That Smile (A Niall Horan Fan Fiction)

Chapter 24: Love and War

Niall wore a permanent scowl for much of his plane ride back to Los Angeles. He sat in his private seat in first class, looking out the window at the dark sky, thousands of feet above the ground. He screwed up big time, and he had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

Unlike Liam and Harry, after his blow out argument with Lauren at the hotel, he didn't think that proposing was the best idea. After all, they only just got together in January. Besides, they definitely weren't ready for that yet.

After leaving Niall in the hotel room, Lauren breathed in deep and tried to calm her thoughts on the elevator ride down to the lobby. She didn't want to make it obvious to everyone that she had just had a fight, and possibly a breakup with Niall. She couldn't believe that they had already made it to this point. After all of that time spent meandering around their feelings and taking forever, and another guy, to get together, this was what could potentially ruin them.

Niall wasn't sad or upset, he didn't know what to feel. A part of him hadn't even what had processed yet, and once that part of him did he probably would be sad. But at the momet he was feeling rather indifferent and stubborn, choosing to wallow in self pity as to why this happened.

Once the plane landed in Los Angeles, it was well into the evening. Sammy and Harry graciously agreed to pick Niall up from the airport, understanding why he didn't want to deal with the mob that security seemed to attract. For precaution, Niall was escorted off the plane and to the door to baggage claim. He adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and took a deep breath before emerging into the other side of the gate.

Harry and Sammy immediatly caught on that the trip didn't go as well as Niall had planned just based on the look on his face as he came through the doors. Sammy glanced at Harry, Harry just shrugged, eventhough he already had a feeling of what happened.

"Hey!" Harry said enthusiastically as Niall got close. "How was the trip?" Niall shrugged.

"It sucked," he decided to hold nothing back.

"Oh," Harry said flatly.

"Why, did it just end too quickly?" Sammy came in as Harry's back up. Trying to get as many answers out of Niall as possible.

"No, it actually could have gone by faster. It sucked. Lauren was busy and it seemed like I was just in the way the whole time." Niall scowled as they stood in front of the baggage carousel, waiting for his bag to come off.

"What happened exactly?" Harry asked again, now he definitely new that there was trouble in Lauren and Niall's paradise.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Niall admitted, his resolve was slowly starting to break as he stood there. He was gradually starting to understand what an idiot he was being. "Basically I fucked up." Both Harry and Sammy nodded silently, both figuring the airport wasn't the greatest place to talk about this.

"Well how about we grab some dinner on our way back and then you can tell us?" Harry proposed. Sammy nodded at her fiance's idea.

"Yeah, sure." Niall grumbled as they waited for his bag to get off.

***

Chicago was lovely. Once they got into town Sunday night, they were rushed to the hotel where they changed and got ready for dinner, and then Lauren, her mom, and her crew decided to go to a nice dinner in the city. It was still quite chilly, so they had to bundle up, but it was worth it. Lauren was absolutely in love.

Once dinner concluded, Lauren and a few of her crew members decided to venture to the Sear's Tower. Her mom and a few others opted to go back to the hotel to get some sleep since it had been a long day.