Thorn (n.h)

XXXII

We arrived at a lovely, but very modest, home not long after midnight. Niall's brother lived in a suburban area of Forth worth, all the homes looking similar but of course having their differences. From what I could tell the house was red brick with a cream accent and the same color shutters. Flowers lined guarded the large porch and solar lights guided you up the sidewalk to a cozy, green front door.

"Come on," Niall said softly, sleep lacing his voice as he handed me my purple suitcase and wrapped an arm around my waist before guided me up to the porch.

A porch light illuminated the house numbers and a doorbell. I took in my new surroundings as Niall buzzed for his brother. I looked at the potted plants and brightly colored pots, lost in the brilliant colors that were dimmed by the faint glow of the light.

An inside light switched on and the front door opened to a brunette man, not too much taller than Niall was.

"Greg," Niall sat his bag on the concrete and hugged the smiling man who engulfed his little brother in a bear hug.

"Niall, so good to see you," they slapped each others backs, I noticed Greg had a pretty thick accent too, and smiled to myself.

"Hows the baby?" Niall asks shoving a hand in his front jean pocket and picking up his bag with the other.

"Good, Denise is up with him now," Greg gestured inside the house then spotted me, "you're Rose right?"

"Yes, it's nice to finally meet you," I went in for a handshake but Greg instead pulled me into a hug. I chuckled as he held on for a few seconds before releasing me.

"I've heard good things, come on in before you catch cold," Greg smiled again and stepped away from the door to allow his brother and I inside. There is a small foye where Greg has us kick our shoes off the leads us into a living room.

"I'd have Niall sleep on the couch but from personal experience I'm gonna let you know it is not comfortable," Greg chuckled and continued, "Theo is down that hall, you guys will be the door across from him. Denise and I are over here," he points to a door on the other side the television.

"Sounds good," Niall smiles and slides his hand onto the small of my back.

"There's a bathroom at the end of that hall and one over here on the other side of the kitchen," he gestures to room and I don't have much time to really take in what I'm looking at.

"Thank you," I say softly, meeting people was never my forte, I can hardly talk to my aunts and uncles half the time.

"No worries, just keep your voices down in the room, Theo can hear everything," Greg begins to leads us down the hallway. As he gets us to our room a beautiful blonde exits the room across from us.

"Niall!" She whisper yelled and threw her arms around him. They hugged a few seconds, "we've missed you so much," she added before pulling away, keeping him at arms length. "A few new tattoos I see."

"Just a couple," he smiles and looks down at his arm then to me, "this is Rose."

"Rose," Denise smiled and pulled me in for a hug too, "I'm Denise, it's so good to finally meet you!" we pulled away and I returned the gesture before the two told us they'd speak with us in the morning, apologizing and offering us anything in the kitchen.

Niall sat on the queen bed while I sorted my toiletries and took my phone charger out. "They love you, I told you they would," Niall says and tosses his t shirt to the floor.

"I know, I'm just not too friendly when I first meet people," I admit and pull some sleeping shorts out of my bag.

"Well I know for a fact you'll love Theo, show me a cuter baby," he jokes and pulls the comforter back and climbs inbetween the covers.