The Broken Beat |One Direction|HS|

Chapter 35

The first thing that I see once I step out of the doors is a family. A mother and father huddled closely together, gripping each other’s hands, and a brother, who’s holding hands with another woman. They must be married. They stand side by side and stare admiringly at the blonde boy next to me. With wet eyes, the older woman runs up to Niall and embraces him in a tight hug. Watching Niall, I smile as his eyes close and a smile creeps onto his face. His arms automatically wrap around her small frame and tighten. Continuing to watch, I notice the older man and the younger one, walk up to them. When the woman releases Niall from her grasp, the older guy grabs Niall up into a manly hug as the younger one slaps Niall on the back. Awkwardly, I stand there and watch as they catch up. Catching sight of me as if he had just remembered I was there, Niall comes towards me and grabs my hand. Pulling me towards the small crowd, I smile meekly at the four.

“Is this who you were telling us about?” the older lady, his mother, says happily; the tone of her voice cheery.

“Yeah, Mum. This is Rosemary McCay,” Niall says, smiling between the two of us.

“Oh, honey,” she says as she steps towards me and grabs me into a hug, “Nice to meet you, Rosemary.”

“N-Nice to meet you too,” I stutter, surprised by the small woman’s sudden forceful hug.

“Don’t stutter,” she disapproves into my ear, “It’s not very attractive.”

I can feel the smile in her voice as her arms tighten even more. It’s as if she’s known me for a long time, as if she’s known me since I was little. It’s as if she knows I haven’t had a mother’s embrace in four years. Hugging her back, I commit the feeling to memory, not knowing when I’d get a hug like this again. When we both let go, she stares into my eyes and a feeling of happiness explodes through my chest. The warmth present in her large eyes makes me feel comfortable. Grabbing my hand, she leads me as well as the rest of her family towards what I guess is the baggage claim area. Niall quickly points out all of our bags and hauls them off of the conveyer belt, with help from his brother and father. His mother, Maura, his brother’s wife and I stand by quietly, watching the progress of the three. They both give me polite, warmth filled smiles which I try my best to return.

Soon enough, the three have all of our bags on a cart, wheeling it towards the door, with us trailing behind. Somehow we all manage to fit into a small, black SUV and Niall’s dad is driving down the highway, on their way home. Seated between Niall and his brother, Greg, I try to focus on the quickly passing by scenery outside. The snow lays on the ground like little puffs of smoke, looking extremely soft. In a few minutes, the car comes to a stop in front of a medium sized house. Lights are illuminating it from the inside and a strange sense of homeliness come over me. Standing outside of the car, I marvel at the simple beauty of the house with a smile. Nudging me in the side, Niall gives me a smile and tilts his head towards the edifice, indicating for me to walk to it. With him next to me, I follow his parents and wait a bit as they open the door and the smell of Christmas hits me. 

Peeking through the door, I stare at the brightly lit house and take in the serenity that it radiates. His mom shoos me in and I stand in the foyer awkwardly. Greg and his wife fall onto the couch when the last suitcase is placed by the doorway. Niall’s mom and dad disappear into the kitchen and soon, I can hear soft whispers of Christmas banter. Appearing next to me, Niall takes my hand and leads me towards the other couch, sitting down next to me. We converse a bit with Greg and his wife as the glorious smell of food wafts though the house. I can tell Niall’s hungry; as the smell becomes more pungent, his mouth starts to water and his attention span turns into a goldfish’s. Practically having to slap him upside the head every time I speak to him, I give up and just watch old cartoon reruns on the TV.