-Paige's POV-
When I woke up the next morning, Niall was fast asleep on his back, with my head resting on his bare shoulder, and my hand on his chest. He still smelled like his cologne, and I inhaled his familiar scent for a moment, knowing that today was my last day with him and wanting to remember every detail of our last few hours together.
The rest of the boys and their girlfriends were coming to hang out tonight, partly to celebrate the first day of a new year, and partly to say goodbye. The next morning, Lila and I were taking a plane back to the States.
I glanced over at the alarm clock on Niall's side table, and saw it was already 10:30. I wasn't in any rush to get up, however. I wanted to remain exactly where I was for as long as I possibly could. Outside the window, a soft snow was falling, and I imagined it was very cold out, but I couldn't be more warm snuggled up with Niall under the covers, his bare skin warm against me.
After a few minutes, Niall's beautiful blue eyes slowly flicked open, and he smiled widely at me. It only took about a second for the smile to turn sad however, as he realized today would be our last day together for who knows how long. I'd known since the beginning that long-distance was going to become a significant part of this relationship, but I'd also under-estimated how hard it would be.
"Hey, beautiful." He said, and I smiled, running my hand through his ruffled up bangs to smooth them over. "I love it when you play with my hair."
"Good." I said, giggling. "Because I don't think I could resist touching it."
We got up and he made me breakfast again. After that, we got dressed in jeans, sweaters, and coats, and went for a walk outside. Nobody was following us or trying to take our pictures. It was New Year's Day, so I guessed people were either spending time with their families, or extremely hung-over from the night before.
We stopped to grab hot chocolate in a little cafe...pretty much the only place that was open...and walked as we drank it. It was searing hot, so much that it burned the back of my throat, but I focused on the heat rather than the goodbye that I knew was unavoidable.
Every now and then, Niall would stop to kiss me. It was just one of the many things I loved about him...that he could never seem to resist taking every opportunity he had with me...like he knew he didn't have many of them and didn't want to waste a single one.
After a while, we decided to head back to Niall's flat. It was only about 4:30, and the rest of the boys and their girlfriends wouldn't be arriving for three more hours, so we just snuggled and watched TV and hung out. Typical boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, but neither of us took it for granted because typical boyfriends and girlfriends don't go for weeks and sometimes months without seeing each other.
When the boys finally did arrive, we had a blast, just sitting around and talking, sitting on Niall's sofa. The boys shared funny stories from being on tour, and we shared our memories from back home. I could tell that all of the boys would make amazing guyfriends, and I felt fortunate to have them all, and their girlfriends were so sweet.
Three hours passed quickly and it was almost midnight. Harry and Lila decided to go, they wanted the night to themselves. The other couples (Louis and his beautiful girlfriend, Bella, Dani and Liam), and Zayn followed their queue, agreeing that it was late. I assumed that they were trying to give Niall and I some alone time, which I greatly appreciated.
We all said our goodbyes and hugged each other, and Lila and I agreed to meet at the airport at 8 AM the next morning. I began to clear water glasses from the table (we didn't drink alcohol because we were all so incredibly hung over from the previous night) and Niall followed me as the rest of the group made their way out.
