FOREVER [Niall Horan] ✔

Chapter 5.

"You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." -DR Seuss.

My eyes stay fixated on my laptop screen as we watch Toy Story 3. Niall yawns beside me and I turn to him before raising an eyebrow. "You don't like the movie?" I gasp in disbelief. I love Toy Story series and I've never met a person who watched it and didn't like it. It is my all-time favourite along with Tangled.

"It's kind of boring." He shrugs and yawns again. "Toys coming to life? Pretty stupid, if you ask me."

I gasp. "You're kidding! It's such a good movie. You definitely don't have a good taste in movies!" I scoff and turn my gaze back on the screen. Niall laughs looking at me and I furrow my eyebrows at his reaction.

"I'm kidding, I wanted to see your reaction." He chuckles and I roll my eyes. "Honestly, I'm just tired." He yawns again. "And hungry." As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it." He says and gets up from the bed and walks towards the door. He opens it to reveal Roger with two boxes of pizza. Niall thanks him and reaches to pull out his wallet from his back pocket when I interject him.

"It's on me," I quickly say.

"No, it's on me." He hands the money to Roger and he walks away.

"You bought us brunch so dinner's on me." I shrug and offer him the money.

"It's okay, it's just pizza," He says and gently pushes my hand away. I nod, putting the money back in my wallet. I sit on the floor and keep our food in the middle, eating in silence from our boxes. Niall completes first and I offer him mine since I cannot complete it.

"What am I, a trash can?" He laughs but eats it anyway.

It is after 8 when we complete our dinner. I take the trash from him and dump it in the dustbin that is in the corner of the lobby. I return to the room and overhear Niall talking to someone. He turns around, sensing my presence and gives me a small smile. He walks past me, mouthing that he'll be one minute, in the lobby. I clean up the mess we created and tuck the sheets of the bed in.

I sit on the edge of the bed and stare at the wall in front of me. I still cannot believe that I was able to take this leap. Everything feels so different, everything is so different. I've never felt this free or this happy, even though I'm not exactly happy, I'm happier than before. I always felt caged, but being here, on my own, I feel free even though it's a bit overwhelming. It was definitely hard to run away and I know that it'll be harder afterwards, but I did what was for the best.

I wonder what would've happened if I didn't run away. Would I be married to him by now? Would he treat me any better than how he used to? Would he love our baby? Or would he just stay the same?

I shake the thoughts away and turn towards the door, when it screeches, and see Niall walk in with a small smile on his lips that didn't reflect his eyes like it did other times. I don't know what happened, but he just looks a little down, maybe it was the phone. I was about to ask him, but he beats me to it.

"Wanna go out for a walk?" He asks me from the door, looking unsure, as he scratches the back of his neck.

I stand up from where I've been resting and walk towards him. "Sure." I nod my head. "I'll be 2 minutes."

"I'll be downstairs."

I stroll towards my bathroom and wash my face, comb my hair and apply a bit of mascara before walking out of the room. I grab my purse and my phone before strolling downstairs to see him completely busy on his phone.

"Niall?" I call and he looks up, a faint smile present on his lips."Let's go?"

"Yeah." He nods once.

We walk out of the motel and aimlessly wander on the streets of Leicester. Our hands brush a few times and I try to ignore the feeling I get every time it happens. Niall stares at me from the corner of his eyes and I feel a little self-conscious under his gaze.

I spot an ice cream stall and a smile spreads across my face. I tug at Niall's arms and point at the stall. "C'mon, let's have ice cream." I clutch his hand and drag him towards the stall. I retreat my hand from him as soon as I realise my actions. Niall awkwardly pushes his hands deep in his pockets as I play with my fingers.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Niall asks me what flavour I'd like and I order a chocolate chip ice cream. I'm so thankful that he tried to ease the tension in the air. He orders a mango bar for himself. I feel myself relaxing as I eat my ice cream. I lick it slowly, savouring every ounce of it before completing it and ordering a butterscotch cone which I managed to complete within the next few minutes. Niall doesn't allow me to order another one, reasoning that I won't be able to sleep for a week, I roll my eyes at him, but don't argue.

I pay for our ice creams before Niall can object. He tries to pay me back, but I refuse to take it and walk away, leaving him standing in his place. He soon catches up with me and tells me that I should take the money, but I pretend as if I didn't hear him. He huffs and finally lets it go.

The cold breeze hit our faces as we walk towards the motel. A thrill runs down my spine when Niall's hand touches mine, but I'm not sure if it was because of the breeze or Niall, probably the breeze.

Too soon for my liking, we arrive at our destination. Niall holds the gate open for me and I walk inside. He follows me as I walk up to my room in silence. It is only broken when his phone goes off. He goes outside, saying that he'll be quick. I can hear his voice as he is just standing in front of the door.

"Yes, Logan... Thank you... Is it here yet?... Okay. I'll leave as soon as I can... Yup, set it after 3 in the evening... See you tomorrow. Bye."

Leave? Is he leaving already?

"You're leaving?" I ask as soon as he re-enters, not caring that what he might think about me for eavesdropping on his conversation. I couldn't help the disappointment in my voice.

"Yeah," He casually replies, shrugging his shoulders.

"Now?" I softly ask and he nods. "Oh."

Why should I even care that he is leaving? It's not like he means something to me. We are just two people who met at a motel and nothing else. We're not even friends, for God's sake. I've known this guy for a day, why am I even thinking about it! I think I should leave, too, anyways. I don't frankly know myself why I'm still here. I planned to leave in the morning, but I just couldn't, I didn't want to.

I nod and force the best smile I can muster. He smiles back and stuffs his hand in his pockets as the air in the room converts into something very awkward.

"I think I should leave," Niall voices.

"Yeah," I reply shortly. "Okay."

Niall walks towards me before wrapping his arms around my waist. I hug him back and he rests his hand on the small of my back. My head rests against his chest as I try not to look affected by the news. We shortly break apart and I look in his eyes, his eyes looking a darker shade of blue. He nods a goodbye at me and walks out of the room, without a glance, as I still feel the tender touch of his fingers.