Like Before (Niall Horan)

Chapter Thirty-Five: Rainy Days

The thunder woke me up. It was the loudest bang I had ever heard and it made my heart stutter and my body jump. The lightning lit up the room through the opened curtain and I pulled the blanket up to my chest. My eyes found Niall beside me, still sleeping like a baby, as if the thunder didn't even effect him. 

I stood up out of the bed and went to the little stand in the hotel that had the coffee on it and for the first time since being here, I made myself a cup of coffee. I hadn't needed it the past couple of days because I had been sleeping really well being here. But now I was wide awake at an early hour.

The room was still pretty dark, with the occasional light from the lightning striking. I set my cup on the stand by the rest of it and shut the curtains. I really didn't want to keep watching it because it was starting to scare me. These kind of storms have always scared me since I was little. I never really got over that like most kids and they still scare me to this day, so I grabbed my mug, set it on the bedside table beside me and climbed back into bed. I pulled the covers up to my chin and just stayed there. 

When my coffee cup was empty, I turned onto my side and looked at Niall. Yes, I understand that is really creepy, but I was desperate to get my mind off the storm outside, and Niall was a good distraction.

Niall looked so peaceful when he slept. There weren't any lines on his face besides the spot where he had his hand pushed up against the side of his face, by his eye. I saw how his mouth turned up at the corners in the slightest bit, as if he was having a good dream and trying not to crack a smile. His eyes fluttered under his lids as if he were looking around the area, trying to capture every detail. Hair falling across is forehead, unlike his usual spiked 'do, it was down against his face like he'd been lying on it for a while. "Normal people ask if someone's awake, not sit there and stare at them." His voice made me jump and had an unflattering noise popping from my mouth.

"S-sorry. I didn't know you were awake. I didn't want to wake you up, I was just trying to distract myself." I told him honestly. His eyes fixed on my face and I smiled at him. I could tell that he was still tired and felt bad that I woke him up. "You can go back to sleep, I won't stare, I promise." I told him.

"Its quite alright. I can manage to stay up. What were you distracting yourself for?"

"I'm not a big fan of thunderstorms." That was quite the understatement. "A big crash of it woke me up. Looks like we won't be going to the park like we wanted." I told him.

"Thats okay, we can have a rainy day in." He grinned at me. "Have you got your speech all written out?" He asked me.

"Yeah. Its fine and teacher approved so all I have to do is not faint while I'm delivering it and things would be great."

"You'll do great Alix." Niall reassured me and for some reason it actually helped and I smiled at him.

"You sure have a lot of confidence in me."

"Thats because I know you." How could he know me? I barely know me. I don't know who I am, I don't know what I want. But thats not entirely true, is it? I know I want Niall, and I know I want Tia to be happy, and I know I want to go to college, I just don't know how to make all those things work for me. 

Niall had his eyes shut again and this time I didn't watch him sleep, instead, I curled my body up next to his. He put an arm around me and I didn't mind because it kept me feeling safe. No matter what kind of storm was in my head or outside the room, Niall always made me feel better.

*****

I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until I woke up later. It was still the morning, and the storm was still raging outside but it was brighter. "Morning sleepy head." Niall's husky voice was in my ear, his breath tickling my neck.I tilted my head up enough to see I was laying practically on his chest.