Downfall [Punk Niall Horan]

23

An army of footsteps pounded down the muddy hallway, somehow managing to sound anxious in our wake.

Sickening swishes and sloshes filled my ears until I thought I would ram my face into the wall to put myself out of this otherwise silent torture. The sound was gross and very annoying. It was grinding my nerves with a blade, and I thought I would scream.

Finally, we all reached a rusty door as usual. Niall swiftly pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, the same keys that unlocked every door down here, and jammed one into the lock.

My eyes widened at how many keys were clanging together, shining in the dim lighting of the hallway. Were there really that many doors here? Even if there were, what was behind them that needed to be locked away?

Luke cast a wary look my way, but Ashton only cheekily smiled at me and wiggled his eyebrows like he was laughing at an inside joke. I turned to him slightly with raised eyebrows, silently mouthing 'what are you laughing at'.

"He was looking at your ass earlier," Ash mouthed back to me, discretely pointing his index finger to Niall. I gulped and my eyes bulged, heating my cheeks up viciously. Ash snickered and looked over to Luke who looked quite ticked, making Ash sober up a bit.

Calum stood still as usual, focused on the now open door. His big, dark eyebrow were scrunched down in a scowl, a look of pure determination etched onto his face. Now Niall was putting the keys back into his pocket, and standing back up.

Niall threw a weird look my way, and I saw a slight blush creep along his sharp cheekbone. Did he really look at my butt? As if reading my mind, Ash nodded and smiled humorously, probably at my discomfort. Nonchalantly, I threw my eyes over my shoulder and looked down at my rear.

It didn't help that I had leggings on right now, the super thin kind. And my shirt barely reached the top of my butt. Instantly, my cheeks heated up even more as I focused back in on our group.

Why was I acting so stupid when something important was obviously going down?

Now we seemed to be going through the door after what felt like an eternity, smothered in silence. We filed through the door one by one, and Ash fell beside me. I could practically hear the comments and laughs he was restraining.

Right as I was about to walk through the door, Ashton leaned up to my ear and whispered something that made me want to run far far away from everyone, because surely they knew too. "Boss man was checking out your goods, mate," Ash chided cheekily, laughing a bit.

I grasped the doorframe while Ashton passed under my arms, laughing softly. "You would know," I ground out sarcastically as he passed beneath my arm. I thought he hadn't heard my remark, but Ashton quickly turned around and gave me a mischievous wink.

Evening my breathing out and trying to get the blush from my cheeks out, I finally walked in and took a seat. Right between Luke and Niall. Ashton and Calum sat in front of us, along with Louis. I was glad to see him, and I smiled at him warmly.

He returned it with a toothy smile of his own, nodding to me in form of greeting. Then his face faltered a bit. "Are you feeling alright, love? Your cheeks are flaming," Louis questioned, peering closer at me.

Panicked, I flew my eyes around to everyone at the table. Every single person was staring right back at me, flicking their gazes between Louis and I. My hands fanned over my cheeks while they got even more heated.

Why, why Lou, why must you bring that up? Ashton laughed, but tried to cover it up with a cough, which was a horrible attempt. "That's not the only thing flaming, now is it Niall?" Ashton chided, a devious grin on his face. I whipped my gaze to Ashton, giving him an incredulous look.