Back to You: A Niall Horan Fan Fiction

Chapter 15: Closing Time

Chapter 15: Closing Time

          Sunlight streamed through the windows as Soleil gradually came to consciousness. She momentarily forgot where she was, but as her eyelids fluttered open, she caught sight of the body next to her and the memories came back. Niall was laying on his back with one of his arms curved around Soleil, who was laying half on him, her arm around his waist and her cheek pressed onto his chest with one leg casually thrown over both of his. She could feel the defined muscles in the arm around her, and she realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. How she hadn’t realized that last night she didn’t know because it was a sight to see. His chest was toned but not too hard and muscled, the perfect place to rest her head.

            Niall looked so peaceful as he slept, his mouth slightly open as he breathed heavily. Soleil waited for another few minutes, trailing her hand lightly up and down his stomach before she gently kissed his chest and slipped out of his grasp. As much as she wanted to see his face when he first woke up, she knew it would be better if she just left. She didn’t want there to be any awkwardness when he got up. Instead, she walked to her room and pulled on some running shorts and a t-shirt, slipping on her sneakers before heading out the door. She needed to clear her head 

            Niall imagined waking up to Soleil curled up next to him. He imagined her little freckled nose and her soft pink lips. He imagined the moment she would wake up and open those gorgeous eyes before giving him a breathtaking smile.

             Unfortunately for Niall, his imagination was very very far from reality. He woke up to an empty bed and there was a cool spot on the other side of the bed where her warm body should have been. Trying not to panic, Niall got up and got dressed. Maybe she got hot so she had moved back to her bed. Maybe she had just woken up early this morning and was waiting in the kitchen eating breakfast. He pushed away the prickling on his scalp and the fear that she had decided to leave him for good after last night. Still, the alarm bells didn’t start going off until he circled his house twice with no sign of her. His parents hadn’t seen her; she wasn’t in the kitchen, the family room, or her bedroom. Thankfully, all her things were still in her room and Niall couldn’t believe she would just leave them.

 Frustrating him further was the fact that his parents didn’t think anything was strange.

 “She’s allowed to leave any time she wants. Maybe she walked into town,” they pointed out.

 But their attempts to pacify him were futile.

 “Without this?” He asked, holding up a black rectangle device. “Why wouldn’t she take her phone?”

They shrugged in response and his mother offered him a sympathetic smile. He scowled and moved to the couch to wait.

            About thirty minutes later the side door was flung open and in waltzed a very sweaty and out of breath Soleil. Niall jumped up and rushed over to her, barely restraining himself from wrapping her up in his arms and never letting her go.

 “Where were you? Are you alright?” He tried to ask casually but she looked at him strangely, letting him know he sounded just as paranoid as he felt.

 “I went for a run,” she shrugged. “What’s wrong with you, you look like your dog died.”

 “I don’t have a dog,” he deadpanned.

 She raised an eyebrow at him and waited.

 “You didn’t take your phone with you,” he responded accusingly.

 Soleil groaned. “Not you too! Danny always jumps down my back for that but I don’t need it. Nothing happened, I’m fine.”

 “But you might not have been! You need to be more careful, anything could’ve happened to you and I wouldn’t have known.”