Inked Armor (Punk Niall)

Chapter 9

That night I couldn’t sleep.

I tossed and turned relentlessly like it would make me forget the memories and questions burning through my mind like a seesaw, jumping back and forth from one thing to another and hitting the ground with such force it made my head spin. There was so much running through my mind that I couldn’t quiet down and push to the back of my head like usual, they were incredibly adamant, and I blame it all on Niall.

The only thing that kept dancing around in my head was Niall’s taunting message, ‘You never know who’s looking’ and I had no idea what he meant by it. Even the next day when I went to school it invaded my every thought, and when it got to the point where I was getting distracted and writing the phrase down on paper instead of the notes copied on the front board, I knew that I needed to know what Niall meant.

And I needed to know soon.

***

I drove cautiously to the coffee shop after school, feeling anxious and nervous and reluctant to be doing this. What if Niall’s just messing with me and it’s all a cruel joke? What if he won’t even be there and I’ll be stuck alone and more confused than before?

I almost turned around and went home because of the negative outcomes I was making up, but I kept reminding myself that I was in need of answers that only Niall possessed. And I kept telling myself this the whole ride over, up to when I was about to open the door.

It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.

I stepped into the shop with eagerness and disinclination, my body rejecting and pulling at the same time as I looked around for an army-patterned jumper, jeans, and white high tops that Niall had been wearing at school earlier. The thought of how mad I sounded remembering what exactly Niall was wearing crossed my mind, but just for a moment before it was mixed with every emotion blanketing my thoughts.

My eyes flitted around the room continuously but there was no Niall to be found. I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach as I discovered that this truly was all just a joke. That I was right all along, and the painful truth set in. I could only see middle-aged couples and young hipsters on their laptops and girls my age and baristas behind the counter and-

Blonde hair styled to perfection. Rosy red lips that seemed as pure as an angel’s. Large hands splayed out on the table. Blue eyes staring fervently out the window at a cloudy sky. Tattoos and piercings that stood out like a black flower in a sea of white. Niall. He was here.

I could feel my heart leap back up and a reassuring smile make its way on my face, both from the fact that Niall wasn’t lying and also because he looked so incredibly content sitting there alone; I almost didn’t want to disturb him and all the beauty he carried.

I began to move my feet toward the table he was sitting at near the back, away from everybody, and I could feel the electricity run through my feet to my head the closer I got to him. My heart yearned to at least relive the day before when it was just the two of us, and my heart was pounding with every feeling possible.