lovefool // niall horan spy au

viii. lover, i'm worried

O'Connor is grinning at her.

He's got these menacing eyes that watch her in amusement as she opens her mouth to call for Niall but no sound comes out. The laugh that comes out of him is chilling and she can feel her heart rate increase the longer she looks at him. He reaches out for her, grinning, and she tries and tries but she can't move or speak or breathe.

His hand closes around her neck, and then his eyes go dark, which makes her feel like she's being consumed by something terrible. Like she's slipping into a dark hole and there's nothing for her to grab on to in order to pull herself out.

"I've been waiting for you," he growls. He squeezes her neck hard and all the oxygen in her body leaves her.

She shoots up in her bed, gasping for a breath and blinking quickly until her eyes are adjusting and she realizes that it was all just a dream. She still feels like she can't breathe, still feels like his hands are on her neck, squeezing the life out of her. Her fingers unconsciously trail up her neck but nothing feels out of the ordinary.

"Sameera?" come's Niall's voice from beside her. He's standing next to her side of the bed, leaning over all the pillows to place a hand on her shoulder, and the touch feels so much more comfortable than the one she felt in her dream. "You okay?"

She feels bad for waking him up. She must have woken with a start if he heard her from where he sleeps on the couch on the other side of the room. "Bad dream," she explains, her voice hoarse and ragged, like she's actually been strangled. The blanket feels too heavy on her and she shoves it off, tripping off her bed in her pursuit of the bathroom.

The water that she splashes on her face feels cool and refreshing, and it brings her back to reality for a moment. But when she looks into the mirror after drying her skin off with a towel, all she can see is O'Connor's eyes staring back at her.

She jumps back, gasping again because it feels like her breath can't stop running away from her. She tries to press her hands into the counter as if it will help her feel like she's still tethered to earth and not stuck in a dream but it doesn't work all that much.

"Sameera." Niall's voice is cutting through the haze in her head. When she turns around to follow it, she's met with his calm blue eyes, and the sight of them has her feeling less insane. He's giving her that concerned look again. She slumps into the counter when he frowns at her. "Talk to me."

She shakes her head, trying to make sense of it all. It felt so real. "I...O'Connor..."

When she trails off, Niall steps forward, hands smoothing across her hips as he looks at her seriously. "It wasn't real," he says softly, and she wants to believe him, but for some reason her mind is running in overdrive at the thought of O'Connor getting the best of them, at them being his pawns all along.

"But he was—"

"Sameera," Niall gets out, firmer this time. He tangles their fingers together, eyes softening at her. "It wasn't real." His voice gets quieter but he still speaks with a purpose. "This is real," he says, gesturing around them, their hands still locked together. "Us, here. In the bathroom. At arse o'clock in the morning when we should be sleeping." Sameera huffs and Niall smiles at her. "C'mon. Let's get you back to bed."

Niall leads her back with a hand on her back, helping her into the blanket and being careful not to jostle her wound too much. When he's sure she's comfortable, he starts to move back towards the couch, and she reaches out for his wrist to stop him. "Wait," she whispers, the warmth of the blanket engulfing her, already making her sleepy again. "Stay here."

When Niall crawls into the bed with her, she tucks herself into his side, immediately falling asleep when he shuts the lights off.

~