Restart My Heart

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Sɪxᴛᴇᴇɴ

The slight temperature change was enough to send a cluster of chills erupting down his back while he treaded into his flat after fumbling with the knob and key. They didn’t come converting from cool to warmth but instead the opposite, hot to cold. As he slipped off his shoes caked with frozen snow, multitasking by peeling off his jacket as well, his fervor took a turn, an about-face from his satisfied state to back where he was before. The period of twenty-four hours made a circle, starting off uptight, then finding brief happiness, taking his mind away for a while, and then back at the start again. His blue became lighter when he ventured off, flipping a page in his book, but then he went backwards returning to the flat that made the hoarding, troubling  thoughts come back as well, and he couldn’t escape at the time, having to find a way to skin away the darkening blue.

                Niall leaned his guitar case against the sofa, not wanting to put it back into the closet in fear it would never come back out again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a feathery fringe leaning over, and he also heard the soft clatter and scrapes of metal against ceramic. Niall smirked.

                “Definitely making yourself at home, aren’t you, Lou?” Niall raised his voice, leaving carpet to dim-lit tile and pulling out a chair for himself. He saw the older boy sink in his own seat.

                “What’s that supposed to mean? I was hungry, and there was food. Now that called using your resources.” Louis retorted back, and it was Niall’s turn to roll his eyes. “Why, do you want me to make you some?”

                “Nope, I’m fine.”

                “Well, then, stop teasing me.” Louis took another slurp of his Ramen Noodles.

Niall couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, some sort of pleasantness still lingering over him. A moment of silence filled the space between the two of them, and Niall spent it dabbling with the ragged ends of fading blue sleeves, looking down into his lap.

“You seem in a good-natured mood with all this banter,” Louis began, causing Niall’s attention to jump back up, “Saw you took out the guitar too. I heard you playing it this morning.” A light smile played on Louis lips.

“Yeah, I did.” Niall replied, becoming a bit flustered himself, shifting awkwardly in his chair, “I took it out to that shop down the block, you know, that place called The Coffee Corner? I played down there for a while today.”

Louis nodded, sticking out his lips and bringing up his brows to show his appeasement before turning his head to the side.

“Was there anyone in particular down at the coffee shop?” and although he already knew the answer to his question, he wanted Niall to tell it straightly to him, hearing the name fall out of his mouth and then seeing what Niall’s reaction would unfold about his adventure that day.

“Yeah, Scarlett was there.” Niall told him, dimples forming across his cheeks.

“And I take it that it went well as of that goofy grin on your face?”

Leaned back in his seat, Niall ran his hands across his face in an attempt to swipe it off, but he couldn’t, so he settled on resting his elbows on the table, shoulders hunched, hiding his goofy grin with hands collapsed over it.

“Aw, c’mon mate, tell me! What happened? I need details!” Louis exclaimed, reaching across the table.

Niall couldn’t believe how he was acting, how he stuck in deliria every time he even thought about that day’s earlier events, his fading smile instantly and constantly rebounding whenever her name bounced back into his mind. He hadn’t felt that way the longest time, and he couldn’t remember how to control it. He didn’t want to control it either, loving the loving feeling and wanting to show it off to the boy sat across the table.