Walking Through the Time Capsule

Chapter 26

Walking  Through the Time Capsule

Chapter 26

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Niall...

It'd been about a week since my birthday, and a week since Annabelle found out the truth...well, part of it. When everyone else heard about our conversation the next day, everyone was secretly nervous that Annabelle would spiral downwards and be badly affected. Surprisingly, she'd been normal about the whole situation. I think I assured her enough that she was safe, and she realized that her dad was her past that she couldn't change, so she was just ignoring it. I wasn't really going to complain about it. I was worried she'd act distant and differently towards everyone, but she was her usual self.

"Are you almost ready?" Harry peeked into my room.

"Yeah, I'll meet you in the car in a second." I said to him as I pulled my sneakers out of my closet.

We were meeting the others at Griffith Park to do the hike to the Hollywood sign. According to my weather app, it was going to be hot as hell today. The fact that Annabelle wanted to do this, and was super excited about it, was the only thing that was keeping my complaints inside. We'd been getting closer in the past week since our late night talk. I could tell she still wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with me, but we were slowly getting our bond back, even if it was all new to her. The whole drive over, I kept nervously bouncing my leg.

"Mate, relax. You're gonna bounce a hole through the floor." Harry said as he pulled into a parking space in front of the observatory. I remember when we came here the first week we arrived in LA. None of us realized how hard it would be for me to hide from Annabelle at the time, in such a small space. Luckily we didn't have to do that anymore.

"Sorry." I apologized. "I'm just nervous."

"Nervous? What the hell are you nervous about? We're just going on a hike."

"Exactly, a hike. So many things can go wrong. I can trip, I can fall off the cliff, I can reek of sweat and have sweat stains all over me, the list goes on of all the ways I can embarrass myself." I rambled on.

"Embarrass yourself? Ah, I see what this is about. You're nervous about looking stupid in front of Annabelle." He grinned in amusement as he caught on. "You'll be fine."

"I'm gonna do something stupid."

"Like what? We're all going to be sweaty and gross, no need to feel singled out and embarrassed. And if you trip and fall, I'll fall too, okay?" He assured me like a true friend would. If Louis were here, I'd tell him to take notes.

I just gave him a pathetic smile, causing him to frown at me. "That's not what's really bothering you, is it? What's going on in there?" He poked my head.

"Nothing important."

"It's sure important if it's dragging you down and making you upset."

"Harry, I'm not upset. I'm just...I have a lot on my mind."

"I'm aware. Elaborate."

"Annabelle and I have been getting closer and gaining our friendship back, but it's so hard." I let out a breath before continuing. "It's all new to her. Sure she asks me questions about our past together and stuff, but she acts like I'm a new friend she made here. Which I mean, I'm not going to complain cause she acts like that with the rest of you guys, and it's better than how we started when she was full out terrified of me. But my stupid feelings are getting in the way of my patience. I still love her. I had a taste of what it's like to be in a relationship with her after pinning after her for years, and I just want that back. I need it. I need her to be with me again, to remember. And I'm being patient, and have no problem with waiting, but the desire with wanting to kiss her every time I'm with her is getting stronger and stronger the closer she gets to me again. I just want to hold her and kiss her, and tell her I love her. I've almost slipped a few times too. It would be a disaster if I accidentally said that."