When Love Heals - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter Ten.

"Lydia, it’s you.”

Lydia’s jaw dropped open, and she absentmindedly warned herself to shut it before she started to resemble a fish.

“W-what?” She stammered.

Niall shrugged, trying to play it cool whilst desperate to let her know that he liked her. A lot. “You’re the girl Louis was teasing me about on the show. My ‘special lady friend’ or whatever they called it. I guess… well, I like you Lydia. I like you a lot.”

Lydia’s eyebrows were slowly rising further and further up her forehead. She needed a minute to take this in.

But Niall wouldn’t stop talking.

“And that’s why I gave them my mum’s number because I didn’t want them to ring you on national television and scare you off or embarrass you and ruin things between us. I wasn’t messing you around, I swear. I’m not seeing anyone else. I just really like you, Lyd. And I know we haven’t known each other long at all but I….”

Niall continued to babble on. But Lydia wasn’t listening at all. And as soon as the words finally sunk in, her worries whisked away.

And she did the only thing she knew to show Niall that she really liked him, too.

Niall’s cheeks were soft under her palms as she cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was short and sweet and Lydia soon pulled away, letting Niall now be the stunned-to-silence one.

“Uh - ” was all he managed before he realised that Lydia wasn’t mad at him and he grinned.

“Sorry,” Lydia said sheepishly. “it’s just, when I heard that I thought that maybe you were messing around with someone else or something… and I know we’re not together or exclusive or anything but I'm just not the kind of girl to double date someone, y’know?”

Niall nodded at her explanation. “I know what it must have sounded like, but I swear I'm not seeing anyone else.”

Lydia relaxed. She kind of wanted to build walls around herself, to not believe him in an effort to prevent herself from getting hurt. But she knew better than anyone that life could be short and unpredictable, and she really liked Niall so we should she push him away?

So instead, she scooted back over the sofa and curled back into Niall’s side, forcing his arm back around her shoulders.

“We good?” Niall asked, twirling a piece of Lydia’s hair around his finger.

“We’re good.”

***

Karen finally got home at eleven o’clock, after a window at the boutique was smashed and she had spent the whole evening trying to do a decent job of boarding it up.

“Oh, hiya Niall!” Karen greeted quietly as she stepped through into the living room. Her eldest daughter was curled up into his arms, sleeping with her head on his shoulder. Karen couldn’t quite believe that this boy here was a famous singer. She felt almost intimidated, and was glad she hadn’t known the first time they met so she could actually act normal. Niall seemed like a lovely lad, so Karen wasn’t as quite as apprehensive of his intentions as she might have been. However, if he acted in anyway like he thought he was superior to them, Karen would have a problem.

“Hi Karen,” Niall smiled genuinely, adjusting Lydia’s leg back onto his lap because it had been slowly slipping off the side of the sofa. “She’s… well, really tired,” Niall laughed, nodding his head towards the sleeping girl.

Karen pulled a worried face. Because ‘tired’ for any normal person was just like they needed a few more hours sleep. ‘Tired’ for Lydia could mean worse things.