Bend The Rules• njh

15⌝ It's Time

Song of the Chapter- You Said You'd Grow Old With Me by Michael Schulte

The waves crashed in front of me, the ocean wild and free. Foam bubbling at my toes on the golden sand. The sky a mix of peach and light blue, the Moon starting to come out, sharing its space with the Sun as it went down.

"Beautiful view isn't it," a voice appeared behind me, barely discernible over the crashing of the waves.

I continued looking out at the deep blue water, "Yeah it is."

"It's a shame we couldn't raise a family here," the voice spoke up again.

I turn around to see Luke standing there, kicking at the sand.

"Yeah it is but," I trailed off in confusion, "how? How is this."

"It doesn't matter," he interrupts me as he walks over, his dirty blonde hair slightly waving in the breeze. "But it's alright Toni."

I look at him in confusion, "What do you mean? I'm confused Luke."

He chuckles, god how I missed that. "It's alright Toni. I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me. You can go on," he says as he reaches and grabs both of my hands. "I love you, but I'm fine. I want you to be happy. I don't want you holding back," he continues on, squeezing my hands in reassurance.

What feels like tears start to form in my eyes, my heart breaking even more. "I love you too, I miss you so much," I whimper out.

Luke wraps me into a hug and shushes me, "I do too. But it's okay. It's time. I'm fine."

I burry my head into his shoulder, "No, no, no, I can't. You can't leave. I need you."

"You don't need me, it'll be okay. You gave me so much love throughout my life and I'm so glad I got to spend most of it with you. You'll be okay," he cooes as he rubs my back in reassurance.

I sniffle as I stare down at the sand, the waves touching our feet. "I feel like I can't."

"You can. People can help you. He's helped pretty good so far. You're happy with him, I like him," he says as he wipes a tear from my face.

I look at him confused again, "Wait. You what?"

He smiles at me kindly and kisses my head, "He's a good guy. I'll miss you Toni but you'll be okay. You'll live just fine without me."

He starts to walk away and my heart shatters even more. "No, you can't. You're supposed to stay, we were so supposed to be together. We were supposed to grow old together," I cry out at him but he continues on walking away. My sobs come out choked and my throat began to burn. The sky had turned gray by now, huge storm clouds looming over me as he still walks away. Thunder rumbles angrily and lightning flashes all around me. Suddenly a flash of white crackles right in front of me.

My eyes bolted open, the bright sunlight peeping through my curtains, temporarily hurting my vision. I look around and see that I am in fact in my room. God that felt so real. It felt like I was actually holding him, but the only touch I can feel is Niall. I immediately feel safer at the fact he is here next to me. Niall's arm was wrapped around me, his body pressed warmly against mine. We fit together like puzzle pieces, our legs intertwined with each other. I slightly rolled over in his arms, turning to face him and admiring his sleepiness. His hair was all ruffled and his eyelashes practically touched his cheeks, the sight calmed me right down. I slowly reached up and gently kissed the tip of his nose and sunk back down into the bed.

His eyelids twitched slightly before carefully opening them, revealing his piercing blue eyes. He smiled down at me before pulling me closer to him, and kissing the top of my head. He pulled back and huskily spoke, "Mornin' darlin'."