Sair:
Niall dropped me off at my house, and I was totally exhausted. Oddly enough though, my mood had gone up after our little walk, and I hopped out of the car with a smile on my face. At least I had the whole day to myself now, and my exams were luckily over. But my family wasn’t interested in how my exam day went, and all they asked about by the dinner table was my boyfriend.
“So he’s coming over?”, mum asked happily. They hadn’t let the subject alone since we sat down by the table.
“I’m pretty sure he is”, I mumbled back. She glowed by the sound of it, turning to dad who seemed at least a little more pleased than before.
“This is great! What do you think he’d like for dinner?”. Cass sighed heavily at mum’s enthusiasm.
“Please mum! Don’t make this a big deal”, Cassie muttered.
“We’ll make this one hell of a deal”, dad warned my sister. Ok, so maybe he hadn’t adjusted to the whole idea just yet. Neither had I. I couldn’t picture Niall Horan sitting at our dinner table, pretending he’d known me for so long.
“Both of you should act a little more nice”, mum said, pointing a fork at my father at first. “Now the boy has agreed to come and see us, and we’re going to treat him like he is a part of the family”.
“Mum...”, I whined, finding the whole situation a little too bizarre. Niall was not a part of the family. He would never be. But they didn’t know that he and I would break up in a months time.
“Mum, he’s an international superstar”, Cassidy said. “There is no way you can give him the treatment he is used to”.
“He should be grateful for being invited here”, dad said. I couldn’t take it anymore, and stood up, nearly tilting my chair over. My family fell silent, and looked up at me with big eyes.
“Can I be excused”, I mumbled, hoping they could all realize how incredibly stupid they sounded. Being excused wasn’t really a question, and I placed my dishes by the sink before anyone had the chance to say anything. “I hope you’ll all do a thorough personality check before he comes over”, I snapped at them, and left my mother, sister and father sitting there with big eyes. My room was wonderfully chilled, and calm, and the headache eased a little once I was lying on my bed. My phone had blowed up, once again. A few missed calls from Destiny, a text from Niall, and one from Henry. I smiled at the one from Henry:
I never got to say that I hope it went well for you on the exams today :) see you tomorrow - Henry
Was he serious? He’d never sent me anything like this before. It was wonderful, and my headache was gone in a second as I clutched my phone to my chest. After a good five seconds of grinning up at the roof I read the text from Niall as well:
Hey, thanks for today, u did great. Just thought I’d say that I actually can come on saturday... so i guess ill see u there. what time?
Well, as I thought, he would make it. I sighed deeply, sitting up in my bed. I didn’t care what time I got here. All I cared about was getting my family through the course of how to act when he was coming over. And then there was the fact of actually realizing... Niall Horan was coming over for dinner.
--
Niall:
I couldn’t stay in my place that night. For some reason, I couldn’t sleep there. Just way too much to think about. Therefore, when it turned midnight, I drove to my little one-room flat downtown and locked myself in there instead. The lightbulb flickered and lit up the dark corridor, not making things very cozy to be honest. But the flat was clean, and perfectly chilly, and I felt a lot better. Just when I had thrown myself on the couch it started raining, and the first roll of thunder was heard above the roof. So I was going to Siar’s house on Saturday, having dinner with her family. As I thought about it, I scrolled down twitter, the pictures of me and her from today popping up here and there. Well, I had to say it looked very convincing. We made a good couple, and she looked happy when I handed her the ice cream. And when the two of us were sitting by that fountain... I had to say it looked a little romantic. I laughed at my own thoughts.
“Romantic”, I giggled, shaking my head. “Niall Horan... you desperately need some sleep”. And with that I sunk lower into the deep sofa and feel asleep.
**
“Damn it”, I muttered, running my hands through the box of hair wax. These things emptied themselves quicker than I could even realize. I ripped open every drawer, hoping I’d have an extra one somewhere around. But there was no luck today. I looked at the time. It was about an hour until I was supposed to stand and ring the doorbell to Sair’s house. Fuck. That hair wax was essential. I stamped out of my flat, and hurried downstairs, better just cross my fingers and hope Liam had any. “Liam!”, I called, knocking the door to his flat. He was the only one of the boys who still hadn’t moved out of the complex. Wouldn’t be long before though.
“Coming!”. It wasn’t Liam who opened though. It was Danielle. “Niall”, she grinned, letting me in. “Wow, you look dashing this evening”, she teased me. I hoped she was right, considering I had used over an hour to pick out the shirt.
“Thanks Dani”, I mumbled, sending her a grateful smile.
“What’s the occasion?”.
“Uhm...”, I scratched the back of my head. Dani didn’t need an explanation thought, she smiled knowingly at me.
“You’re going to see her parents, aren’t you?”. They all knew about Sair. Who didn’t? Since tuesday the pictures from that ice-cream date where circling everywhere.
“You guessed right”, I chuckled, stuffing my hands in my pocket. Dani remained standing against the wall, that smart smile on her lips. Liam came up behind her.
“Niall?”, he asked, surprised to see me. “What are you doing here?”. I simply pointed to my flat hair. Liam snapped his fingers, knowing what I meant. “Right, come in, I think I have some left”. I took a seat in the kitchen with Dani, while Liam messed about in the bathroom.
“Want some tea Niall?”, she asked me. The pot was already on.
“Yes please”, I almost gasped. That’s just what I needed. I practically threw the tea down my throat, making Danielle laugh at me once again.
“Helps with the nerves, huh?”, she asked me. I nodded. “First time meeting her family?”. I nodded again. “How long have you been seeing her again?”.
“A month?”, I croaked, wiping my mouth.
“She seems sweet”. I chuckled nervously, shrugging a little shyly.
“She is”. How strange it felt to fool one of the other girlfriends. A real girlfriend. Liam came back with the hair wax, handing it to me.
“Here you go mate, it’s the right brand, right?”, he asked me.
“That’s right, thanks”, I went off to the mirror in the hallway and started spiking my hair up the best I could. Danielle and Liam stood watching me with amused faces, his arms around her. Yes, it did feel strange to know Danielle thought my girlfriend was sweet, when I knew she wasn’t my girlfriend at all. Liam didn’t say anything, he was too good of a person, and let me live my own life. I’d have to thank him for that one day. But for now, I’d thank him for the hair wax. “How does it look?”, I asked them, turning around after my best attempt.
“Great”, Liam said.
“You look very handsome Niall”, Danielle assured me.
“Yeah?”. I handed the box back to Liam.
“Don’t be nervous mate”, Liam winked at me. He really was too good of a person sometimes. And the fact that all of this wasn’t real, me and Sair I mean, it didn’t make my nerves go less crazy.
“I’m sure they’ll love you”, Danielle added.
“You’re too lovable”, Liam giggled, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend again. I backed off towards the front door, my hand on the handle.
“Thanks guys, I’ll see you later, yeah?”.
“Have a great night”, Liam said, and Danielle waved, the two of them looking like one big ball of relationship and smiles. I had to keep that picture in mind, so I could use it later if needed. Nothing looked more real than Danielle and Liam right there.
“Bye”, I sighed, sending them a last smile before heading out the door. But beeing free, beeing single for real, and a gentleman to the world, that was the best part.
