She's Not Afraid

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: GROW UP

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: GROW UP

*CHER'S POV*

Right after the movie, the three of us went straight home for I was getting sleepy already.

I can't help but be bothered of the fact that I keep on receiving these mysterious text messages from an unknown number and whether it was Louis or Niall who said that he wasn't kidding when he said that he loves me...

Yeah, right. I should probably just let it go.

"Damn, shower! Why won't you turn on?!" I easily lost my temper because I was pretty tired and who wouldn't be aggravated when you couldn't take a nice warm bath by the end of the day?

I guess I should try if the shower in the bathroom outside the hallway is working just fine.

I abruptly grabbed my towel then headed out from my room.

When I entered the bathroom and opened the shower curtains, my eyes almost bulged right out from their sockets as I saw a boy's naked body right before me.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!" Niall screamed.

"AHHHHH!" I screamed as well.

I forgot that I had my earphones on which is why I didn't hear the sound of the running water from the other side of the shower curtain.

I immediately closed it back for I had just seen something that I wasn't supposed to see.

I am now officially scarred for life...

"It's your fault for not locking the bathroom door." I blamed him.

"I feel so... exposed. Can't you just forget what you saw?" He pleaded.

"As much as I would wish for that to happen, I had already seen EVERYTHING." I couldn't shake off the image of his nudity no matter how hard I tried to erase the unpleasant memory from my brain.

*THE NEXT DAY*

"Go out on a date with me!" Niall exclaimed at the very minute I walked out from my bedroom.

"Uh... why?" I had to ask.

"I need to redeem myself by replacing an unpleasant memory with a memory that is beyond spectacular which will make you forget about my... uh, you know." He coughed the last part out rather awkwardly.

"I like the sound of that." I surprisingly agreed for his sake.

I guess you could say that I can sympathize with the guy.

"But we need to be careful, I want it to be just the two of us." He was talking about the other members of his group, especially Louis, I bet.

"Fine by me. So, where to?" I asked.

"You'll know when we get there."

I hate surprises...

"A paintball match, really?" I crossed my arms when we arrived at the venue.

We had to be extremely careful and cautious when we sneaked out of the house just so we could have our so called first official 'date' according to Niall.

"Trust me, this is going to be so much fun than you could ever imagine." Niall beamed.

"Bring it on, blondie." I challenged him once I finished putting my protective vest on.

"I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl." He said cockily.

"Oh, you don't have to." I smirked.

I carefully hid behind a wall and checked every once in awhile for a blonde Irish boy in sight.

Once the coast was clear, I hastily moved from one wall to the other... it's like a maze in here really.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a paintball came flying right beside my face.

Oh my God, that was too close... where did that just come from?!

I need a plan in order to distract him and quick.

So I lied down on the cold floor, pretending that I just got shot and thus went down in a single blow.

"Okay, Niall, you got me! And you got me pretty bad..." I tested out my acting skills as I wore a 'hurt' expression.

He then came rushing to my side in an instant, completely falling for my trap.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?!" He kneeled down and replaced my head on his lap like I was a dying person or something.

This is too dramatic for me to handle so I just gripped my paintball gun real hard then aimed it right at him but then he already fired his on my chest by the time I was about to fire mine and it was all too late!

"Hey, that stings!" I grabbed him by the shirt aggressively.

"Now I got you for real." He leaned in close to my face with a grin plastered on his.

*AT NANDOS*

"I can't believe you shot me right away despite my acting..." I ranted.

"Cher, I was acting too. It was just a game, nothing personal." He said while we waited for our food to arrive.

"Man, I'm hungry." He added.

My stomach was also starting to grumble pretty loud by now.

"I want a rematch!" The dying act was such a failure.

"How about we settle this maturely right after we eat?" He suggested.

"Here's your food." The waitress handed out our orders which was like good for five people.

Then we feasted on it like we haven't eaten for days which got us pretty busy while grabbing some food here and there.

*NIALL'S POV*

"You got a bit in there, here, let me..." Cher leaned in forward to wipe the side of my lip with her thumb which was played in slow motion in my perspective.

"Um... thanks." I gushed.

We went home right away after filling our stomachs since it was starting to get dark outside.

"Now we settle things like adults." I grabbed the game controller in front of me.

"Sure, whatever you say..." She chuckled.

We were now seated in front of our flat-screen TV in the living room, ready to play 'Tekken'.

She chose Nina Williams while I chose Steve.

"No way!" She exclaimed when I beated her for the first round.

"You're not going to win this time around, love." She says when the second round began.

Did she just say the word 'love' to me?

Why does it sound so good and extra special coming from her mouth?!

"Ha! I win!" I heard her shriek.

Got distracted there for a bit...

I guess we ain't ever gonna grow up.

It's one of the things that I love about Cher, we're practically way too comfortable with each other which is why it's okay with me if we stay as friends as long as I have her by my side...

I'll never forget this day in my life.