“But I don’t wanna,” I whined, pulling back from him and pouting.
“Emma,” he said firmly, glaring at me. “You either hold my hand or we go home, your choice.” There was no fun, smirking Niall in front of me; it was almost like he was legitimately scared for my safety in the shopping center. I stared at him for a few minutes, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. His mouth was set in a straight line and he continued to glare at me, his gaze hard and his hand outstretched.
Hesitantly, I took his hand and watched his features relax as he sighed and apologized for sounding so harsh, “I just can’t let anything happen to you. It’s my job.”
“You do realize that I literally am not a child, right Niall?” I asked gently.
“Says who? The girl who just stood there whining and having a fit or her mother who hired a nanny for her?” Niall scoffed. I sent him a pointed look to which he raised his eyebrows, smirking, before laughing as I rolled my eyes and looked away silently. “That’s my girl,” he grinned, ruffling my hair and squeezing my hand.
I ignored him, looking around the shopping center to make sure I didn’t recognize anyone. Sure they’d think Niall was hot and he was my boyfriend since I was holding his hand until they came up to talk and he introduced himself as the nanny. Niall didn’t notice my discreet looking since he was too focused on finding out where the hat store was. We were standing in front of the You Are Here sign for about five minutes before I scowled and said, “Maybe if I weren’t such a baby I would just tell you where it is.”
Niall squinted down at me, “Maybe if you don’t want to sit in the back in the booster seat, you will just tell me where it is.” I let out a breath and said in a resigned voice, “Second level, this way-“ and started walking in the opposite direction from where he was facing. He followed me, gripping my hand tighter with every step and scowling, “You could’ve told me like five minutes ago.”
“I was entertained watching you struggle,” I shrugged, giggling at his expression.
“You are so gonna get it tonight,” he warned, shaking his head. “We’re not watching a Christmas movie anymore, we’re going to watch a horror and you’ll be getting no cuddles from me!”
I was about to retort when a couple a few feet to the side of us caught my eye. It wasn’t their snogging or the girl’s obnoxiously bright clothing choice that caught my attention, more the fact it was my recently ex boyfriend snogging her. It had not been a mutual break up and it had not been a kind one either. Niall kept rattling on about how mean he was going to try and be tonight while I lowered my head and tried to tug him along faster but it wasn’t long till I heard-“Haha, hey, Emma?”
He had somehow managed to disconnect his lips from the girls and was looking over at me. Niall finally looked down, noticing the shade of red my face was and looked up right as Jason had neared us, the girl clinging to my hand. Jason extended his hand and lightly punched my shoulder, the girl giggling while he smirked, “I see we both found replacements for each other. Mine’s a great kisser, yours? Well… nothing can beat my kisses huh? Bet you miss them don’t you, this one has the looks so he’s probably going to leave you like I did.”
They were childish insults, almost like something out of a badly written teenage chick flick but I couldn’t help but tense up. Niall was looking from me to Jason, expressions ranging from confused to outraged as I waited for him to introduce himself as my nanny and embarrass me further. What I wasn’t expecting was his sudden connection of his lips to my lips. It was rough and quick but it wasn’t a peck and I was shocked. His lips were chapped but the stick of gum in his mouth made the kiss fresh.
His hands were cupping my face, moving down to have one around the back of my neck and the other in my hair but before I could even process what was happening he was pulling back, wiping my lip-gloss of his mouth with the side of his thumb and growling, “Can you beat that?” Jason was looking at him, slightly alarmed with the roughness that had taken over as Niall possessively put his hand around my waist and pulled me against him, “Stay away from my girl.”
I looked up at him; his normally calm eyes were suddenly a shade deeper and his jaw was set. He glared at Jason, his eyebrows quirking up and daring him to respond again.
Jason shrugged, trying to remain cool but took a step back, “You can have her, I like to give my old things to charity.” Niall growled and stepped forward menacingly as Jason stumbled back again and I put my hand on the back of his neck, “Leave it Niall, I don’t wanna spend the night in a cell.” I didn’t know how I was acting so cool, let alone talking to people like nothing had happened. Niall had just kissed me and then acted like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Jason took one last look at us, his eyes lingering on Niall’s arm around my waist, before grabbing the girls hand and turning on his heels without saying a goodbye. As soon as they were out of sight, Niall dropped his arm from around my waist and grabbed my hand again, “Don’t ask. I hated that guy and I wanted to show him up. You should never let him talk to you like that again and if I find out you’re even talking to him in general, you’ll be in loads of trouble. No boys.” And just like that we were back to Nanny Niall.
