Victim of the City [Niall Horan + One Direction]

Love or War?

January 21, 2013 

”Have you thought about what you are going to do? Do you wanna start over with college or continue as a waitress or do you have other plans?” Niall asked Frankie. They were sitting at his flat eating takeout. Niall was afraid he was sounding like a mother who wanted her daughter to do something different with her life than waiting tables but he had been thinking about it for a while and he wanted to know. He thought she had to have some dreams about what she wanted to do or some idea of it. There must have been a reason she had started Business College in Manchester. She must have had a plan.

“I want to try something different,” Frankie answered. Frankie had woken up one day and wanting to do something different something that weren’t her. She had wanted to feellife; to hold it and to take a massive bite of it. “I quit my job at the restaurant. My last shift is on January the 27.” She told Niall. She felt bad for not telling him that she had quit her job earlier but she had so many things running through her mind. Was she doing the right thing? Would she be strong enough? What would happen to her? What would happen to her and Niall? Would he hate her when she told him? All those thoughts had kept her from telling him. She hadn’t told Amanda either. Frankie was the only one who knew what was going to happen and she was afraid that she would regret it. Her parents would have hated the idea and they might have been supportive but they would never have accepted it.

She looked at Niall’s expression when she told him she had quit her job. She would have been mad if he had kept a secret like that from her. They were an item now and they were supposed to tell each other things. Niall looked kind of confused but calm. It would take a lot more to piss him off.

“When did you quit?” He asked her.

“About a month ago,” She said quietly. She was waiting for him to get mad; to raise his voice but he didn’t.

“Why didn’t you tell me? What are you going to do?” Niall asked. He was confused as to why Frankie had quit her job and why she hadn’t told him about it. Why didn’t she tell him? It wasn’t like it was something to be ashamed of. If she wanted to try something else she should go for it.

“I’m going to Afghanistan on February the 1st.” Frankie told Niall. She could see that his expression was changing now. He still looked confused but he also looked kind of worried and hurt. Was he really hurt, she thought. Niall didn’t really understand where she was going with this. Why would she go to Afghanistan? “I received my acceptance letter just before Christmas and I haven’t told anyone about it because I still don’t know what I’m getting myself into. I really just felt like trying something else and in the heat of the moment I applied. My mom and dad would hate me for doing it.” Niall could see the sadness in her eyes. She was insecure and she looked scared. When Frankie had turned 18 and before she had started Business College she and Amanda had done their military service because they thought it was kind of cool. Frankie had hated every moment of it and she knew she would never do it again ... until now. Niall was silence for a few minutes trying to let her words sink it. Frankie was going to fight in the war in Afghanistan. Why would she do it? She was not the type of person to send to war. She was fragile and withdrawn. Niall feared it would break her completely.

“Don’t.” Was all he could get out at that moment. He shoved his food away. He was no longer hungry. No one said that he was going to lose Frankie but he already began to fear it. He had heard a lot of stories about people coming home from war as totally different people. Would Frankie be the same person when she got back home, if she got back home? He finally found a great girl and now she was leaving and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew that he was going on a nine month long world tour and that he wouldn’t be around either but he had hoped that Frankie would have joined them on tour from time to time.