Flicker Short Stories {n.h}

This Town

Niall took in a breath of fresh air as he walked, hands in the pockets of his denim jacket. Spring mornings in Mullingar always brought a chilling breeze, but he quite enjoyed it.

It had been so long since he has been home.

This morning, his mum had made him breakfast and he had told her he was going for a walk around, to visit some of the places he remembered best.

This is how he wounded up sitting on the bench of this fairground.

Niall thought it was funny how things never changed in this old town, the fairground is the same as it always was. He watched as children ran past him on their way to a ride, their smiles visible and their giggles loud.

Niall was reminded of his childhood self being the exact same way, sprinting through the stands with his friends and trying his luck at the shooter game he always lost. He remembered how loudly he would laugh as the small roller coaster took him left and right.

But mostly, he remembered her.

He remembered that day in July, when he was twelve.

The day he kissed her for the first time.

He still recalled her soft lips and the way she had made him feel in that moment. He had felt invincible.

Niall remembered the twelve year old boy who had decided then as he kissed her that he loved her, that he wanted to be with her forever. Unfortunately, a boy as young as he was watched far too many movies and read far too many fairytales.

In the real world, this didn't exist.

The truth is, he hadn't seen her in years, he hadn't found a way to contact her, and he didn't know where she was.

Sighing, Niall stood up and walked some more.

He eventually found the bar, the bar he had tried his first beer in the day he turned eighteen. He had managed to convince his management to let him come home that week.

Niall pushed on the glass door and stepped into the warmth of the pub. A few other older middle-aged men were sat at some booths and laughed as one of them told some sort of story. Niall took a seat at the bar and ordered himself a beer before setting his attention onto his phone.

He wasn't doing much, he scrolled through his social medias and sent a quick message to his best friend Harry, who had previously sent him a joke Niall couldn't quite understand.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and a girl took a seat across the bar from Niall. He didn't notice right away, but when he lifted his eyes to meet her, his jaw dropped.

It was her.

She didn't notice Niall's rather intensive stare as she too had her mobile in hand. Niall, however, wasn't looking at his device at all.

He was looking at her.

To him, she looked the same, same chocolate brown eyes, same chestnut hair, just shorter, she must have cut it. She still had that rose tint on her cheeks that always made her look as if she was blushing. Her lips that he kissed were still the same shade of pastel pink.

She was the same girl he fell in love with, just grown up.

In this moment, Niall wished he could have done things differently.

He wished he could have woken up to kiss her in the morning, instead of him waking up to find nobody there. He wished he would have told her he loved her, told her everything he should've said the first time around.

He wished more than anything to go back to that day in July, when they were kissing in the fairground, and he wished he would have told her how he felt.

He realised in this moment that regardless of how much time as passed, he would still dance with her in the middle of a crowded room, even if the whole world was watching them. He would drive highways and byways just to be there with her.

Niall knew that he shouldn't still feel this way about her, but there was just something about her. Niall still felt the butterflies in his stomach from being near her, he still felt that flame.

The truth is that everything in this town, for him, came back to her.

Niall had decided he was going to talk to her. To at least, if possible, keep contact with the girl that occupied his every thought while he was here.

He didn't want to move on from her, and maybe, just maybe, she would remember him.

But just as he was about to stand up, another man walked into the pub. Niall didn't recognise him, he had dark hair and a solid jawline. He was a pretty face, but Niall didn't ever remember seeing him before. He observed as the mystery man sat next to her and linked an arm around her waist.

Niall then forced himself to watch as the man tilted her chin up and kissed her the way he had done so many years ago.

After, she smiled at the man, just the way she had smiled at Niall.

Niall felt a pang in his chest. It was more like a stab, a painful fresh wound in the middle of his heart.

Hastily, he stood up and tilted his head as he exited the pub to avoid being seen. But it was no use, she glanced over and did a double take, and soon Niall was frozen in place as realisation hit her chestnut eyes.

Niall, as he was absorbing this moment he had been dreaming of for years, was taken back to that very fairground, and to that very day.

"Niall?!" She giggled and held his hand as they sprinted towards one of the many games. He chortled and did his best to keep up, "I'm right here! Run!". He looked back, and sure enough, the small crowd of overbearing twelve year old boys had stopped chasing them. They were alone now.

Just the two of them.

"Are they gone?" She whispered and grinned as they hid behind one of the stands.

"I think so." Niall whispered back and hushed her as she started laughing. Despite his love for her laugh, he didn't want them to be found. The laughing stopped and a comfortable silence hung over the two children.

"I really like you." Niall blurted in a spur-of-the-moment boost of confidence. He had liked her for a while, and he thought that maybe this little girl with the wavy brown hair and dazzling smile would feel the same way.

And he was correct.

"I really like you too, Niall." He noticed the way she blushed and looked away from him.

Niall then decided to take the matter into his own hands and lifted her chin up before pressing his lips to her delicate pink ones in what was his very first kiss.

By the time he had pulled himself out of his own mind's torture, Niall was still standing in the bar, his eyes glossy and on her.

Hesitantly, he blinked a few times and walked away.

He couldn't handle to see her this way with someone new. Someone that wasn't him.

Outside, Niall refused to let himself cry.

He was happy for her, of course he was, he had always wished for her to be content, but even though, seeing someone else be with her is a pain he will have to bear.

He was happy that she had moved on, and maybe now he could move on as well.

Although, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he knew that every memory in this town would come running back to his moments with her.

That is when the door of the pub swung open, causing him to turn around and meet whoever had exited the place.

Sure enough, it was her.

"Niall?"