annie one hundred percent and with all of his heart. The funny thing was, Annie had no idea.

"That's a nice blush you have going on there," Louis said, poking his head between the two of them, causing the space between them to increase, something neither one of them was too fond of.

"Shut up, Louis," Annie grumbled, embarrassed. The pink color on her cheeks grew a shade darker at Louis' remark, making Annie the focus of the van once again.

"Ah, I'm just poking fun," Louis said with his arms raised in surrender, "I do have an idea though."

"I can't wait to hear this one," Annie mumbled and waited for Louis to suggest his sure to be crazy idea.