Falling For Niall (Sequel to FIOD)

Chapter 9

     Liam turned the key and pulled it out, successfully shutting the car off. He got out of the car and jogged to the other side, opened the door, and helped Rhiannon out. She smiled at him and put an arm around his waist. Returning the gesture, Liam wrapped an arm loosely over her shoulder. Rhiannon reached her left hand up and intertwined their fingers. Anyone who saw them right then would assume they were a couple: no one would guess the complicated story they shared.

     Liam looked at their hands and saw something he hadn't noticed before. The small diamond surrounded by an intricately designed, silver band that wrapped around Rhiannon's left ring finger shone brightly in the fading sunlight. Liam had never noticed this. In all reality, Zayn might be the only one who knew.

     Niall, although excited to see the three vistors, was anxious for the return of Rhiannon. He sat on the couch and turned to look out the window. Niall looked out just in time to see Liam and Rhiannon holding hands, but that wasn't what surprised him. It was the ring on her finger that astonished him. That was there before... was it?

     Liam and Rhiannon walked inside and relinquished his touch. A mass of curly hair, not unlike Rhiannon's, almost instantly latched onto Liam. Rhiannon knew exactly who it was, and so did Liam. He tightened his grip around the petite dancer's body.

    Rhiannon left the couple alone and walked down the hallway. She almost ran into a pile of suitcases when she caught sight of the brunette struggling with the fourth.

     "Eleanor?" she whispered.

     "Rhiannon!" came the reply.

    The two girls rushed to hug each other. They held on to each other for dear life, as if they would lose the other forever if they pulled apart.

     "Ok, ok! Don't break my girlfriend!" Louis joked, pulling Eleanor to him.

     Liam walked in the room with Danielle following close behind. The latter quickly hugged Rhiannon in greeting in order to prolong the inevitable awkwardness. The large group stood around saying absolutely nothing when Niall made his move.

     He walked up behind Rhiannon and placed both hands on her waist. She flinched at his touch firstly, but then relaxed into his touch.

      "I need to show you something," Niall whispered. Rhiannon nodded and followed him up the stairs. He opened a door and led Rhiannon in. She was immediately overcome by her best friend.

     "Chloe!" The pair embraced tightly.

     "I missed you so much Rhi," Chloe blubbered. It had been so hard for her, what with losing her brother and her best friend leaving.

      “You look so much like him, you know,” Rhiannon whispered, sending the pair into a shower of tears.

     No one had really talked to either one of them about Logan. He was an elephant in the room: his presence was noticeable, but avoided.  It was a sore subject and everyone missed him.

    Niall still stood awkwardly at the door.

     “I’m just going to go now,” he trailed off. Halfway out the door, a cold had clamped down on his wrist. Shivers ran through Niall’s body at the touch.

     “Thank you,” came a soft drawl from Rhiannon.  Niall could do nothing but nod as he left the room. He loved Rhiannon so much, but she would always love Logan more. Niall would just have to live with that. It was quite cliché actually, he was hopelessly in love with someone who loved someone else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For several hours Rhiannon and Chloe laid on the large bed and stared up at the ceiling, reminiscing. They talked about photo shoots, high school, boys, and…. Logan.  

      “He loved you so much Rhiannon. That first day he met you; he came home and wouldn’t shut up about you. He literally spent ten minutes just talking about your hair! ” Chloe giggled.

     “He always played with my hair. When I’d lie against his chest when we were watching movies, he’d pull my curls and twist them between his fingers,” Rhiannon sighed.

A silence filled the room for a moment.

     “But then he called me one night and said, ‘she loves him still. I’ll always be second best for her, but it doesn’t matter because I love her too much.’ I remember being so mad that he dealt with it and settled for it. Logan thought it was Liam he should be worried about. It wasn’t though, because anyone could see that you were truly in love with Niall. Anyone but the two of you,” Chloe said.

     “He was too good for me, I didn’t deserve him,” Rhiannon admitted.

    “He didn’t deserve to be second best to anyone, and he shouldn’t have thought you loved Liam still.”

    “I’ll always love Liam, but just not the same anymore.”

    “You’ve just had a rough few years.”

    “We all have.”

    “Tell me about it.”

~~~~~~~

     ”That was the quickest week ever,” Eleanor complained. She and Danielle said goodbye to everyone before getting in the car. Chloe stood next to Rhiannon and held tight to her hand. She had managed to arrange for a longer stay, leaving Rhiannon again wasn’t a reality she could bear. Eleanor waved out the passenger window as Danielle drove. The group watched her wave until the car faded into the distance.

     “Who’s ready for Mullingar?” Zayn cheered. The boys whooped in excitement and put the last of the suitcases in the car. Chloe and Harry went inside to double check their rooms, bickering as usual on the way in.

    Niall stood behind Rhiannon and wrapped his arms around her. His hands lightly tapped her stomach and his head lay on her shoulder, lips on her neck.

     “Are you excited to see my home?” Niall whispered.

     “I’m nervous, if anything,” Rhiannon replied, shivering as his cold lips met her neck.

     “Why?”

     “What if your parents or brother or your friends don’t like me?”

     “They will love you. Just like I do,” Niall promised.

   Niall hoped that Rhiannon didn’t catch onto his second of hesitation. Greg would love her, his friends would love her, and his dad would love her. It was just a matter of his mother loving her. Rhiannon wasn’t his girlfriend yet and she was pregnant by someone else. Please let my mother approve, he silently begged.

All they both could do was hope for the best.

Hey guys! This is probably the quickest I’ve ever updated. So in this chapter you got to see a bit of what both Niall and Logan felt about Rhiannon. And I found out I have a bit of a connection to Niall, private message me if you want to know how. Let me know if you liked this and would any of you be interested in a one shot contest? Please comment below and tell me. Love you all, Sarah xx.