I'm Home with You: A Niall Horan Fanfiction

Chapter 2: Morning, Neighbor!

My phone’s obnoxious alarm is the first thing I hear in the morning. I look at the clock; 9:00 AM.

I’m exhausted due to jet lag but I refuse to let it mess up my sleep schedule. I trudge out of bed and decide to shower and get ready.

The rest of yesterday had been even better than I’d hoped. Aunt Jayne and I managed to finish half of the lasagna between the two of us. We spent the rest of the night watching movies, looking through photographs, and finding the most cliché tourist attractions to visit sporadically throughout the duration of my stay. Her anecdotes had me laughing until my stomach was sore. It was great being with my aunt again. I forgot how much fun she could be.

Once I’m out of the shower I grab my toothbrush, find Aunt Jayne’s toothpaste, and proceed to brush my teeth.

I sing my ABC’s in my head to time myself (I know I know, LAME) and give myself a small childish sense of amusement by smiling widely at my reflection with my toothpaste-filled mouth before giggling and spitting into the sink.

I walk downstairs to the smell of pancakes wafting from the kitchen. Aunt Jayne, still in pajamas with a bathrobe messily hanging off of one of her shoulders and her dark hair sitting in a disheveled bun on top of her head, smiles at me from the stove.

“Morning, Aunt Jayne.” I croak, still a bit groggy.

“Good morning, honey!” She chirps.

It sounds odd, hearing somebody other than my mother call me “honey”, but it’s a comforting-type of odd. A familiar-type of odd. I like it.

“You didn’t have to make me pancakes.” I say.

Aunt Jayne laughs “It was my pleasure. But don’t expect them every morning while you’re here. I’m only doing this because it’s your first morning here and I want you to be comfortable.”

“I’m serious, I don’t want to seem high-maintenance or anything.” I smile.

Aunt Jayne looks up from the pancakes “Fine, then let’s make a deal.” She says “I’ll make the pancakes and you get the mail.”

“It’s a deal, sweet cheeks.” I laugh and slip on the toms I arrived in yesterday before heading out the door.

It’s a bit cold outside and I tug on my sleeves while I head up Aunt Jayne’s short driveway.

I grab the mail and by habit stop and look at every letter to see if my name is on one of them.

“Morning, neighbor!” I hear and look up to see Niall waving at me from his front steps in nothing but jeans and a t-shirt. I wave back and walk over to him.

“Niall Horan, are you crazy?!” I playfully scold him “It is freezing out here!”

Niall shrugs “I don’t mind, I’m kinda used to it. I do this every morning when I come back home.” He sighs “Man I’ve missed this place.”

I’ve missed you. I think to myself and quickly wave the thought away.

Niall turns to face me “So, Meilie I was thinkin that today we could get that cat car of yours fixed up.” He smiles.

I giggle and poke his stomach “First of all, it’s only ‘cat’ because you don’t know how to watch where you’re going, Mr. Range Rover!”

Niall laughs and holds his stomach “C’mon I promised I’d pay for it and I’m a man of his word.”

“Okay, fine.” I accept “But I don’t know why you’d want to hang out at a mechanic’s shop of all places with me of all people."

“What the hell are you talking about, Amelia. Don’t pretend you don’t know how great you are.” He says.

My face flushes and I look down at my feet to avoid him seeing. “That’s not true.”

Niall nods “You’re right, Meilie, I’m a fibber. You’re a huge bore. Snooze fest 24/7.” He says with a completely straight face at first but bursting into laugher again when I look at him with my mouth hanging open.

“I have to go.” I say finally “I promised my Aunt I’d get the mail and I don’t want her to think I’ve gone missing. Come over in half an hour. We’ll leave together.”

“Sounds good. See you in a few.” Niall says.

I walk down the sidewalk back to Aunt Jayne’s and fight the strong urge I have to steal one last glance at him.

NIALL’S P.O.V.

I watch Amelia as she walks back down the street and into her Aunt’s house.

Christ...

I knew she’d be pretty, she’s always been pretty, but this is insane. She’s so beautiful that it’s almost unreal.

A cold breeze passes by, making me shiver and stopping my gawking at Amelia. I scratch the back of my neck and walk back into my house.

My dad is sitting on the couch with his morning coffee and reruns playing on TV. I join him.

“What were you doing out there so long, boyo?” He questions, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Just talking to an old friend.” I say, trying to play it off cool but I guess the dumb old smile on my face says otherwise.

“Niall you haven’t even been here a week and you’re already flirtin up all the girls in town. Huh?” He laughs and nudges me.

“Geez, Dad.” Is the only comeback I can think of at the moment.

“What’s the name of this ‘old friend’?” He says putting air quotes around “old friend”.

I turn to him and can’t help but chuckle at his antics “Do you remember Amelia Giles?”

Dad stops for a moment and looks ahead.

“Amelia Giles.” He says snapping his fingers “I do remember her. That American girl, right? She’d come around in the summer. What a sweetheart she was. If I do recall, you sure were over the moon for her, Ni, even as a youngster. Longest-lasting crush I think you've ever had. No wonder you were out there talking to her so long.”

“Dad.” I groan.

“Niall.” My Dad mocks “Just to let you know, you’ve been smirking like a tool since you got back in the door.”

I feel my cheeks get hot and turn my attention to the TV to try to calm the smile that seems to be set on my face but it doesn’t work. Every time I get focused on the show we’re watching, Meilie’s face pops into my head and I feel the ends of my lips curve up again.

My phone rings loudly, giving me a small scare.

I clumsily take it out of my pocket and walk into the kitchen.

“Hello?” I answer without looking at the Caller ID.

“Hi, Niall. It’s me, Barbara.” The voice on the other end says.

Well, that did it. There goes my smile.

I hope you guys liked Chapter 2! What do you think is going to happen with Barabara? Will she get in the way of Amelia and Niall? Comment below!

 xoxoEgomaniacalOctopus