The Bucket List (A Niall Horan Fanfic)

Chapter 21: Louis, Lessons, Leaving for Julliard

I immediately turned the tiller into the wind causing the mast to swing around, almost hitting Niall in the head. I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t say a word because I knew that if I did I would just start crying. I just focused my gaze on the shore as I pressed my lips together, replaying the words that Niall had just told me moments ago. I didn’t dare look at him, but I could feel his heavy stair resting on me as I felt the wind rushing against my face and though my knotted hair. I stepped out of the boat when we reached the shore and silently started fiddling with the rope attached to the sail, refusing to look up.

“Say something,” Niall finally pleaded. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t even bare thinking of not seeing Louis every day. He was the only one in the band that I felt completely comfortable around. I could never guess if Liam and Zayn had finally approved of me and I could never come close to beginning to understand what ran through the brain of the one and only Harry Styles. Niall just gave me butterflies and I always felt so goofy with him. But Louis was my brother that I never had. I knew he accepted me for exactly who I was. He let me be exactly who I was, even if that was a little crazy or goofy at times because he knew he was the same way. He made me laugh so hard that I wanted to cry, yet most of the time I wanted to pull my hair out because of how annoying he got. I think that’s what it feels like to have a brother. My thoughts were interrupted when Niall pulled the knotted rope out of my hands and took them in his. All I could do was look down in fear of making eye contact with Niall as I started breathing hard.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” I asked, finally glancing up at his worried eyes.

“He’s going to be fine,” he said, as if he was trying to convince himself.                               

“You promise?” I asked, feeling my lip quiver.

He nodded, bringing my hands up to his lips and kissing my sea stained knuckles, “I promise.”

   I sat down in the hallway outside of Louis’ room, pressing my knees against my chest and throwing my head back so that it grazed the striped wallpaper.

“So she knows?” I heard Louis ask.

“Yeah I told her,” Niall said after a long pause, “You know she didn’t even ask what you had, all she wanted know was if you were going to be okay,” Niall said, almost letting out a chuckle.

“It’s funny,” Louis responded, “Sometimes she seems so mature, but other times it’s just like having my eight year old sisters around,” Louis said, sounding more happy then before, though happy was the last thing I was feeling. I clenched my teeth as I felt tears filling my eyes while I tried to blink them away.

“She’s really something,” Niall said, suddenly and I felt myself smile.

“It must have been strange for her first kiss,” Louis retorted.

I held my breath as there was a long silence, “I haven’t kissed her yet,” Niall finally admitted.

“Really?” Louis asked, surprise echoing through his voice, “Why not?”

“She…” he paused, “She wants to make sure that I’m not like every other guy I guess.”

“How do you know you love her if you’ve never kissed her? What’s the difference between her and every other girl you’ve ever been friends with?” Louis asked, skeptically.

“Everything,” Niall said as I let a smile creep up on my face. “I don’t know. She’s so pure and I wouldn’t want to do anything that would destroy that. I know that it sounds cheesy, but when I’m with her, I get to see her for who she is as if she’s my friend first, that's okay because I know that really she means so much more.”