Call Me Ella (ft. Niall Horan)

Chapter 27 - Falling

Chapter 27 - Falling

“Hey,” Niall greets me as soon as I walk into the stable. “You took longer— what happened?” He asks next, noticing I’m not smiling and in fact I’m frowning.

“Rhonda happened,” I reply still frowning as I keep walking towards him.

I would normally go to Ares and let him calm me down, but this time I walk right up to Niall who’s waiting for me with his arms wide open, and as soon I step in front of him his arms wrap around my body, pulling me towards him tightly, his lips on my forehead with a light kiss.

I close my eyes and let him comfort me and surprisingly, it’s almost as good as when I brush Ares’ hair. The horse still wins, but Niall does it quite nice, too.

I breathe in deeply, trying to push the picture of Rhonda and her instructions to help the stepsnakesaway. I don’t even want to see them, I don’t want them to ruin things for me. This has been a pretty decent summer so far and I don’t want them over me for what I have left. I’m so close. So close.

“Wanna tell me what happened? Exactly happened,” he offers and I sigh deeply again, hugging him a bit tighter.

“I’ve neglected my duties as stepsister, according to her,” I tell and he pulls back to look at me, a frown on his own. “You know about my stepsisters, Kimberley and Jennifer. Well, the thing is that I’m supposed to be like their personal maid and do what they want. This summer they asked me to spy on, well, you guys. You and Harry, to be precise, because they are madly in love with you both,” I mock and he raises one eyebrow. I just shake my head. “And I’ve avoided them lately and Rhonda doesn’t want that. She wants me to help them to get you and Harry for them, especially now that you are single.”

“But I’m not,” he says, almost alarmed and I chuckle lightly.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t know that,” I clarify and his smile comes back as he lowers his head, pressing his forehead against mine. “This means those two stepsnakes have been bitching about me and now they’ll come nagging me and I really don’t wanna deal with them.”

Niall brushes his nose against mine softly, almost like a game and I can’t help the smile from coming to my lips as he does that. “Maybe you should just forget about this and leave. You already are accepted and the uni fund is legally yours. You can pay for your whole mayor,” he says and I sigh because I know that.

During this time we’ve got to meet I’ve told him about my dreams and plans, how hard I fought to be accepted in my dream university and how happy Charlie and I were when we actually got accepted to Oxford. I’ve told him my whole story, as well, how I ended up here and the legal part, but he still has problems understanding why, despite being eighteen already, I keep working here.

“It’s more complicated than that,” I say still brushing my nose against his. “If I quit now it’d be like accepting she won, like she defeated me. If I leave when the contract expires, it’d mean I did it, that I managed it and I’m better than her. She didn’t make me quit. And it would also mean that all what I went through already was worth it because I finished it.”

“So it’s a matter of pride,” Niall ventures.

“No… I mean it’s uh…” He looks at me defiantly and I sigh. “Okay, fine, yes it is a matter of pride. I like winning.”

He chuckles and instead of saying something he just closes the distance between us and kisses me. I have to admit it, not all our kisses are magical like the one at the ball, but they are all really good kisses and I enjoy them very, very much.