hazy || niall horan

13. here and now

Niall is woken by a finger poking at his bruised cheek. The bruise has healed enough in the past few days so the poke doesn't hurt that bad but it definitely is hard enough to wake him from his slumber. 

He opens his eyes to a small blonde girl with eyes not dissimilar to his own. 

"Hello" he says, curious as to who she is. 

"Hi, what are you doing in Effy's bed? Who are you?" Her voice is curious, not accusatory and rushed as if she needs to find answers before someone comes back. 

Niall supposes that's probably what she's trying to do because when he looks to his right and see Aoife's side of the bed empty, he understands the little girl's hastiness. 

Niall's unsure of how to answer her first question so he settles with just answering the second. 

"My name is Niall. What's yours?" 

"Charlotte." The girl rocks on her heels smiling at Niall through her lashes. 

"It's nice to meet you Charlotte. I-" Niall is cut off by Aoife walking back into her room, a towel in her hands and her hair wet. 

"Charlotte what are you doing in here." She asks frowning at the young girl. 

"I was just saying good morning and I saw Niall instead and now we are friends." 

"Well we have to keep Niall a secret because if we don't we can't see him again and you can't be friends do you understand?

Charlotte pouts but nods her head, leaving the room shortly after. 

"We should probably get going. My da will be on his way to work soon and I don't want to risk running into him anywhere before we can get back to my house and pick up my car." 

"Niall are you sure this is a good idea? You've had a night to sleep on it, are you sure you really want to leave this close to end of term with no preparation?" 

Aoife looks at Niall, the bruise on his cheek and then down to her hands in uncertainty. She isn't too sure she wants to leave at this point either. 

What Aoife doesn't want to admit is that she's afraid if she were to leave, Niall would be bored of her in a day or two and ask her to kindly fuck off and then where would she be? 

In a town too far away for her to really have enough money to get back here. 

"I can't go back there, Aoife, I just can't." The pain and anger are evident in his voice and Aoife wants desperately to reach out for him. 

"But we can't leave Niall. The term is only half way done, we still have exams to fulfill. We need time." 

Niall lays back on her bed and places his arm over his eyes as if to block out the world. His shirt slips a little above his waistline and Aoife catches a glimpse of the hair just below his navel. She blushes and looks away. 

"I know, I just can't look at Robert and see anything but a monster." Niall looks back at Aoife, all doe eyed and for the first time since their meeting Aoife sees the child she saw in Niall that day. 

Aoife reaches for Niall, not on her own volition; she is overcome with confidence she wouldn't have in any other instance. His face is soft, save for the stubble at his chin that she strokes carefully all whilst looking into his cerulean eyes. He looks back at her, his brow furrowed but his eyes like molten puddles. 

They stay like this for what seems like forever until Aoife hears a door open.

"We better get going or we're going to be late for school." Niall's voice is just above a whisper but he slowly pushes himself up until the two of them are face to face, closer than friends really should be.

Aoife nods and takes a step back, sucking in a deep breath she didn't realize she needed.

"I'll just go brush my teeth and we can go." Aoife leaves to the bathroom, bracing herself on the sink and looking at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes bright and her hair a little frizzy now that it's dry.

When she arrives her room is empty but her window is open and theres a note lying on her window seal.

I learned to escape undetected ages ago. I'll be at the park when you're ready. -Niall

Aoife smiles and shakes her head. Crazy bugger. She makes her way downstairs and into the kitchen so as not to incite suspicion. 

"Aint that your old backpack Aoife?" Nothing gets past Patricia. 

"Spilt tea on the other, I need to wash it." 

"It's a little big for text books, no?" Patricia's eye goes up as she sips on her cuppa. 

"Spose to get cold later on today, I needed a jumper." Aoife doesn't make eye contact as she fills up a water bottle and grabs a bag of crisps from the cupboard. She takes mind to keep her voice calm even though she wants to tell Patricia to mind her business. 

"Well you better just mind that you pick up those girls on time today. I'll not have a repeat of last time." Aoife feels a sharp pain in her stomach at the thought that the younger girls of the house would someday not be picked up by her. If she left today, with Niall, she wouldn't see any of them again, and it would break her heart greatly. 

"Yes Patricia." She rolls her eyes as her back is turned and then promptly exits the house. 

She's frantic to see Niall, to drive to school together in fear of what people will think. 

Aoife desperately wants to know what Niall is thinking, if perhaps things look different in the light. She's never wanted to know anything or anyone like she wants to know Niall. 

For now, she'll settle for one day at a time. 

At least that's what she tells herself as she rounds the corner towards the park and sees Niall there, magically in new clothes and with his car, looking all sorts of dangerous. 

Dangerous because his black eye gives him a certain edge, and even more dangerous because Aoife wants him so so badly, and she can't stop herself from doing so.