This Town |NH|

Epilogue

September 2018, Mullingar

Six Months Later

Everything around me seemed to be moving in slow-motion. I could see the faces of the people but not the noises. I walked through the maze of people, lights dancing all around me, looking for the photo booth. I adjusted the sleeve of my white button down shirt. I had khaki pants on with my flat cap. I had liked the hat ever since we had done a photograph with it ten years before.

The crowd of people around me got larger, the hand I was holding let go. I turned around to see her, standing there, smiling. She was wearing a short-sleeved, green A-line dress with her hair curled. We looked like we had stepped out of the 1940s or 50s.

I reached for her hand again, which she tried to take but, for some reason, couldn't. I felt the distance between us getting larger and larger until I couldn't see her anymore. I tried to scream out her name but no sound emerged from my throat.

Then, just as oddly, the world came rushing at me. All of the sounds of the fair came filtering into my head all at once.

"Niall!" I heard someone shouting my name.

I turned and there she was standing by the photo booth. It wasn't a dream, but for the last six months, it felt like one. I had just finished up my tour and returned to Ireland just in time for Mullingar's annual fair. I hadn't seen her in the last two weeks, and had missed her terribly. But we agreed to meet here, to restart our tradition.

I made my way through the crowd, a huge smile across my face. When I reached her, I planted a kiss onto her lips.

"So, you two lovebirds are finally lovebirds?" I heard the sound of the man who had taken our picture for the last fifteen years.

"He's still alive?" I whispered to her.

She giggled, "Apparently. But, I guess you could say, he's part of our story." She looked at me through those blue eyes of hers.

I turned to the guy and said, "Yeah, we are."

"About damn time," he said.

"I couldn't agree with you more," I said.

The guy just smirked at us, which gave me the creeps, but then again, it wouldn't be him if he didn't. We got into our pose. "Been awhile since you two were here," he said as he set up his camera.

"Yes, it has. We got a little lost but have found our way back," Siobhan said, smiling at me, as she turned to face the camera.

I wrapped my arms around her from behind. Our first photo was taken. We were about to do our second when I walked over to the guy and whispered something to him. He nodded as I made my way back to her.

"What did you just say to him?" she asked, as she dug around the box of props.

"Nothing."

She looked at me and cocked an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe."

I simply shrugged before I grabbed her hand and brought her back to the spot. I turned her around so she was facing me. I reached down into my pocket and pulled out a small box. I got down on my knee, both of which were shit at this point from jumping around on stage for six months.

"Niall, my mother's ring," she whispered as she brought her hand to her mouth.

"Siobhan, six months ago, I poured my heart out to you, on a dark street, both of us drunk. I finally said all I needed to say, well, almost all of it. And, although I begged you to take my hand, there was a part of me that felt that you wouldn't. But you did. And I've been the happiest I have ever been since." A light flash went off as the guy took our picture. "I have something else to ask you. Marry me? Marry me. Let's spend our week nights eating cereal on the floor when there is a perfectly fine table behind us. We can go to the movies and sit in the back row just to make out like kids falling in love for the first time. Marry me. We'll paint the rooms of our house and get more paint on us than the walls. We can hold hands and go to parties we end up ditching to drink wine out of the bottle in the bathtub. Marry me. And slow dance with me in our bedroom with an unmade bed and candles on the nightstand. Let me love you forever. Marry me."

By the time I had finished this speech, she had collapsed to her knees beside me. She had a huge smile on her face, "Yes, Niall. Yes." She giggled as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. The flash went off again. I placed the ring on her finger, which was a little too big for her. The lights went off again.

I stood up and brought her with me. I twirled her around and brought her back to my chest. I dipped her a little and kissed her while the lights went off one more time.

We got our photos and walked off, hand in hand. We sat down in front of the Ferris wheel to take a look at them. "We'll put them all up on our wall. We'll make a collage again," I said as I pulled her to me.

She just nodded, the smile on her face not even beginning to fade. She raised her hand to look at the ring she didn't know I had. "How did you get this?" she asked.

"Your father gave it to me a long time ago. He knew I'd need it one day."

She just smiled. She turned to look at me. She grabbed the side of my face in her hands, looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I love you Niall Horan. I can't wait to have your last name. I want your Sunday mornings and your daily commutes. I want your phone calls and your quirks. Your sick days and your hair in the shower drain. I want your laugh. God, I want your laugh. I want your arms around my waist and when I walk by you, you can't let me by. I need your eye contact. Your smile. I want to find your lost keys. Make tea the way you like it. I want the other side of the bed to always be yours, our fingers intertwined. I want our stupid, stubborn, fucked up past, and our convoluted future. I can't wait for what lies beyond the next turn. Whatever it is, I know it'll be amazing."

I laughed at a few of things she said, knowing damn well she did not want my hair in the shower drain. My laughter caused her to laugh. She was laughing still as we kissed and kissed again. And, let me tell you, there is no better taste than this: someone else's laughter in your mouth.

Wait! There's one more "Chapter"! This way to "This is This Town"