Choice // n.h.

Chapter 11

"I can't swim, Niall!" I scream once my head is above water.

"Shit." I hear him curse as he rushes over to me. Once he's close enough, I push his head underwater.

I burst out laughing when Niall comes back above water, flicking his hair to the side.

"Lindsey..." He playfully glares at me before scooping me up and holding me over his head.

"No! No, Niall, don't!" I can't stop laughing, and at the same time I'm nervous. I try to grab onto his shirt but I'm too late. The water impacts with my body and I immediately pop back up.

"You can't do that!" I splash him in the face.

"Why not?" He challenges, a smirk forming across his face.

"Because, I," I glance at him and it completely distracts me. Of course he wore a damn white t-shirt.

"You can't get enough of me." Niall laughs and puts his arms around my waist. His cast bumps my back and I bring his arm up.

"You've completely ruined this." It's already started to tear a bit.

He grimaces and then just shrugs it off. "I'll get a new one."

"Nothing a multi millionaire can't fix right?"

"Right." He rolls his eyes.

I bite my lip to try and contain my laughter.

"So... you're really going through with this.. college thing, yeah?" Niall asks cautiously.

"There's no reason I should back out." I shrug. I mentally punish myself for wording it that way when a grimace forms across his face. "I mean, it's college I have to go."

"You don't have to." Niall looks down.

"Can we just drop it, for now? There's still a long time away until I leave." Whenever I talk to Niall about college, there's always this change of atmosphere. I don't like it.

He nods subtly. I tackle him, taking him under the water.

"I wasn't ready! That's not fair!" Niall pouts, returning to his playful self.

-----

"It's getting dark, Niall." I play with his hair some more. We've been sitting under a small tree by the pond with his head in my lap for awhile.

"But I like it here." Niall looks up at me and frowns.

"C'mon, you have to go get another arm-thingy put on." I move to stand and Niall sits up.

"Cast?" He corrects me.

"You know what I meant, now lets go." I tug on his arm.

"Lindseyyy." He exaggerates my name.

"Do you want your wrist to stay shattered forever?" I cock an eyebrow.

"It'd be worth it if we stayed here a little longer."

"It's my turn to cook tonight, and we're already late." I cross my arms.

"Fine." Niall sticks out his bottom lip and follows me to the truck.

----

"How'd you manage to get this soak and wet?" The doctor questions Niall.

"I was.. I fell into the pool."

The doctor raises an eyebrow.

"Was pushed into the pool, I mean." Niall changes his excuse.

"Okay," The doctor rolls his eyes, not believing him. "We'll have to cut this one off and put on a new one."

Niall nods.

"It might hurt a little, considering your wrist has not fully healed yet."

He cuts Niall's old cast off and it smells absolutely nasty. I see Niall wince, and he makes an effort not to move his wrist. It's still a bit purple and swollen, but it's not as bad as it first was. I reach over and grab his non-injured hand and his tensed expression starts to relax.

"How's it feel?" The doctor asks when Niall's arm is wrapped up again.

"Still broken," Niall jokes. "Sore mostly."

"Yeah, it'll feel that way for a couple of days. Just like it did when you got that first one on." He raises his eyebrows.

-----

"Oh my god, you guys are back." My mum breathes in.

I give her a weird look. It's not even late.

"Niall, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Lindsey alone for a minute." She looks to him.

"Of course." Niall squeezes my hand before heading up the stairs.

"Come sit down, please."

Now I'm concerned. "What's wrong? Is Spencer okay? I remember-"

"Spencer's fine, he's in his room." Mum reassures me.

"Okay.." I encourage her to go on.

"It's that, your father... he's back in town." She sighs.

"Dad? What the hell! He can't come back here!" I stand up and throw my hands in the air.

"Lindsey," she grabs my wrists to calm me down. "I want you to stay inside until he's out of town."

"Okay, that's a little ridiculous." I cross my arms.

"It's not." She reasons.

"London is a large city mum, I doubt I'll run into him." I roll my eyes.

"You need to stay here, understood?"

"Mum!" I scoff.

"Toby's death was not an accident! I won't take chances on loosing you." Her expression falls.

"I know.."

"No, Lindsey, you don't. Your father wasn't under the influence at all. He has this... hatred for Toby. They held shit on each other."

"Okay." I sit down. I have so many questions I want to ask, but I no longer have any energy to ask them.