End Up Here [Niam]

One Year Before

One year before

I opened the door to the apartment and I was greeted by a pair of arms. I smiled at the body in front of me, feeling a sense of relief and comfort as I lifted her from the ground. She smiled into my neck, trailing kisses up my jaw line. Was it too early to think about a future with her? Was it wrong to think of having children with my girlfriend? There was a growing suggestion in the back of my head and it would be the first thing to come to me in the morning. Should I ask her to marry me?

“Surprise!” I looked up and a whole group of people jumped out of their hiding places. Mum came around the corner and wagged a finger at Danielle.

“Dani!” We pulled away, my hand pressed against the small of her back and the lights turned on. Everyone was there, the boys, my family. I walked up to my mum and kissed her cheek. “Oh, that girl, she can’t get her hands off of you. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

I laughed. I looked around and waved to everybody. “I’ll go out and come back in if you want me to?”

Mum laughed and waved her hand. Danielle took my mum’s arm and pulled her to the kitchen. “We need to finish up, you were early.” She pointed her finger at me.

“I’m sorry.” I said and I watched them disappear into the kitchen.

I turned around and I was attacked by four bodies. We fell to the floor and we laid there laughing hysterically even though nothing was really funny. We all stood up, Louis taking my hand and helping me stand. I was engulfed in their arms as they started singing happy birthday.  “Get off you pesky animals!” I laughed as I tried to push them off.

“You should have seen Harry try to keep the surprise a secret.” Zayn shouted over the others. I looked at Harry who was shaking his head.

“So that’s why you weren’t replying to my text messages and ignoring me the whole week.” I said.

“We’ve tried to keep it from him; to keep him oblivious but this idiot here” Louis said wrapping an arm around Niall “spilled the beans.”

“It’s Zayn’s fault as well. It’s not totally my fault.” The blonde said, trying to defend himself.

“I nearly spilt the surprise maybe five times.” Harry said, throwing his arms over my shoulders. All of us had our arms over each other’s shoulder so we were huddled in the middle of the room.

“So other than Danielle ruining the special effect, you were surprised?” Niall asked beside me.

“I was clued in by Harry, I had a suspicion.”

They all groaned and slapped the backside of Harry’s head. “I’m sorry.” He said, breaking from the group and covering his head with his arms.

“But it’s great.” I said, smiling at my best mates. I felt a hand against my back and I looked at the owner. Niall looked at me with a big and bright smile that reached his eyes. I smiled down at him and messed up his hair before pulling him into a big bear hug. “Thanks mate.”

“No problem.” He said. We all walked to the kitchen and sat down around the table.

“When is the food ready, I can hear Niall’s stomach?” I asked as everyone laughed, causing Niall to punch me in the arm and blush a light shade of red.

“Soon, my boy.” Mum said as she sprinkled spices in the mashed potatoes. She looked up at me and smiled, touching my cheek. “I’ll say it now, you’ll have your own party with the boys and Dani later but right now, we’ll stick to the tradition.”

I nodded, got up from where I was sitting and walked over to her. I leant down and kissed her cheek. “You’re the best.”

A pair of hands slipped around my waist and I turned around to wrap my arms around their waist. I smiled down at my girlfriend and kissed her lips. “Where are my presents?” I grinned.

“You greedy boy.” She laughed, kissing my nose.

Somebody cleared their throat and excused themselves. I looked up to see Niall leaving the room. I looked at the others and they shrugged. Something was wrong.

It was late when the first guests began to leave and soon everyone followed. They said their goodbyes and wished me a happy birthday but not before the boys made plans for tomorrow night. Finally, it was just me and Danielle and as the last guest left I closed the door and locked it. I closed all the blinds around the apartment and turned off the lights. I found Danielle in the room, already in her pyjamas. I lifted her off the floor and we fell on the bed. I kissed her lips and my lips trailed to her jawline and down to her neck. She giggled as I reached the back of her neck and held her waist. “Hold on.” She said, pushing me off.

“Come on, babe.” I leaned down to attack her neck.

“Hold on.” She laughed, reaching under the bed. She pulled out a picture frame with a bow taped to the corner. “One last gift.” She smiled.

“Oh babe.” I smiled and kissed her cheek. I took the picture frame and smiled down at it. It was me and the boys, we were joking around and Danielle was standing a couple feet away from us holding a piece of paper that said ‘the girlfriend’. I burst out laughing. “I don’t remember you being there.” I said, sheepishly.

She scoffed and punched my arm, playfully. “That’s the whole point of this picture.”

“I’m so sorry.”

She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. We looked down at the picture frame and I sighed in content. I couldn’t ask for more. “I’ll be honest though.” She said as she lies down. I took one last look at the picture and put it up on the bedside table. “I’m a Niam shipper.”

“What?” I laughed as I reached over to turn off the lamp.

“You and Niall are adorable when you two are together.” I looked at the picture again and looked in the corner of the picture where Niall and I were squeezing each other in each other’s arms. I remember when this picture was taken, the others were piling on top of each other while Niall and I were playfully wrestling and when the person - I think Paul - took the picture and we turned and smiled at the camera.

“A Niam shipper?” I said, turning off the light and turned around to wrap my arms around Danielle.

“Yeah, like Larry you know, the bromance between Louis and Harry but I’m a Niam shipper.” She giggled.

I laughed and shook my head.

I fell asleep right away but I woke up around three in the morning and I began thinking about Niall and what Danielle had said. Niall was a bit off tonight, he wasn’t as cheerful as usual. I had tried to ask him a bunch of times, asking him to come in the other room to talk privately but he would say he was busy even though he was doing absolutely nothing but scarf down a chunk of cake. The thought slipped my mind and I didn’t think of it for the rest of the night.

So what was wrong with Niall? I began to reach for my phone to text him but decided against it since it was late and he was probably asleep.