When Love Heals - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter Fourteen.

Lydia woke in the morning with a heavy arm slung over her waist and warm breath tickling her neck. She smiled, but it didn't last long as her htoughts immeditaely whisked back to last night's events.

She had said to Niall that maybe she shouldn't be his girlfriend yet; that maybe they should continue to take things slow because this was going to be a difficult relationship and they shouldn't go too fast or they might run off the tracks. He had agreed wholeheartedly, but she had seen the disappoint glint in his eyes. And she felt really bad for it. Because she actually really did want to be his girlfriend. Why wouldn't she? He was funny and handsome and incredibly kind. It was just she hadn't known him that long, and she had to keep reminding herself that he wasn't a normal boy - he was Niall Horan. And she didn't want to jump into the 'celebrity life' too quickly if it meant her life would change. She was pretty content with how everything was going for the moment and she didn't want to ruin it. But that didn't mean she got happy tingles thinking about how Niall could be hers, really hers, and nobody elses. And she couldn't help but constantly re-evaluate her decision and contemplate whether she had done the right thing or not.

She rolled over onto her right side so she could look at the sleeping boy next to her. He was so cute, and she couldn't help but reach out and gently trace the curve of his lips with her fingertip. That sent her throughts racing - thinking back to how good those lips felt upon her own; warm and soft and loving.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips gently against Niall's, before pulling away sharply beacuse what kind of creep kisses someone when they're asleep. She sighed at her own weirdness before rolling out of bed and plodding downstairs. It was a Saturday, and glancing at the clock on the way out of her bedroom she saw it was only nine a.m.. She found Carmen and her mother sitting at the kitchen table, munching on toast and chatting about Carmen's most recent choir performance that was coming up in a couple of months. She was incredibly excited about it, she had even asked Niall to come along. He had promised; something Lydia was grateful for because her younger sister really looked up to him.

"Morning," Lydia greeted as she stepped over to the kettle and poured herself a cup of coffee. "What are you up to today?"

"Going into the city to shop!" Carmen shrieked. "Mum promised! She promised and now we're going!"

Lydia laughed at Carmen's hyperactive bouncing on the chair. She understood her excitement though; they weren't exactly the richest family and going shopping for Carmen was better than winning the lottery.

"That's cool," Lydia nodded, sitting down next to her younger sister, who didn't hesitate to clamber off her own chair and sit on Lydia's lap. The older girl huffed - after all, Carmen was seven now and she was a little too heavy to sit with like this. But Lydia could never deny her, she loved her way too much and there had been many times that she had thought she would never be able to hold Carmen like this ever again and so now she could, she was going to make the most of it.

"Do you want to come, Lyd?" Carmen asked, turning in her lap so she could stare up at her older sister with pleading eyes.

Lydia mentally battled with herself. Sure, she wanted to spend time with her family. But Niall was here, and there weren't many days that they both had completely free so they had promised to spend it with each other.

"I'm not sure, Carm..." Lydia started, but Carmen wasn't listening because Niall had entered the room with messy hair and sleepy eyes.

"Good morning'," he said, holding his arms open for the inevitable bone-crushing hug from Carmen.

The little girl launched herself into the outstreched arms and jumped, allowing Niall to lift her up. He swayed them from side to side as she beamed.