Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Thirty

Niall

Great.

Fucking perfect.

For a week, things had been going his way. His boss was talking about raising wages, Chloe was getting over her 'I-hate-Liam-why-don't-you' phase, the building manager had fixed the flickering lights and now, Liam,  Liam, Liam had asked him on a date. The actual invitation had been worse than sixteen-year-old Liam's muttered invite the first time, but he'd asked him on a date, and the prospect was giving him butterflies.

Actual fucking butterflies.

But now, now it looked like things were returning to their normal let's shit on the guy who's done nothing to deserve any of it ways. Jessica wasn't free to babysit Chloe, having taken off to go on an impromptu holiday somewhere sunny, meaning he had no one to look after Chloe, so he was now dropping Chloe off at school early before the breakfast club actually started and picking her up after the after school club had technically finished. Chloe hated it as she was missing swimming, and Niall hated it as he was now the one responsible for the frown on his little girl's face, the frown that was there whenever she'd had to spend ages waiting for him, stuck in a classroom with whichever teacher had deigned to stay behind with her.

The lack of babysitter also meant that he couldn't work the extra shifts he'd been relying on picking up to be able to afford to buy Chloe the new costume and goggles she'd need for when she was finally able to go back to swimming.

The biggest kick in the pants was that, without Jessica, Niall had no way of being free on Thursday, not when Chloe had spent enough time without him looked after by strangers. Which meant that there was no way he'd be free on Thursday. Which meant he'd have to find a way to call off the first date he'd actually been looking forward to going on in years. It was actually the first date he would have gone in nearly three years, the only other dates he'd gone on before having gone exactly nowhere, once they'd all had the to take in the existence of the three/four/five-year-old that would be waiting for him back at his flat. This would have been the first date that he might have actually enjoyed, and now it wasn't going to happen.

Which was great.

Just great.

Fucking perfect.

But not going meant that he and Chloe could actually spend the evening together, and he wouldn't miss a chance to make Chloe happy, especially since the seven-year-old had put up with the disruption Jessica's absence had caused uncomplainingly. And, with that in mind, Niall found himself calling Liam during his lunch break, pacing the length of the break room, clutching his phone tighter in his hand as he waited for Liam to pick up.

"Niall...Hey. Was just thinking about calling you. About tonight. There's this great little bar, not too far out of Brixton and I think you'll love it. There's also a showing of that new World War 2 film, I was thinking we could maybe go and see that..."

Biting his lip, Niall let Liam continue to talk for a few moments before he took a deep breath, eventually finding the nerve to get out what he needed to say. "That would have been amazing. Sounds great, Li. There's just one little problem..."

"Problem as in you can't decide what to wear problem, or problem as in you don't actually want to go out with me and you're trying to let me down easy." Forcing himself to keep his tone light, Liam didn't miss a beat as he said, "That's okay, you know. If I've been pushy or...It's fine if you don't. Want to go out tonight."

"It's not that. Really. I would love to go out with you tonight. I would and your plans sound great. Dinner, everything, it all sounds amazing. It's just that I don't have a babysitter. So I can't come out with tonight. It's not doable. I would love to see you and you plans sounds fantastic but-" Dropping onto the battered sofa crammed into the corner of the room, Niall sighed, running a hand over his face, relaxing slightly as Liam said, "-but Chloe. It's fine, Niall. I totally understand. Of course Chloe comes first. And besides, there's always another time. I get it. We can...Reschedule or something."