Country Girl's Dream ©

Chapter 131

Songs for the chapter-

1)      Still Into You- Paramore

2)      Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

3)      The Way- Ariana Grande ft. Mac Miller

Lauren’s POV

“The water was much more shallow than I thought so when I jumped off the board, my foot landed sideways.”, Erin explains while carefully illustrating the action with her foot. I cringe as she tells me the events of her injury that landed her on crutches for the next two weeks. “I could feel it pop, too. I couldn’t hear it, but I could feel it.”

“That’s enough! I got the picture!”, I state, cutting her off before she could finish her story. I was beginning to get a sick feeling in my stomach at the scene replaying through my mind as we sat around a rotund white table located inside Sunset Harbor, a yacht club in Daytona that Niall had rented out for the night.

Erin begins to laugh at my expense before continuing just to gross me out more. “And it was all purple and swollen, and..”, I cut her off y placing my hands over my ears while chanting, “Nope! Nope! Nope!”

She responds with a laugh before we are cut off by the clanking of glasses from the front of the rectangular room. The purple lights were dimmed and reflected off of the maple wood floors. My eyes glance up at the sound of the noise to see Niall in a black fitted tuxedo, holding his glass in his left hand. He sends a smile down towards Meri as the crowd calms down to silence. He brings his right fist up to his lips, clearing his throat before beginning to speak.

“I’d like to make a toast.”, he announces. The room suddenly is speckled with the raising of glasses while Niall continues.

“To start off the night, I’d like to thank a few people. I’d like to show my appreciation to Mrs. Ashley for her help on inviting everyone to be here tonight. Without you, this would have been a sad excuse of a party.”, he says, smiling towards Meri’s mom who was sitting at the same table as he was, along with his family and the rest of Meri’s family.

“I’d also like to thank, Lauren, a.k.a the distraction.”, he speaks, his thankful eyes meeting mine. He looked so happy. Happier than I had ever seen him. My right hand continues to salute my glass to him while my left stays placed awkwardly on my lap.

Niall continues to thank me, but my attention is taken away as Harry’s hand reaches over taking mine from my lap, and transferring it delicately to his, and intertwining our fingers, slowly. My eyes hesitate to look away from Niall while he was thanking me, but I could feel Harry’s eyes watching me. His thumb begins to caress the knuckle of my index finger. 

I smile as I glance towards him, confirming my accusations that he had been watching me. His small dimples appear as my smiling eyes meet his. His cheekbones were slightly pinked from being out on the beach today, his brown curls pushed back to the top of his head.

“And I’d also like to thank Harry!”, Niall says loudly, recapturing our attention. “Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to get everything done today. I expect to be helping you in the future, yeah?”, he asks, nodding his head towards me, chuckling along with the rest of the crowd. My cheeks flare up, but it couldn’t have been noticeable due to the dim lighting of the room. Harry laughs in response, secretly squeezing my fingers between his finger and palm. The attention is soon taken off of us as Niall turns to his fiancé.  I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear the love in his voice.