Accidentally in Love

Accidentally in Love {Chapter 24}

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Niall walked over to the leather couch, picking up his duffle bag from the coffee table.  He slung it over his shoulder, letting the bag hang freely while walking back to MaryGrace.

“Okay, I just have to change and then we can get going,” Niall explained.

“No problem!” she responded placing her hand in his.  

“Wait, but what about Jessie?” Niall said, remembering that MaryGrace hadn’t come alone.  MaryGrace turned around, looking towards her friend.  Harry had his arm around her waist and they stood in a circle talking with Louis, Eleanor, Liam, Danielle, Zayn, and Perrie.  The whole group seemed to be laughing at something Liam had said.

“Are you kidding me?!  She fits right in!  I’ll just tell her to meet me at Penn Station later for the ride home,” MaryGrace explained.

“Harry seems to be taking a liking to her,” Niall said chuckling.  He was glad that they would be able to be alone together for the night.  “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Niall left the room taking his duffle bag with him to change out of his stage clothes.  MaryGrace grabbed her brown peacoat off the couch and joined everyone else, quickly picking up on the conversation.  After a minute or two, she pulled her friend aside to explain the plan for the night.  

“Hey, What’s Up?” Jessie asked with a smile.

“Well Niall and I are gonna go out, will you be okay with Harry for a while?  I figured we’d just meet back up at Penn Station later,” MaryGrace asked feeling a little bad leaving her friend along with someone she’d just met.  Jessie’s eyes widened with excitement.

“I’d love to hang out with him tonight,” she whispered with anticipation.  “As long as he’s okay with me tagging along,” she trailed off thinking it over.  “Harry!” she said waving her hand for him to come over.  He jogged over, stopping when he reached them to fix his hair.  He leaned his head forward, tossing his hair into place and looking up.  His blue-green eyes met Jessie’s.

“What did you need?” he said in his usual low and slow tone.  He smiled at both girls.

“Well Niall was going to take MaryGrace out for a bit and I was wondering if I could stick around with you for the night?  At least until our train departs...” she said biting her lip.  She hoped that he would be okay with it, or everyone would end up having to change their plans.  MaryGrace and Jess waited patiently for his response.

“Yeah!  No problem” he said placing his arm around Jess playfully.  MaryGrace breathed a silent sigh of relief.  

“Awesome, thanks Harry!” MaryGrace said gratefully just before Niall walked back into the room.  He wore a pair of dark wash straight-leg jeans with a crisp white button-down shirt.  On top he wore a grey cardigan half buttoned.  He had his jacket swung over his arm and his duffel bag in hand.  MaryGrace walked over to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.  He placed his arm around her affectionately.

“Everything set?” he asked her.  She nodded and they walked towards everyone together.  Niall’s eyes darted back and forth across the room, making sure that no security guards were within earshot.  “We’re headin’ out, alright?” he announced waiting for their approval, not that it really mattered to him.  Either way, he was taking MaryGrace out while he had the chance.

“See you two lovebirds later,” Liam teased.  Zayn gave an approving grin and Harry lifted his hand to wave.  Niall waited for Louis to say something, he knew it was coming.

“Thank God!  I won’t have to cover my eyes anymore,” Lou joked, adding a wink afterwards.  Niall and MaryGrace both laughed at Louis’ antics before making their way towards the exit.  

“Oh, Liam can you tell security to take this back to the hotel for me?  I’m not sure when I’ll be back there” Niall asked referring to his black duffel bag.  Liam nodded taking the bag from Niall.  “See you later,” Niall said before he and MaryGrace stepped out the door.  

He pulled the door closed, the lock clicking shut and hinges squeaking.  MaryGrace shifted, taking her head off Niall’s shoulder so they could walk comfortably.  They made a right instead of taking a straight path, as Niall was trying to avoid security.  The last thing he wanted was for Paul, Preston, or Andy to follow them all night.  So far they had yet to run into the guards.  As they walked down the hall, Niall buttoned up his jacket and fixed his scarf around his neck.  MaryGrace did the same, preparing for the brutal cold air of the city.  Within a few minutes, they came upon a double-door with a red sign reading “EXIT.”  Niall pushed on it and the cold hit the two like a brick wall.

“Wow, It’s freezing,” Niall muttered.  He fixed his scarf so that it would cover his face a bit more and went to put up the hood on his jacket to avoid being noticed by any fans leftover from the concert.

“Oh! That reminds me!” MaryGrace exclaimed and began digging through her purse.  She fished out Niall’s beanie and handed it to him.  “I forgot to give this back to you last night.”  Niall smiled wide.

“Thanks!  I actually forgot about it, too” he said taking the beanie.  He put his hood back down and put on the beanie instead, pulling it down to keep his ears warm.  “I have something for you, too,” he said as he reached into the large pockets of his jacket pulling out the white plastic bag.  

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she began. “But who am I kidding? I love presents!” she said trying to contain her excitement.  Niall handed her the closed bag, dragging out the surprise a little longer.

“Go ahead, open it!” he said excited to see what she’d think of it.  MaryGrace reached her hand in and pulled out the hat.  It was soft and yellow with red earflaps to look like Pooh’s shirt.  A cross-stitched face smiled up at her.  Her face glowed with happiness.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed.  “I love it so much Niall!” she said with the biggest smile.  She looked like a child on Christmas morning.  

“I’m glad you like it!  I thought of you when I saw it this morning.” Niall said mirroring her wide smile.  “You don’t have to put it on right now if you don’t want to, though.”

“Are you kidding me?  First of all,  I don’t just like it - it may just be my favorite thing ever.  And second, believe me, I can’t wait to put this on” she replied causing Niall to laugh.  She immediately proceeded to shove the hat on her head, not caring about the fact that it didn’t match her outfit or that it could ruin the hairstyle that she had spent an hour on.  “It’s so soft, I love it!” she said, running her hands from the earflaps down to the pom-poms that hung off the hat.  Niall just continued to laugh at her giddy excitement as they walked down the street, the Beacon Theater disappearing behind them.

“Okay, so I was thinking we’d go out to eat,” Niall said.  “How does that sound?”

“Sounds awesome to me.  I haven’t eaten in hours,” MaryGrace said, still smiling about the hat.  “Where are we headed?”

“To be honest I didn’t plan what restaurant we’d go to since I didn’t know what you’d be in the mood for,” Niall said, leaving the sentence open ended.  MaryGrace looked toward him.

“Niall, you could take me to the most expensive restaurant in the entire city or a fast food dump around the corner.  I’m just happy to be with you.”

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