every rose has its thorns. // niall horan

chapter two.

“Thanks,” Rosaleen gave him a weak smile as she felt all her resistance to him melting. “I guess that kinda ruined my dramatic exit, didn’t it.”

He laughed his amazing laugh, his face flushing slightly as he trained his eyes on Rosaleen.

A harried looking man with a briefcase bumped into Rosaleen at that moment and she stumbled. Niall caught her by the arms and steadied her, “You alri?”
She nodded and stepped out of his grasp, “Yeah I’m fine.”

He pointed to a bench a little ways down the sidewalk, “Maybe we should sit down so you don’t get run over.”

“Okay,” Rosaleen reached for her bags but he had already picked them up.” I can do it,” she held out her hand.

Niall shook his head, “No you don’t. I’ve got it.”

“Very chivalrous, aren’t you.” Rosaleen grinned; blondie was definitely growing on her.

“Well you know how I do,” he shrugged and started walking towards the bench.

She sat down and he sat down next to her, far enough so it wasn’t awkward but close enough that Rosaleen’s heart was pounding in a way it hadn’t for a while.

“So do I get to know your name?” he asked, looking at her shyly. “Something tells me it’s not ‘out of here.’”

She laughed, “Sorry for being so rude. I feel bad about it now.”

“Sure you do,” Niall teased.

“Rosaleen.”

“Rosaleen,” he repeated with a grin. “I like it.”

“Don’t tell me, tell my mom. I didn’t name myself.” Rosaleen hated her name. Her mom had picked it because it was the American version of the Irish nameRóisín, meaning little rose. Her mother thought having an Irish name would help Rosaleen embrace her heritage, and it did for a short period of time. When Rosaleen was thirteen she went through a stage in which she spent all her time on the computer, looking up other Irish names. It was for that reason she knew that Niall’s name, which was the Irish version of Neil, meant cloud.

He laughed again. She liked making him laugh.

“Well when I meet your mum the first thing I’m going to say to her is that she picked a very pretty name that suits her very pretty daughter perfectly.” His eyes fell on her silken ringlets, “You have hair like a rose.”

Rosaleen felt a blush warming her cheeks. He had called her pretty. Her ex had only ever called her hot. Pretty was so much nicer.

“Was it okay that I said that?” he asked, concern in his deep blue eyes.

“Yeah it was fine,” she blushed again.

“Good.” Niall gave a satisfied nod and leaned back on the bench, casually throwing both his arms behind them.

Rosaleen decided to ignore this gesture; he wasn’t touching her in any way so there was nothing she could tell him off for. If he wanted to stretch his arms that was his business. She searched the parking lot, looking for her aunt’s familiar face. It was still nowhere to be found.

“So where are you from?” Niall asked. “And who are you looking for?”

“America and my aunt.”

“Have you ever been to Ireland before?”

She shook her head.

“Well if you need…”

“Rosie!” a voice screamed, and a middle age woman came running at them, a huge smile on her face.

“Aunt Kathy!” She jumped up and threw her arms around the slim, dark haired lady. “I’m so glad you’re letting me spend the summer with you. Thank you so much.”

The woman laughed, squeezing her back. “You know you’re welcome here anytime dear. Anytime at all.”

“Kayleigh!” Rosaleen wrapped her arms around her cousin, who had been slowly trailing behind Aunt Kathy. The dark haired beauty was just as stunning as Rosaleen had remembered, but she didn’t seem as happy to see Rosaleen as she had when they visited Boston last July. Rosaleen pulled away when she felt how stiff Kay was in her embrace.

“Kay…” her voice trailed off as she followed Kayleigh’s eyes to Niall, who now looked extremely uncomfortable.

“Umm hi Mrs. O’Malley. How are you doing today?”
“Niall dear, it’s been too long. You must come visit someday, I miss seeing your smiling face in my kitchen.” Aunt Kathy dropped a kiss on his cheek. “How are you?”

“I’ve been alri, thanks. And I’ll come visit. If it’s okay.”

“Good, good, good.” Aunt Kathy clapped. “Rosie love are these your bags over here with Niall?”

Rosaleen nodded; a confused look on her face.

“Niall hon why don’t you be a doll and carry Rosie’s bags to the car for me. We can give you a ride home if you need one.”

“Sure, thanks Mrs. M. I appreciated it.”

As they all head to the car, Rosaleen couldn’t help but notice that Kayleigh had yet to take her eyes off of Niall. And from the look on her face she was not one bit happy with him.