Lucky Me // Niall Horan

Chapter 27

Today is a special day for me and this chapter can relate to me as well so this is a special chapter to me. :) this is dedicated to anyone who's lost a loved one or maybe even a parent like I have.

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Chapter 27

The next day, Niall picked me up at my house, giving me a good thirty minutes to change into something else. I wasn't afraid to tell him the truth. It was kinda weird. I guess I'd just gotten to know him so well it was easy to open up to him. I smoothed out my black skirt and adjusted the black rose in my hair. I wasn't dressed to fancily and it was nothing crazy like a black veil over my face and my whole body covered. It was just the right amount of black. I quickly ran outside. No one was home really. Just me. Ethan was out with friends. Aunt May was at the bakery.

Niall pulled up and I dashed over towards his car. I leaned against the car and quickly asked, "Hey Niall, would you mind walking there instead?"

He seemed a bit puzzled. I guess he thought I lived with my parents. Not exactly. He just nodded slowly and parked the car along the street. He got out with the flowers laying in his hands. I think I saw a box full of chocolate there too.

"Ooh, hydrangeas. I love hydrangeas." I smiled taking his free arm as we walked down the sidewalks and following the route.

"My mum likes them. Thought your mum would too." Niall said, smiling sweetly.

The poor boy had no clue.

The route was a thirty minute walk. I didn't really mind much at all. Niall didn't seem to mind either. We kept conversation up but as we got closer to the cemetery and I could see the rolling hills of headstones in the distance, I grew quiet and somber. Niall finally seemed to realize this, eyes growing huge as someone opened the gate for us to be let in, the name of the cemetery written out in the shape of an arc hanging above us.

"Addie, your parents are-"

I just shushed him and he reluctantly listened. "Have some respect for the dead."

I followed along the path to get to my parents graves. I hated walking over other people's burial places. It felt weird. It felt wrong. Don't get me wrong it was kinda cool to see how long the person lived and their names, but I just hated standing right on the person. The thought was weird. It creeped me out.

"You wanted to meet my parents, right?" I said slowly, then let out a shaky breath. "Here they are." I gestured to the two headstones laid in front of me.

"Oh Princess," Niall just looked at me, then the headstones, just utterly dumbfounded. He almost immediately pulled me into his arms, never letting go like he was trying to fill in that missing gap in my heart that appeared when I lost my parents. I buried my face in his neck, as he kissed my forehead and rubbed my back. "I'm so sorry."

"I've heard that a million times, Niall. That won't bring them back."

"I know. I know." He seemed to be thinking hard. "I just wish I knew. I didn't wanna have to bring you back here."

I understood what he meant. I hadn't been down to this cemetery in a while. I only came when I felt like my world was falling apart. Then I'd fall on my knees and cry next to their headstones, wishing my dad would be here to give me that amazing advice and my mom to just hold me as I cried. I finally realized after studying my mom's headstone that there was something different about it. I felt a smile tug on my lips as Niall and I broke away.

"Look what Aunt May did."

"Did what?"

I crouched down and traced my fingers over the shattered glass of Mum's locket that was pieced together carefully, fitting in between the spaces of her name. Any extra glass was placed all around the headstone. It was truly gorgeous. Her was written in beautiful cursive and now it sparkled, making her headstone even more gorgeous than any other in the whole cemetery. I felt my eyes watering as I stood back up next to Niall.

"I'm sorry about your locket. If I would've known, I wouldn't have done that."

"That was in the past. This is now." I leaned my head on his shoulder and we stood there for a while, his gloved hands intertwined with mine. Before I knew it, I was talking to the headstones like Niall wasn't even there. Like it was just me and my parents.

"Hey Mum. Hey Dad." I said shakily. "This is my boyfriend, Niall. Remember that boy band I would often tell you about? One Direction?" I found myself laughing. "Dad, you'd always get the name wrong and say One Edition. But yeah. I met Niall over twitter. Mum, you always said twitter was a waste of time. I beg to differ."

Niall himself let out a small laugh.

"I think you'd like Niall." I continued. "He's Irish. He's cute. He's mine." I looked up at Niall with a wide smile, then back down to my parents. "I never believed in love." I scratched the back of my neck. "Once you both passed away, I saw nothing good in this world anymore. I felt empty. I missed you. There was a hole in my heart that could never be filled. I knew I'd never meet a man who would treat me as right as you treated Mum, Dad. You were the reason why I have such high standards with guys. You were the perfect example of a good man. I miss you so m-much. I-I was s-such a Daddy's girl." I felt myself choke up, tears rolling down my cheeks as Niall rubbed my back and hands. I sniffed and shook but went along anyways. "Thank you for the years I got to know you. I treasured every little moment. When you'd be down in the garage building something and you'd prop me up on your workbench and let me watch. When you got off a conference call to spend time with me. Just thank you." I wiped my eyes then looked at Mum's grave.

"Oh Mom." I sighed. "I don't have enough time to go through everything I loved about you. Everything I miss and all the times I wished you were here. You won't be here at my wedding. You won't be here to see your first grandchild. At least you won't be here physically. But you'll always be with me. I-In h-here." With a shaky hand I pointed to my heart. I was only there for a couple more minutes. Niall placed the flowers on my moms grave and I almost forgot he was there with me. He's brought chocolates since he assumed my mom was alive so we ate them there, me sitting next to my dad's headstone.

I noticed Niall himself had been crying. I gave him a small smile and he looked up at me.

"Never would've guessed you lost your parents." He said, shaking his head.

"It's amazing what a smile can hide."

"Well, don't hide anything else from me, babe. You can tell me anything."

I smiled, grateful that he accepted me for me. Orphan and all. I held Niall's hand as we walked away from my parents. I took one look back and could see Amelia Thompson brightly sparkling from here. I smiled, extra wide this time. Call me crazy but I felt this weird sensation come over me.

It was warm and comforting.

It was peace.

I had a bittersweet thought in my mind. I would never forget my mom or dad. Yeah, the burden of losing parents is a heavy one to carry, but I've overcome the crying nights, wailing for people who would never return. I've overcome the awkwardness between friends and neighbors who didn't know what to say when they were gone. It hurt. Sometimes it still hurt. There are always one of those days when you miss them most and just break down. But I've overcome it all.

I let go, but never forgot.