Second Snapshot (Picture This Sequel: Niall Horan)

-Unwrapping Happiness. [Chapter 35]

CHAPTER THRITY FIVE- Unwrapping Happiness.

After an eight hour delayed flight, it was pretty safe to say, I was done with drama. Due to this late flight and not being able to find my luggage when we actually got to the airport, it was now breaching midnight when we got to where he lived. I bit my lip as we walked down the familiar lane and memories from last summer came flooding back, how it started raining as we got about halfway down here and he kissed me and then there was his friend or whatever a bit too keen to make comments on me. It was a nice two days, not long, but it wasn’t always about quantity with Niall, however cheesy it sounds, quality had always been our forte.

The air was cool and well, not just cool, freezing. But I remembered from last year that it was only about two more minutes until Niall’s house. I wondered what Christmas would really be like for him and his family, and how many of them there were actually going to be. I played out many scenarios in my head, maybe it would be a quiet, well thought out dinner followed by opening presents and then just having a lazy day until it was over and Boxing Day was on the cards. Or maybe it would be loud and buzzy, with hearty food, screaming kids and laughter all over. I guess there really was no telling until it actually got to tomorrow but I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed since with Niall, things never were boring.

“You’re freezing, Ash, here.”

Niall remarked draping his jacket around my shoulders and pressing a sweet kiss to my temple. I looked up at him biting my lower lip as I gave him a small smile and rested my head on his shoulder holding onto his arm as he pulled me closer to him as we made our way down the street.

“Now you’re cold.”

I frowned.

“I’ll live, we’re almost there.”

He shrugged slipping his fingers in between mine and giving my hand a squeeze. His palm was so warm compared to how utterly cold the air was tonight, I half expected my hair to be frozen by now, it was that cold.

“You know,” He said as we rounded the hedgerows and started up his driveway the gravel crunching underneath our feet. “The moonlight has a really nice glow on you.”

He told me and I looked at him narrowing my eyes deciding whether to laugh or not.

“Niall what the hell?”

I giggled and he shrugged wiggling his eye-brows at me.

“What? I was completing you…On how the moonlight compliments you.”

He winked.

“Shut up.”

I laughed hitting his arm playfully and he just smiled as we crossed the porch steps and the porch light flickered on giving off a dim light.

“But you look even better in proper light…”

He winked again and I rolled my eyes as he lightly rested his forehead on mine linking his fingers with mine as he pressed his lips to my nose for a few seconds before smiling at me.

“I love you.”

He breathed his breath warm against my skin and the ever growing colder night air.

“I love you too.”

I smiled giving his hand a squeeze which he returned as he lightly placed his lips on mine, it was a sweet and tender kiss but it still held a lot of emotion because I guess, they always did.

“Let’s go inside you’re shivering.”

Niall observed tugging at my hand as he cracked the door open which was unlocked since he had told his Mum he didn’t have a key, which was of course, typical Niall. The heat hit me as soon as he shut the door behind us once we’d stepped over the threshold. So warm, or maybe the outside was just so cold but all in all, it felt nice to be somewhere with a suitable temperature again. It was completely pitch black and nothing was stirring so since it had just passed midnight I assumed everyone who was here was sleeping, which was understandable, but was also a kind of strange concept for us since we always stayed up or out late, it was just one of those things. We found it easy to pass time and the hours would hastily slip by when we were together so sometimes we didn’t even realise when the sun began to rise and we hadn’t even thought about sleeping yet.