When Love Heals - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter Twenty.

It had only been six days since Niall had left to go the L.A. with the band and Lydia was already going crazy.

She didn't know what to do with her spare time anymore; she was so used to spending it with a blonde boy and his funny little remarks and goofy laugh.

She guessed it was good that she had gotten to know him like she had though - during a time that he was at home. It had given her the chance to get to know him properly, to spend a decent amount of time with him so their relationship was stable and strong before he went away. But still, she was a little bitter. Because since she had met him at the perfect time, it was even harder now to learn how to deal with him being away.

A positive was that she had more time to spend with her best friend. Meredith came round more now Niall was away, and Lydia felt guilty for neglecting her a little before so it was nice to get to see her. But at the back of her mind, she was always wondering what Niall was doing and if he was okay and if he missed her, too.

So Lydia went about her days like she used to before she met the blonde boy who had already changed her life. It was weird, being spotted walking down the streets, people not-so-subtly taking out their phones to snap a photo. Lydia just couldn't quite comprehend why they wanted a picture of her; sure, she was dating a popstar but she was still a normal girl.

***

'Niall, I'm at home and I'm bored.'

'This one guy came in to the coffee shop and asked for a blow job... I'm hoping it was a dare'

'WHAT AM I MEANT TO DO WITH FRIDAY NIGHTS NOW YOU'RE AWAY?!'

'I miss you:('

'But I don't miss your stinky feet you mong'

Lydia stopped harassing Niall's phone with text messages when a sudden sharp stabbing pain in her head hit her. She gasped and held the heel of her hand against her forehead, pressing hard as if she wanted to push the pain right out of her brain.

She had been feeling a little better the past few days, only suffering from a few waves of nausea and some incredibly random, but extremely painful headaches. She thought maybe she was fine, but here it was again.

She didn't know why she was feeling like this. Of course, there was the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that told her this was serious, that told her to go and get it checked out quickly. But she refused to believe this was anything worse than tiredness and a virus. She refused to believe it was happening again. She refused to believe that she wasn't going to live a long and healthy life like she had been promised.

And so when the intense throbbing subsided, she pushed the worry to the back of her mind. In hindsight, it wasn't a very clever thing to do. Because maybe if she had listened, she could have prevented what happened next.

***

"How was your flight?" Lydia said, resting her head on the cool window as she sat on the bus on her way home from work. It had been a long day, and she wasn't feeling too good.

"Meh, not too bad." Niall's voice came through the receiver. "Belgium is bloody cold though."

Lydia chuckled. "It's cold here, too. And raining. That's what you get from England in November, I guess."

"But on the bright side," Niall said, "it's Christmas soon!"

Lydia laughed at the excitemend in his voice. "Yeah, about that. What do you want for Christmas?!"

"Lydia!" Niall gasped theatrically. "I can't believe you asked that! I want a surprise gift!"

Lydia laughed. "Okay, calm down Ni. I'll get you something good."