Darling Harbor (Niall Horan)

Chapter 16: The Secret Place

 Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2013

LIAM’s POV

“He’s not here!” Zayn shouts as he steps out of the RV.

“Sssshhh!” Louis chides. “Bree’s still sleeping, you idiot!”

Louis and I wake up without Niall in our tent and we’re looking all over the place to find him. Where could he possibly be? That stray boy. Now, I am positive that he prefers to be in 5SOS instead of us, seriously.

“Sorry.” Zayn smiles shamefully and jogs towards us.

Paul begins to stroke his head, his hand on his hip, still worried-sick as he looks around the place in a steady position, becoming hopeless now. His eyes are more becoming red as the stress of ‘the missing Niall’ gets in his head. He’s doomed if we go back to London without him found, we all are.

For some reason, I don’t feel the worry creep in my veins. Usually, in times like this, I am always the one who’s worried over the boys. I always feel responsible for them. But this time, I don’t know why I feel relaxed over this.

“I looked everywhere. No sign of Niall.” Harry appears from the woods with a stick in his hand.

“We’ve been looking for almost an hour, where is he?” Zayn complains, worried as well.

“What if we wake Bree and tell her Niall is gone?” I suggest, moving towards the tent occupied by the only girl in the group.

But then I am stopped by a sudden movement, unzipping the tent.

“NIALL?!!!” We yell in unison, utterly surprised that he’s in Bree’s tent all the while.

“What the f*ck are you doing in Bree’s tent?!” Louis asks apprehensively while I notice Harry shoot daggers at him. Zayn and Paul gape in disbelief, and I am more sort of relieved.

He rubs his eyes almost immediately. “Uhm… uh…” He stutters.

“Where is she?!” Harry questions; more pissed than Louis.

Niall can’t find the words to answer the two previous questions from the two furious men; one whose close friends with her and one whose vying for her attention, respectively.

“Uhm hello?... What’s happening here?”

We trail the sound to our right side. There we behold Bree standing between two tall trees, clueless of the situation. It gives me the impression that she was gone even before the dawn breaks, as we started looking for Niall at exactly seven in the morning.

“Uhm… we… we thought Niall was missing.” Suddenly, the tension in Harry’s voice suppresses when he sees her far from Niall.

“Oh… sorry.” She starts to walk towards us. “I let him sleep in my tent when I woke up earlier to get down to the lake. He was still sleepy so I figured I should let him sleep in my tent. I didn’t know it would cause any trouble.” She explains calmly.

“It’s okay.” Harry walks forward to approach Bree in a hug. “I was so worried.” He sighs.

I gaze to my left to find Niall already standing beside me, relieved now. I smirk at him. I guess we’re both sharing the same thoughts. Why is Harry hugging her when we thought Niall was the one missing in the first place?

I catch Bree shrug and smile while she’s captured in Harry’s arms. I trail her sight and see Niall snickering to himself; they are communicating with each other without words being said. Am I missing something here?