Like Dreamers Do (Niall Horan Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 21

My house was silent when Niall and I stepped inside, the rooms echoing with every step I took.

This was the first night I had been at home without my grandad, who still wasn't going to be home till tomorrow.

I felt so lost without him, and I only just realized it. He was my safe guard, my only family left.

I didn't like it when he wasn't around, this house just wasn't a home without him.

Niall hesitantly placed his jacket around my shoulders, slipping my arms into the sleeves.

"I have my own jumpers." I whispered monotonously, but I wrapped it around me all the same. Besides, his jumpers felt nicer than mine did. They were warm, inviting and worn in just so, kind of like Niall himself.

Looking at him now, I couldn't believe how much he actually cared. He had called a taxi right away, taking me home from the party without so much as a word to Harry and Zayn.

"You need to get out of here, I'll text them later." He had said when we were waiting on the sidewalk for our taxi to arrive.

He was putting my priorities before his best friends. Yet we weren't anything more than 'friends' something I was getting annoyingly used to.

"Do you want to sleep? I can just chill downstairs or something, I don't mind. It's been a long day." Niall was asking me now, taking my hand lightly in his own.

I was tempted. I really wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and cry, let out everything that I had been keeping inside for the past few weeks. Then I would fall asleep to the sound of the rain pattering on my window, waking up to a new day.

But I knew I couldn't do that.

"Sit down with me." I asked him quietly, not letting go of his hand as I lead him into the sitting room. He followed me right away, taking the spot he had occupied when he came over a few days ago, on the right side of the couch. I cuddled up in my arm chair, accepting a blanket he had thrown at me from across the room.

Then I told him everything.

About what had happened that night back in Australia, the night my parents were taken away. About how I didn't know what was going on, how I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. About that split second I had to make the decision whether or not to go and help my parents, or to run for my life.

I told him how I had seen those cold eyes, the ones that had been haunting me for so long. And about how I might have seen those eyes again, how they might have actually followed me all the way to London.

He didn't interrupt me. He simply sat there, his eyes glistening as they never broke contact with my own, swimming with curiosity. And I couldn't look away from him for a second, nor was I able to break away from the tangent I had found myself caught up in.

I told him every single detail about the past few weeks, only stopping when I told him that I had made the biggest mistake of my life that night at the club.

He noticed something was wrong when I went silent, pursing his lips together.

"What mistake?" He asked quietly, keeping his eyes in contact with my own.

I didn't mean to tell him that part. This is not good.

But maybe it was. Maybe it was finally time to say something. After all, I had just revealed basically my whole life story in a total of twenty minutes.

"I made a mistake because...I was an idiot Niall. I never liked Zayn. I only did it because...because I-"

I felt my voice fade out. There was no need to continue, he knew exactly what I was trying to say.