I Can Make Your Heart Slow

I Can Make Your Heart Slow (Chapter 1)

A quick disclaimer before I start: I do not claim to know/own One Direction, however the storylines are my own. Also I do not claim that my perception of the One Direction boys is accurate and any portrayal of them is only for the purpose of the story. Everything in this story is completely fictional; possibly based on interviews etc. :)

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I took one last look at myself in the mirror before I left, smoothing the creases out of my dress and making sure my blonde hair was in the right place. I'm not sure why I bothered doing this as I was about to brave the 10 minute walk to my friend's house in high heels and the windy weather so that we could start pre-drinking together. Both parents had refused to give me a lift at such short notice, even though I'd asked them before I'd even started to get ready and even after I huffed and puffed and threatened a tantrum.

I sighed in defeat and grabbed my bag from the side table, noticing I was 5 minutes behind schedule already and I hadn't factored in exactly how high my heels were when estimating my walking time. I sent a quick text to alert my friend that I was on my way and stumbled down the stony path from my house to the main road. I hadn't even started drinking yet and I was finding it difficult to walk, I thought, clutching onto my bag tightly. This was going to be a long night.

I liked to tell people I lived on a farm to make it sound more interesting, although really I just lived in a little bungalow surrounded by fields and kept some chickens and a horse. I don't even know how many chickens we had, I barely even bothered to venture out into our back garden. I had an older brother who had moved out to live with his fiance a couple of years ago, he was 25 - 7 years my senior - which left me living with just my parents. We didn't really live near anything at all and this meant we didn't really have 'neighbours'. I knew who the houses were supposed to belong to and had seen them (rarely) but the amount of land in between rendered it pointless trying to become 'friendly' with them.

On this particular night I happened to need to walk past one of my neighbours properties in order to reach my destination, but it was one that rarely had occupiers as far as I was aware which is why it caught my eye when I noticed lights on in the distance. I could hear the faint pumping of music but I could have sworn the owner of the bungalow was a middle aged man that would more than likely not be listening to this sort of music. However, I knew that the house had been empty for a little while, but he could have come back, and who am I to tell the guy what kind of music he could listen to? A minute later and I heard a huge crash coming from the direction of the house, which is something I couldn't ignore.

Nervously, and in hindsight, rather foolishly, I started to make my way down the muddy path towards the small building. My heels kept sinking in the mud so it was a slow journey but as I got closer the music got louder and I started to be able to hear voices. They didn't sound anything like the man I knew to own the house but for some reason this didn't phase me because apparently I had my investigator head on and was determined to discover who these intruders were.

As I reached the house and snuck closer to the back garden I suddenly changed my mind about what I was doing and quickly decided to make a break for it in the hope that I wouldn't be seen and I could forget about it until the police came round to tell us all there had been a break-in or something. Things didn't quite go according to plan as I swung myself round and attempted to hobble back up the path, not looking where I was going and crashing straight into somebody. They had been holding drinks which they inevitably dropped due to my clumsiness and I would've fallen to the ground had it not been for the fact the person had dropped their drinks but grabbed onto me.

What an odd burglar, I thought to myself hazily as I recollected my senses. I looked up to find a rather attractive boy of about my age with big brown curly hair and blue eyes looking back at me in confusion. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he said "Who are you?"

I had to think about that one. "My-my name's A-Amy and I live n-next door?" I stuttered. My brave exterior had deteriorated quicker than I'd hoped and I was fast regretting my decision to investigate. The boys grip on me was quite strong and it had started to hurt, but he seemed to notice the grimace that passed across my face and quickly let go. "I'm sorry," I continued, rubbing my arm where he had been holding me, "I just heard noises and nobody's lived here in a while, so..."

The guy looked at me, his brow furrowed slightly. "So you decided to come and have a look?" His frown turned into a smile, which I wasn't sure whether or not to be happy about. I mean, the guy could still be an intruder, right?

We were interrupted by somebody else rounding the corner from the back garden, a slightly shorter boy with a shock of blonde hair. Also fairly good looking, I noted, wondering what sort of sexy criminals would bother breaking into a small bungalow in the middle of nowhere. I felt rather awkward as this guy stared at me for a second or two before asking"Who's this?" His accent was unfamiliar to me. Irish, maybe?

I wasn't a fan of being spoken about as though I wasn't there so I put my hands on my hips and put on my best confident front. "My name's Amy, and actually I'd quite like to know who you are."

Both boys laughed which caught me off guard. I frowned at them both but they continued to chuckle away, but the curly haired one composed himself first. "Sorry, sorry!" He said with a grin, noting my scowl. "It's ok, I live here. Well, it's my Stepdad's place. We're just staying here, you don't need to worry."

Just then another 3 boys bundled round the corner, apparently to see what was taking the others so long because one of them looked extremely disappointed when he saw the smashed glass on the floor. I glanced at them quickly but froze when my gaze fell on one of the newcomers. He was literally the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I hadn't paid any of the other boys much attention other to note that they were fairly attractive; this guy was on another level and I couldn't think of any words to describe him. He was tall with dark, olive skin and had soft looking brown/black hair. I couldn't stop staring at him. His eyes were captivating, a mix of brown and hazel, and they were looking back at me. I snapped myself out of it and noticed that he was just giving me a perplexed look, and I realised he was probably wondering why I was gawking at him.

My thoughts were interrupted by one of them walking up to me and holding out his hand. "Hi, the name's Louis!" He said brightly, and I shook his hand nervously, an uncertain smile on my face.

"Amy." I replied, shaking his hand a little dubiously. "I live next door."

"I didn't even know there was a next door!" He said happily. This guy was bouncy. I stole a glance at the gorgeous one; he wasn't even looking at me. He'd lit up a cigarette and was leant against the wall of the bungalow, looking bored. I sighed and decided it was time to go. 

"Ok, well, I'm late, so..." I stood awkwardly, looking round at the 5 boys that had surrounded me. I only knew one of their names. "Erm. I'll be seeing you, I guess." I took one last heart-wrenching look at the beautiful human being taking a drag of his cigarette and shuffled around the curly haired boy and the broken glass. I felt a bit guilty. "Um, did you want anything for the glasses? It was my fault."

He flashed me a smile. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. We've got so many my parents won't notice." He had a really warm smile and it made me feel a lot better, but I still felt really awkward and that the tables had turned and I was the intruder. I smiled back at him and nodded in appreciation. "Well, maybe I'll pop some new glasses round when I get some spare time." I smiled slyly. I wondered if this was too forward but there was no way I was just going to walk away and let this group of attractive boys slip through my fingers. Mr Smoking-and-not-interested raised his head to look at me at this, and my stomach flipped. 

"Well, if you feel that bad!" The curly haired guy replied cheerfully, averting my attention. "My name's Harry, by the way."