Runner [Book 3; Daddy Series]

Meeting

"Did he just say Mr. Horan?" I whisper to Leah, her eyes are as wide as mine probably are. We both turn to the hallway at the same time as Mason walks in the room, a piece of pizza in his mouth.

"What'd I miss?" he asks with his mouth full of pizza. I chuckle nervously and shake my head at him.

"Nothing," I reply, earning a slight glare from Leah as if to say 'what the hell do you mean 'nothing'?' I give her a look that hopefully says I'm sorry, but I don't know if it quite comes across. I grab a piece of pizza from the box and head into the living room, I sit down on the couch. Maybe it's just a common surname here, I mentally tell myself. Mason sits down on the chair next to the couch and Leah isn't too far behind him, she sits down next to me.

"So, your last name is Horan, huh?" Leah asks then puts the piece of pizza in her mouth. I look at her and give her a questioning look. Leah avoids confrontation at almost any cost, so her asking him is really surprising.

"Yeah," Mason says and chuckles, "I'm guessing you guys are going to want to meet my dad or something, right?" He says assumingly, and I know the voice. The voice that says 'I-know-you're-only-going-to-be-my-friend-because-of-him-now-right?' It's the same voice I used on all of my 'friends' back home. Not home. Back in Australia, this is my home now.

"He's actually like an uncle to us," I say, he looks up at me, one eyebrow raised, "well more of an older brother for me,"

"Kathryn?" he asks, setting his pizza down on the coffee table and leaning forward, his elbows rest on his knees, "and you're Leah, you guys are Luke's kids. Holy shit," he looks mesmerized, like he just saw a ghost.

"Yeah, that's us," Leah says shrugging.

"I knew you looked familiar when I first saw you, then when I went home and my dad was talking about you running away, but I had no idea you came too," he says gesturing to Leah.

"No, she didn't," I say shaking my head and swallowing my pizza, "I did then she tracked my phone number like a creep and flew out here."

"I was worried about you!" Leah defends and sets her pizza down. I roll my eyes and turn back to Mason.

"What was your dad saying about me?" I ask

"Just that he knew you were here and he knew it'd only be so long before you decided to leave. He was also talking about finding you to hang out for a bit." Mason shrugs.

"Let's go, then."

---

About fifteen minutes later we're outside Mason's house, I take a deep breath and open the door and stand on the sidewalk looking up at his house.

"You ready?" Mason asks, he puts a hand on my lower back and rubs it calmingly. I look over at him and he just smiles and winks, "C'mon," he motions me.

I look back to see Leah following behind me. I follow Mason up the stairs, rubbing my hands together, partly from nerves, and the other part from how cold it is. We're soon at the top of the staircase, his white front door is in front of us and Mason looks back at me. I take a deep breath before nodding, Mason gives me a smile and opens the door revealing a large entryway. The wall to the right has a large mirror on it, and a small skinny table below it with a couple family pictures and a candle. To the left is a wall of the school pictures, the top row looks like Mason, and there are two rows below his pictures, he must have younger siblings. From the pictures on the wall, he has a younger sister and a younger brother.

"My dad is probably in the living room with my mom," he says and grabs my wrist pulling me along with him. He leads Leah and I past the entry way and the stairs which are directly in front of the entry way, on the right of the stairs is a large kitchen and a dining table which I'm assuming is the formal dining room, I'm assuming this because there are crystal candle sticks in the center, and the table is fully set. Two plates in each spot and a bowl sitting in the middle, the silverware is wrapped in those fancy napkin towels. We keep walking, through a doorway and into what I'm assuming is the dining table that gets used most often, it has a couple of school books on it and a salt and pepper shaker, a vase with fake flowers sits in the middle. To the left is the living room, couches are set up in a sectional type shape facing away from us.

I look up at Mason and he lets go of my wrist after giving it a reassuring squeeze, I nod and smile nervously.

"Hey, dad," Mason says walking closer to the living room, Niall doesn't turn around. I reach over and grab Leah's hand for support and she just squeezes it. I don't know why I'm so nervous, maybe it's the fact that Niall could call my dad and tell him exactly where I am if he wanted to.

"Welcome back, kid," Niall finally says, he's flipping through TV channels.

"I have a surprise for you," Mason says and motions his hand for us to follow him. Leah squeezes my hand once more and let's go, she and I follow Mason.

"What's the sur-" Niall cuts himself off once he sees us, "Oh my god," he says standing up immediately.

"Hi," I say shyly, Niall smiles and walks over to me quickly, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug, I hug him back.

"I'm so happy you're okay," he says pulling me out of a hug, "come on, sit down,"

I take a seat on the couch, and Leah is next to me.

"Oh, Leah! I didn't even see you there behind Kathryn," he smiles and stands up again, Leah follows and hugs Niall for a short period of time then they both let go and sit down.

"Alright, it's so great that you guys came here," Niall smiles and reaches into his pocket, "I'll just call your father and let him know."

(A/N)

Hey guys! I really hope you guys liked this chapter, I really like it:) I've decided that I'm going to update once a week on Sundays or Tuesdays, I haven't quite gotten my schedule figured out so I'll let you guys know when I figure it out which should be within the week:) I'll also let you know if I decide to post once a week or twice a week. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

Anyway! I hope you guys like this chapter and I hope you guys are having a good Sunday! And if you do go back to school tomorrow, like me, I'm sorry:(

I love you guys!

xx _DatWriterChick xx