We Belong

Chapter 10

I was not happy to be going home. Not in any way, shape or form. Sure, part of that was because Molly still seemed to be off, but most of it was because I knew the moment we entered London air space she would return into the cocoon she so closely guarded around herself. I felt like we'd come so far. It didn't seem fair or right for us to slide backwards.

I was hopeful when we exited the plane and she kept her fingers threaded through mine. She seemed relaxed and happy. Had I judged her too harshly? I mean, she had agreed she'd try, I should at least give her the benefit of the doubt.

I was just about to lift her hand to mine for a soft kiss against her knuckles when the squeal of a teenage girl rang through the concourse. I jumped slightly. Man, it even put me on guard it was so shrill. I glanced back at Molly just in time to watch her eyes change with the realization that we were back in a place where people would be able to recognize me. I glanced down at our clasped hands.

As if in slow motion, an old lady walked directly between us and I watched as Molly's hand fell away from mine.

That was it. She shoved her hand into her shorts pocket and I never got it back.

We stood next to each other waiting for our luggage to come out. I felt myself slowly losing my grip on my emotions as each bag came out. My mind went from wondering if I'd made a mistake going on this vacation to knowing it hadn't been a mistake. I'd definitely fallen for Molly while we were gone and while I might have been able to walk away from her before this and leave things casual, there was no way I could do that now.

I wanted her with me. In my life. In my business. In my bed. I just wanted to be her soft place to fall.

She was laughing with Amanda about something having to do with getting decent Thai food now that we were in London. She glanced back at me, her face lit up with a smile that I hadn't seen in the past couple of days.

I took a step towards her just as she stepped away to grab her bag. Mine came out right behind it. She was leaning down to pull out the handle of her suitcase when I came up behind her,

"Hey...can I take you home?" I was out of breath after having grabbed my suitcase so quickly as well as the anxiety flooding my body that this might be the last time I saw her. I swallowed after I set my suitcase down, "I mean we could go grab dinner somewhere and then-"

"Hey Bro!" Aiden interrupted as he and Laura appeared suddenly, "We were gonna head to get some wings...like to join us?"

"Niall? Oh my God!" I heard a young voice say off somewhere in the distance.

Mark, Amanda and Lee all crowded around us with their suitcases just as a new plane full of people suddenly appeared momentarily swallowing Molly up. The young voice who had said my name earlier suddenly appeared in front of me with three of her friends all asking for an autograph and a picture.

I glanced at them for no longer than a second but when I looked back up to where Molly had been standing, she was gone.

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Well, if there was one thing I could use to fill my time it was the intense emotions coursing through every vein in my body. I'd written Flicker while I was high on emotions and it was definitely looking like that was how this album was going to be written as well. I probably spit out lyrics for three songs the night I got home. I waited for my phone to buzz with a text message or a phone call from Molly but nothing came. I tried calling her but unfortunately it had been one of those times where she hadn't paid the bill so all I got was a cold robotic voice telling me the number was no longer in service. Which meant no text messages either.