Turning Pages (Niall Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-One

Danielle’s POV:

His hand twitched and woke me up. I glanced up at him and saw his eyes dart every which way underneath his eyelids. His breathing paused and then started back up again. His mouth laid open and my body was halfway on top of his. He mumbled something I couldn’t make out as I slid out from underneath his arm and up out of the covers. The air outside of the warm bed was frigid. I fumbled through his dirty clothes and picked out a pair of dark sweatpants. I didn’t want to make too much noise looking around for clean ones. I slipped them on and quietly snuck out of his bedroom.

I went to the kitchen at put a kettle on to boil. I was starving. What to eat? A small cabinet sat by the stove. I opened it and found enough food to work with. If I’m going to end up staying over here often, he needs a better supply of groceries. I made a mental note to go shopping with him.

Niall’s POV:

My eyes shot open after an amazing dream. I rubbed my eyes while I recalled most of what I could. I went to pull Danielle closer to me but found that she was missing. An aroma slid through the crack of my open door. I threw the blankets off of me and went for a wee. After that, I put a clean pair of sweats on and shuffled a button-down cardigan onto my shoulders. I applied less effort putting that on than having to roll my shoulders and slip a shirt up over my head. I had felt so lazy.

I shuffled my bare feet out to Danielle and saw a hot cup of tea and a bowl of cereal waiting for me at the table. I slid behind her as she flipped pancakes. I caught her off guard. She jumped at my touch but relaxed her shoulders once she knew it was me. I kissed her on the cheek and kept my arms around her waist. She had been humming a familiar tune before I had snuck up behind her. She had a lovely voice from what I had heard. I wondered if she thought the same thing. “Good morning.” I mumbled into her neck; kissing it.

“Hands to yourself, Horan.” She giggled and shifted her shoulder up to the spot I had kissed. It must have tickled her light skin. “More like good afternoon. It’s almost noon. We slept most of our day away.” She dished out the finished pancakes onto a white plate. She walked them over to the table and I followed her with my hands still wrapped around her. “You know, it’s hard to move around like this.” Her hands touched mine. I could tell she liked my touch and my tease. She just didn’t like to admit it. “Now sit down and eat your breakfast.”

“I thought it was noon.” I finally let go of her and sat down at the table.”Wouldn’t that make this lunch?” She rolled her eyes at me and sat down with a cup of tea while she watched me eat. I offered her some of my plate but she shook her head.

“I ate while I started making yours. I couldn’t wait any longer.” She quickly got up and shut the burner off on the stove that she had forgotten about. “I promise I won’t burn your apartment down.”

“Ya mean myflat.” I shoved more and more pancakes into my mouth. I liked to tease her American terms. She rolled her eyes again and shook her head. “This is good.” I said pointing down at the pancakes. I was pleased.

“I used to cook breakfast for my little sister every morning before school. I had to be good at it.” She said. “Oh, and your phone has been going off all morning.” She nodded to my jeans that were in the hallway leading to my bedroom.

“Where did ya sleep last night?” I poured myself a bowl of cereal.

“On the couch ‘til you wanted me to lay with you.” She nodded to that couch I hated. I really needed to redecorate.

“How did I get undressed?” I poured milk into my bowl and raised an eyebrow at her.

“I undressed you. Get off your throne.” She rolled her eyes at me again.

“Did ya like what ya saw?” I winked at her and felt cold milk run down my chin.

“Oh, yes. It was very nice. I also liked the part where you were so drunk that you fell and hurt your arm and I had to doctor it.” She nodded to my wounded arm.

“I was wonderin’ about that!” I laughed. Moments passed and I took a couple more bites of my crunchy cereal then added, “Was it just a vivid dream or did we get really close to – “

“ – It wasn’t a dream.” She shook her head.

“At least I remember something good from last night.” I thought back to my fingers trailing her skin. I got up and set my dishes in the sink. I strolled back to her and whispered into her ear, “Round two?”

“In your dreams, Niall.” She rose to her feet and went to the sink. I knew I would get her eventually. If nothing else, it was worth a try.

I walked to my dirty jeans and grabbed my phone out of the front pocket. It was Zayn. “Hey, Danielle?” I hollered over running water. “Can I give Zayn Cat’s number?”

A smile spread across her face. “Sure.”

Danielle’s POV:

I giggled to myself as I ran the dishes under the faucet. I glanced over at Niall who was staring at his phone. His open cardigan almost made me weak at the knees. It would have been so easy to say yes to him and give him whatever he wanted; but I wanted him to chase me. I wanted to see if he would wait. I wouldn’t make him wait forever but I wanted him to be patient. I thought back to our breathy kisses from the night before. He was good even when he was drunk.

He set his phone down on the table and sauntered over to help me with the dishes. “What a gentleman.” I said handing him a plate. He winked in response. It was nice. I could wake up and do that all over again a thousand mornings after. Even though I didn’t want to admit it, it was nice feeling needed. It was nice feeling like someone really wanted me.