Whenever You Remember (A Niall Horan Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 15

I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear.

I mean, honestly, Kate and Niall knew I was home. If they wanted to have a private conversation they should have done it in Niall's bedroom or something, not in the basement right under the laundry chute. I can't help it if I was just casually walking down the hallway in my own home when I heard Kate's British accent carried through the walls of the house and deposited at my feet via the laundry chute. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have sat there eating a candy cane left over from Christmas and hanging on to their every word, but they really should have been more careful.

"Niall, can I talk to you?" Kate's voice was a bit muffled, but I could still make out every word. It was the first time the two of them had been alone together on their own terms. Zayn was at work and Jake had gone over to hang out with the girl he had been hooking up with for a few months. It was just me and the two forgotten lovers. I wondered why they were in the basement in the first place.

"Sure, what's up?" I heard the sound of something closing shut. Niall had been doing laundry. That explained it. Kate had probably gone to seek him out.

"What are we doing?"

"What do you mean?" It sounded like Niall had pulled himself up onto the dryer and I could hear the dull thud of his heels against the metal door. I could practically see him studying Kate, his head cocked to the side and his blue eyes wide with confusion. There would more than likely be a slight flush on his always rosy cheeks and a smile just waiting to emerge.

"Us. What are we doing about us? Is there even an us anymore? Should I stay?Or should I just go home and move on?" Kate's words were choked, as if it pained him deeply to say them. "Should I forget you like you forgot me?"

"Make me remember," Niall whispered, the lilting words barely carrying up the laundry chute.

The basement filled with a long silence. So that only meant they were kissing.

I squeezed my eyes closed and brought my fists to them, trying to rub the image from my mind. Hell I had walked in on Jake making out with his science partner once upon a time, but it was the fact that it was Niall.

My Niall. My Niall, who had told me how he would always love me. My Niall, who made me feel like staying still.

Not true, my mind whispered. He's not yours.

I dropped my head into hands and groaned, wishing life could be simple for once. Why couldn't I be more like Jake, who treated life like it was a party and he was the guest of honor. He didn't let anything faze him. Why couldn't I be more like him?

"Well?" I snapped out of it when I heard Kate's words carrying upstairs. "Remember anything?"

"No," I could hear how broken Niall's voice sounded. He wanted to be able to say yes, for Kate's sake. He didn't want to cause the girl anymore pain.

Kate sighed and I could just see her running a hand through her long brown hair, messing up the carefully styled locks.

"Maybe you could try talking to me again," Niall suggested hopefully. "Tell me some stories. Maybe they'll spark my memory."

"All right," I heard Kate lifting himself up onto the dryer next to Niall.

"Sounds good to me." If it had been Niall and I down there he would have snuggled up to me at this point, nuzzling his head into the crock of my neck as his arm slipped around me. But I wasn't down there. Kate was. I'm sure they were cuddled in this familiar position as Kate's heavy accent washed over me.

-

"Niall?" I knocked tentatively on our bedroom door, not sure if the sounds I heard were sobs or not. "Are you all right?"