across the fence|n.s

chapter seven

11 years later: England

"I'm just loading off the plane. I'll see you outside!" Niall was getting off the plane, while on the phone with Maura. He set his watch to the correct time, 8:36 p.m. He got all of his bags and was headed outside to meet with his mother. After high school, Niall went to college at NYU, while Maura moved back to England, at a new lovely London home.

"Niall!" Maura greeted Niall as he walked out the Heathrow doors. "How was your flight?"
Niall was tired, and Maura took him in her arms, leading him to the car.
"It was fine, but tiring." Niall chuckled while he continued to tell his mum about his college experience. Mid conversation Niall's eyes began to feel heavy, soon Maura realized Niall was fast asleep.

When they got to their destination, Maura had to carefully shake Niall awake. When he awoke all he did was drop his bags inside and fall back to sleep on the couch.

Niall woke up groggy, he looked at his wrist 1:47 a.m. He couldn't stay at home, so he decided to take a walk. Before he left, he checked up on his mum, Maura was fast asleep. Niall grabbed the keys and began his walk. He stopped at a pub and got a drink. Overall It was quiet other than some man  speaking to the bartender. After an hour, Niall found himself outside walking again, this time he was headed back home. By the time he got home it was 3:14 a.m. He went upstairs to another room, and went to bed.

Niall woke up again at 7:45 a.m due to an alarm he forget to turn off. He looked at his phone, it was Mother's Day. He decided to get to the kitchen and make breakfast for Maura. He made jammed toast and a bowl of fruit. Maura woke at 8, and ate breakfast with Niall.

"I'm going to be having a few of my friends over at noon, you could say hello and leave if you would like. They'll be staying for a while." Maura looked at Niall, "however you don't have to if you aren't up to it."

"No, that's sounds nice I'll be there, mum."
-
When the time came, a few ladies rang and greeted Maura at the door. Niall was upstairs talking to Liam on the phone.
"Niall, the guests have arrived!" Maura yelled upstairs to get Niall's attention.
"Hold on -- I got to go, talk to you soon." Niall hung up the phone with Liam and went downstairs.
Niall greeted everyone but one of the ladies caught his eye.
"Niall, do you remember Anne?" Niall squinted his eyes a bit, "this is Harry's mum, do you remember Harry?" Now Niall's eyes were wide in response.
"Oh, hello Anne wonderful to see you!" Niall greeted her properly.
Maura interrupted, "Anne was just telling me that Harry is here too and well if you would like to drop by?" Niall nodded his head.
"Oh yes, he's at home if you would like I could give you the address and you could drop by, it's still the same house." She wrote down the address and Niall thanked her.
"I guess I could say hello, see you all soon." Niall took Maura's car keys and went off. It was awhile away since it wasn't in the city, but Niall finally made it. When he parked the car, he looked across the street. It was his old home. It looked like it was occupied by a family with kids, he could tell by all the toys at the driveway. He knocked on Harry's door. When Harry opened the door, Niall's eyes widened; he was gorgeous. Harry couldn't believe his eyes, when he saw the fellow at his doorstep.
"Would you like to come in, or just stand and stare," Harry laughed while looking at Niall.
"Oh, my bad." Niall felt embarrassed as he walked in. They sat on the couch and began talking.
"You look really different." Niall continued to stare at Harry.
"Yeah well, I'd hope so, I'm not a little boy anymore." Harry laughed, and moved over closer to Niall, he got so close his face was right in front of Niall he could feel his warm breath on his cheek.
"Do you feel uncomfortable?" Harry whispered, "because you look really stiff." Harry moved back, and smiled.
"I just am trying to take everything all in, it's weird seeing someone after how many years--"
  "11," Harry replied bluntly.
It went silent between the two for a while, until Harry decided to break the silence with a question that was on his mind for years after Niall left.

"Do you remember what happened?" Harry just looked at Niall,
"sorry, what?" Niall was trying to think about what Harry meant.
"When you--" he stopped," never mind, do you want to do anything?"
"I'm willing to do whatever you want to do." Harry had something in mind,
"We have bikes, do you want to just ride around. I know its sort of childish.." The whole time, all Harry could think about was Niall. How could he not remember anything, hell he didn't even bother to call or write all those years.
"One of the bikes are upstairs in my room, come on." Niall questioned Harry,
"Upstairs?"
"Yeah, I - wanted to decorate it, don't laugh." Niall laughed quietly at the fact that Harry would want to decorate his bike like a little boy.

When Niall got to Harry's room, his eyes widened. There were pictures of places all over the world covering every single wall.
"Did you take all these?" Niall began to look around at all of them.
"Yeah, I did a lot of traveling since I didn't want to go to college so soon."
India, U.S, Japan, France and the list goes on. Niall was jealous, he never really travelled much. Niall came across one photo that sparked a bit of his memory.
'N+H' it was carved onto a tree, the same tree where they buried our capsule. As soon as Niall was about to ask about it Harry spoke,
"Just grab the bike, can we please go already."
Niall grabbed the bike, and they took off.
---
They are no longer kids! (Doesn't mean there won't be flashbacks😏)
Hope you guys are enjoying so far :) (I don't edit a lot so if you notice any mistakes just tell me, and I'll try to fix them!)
Feedback is much appreciated, so comment if you'd like to :)

-Julia