International Relations [Niall Horan Fanfic]

..::Chapter 24::..

Jess' POV

The time spent babysitting last night was so important. For two reasons: 1. It was the beginning of our relationship and we had yet to spend an entire night together and 2. A big revelation was uncovered by Niall. Sure we talked, we talked all the time but about our likes and dislikes or things that had happened that day or what was happening next week, not things about our past.

I'm not one to pour my heart out without being asked by the right person. Niall hadn't asked so I didn't talk about my family. The most he'd asked about was if I had siblings. It wasn't that I thought he didn't care, I guess it just never crossed his or my mind to ask.

Niall's story about Caoimhe was anything from what I expected. I hated asking such personal questions such as the ones I asked last night while prying into the reasoning behind his nightmares, but the moment seemed right. I don't know what I thought I was going to hear but it wasn't that. I'd never seen him so vulnerable and it made my heart sink.

I wanted to kiss away his pain and make him forget but I think right now, that's the last thing he needs. He'd been suppressing this anger and guilt all these years which only made it worse.

I knew him well enough to know he had an open heart and cared outwardly with people. Always showering them with compliments, asking genuinely about their family and well-being, he even had a killer memory and made everyone he talked to feel special by remembering the names of their family members, pets, etc. The openness stopped as soon as the attention was geared towards himself though. Niall was great at telling you his general interests, being fairly vague. He was good at telling you just enough stuff about him to make you feel as though you knew him. I don't think it was on purpose, probably some sort of sub-conscience defense mechanism. Being the huge fan I am, I'd actually known most of what he'd told me but hearing the facts come from his mouth sounded so much more angelic than reading it from a Twitter account.

He didn't need to get over the loss, he needed to deal with it. I was probably one of the worse people to talk to about dealing with stuff. Well, I could talk other people into dealing with their shit but I couldn't draw from personal experience or inflect my own advice. He needed to change his perspective of the accident and realize it wasn't his fault. How I was going to help him was beyond me.

The boys had a night club appearance tonight and I was currently working the lunch rush at the pub. Niall was going to pick me up right after my shift and bring me to his place for a quick hangout before he had to get ready and go. Sophia had invited me to tag along but if I'm being honest, I still felt a little shaken up after last Saturday's events. Niall, of course, felt guilty and kept trying to convince me to allow him not to go but he had to, it was work. Plus, he'd have to give some sort of reason for his absence and they know he's not sick. It's not like Niall to not follow through with a work related event, so it'd need to be a good reason and it's not like he could use the real one...

I was content with staying at home tonight though. Obviously, I'd love for him to be with me rather than getting drunk at some bar where there were going to be drunk girls... but the idea of curling up and watching a movie with the apartment to myself sounded amazing.

When my shift finally ended, I ran upstairs to retrieve a bag I had packed with a change of clothes. Niall didn't want to waste any time because of how little of it we had. As I picked up my bag, simultaneously replying to Niall's 'here' text, I heard Charlie call me into her room.

"What's up?" I said, with emphasis on the 'p'.

"Where are you going again?" She was rushing around her room cleaning up, not looking at me. So she didn't see me tense up.

"Uh, I'm going over to Sophia's. Why?"

"Are you staying out all night?"

"I hadn't planned on it." I said in a questionable tone. "Why, Charlie?"