The Bodyguard » Niall Horan

06 » Aurora Borealis

Once we were inside, Niall dropped his arm off me. " I hope they shot some pretty pictures," I said to him. " Most definitely," Niall replied. Niall ordered us both two boxes of popcorn, one ice water for himself and a coke for me. Room five wasn't open yet, so Niall and I sat down on a bench.

Niall brought the straw of his ice water cup to his mouth when I stopped him. " Wait," I ordered and held out my hand.

" What?" Niall asked confused. " Give it to me." He pulled up his eyebrows but did as I said. I took the cup from him and took the lid off. I put the cup between us. " Shield me, please." I quietly said.

" Huh?" His idiotic voice asked.

" Shield. Me." I pushed through my lips. Niall scooted over and arched his body towards me as if we were being intimate. I hated public displays of affection. I thought it was unnecessary and it truly disturbed me. But it worked. And he did smell great, an aftershave I'd never smelled before. I punished myself for even thinking about that and focused back on my work.

I took his hand and put it on my thigh so his cup wouldn't be visible to others. I took a little sachet resembling a little salt bag out of my purse. After tapping a little water on the lid, I put a little bit of the powdery substance on it. Niall seemed intrigued by my work.

" I want to see if they put anything in your cup," I explained quietly.  The water didn't turn a different color, so it was safe for him to drink. I put the little salt sachet back in my bag and put the lid back on his cup.

" You can drink it." Niall took the cup from me and scooted back to his original spot on the bench. " That was quite cool," He admitted and took a sip. 

" I could've taken a sip myself and wait ten minutes, but I'd rather not die of poisoning." I took a sip from my own drink.

As expected, there weren't many people in the cinema. The movie was alright, but I couldn't really focus on it. I stared around and studied the people who were here. There were boys, couples... Nothing much of a possible threat. No one focused on us, no one turned around. We were the last people who went in and had seats at the back.

I wondered if the threat to Niall was actually that big. Who would want to kill hím? He seemed alright so far, even with his rich kid behavior. It didn't really suffice to death threats in my opinion.

The credits appeared on the screen and the dimmed lights were turned back on. I jumped slightly when it happened. Niall looked at me. " You haven't seen much of it, have you?" he asked. I shook my head.

" I haven't. I had to keep an eye on the surroundings." I barely touched my popcorn. Niall noticed and took it from me. " Right, let's get going." We walked out, and Niall threw the popcorn and empty cups in the trash. 

" Thank you, have a good day." The cinema worker said with a smile plastered on her face. Niall responded, I just smiled slightly while I put my jacket back on.

" I'm betting the press will still be there," Niall said as he flattened the collar of his coat. I nodded, knowing what it'd mean.

Niall opened the exit doors and put his arm on my shoulders. He was roughly a foot taller than me, and it kind of fit like a puzzle.

I had spotted the press quite quickly. As an agent and an ex-military, I had no trouble finding anything out of the ordinary, even somewhere busy like Times Square in New York. I saw one sitting in a restaurant across the street, one was hiding in the bushes and another was hiding in an alley. I also noticed the squad Kellan must've sent. I knew they must've checked the car. Something I would have done if the press weren't there.

I managed to fake a smile to Niall, who looked down on me and smiled back.

Out of nowhere, someone appeared in front of us holding out a flyer. " Have you ever heard of the phenom called Aurora Borealis? The Northern Lights? It's absolutely the prettiest thing in the world, something made by nature is incredible. You can get there by car, by plane... Anything you want! It's amazing!" I recognized the pattern in his sentences. It was code language, and he told me the car was fine. 

For an untrained person, like Niall, it seemed like nothing special, but my trained ears had heard the signals. I also had seen the man before at the headquarters.

I took the flyer from him. " Thanks. I've never seen it in person, but the pictures on the internet look very promising." The man nodded and went on his way. In my hands, I held a random flyer about some self-help program. Niall seemed a bit surprised but didn't say anything as he held the door open for me to get in the car. 

When he took the driver's seat, he looked at me. " It was one of your guys, wasn't he?" Niall asked me. I nodded. " Yes. The car has been inspected and approved."

Niall swallowed. " Inspected? What did they look for?" 

" Bombs, Niall," I told him. " They were looking for bombs."