I Want You To Stay. {Niall Horan}

Chapter Nine

*Niall's POV*

About an hour and a half after departing to her room on the phone, Kasey reappeared in baggy sweats and a fitted t-shirt that read Cougar Pride. She looked at Caitlyn, who was dozing against my chest.

"How long has she been out?" she asked, closing the pizza box and taking it into the kitchen. "Want anything?"

"No, thanks." I looked down at Caitlyn. Her breathing was even and her eyelashes laid long and dark against the pale, flushed skin of her cheekbones. She breathed deeply and smiled slightly. I looked up to see Kasey lounging in the loveseat with a mug of something in her hands, staring thoughtfully at me. I looked back down at Caitlyn and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I figure she's been out for about twenty minutes."

"We should let her sleep," she took a sip. "She had a rough night..." I looked up at Kasey and she still had that thoughtful expression on her face. There was something in her eyes though, a sort of sadness and remembering.

"What?"

She looked down at her mug. "I just," she sighed and looked up at me. He eyes blazed into mine with the protective ferocity of a best friend. "You have no idea how hurt she was. Every day until she got back she called me in tears. And when she got back? A mess. She was a broken mess."

Caitlyn stiffened in my arms and her hand clutched at my t-shirt. My heart ached with guilt. I ran my thumb down her cheek and she relaxed at the touch. I spoke softly, "I had no idea."

"Of course you wouldn't," she said defensively. "You dropped her. For four fucking years." She looked at her best friend and sighed. "She may be willing to forgive you and give you another chance, but I'm not. Not yet. You're gonna have to prove yourself worthy enough."

"I understand."

"You seem like a decenty good guy, but I don't trust you." She put her mug on the coffee table and slumped back in her seat, not saying anything else.

I looked down at the sleeping beauty in my arms. "You said she had a rough night...?"

"Yeah, she was really nervous about today. She was convinced that you were doing this out of pity." She sighed. "I'm not so sure she's changed her mind about that yet."

I looked back at Kasey. "I really do care about her," I said ferociously. "God, I copped so much shit from the guys and management just to do this. And I did it for her. Yeah, I did fuck up a few years ago, but this," I said gesturing to encompass how we spent the day, "this was to try to make up for that. Yeah, I know one day won't make up for four years, but I don't plan on going anywhere any time soon." I sighed, "She's the most beautiful, wonderful person I've ever met. I refuse to hurt her again. And I'll be damned if anyone else ever tries."

Kasey looked at me, a smile creeping onto her face. "Good."

Now I was confused. "Good?"

"Yeah," she said. "Finally someone else can see her for who she really is, and is willing to go all lengths to protect her. I was getting tired of being the only one." She paused. "But just because we're in the same boat doesn't mean I trust you yet. You've got a long way to go, buddy." She reclaimed her mug and took a delicate sip.

"Well, I've got a lot of time." I looked down at Caitlyn, and a thought occurred to me. I asked, "If there was something we could do to make her happy, you'd do it, or at least help do it, right?"

She looked at me over the lip of her mug. "Where are you going with this?"

"I want to plan a date for her. A real date with everything she loves. I want to prove to her that I'm not going to leave her again. I want to show her that she actually means something to me. And who else to help plan this date, than her best friend?" I sat up slightly, trying not to jostle the peaceful girl.