Like Dreamers Do (Niall Horan Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 28

There’s something in the air this morning. I’m not entirely sure what it is, I can’t put my finger on it. It’s the morning of the dance and I’m feeling nervous in anticipation for tonight, my stomach filled with butterflies that won’t stop flying around like maniacs. 

Since the school gave us the day off to get ready and Niall’s at a meet and greet today, I decided to head down to the greenhouse, my mind racing with thoughts of tonight. Thoughts such as ‘What am I going to wear?’’We’ve booked a hotel room’ and ‘There are so many things that could go wrong’ occupy my mindset, giving me a headache. It’s cold today as well, annoying me further.

Sighing, I walk in to meet my grandad, whose already been here for a few hours. 
“Morning Elli! You’re up bright and early, you must be excited for the dance tonight.” He says as he heaves a large turnip out of the ground, throwing it into a wheelbarrow. I walk over to help him, tugging at another turnip that doesn’t seem to want to move. 
“I still don’t have a dress. So I can’t say I’m too excited.” I laugh, pulling so hard on the plant it comes flying out, sending me falling backwards. 
“Ow.” I groan, as my grandad laughs and helps me up.
“Well actually, you do have a dress.” He says as he extends an arm to pick me up, which I take obligingly. 
“I really don’t.” I frown, brushing down my overalls. “Nothing that would suit tonight, anyway.”

My grandad bends down again slowly, turning to another turnip.
“Well actually, your friends stopped by last night, I think their names were Danielle and Liam. Very nice people! Danielle left you a dress on the kitchen table, she thought you could use it.” My grandad finished, his frail body still bent over the plant.
I bit my lip and fought back a grin, since I had told Liam I was going to have an early night last night. They must have done it as a surprise. I gave my grandad a quick hug.

“I guess I’m ready then.” I mumble, holding the hug for a while. “Hey grandad,” I begin, already feeling the tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. “I just – I just want to say thanks for...well, for everything.” I say, fighting back the urge to break down and cry. My grandad keeps a hold of me, and I see tears prickling at the corners of his eyes too.
“You know Elli, I didn’t even do anything. You got through this with your own courage.” He says, and this time I can’t help but let out a few tears.
“You don’t realize how much you’ve helped me.” I sniff, wiping my eyes with the back of my sleeve as I laugh to myself about my sudden outburst. My grandad gives me a quick squeeze and I see him too quickly wipe the corner of his eye. 
“Well I couldn’t be happier to have you here, it’s been no trouble at all.” He says, his voice tired.

It worries me that not only have I done a whole lot of growing up the past few months, he’s done a fair bit too. He’s definitely not twenty five anymore, that’s for sure.
We stand like that together for a little bit when I spot Lucy running through the doors towards me, her arms flailing about.

“Elli!” She shouts happily, jumping into my arms. 
“Hey Lucy!” I laugh, twirling her about. She giggles when I spin her, her little feet flying through the air.
“Jerry told me about the dance tonight, can I come?” She exclaims, tugging at my hand and pulling me over to her small patch of garden outside. I’m surprised to see that the last lot of flowers we planted together have bloomed, bright yellow, blue and red colours filling the ground with beauty. 
It’s been that long since I’ve been here.

“I wish you could Lucy, but my teachers might not be too happy about that.” I laughed, watching her poke her tongue out as she dug a new set of holes in the dirt, her concentration imminent. 
“I’m too young.” She huffed, her brow furrowed. “I wish I was old like you.”
I laughed, picking a small flower from the set that has bloomed, spinning it around in my hand.
“No you don’t.” I smiled, looking to the sky which was now full of light grey clouds. I watched her for a while, her small hands skilful at doing what she loved best, even if it was different to other kids her own age. Her parents still weren’t back from their holiday in Tibet and it had been three months. I wonder how she copes without them, feeling so alone all the time.

“Lucy, how’s your nanny?” I ask her suddenly, and she begins to giggle like I have just told the funniest joke ever. She looks up to me, a huge grin plastered on her face. 
“That’s exactly what Charlie asked me yesterday!” She giggles, digging deeper into the dirt. I frown.
“Lucy, whose Charlie?” I ask, craning my neck to see where my grandad has got to. It’s about time he has a word to Lucy’s nanny about talking to strangers. Lucy doesn’t look at me as she continues to dig. 

“I told you about Charlie already, he bought me my pretty dress remember?”
I freeze, feeling a little sick to my stomach.
“You mean you saw him again?” I ask quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She seems relaxed. 
“He was in the shops again yesterday! I had to sneak off from my nanny to see him.” She exclaims happily, still concentrating on her gardening. I sigh deeply and run my hand through my hair, not sure how to go about this. 
“And what kind of things did he ask you this time?” I ask her, extremely worried for her response. She stops and directs her full attention to me.
“Well, he asked how I was going, what my favourite colour is, if I had any pets and who my best friends were. I said you Elli, then he asked me where I liked to hang out and I said here.”

Before I had the chance to react, my grandad was behind me. 
“Lucy, why don’t you go inside and help Mrs. Winterberry plant her roses, would you do that for me?” He asks nicely and Lucy jumps up right away, a small smile on her face as she skips inside. 
“You heard all that right?” I ask my grandad, who is looking solemn. “She’s telling strange men where she goes on weekends and she doesn’t even realize it’s wrong. What the heck has her nanny been doing? Cos she sure as hell hasn’t been looking after her.” I exclaim, looking back to a carefree and happy Lucy. My grandad shakes his head and frowns. 
“Her parents are back in a week, thank God.” He sighs, folding his arms. “In the meantime, I’ll have to have a chat with that silly woman.”
I’ve never seen my grandad this angry before, but he’s right. She’s so young, it isn’t safe for her to be doing this kind of thing. 

At that moment, my phone rings. It’s Taylor, freaking out about the dance, of course. 
“I forgot a corsage!” He screams into the phone, my grandad chuckling lightly as he wanders inside to find Lucy.
“Calm down!” I exclaim, laughing to myself as I wander over to a tree just a bit away from Lucy’s garden. “I’m sure Tony won’t mind-”
“Are you kidding? Of course he’ll mind! That boy is the highest maintenance-”
“Look, I’ll come help you buy one today okay! We can’t have Tony going to Roundfield College dance without a corsage.” I interrupt, smirking as I check my watch. “I’ll be here for about another two hours, meet me in town at twelve.” I decide, when I hear a sudden crash come from behind me, causing me to flip around quickly. Taylor’s still echoing concerns of the dance in my ear, but I’m too concerned by what I’m seeing.

I can only see the back of his head, but it’s unmistakeably the figure of a man, a grown man. He’s got his back to me and he’s just stood up from being bent over the flowers Lucy and I planted together, now he’s running in the opposite direction. He was close to me too, too close. Had he been listening?
Clutched in his gloved hands are the flowers Lucy and I planted together, only a patch of stalks and leaves left over. 

“Elli! You there?” Taylor asks again, sounding panicky.
“Erm yeah...yeah I’ll see you then.” I mumble, my hands shaking as I watch the man run off into the distance, until he is completely out of sight.

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