hazy || niall horan

4. bruises and raindrops

Niall's father was not happy when Niall arrived home from school and of course he knew that. He'd walked out on a business meeting for fucks sake.

He never wanted the business, not after he'd seen what it had done to his brother. The brother he hadn't talked to in years. He'd seen how it affected his parent's relationship until one day his mum went to the shops and never came back. That's the reason he didn't want this life for himself. Because everyone in the business had some fucked up way of coping with the results of it.

Niall tried to be quiet as he came into the house but of course his father was in the den. Niall could practically feel him fuming.

"Son, come here a second." Niall's father's voice was collected. That was never a good sign.

Niall walked into the den and stood at the entrance. He didn't dare say anything until his father said something first.

But his father was never good with words and in one swift motion Niall's dad came towards him and landed one single punch to the side of his face. Niall hated these the worst simply because there was no way to hide them. He was okay with a punch to the gut or on his arm but never on his face, people questioned those ones.

Niall said nothing but instead wiped the blood from under his eye where his father's ring had clipped him. His father moved across the room back into his seat and began reading the newspaper that he had placed down earlier.

Niall walked up to his room without a word and changed from the suit he had been wearing to a pair of joggers and a white t-shirt. He placed his shoes on and a rain coat and grabbed his book bag before heading to the only place he could wait out not only the slight drizzle outside, but the storm that was brewing in his home.

He arrived at the library shortly after, feeling defeated and a little cold. He made a beeline for the back of the library, to the cubicle that had become his home away from home.

For a second he fumed in his seat scowling at the divider wall that separated his small space from the one in front of him. And then he thought about the girl he'd seen the last time he was here. It was a little later than usual today so maybe she wouldn't be there.

Niall waited a second to see if he could hear her talking to herself and when he didn't, he felt it safe to sneak a peek.

There she was again, but this time she wasn't reading. She had a book and it was propped open in front of her but her eyes were closed and her pen was slowly but surely slipping from her tiny little hands.

She looked like Niall felt, tired. Not just the tired that accompanies a lack of sleep but the kind of tired that could only come from a hard life. He sat there for a second watching her as she slept. Her eyelids were fluttering back and forth and her brow was furrowed. Perhaps she was having a vivid dream, he thought. 

Her pen fell from her hand almost in slow motion and made a tiny plop on the floor. Though almost silent, the small sound was enough to wake the girl from her sleep. She looked around frantically trying to gauge her surroundings and finally her eyes locked on Niall.

He sat there amused by the entire scene.

"What time is it?" She asked shoving her books into her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. She patted down the hair on the side of her face from where it had stuck -quite cutely if Niall might add- to the side of her face.

"Quarter past 5," was his reply.

Her eyes were as frantic as they were moments ago as she stormed out of the cubicle muttering something about being late. Niall felt compelled to follow for some reason and so he walked with her, a few steps behind. He kept quiet as she talked to herself until both of them were outside back in the rain that Niall was trying to hide from.

The rain was heavy now and he waited under the roof of the library as he saw her walk past the row of cars and straight out of the car park. Surely she wasn't going to walk home in the rain.

He didn't know her name so he couldn't call out to her but he did have his car and he ran towards it in record time. The rain had barely drenched him but he had no doubt that she was soaked.

He sped up a little to come to the side  of her and rolled down his window.

"I can give you a ride to where you need to go." His voice was hopeful.

"I'm alright," the girl said as she trudged along. For a second, Niall thought she considered it. He could hear it in her reply. But just the same she continued to walk.

Niall sped up a little and the girl thought he had finally left for good until he was parking his car on the side of the road and walking towards her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, wary of the stranger next to her.

"I really don't want to go home yet and I would hate for you to be the only one who's wet at the moment." Niall seemed determined. His eyes blinked hard against the rain and his legs worked harder to keep up with the abnormally long stride of the girl next to him.

Aoife glanced at Niall and a small smile graced her lips. She sighed seeing as she really didn't want to be wet and she'd hate for the golden boy to catch a cold on her behalf.

"Unlock your car, I'll let you give me a ride." Aoife hiked her rucksack a little further on her shoulder and climbed into the warmth of Niall's car.

He started it up and she gave him directions to the school her foster sister was sure to be standing outside of.

Her thoughts went to the hell she'd be given once her foster mother found out she had been late in picking up her sister, it was never a good thing to piss off her foster mum, but at the moment she couldn't care. She was warm and for once not as tired as she felt. She had been given a little grace in the entirety of the hour that she'd been with Niall and she was going to cherish it for as long as she could.

They pulled up to the school and Aoife started to get out.

"Wait, I'll take you home, it's still raining pretty hard out there." Niall grabbed at her forearm gently. She started into his eyes searching for reason behind his kindness. She saw a scrap that was starting to scab on the left side of his face and the formation of a bruise. No reasoning, no hidden meaning behind his offer. It unsettled her.

Madeline, her foster sister came running towards the car and all but threw herself in the back. She said nothing but shot Aoife a look that could dry her from it's heat.

Aoife pointed down the street, signaling Niall to start again. She wasn't sure what was going to happen when he saw where she lived. Perhaps he wouldn't assume she was part of the house, perhaps she was a babysitter.

Nevertheles, she held her breath. The golden boy had seen her, and hell if she could crawl back into the shadows after today.

Hello you guys! Please let me know if this story even interests you. I'm just writing because I love Niall and I'm bored and college is about to start in a week.

Send me your thoughts!