Act Like You're in Love {Niall Horan}

Chapter 49: What's Left

~Niall's P.O.V.~

I was still laying awake, unable to fall asleep. It was okay, though. Mariah's steady breathing comforted me, and I laid there simply smiling at the fact that I had such a wonderful girlfriend.

Laying there for so long made me thirsty, though, so I carefully slid my arms out from her waist under her arms. Quietly and quickly, I got a glass of water and gulped it down. When I got back to her door, I stopped. Mariah's now heavy breathing and sudden twitches could be clearly heard.

She started to cry, so in a panic I rushed over. "What's wrong, Riah?"

My questions went unnoticed; she wasn't even awake.

Suddenly she screamed and started sobbing. "Mom!" she wailed.

What?

I ran over to the bed and went back under the covers where she was to comfort her. I caressed her tan, shaking arm throughout her nightmare.

Nightmare. I forgot. She told me the night of her brother's death date that she still has nightmares about it.

"Mariah, wake up," I pleaded not wanting her to suffer through the memory any longer. She just moved around continuously crying, so I tried again. "Mariah! Please, wake up!"

The tears streamed down her face making her look so weak, so vulnerable. She was not the same as she was usually - the strong, independent woman I knew.

The sight of Mariah's weakness made me start crying with her. Then she woke up.

"Niall?" she asked sitting up. She wiped the tears away like it was a normal thing, not even paying attention to them. Instead she paid attention to the tears on my face. She acted strong, but I could hear her trembling, frightened voice.

"I'm right here," I told her.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because you were crying," I said shakily, tears threatening to spill. I was acting like such a girl right now, but this is what Mariah does to me.

"I -- oh."

Silence fell only to be broken by my questions seconds later. "When do you get nightmares?"

Mariah shrugged, and her strap fell off her shoulder. "Randomly. There's no pattern. But thanks for waking me up." She gave me a weak smile.

"Are they frequent?"

"Not really. Right after the accident I had them every night, but after a month or so they just came about once every other week."

"Oh. Are they bad?"

"I've had worse."

"...I'm really sorry," I said pitifully.

"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for. In fact, you made it better just now by taking me out of it," she replied. "No one ever did that because I've never lived with someone else beside my parents, except in college, and there my roommate could sleep through a tornado."

I gave her a small smile.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep," she then announced.

"It's morning," I said.

"It's four in the morning," Mariah countered. "And I like to sleep."

But I couldn't go back to sleep, so I stayed awake, flooded in my own thoughts.

It must have been an two hours later when the sun was coming out, and the light let me focus on my girlfriend.

I smiled.