The Secret Princess (N.H.)

Chapter 8: The Night Before

        It’s mid-December, about four months since Niall asked me to be his girlfriend. I went back to school to finish my last quarter at the London College of Fashion with Cassandra; we’re graduating tomorrow! It’s been a long and amazing four years, and I know it’s going to keep getting better.

        Niall and I have been doing really well; we’re starting to come out of the “honeymoon phase” and opening up a little more everyday. We’ve been sleeping in each other’s beds, just sleeping and cuddling, nothing else. We’ve also learned more about each other, and I love having someone to share life with on a deeper, more significant level.

        Liam is coming around to the idea more; he sees how happy Niall and I are together, and individually. I never realized how much I actually miss being around Liam since he’s left for X-Factor; it’s been really great falling back into our old antics and spending quality time together, catching up and enjoying our maturing relationship.

        I’ve grown closer to the other boys too. Louis’ pretty protective of me like an older brother, a habit out of having five younger sisters, and he’s really fun to hangout with. Harry is like a younger brother to me, despite that he’s actually sixteen days older than me. We purposely start little bickering fights to annoy each other out of good fun. He’s protective of me too, and I’m pretty protective of him as well; people tend to forget that he’s the youngest in the band because of his charms and maturity. Zayn’s really fun to be around, which I found kind of surprising at first. He always has good ideas of what to do; he’s also very artistic. He’s drawn a couple portraits of me, which I absolutely loved, to add his collection. His collection is portraits of people he admires that he’s hand drawn. He’s also protective of me since it’s out of nature for his younger sisters.

        Right now, it’s the night before graduation. The boys said they had something planned for tonight, so they decided to cook dinner for me tonight. Yeah, the boys are cooking; I’ll be the judge whether they actually can or not. They insisted I go hangout in my room so I can’t see what they’re cooking; so I’m currently watching one of my favorite movies, Tuck Everlasting.

        It’s a bit different from the book, but it’s about this girl, Winnie Foster, who explores the woods her parents own and meets a boy named Jesse Tuck, who was drinking from this spring. He explains that she can’t drink from the spring, and he whisks her back to his home where his parents and older brother live, explaining that the spring holds the power to immortality. A man in the yellow suit wishes to drink from the spring, and the story just goes on from there. I always loved the love story between Jesse and Winnie; it’s so sweet and romantic. And Jonathan Jackson, who plays Jesse, is so gorgeous, making the movie a thousand times better.

        There’s commotion downstairs for few seconds or so; I’m tempted to go and check on the boys but I know they’ll scold me. And I know they went out of their way to make tonight special so I let it be. About half an hour later, there’s a knock on my door, and a certain boy with blonde hair comes through.

        “Hey love, dinner’s ready. May I escort you down?” Niall asks, holding out a hand. My

        “Yes you may Ni.” I reply and take his hand into mine, intertwining our fingers together, as we walk down the hall. My fingers feel smooth and soft in his rough, but yet, soft hands. He drops my hand and covers my eyes with both of his.

        “No peaking Malea!” Niall says into my ear as I nod. He guides me through the house, probably towards the dinning room. As soon as we stop, he removes his hands from my eyes and I gasp. The boys stood at the opposite end of the table with the biggest grins on their faces. The dinning table is decked out with all of my favorite foods:   macaroni and cheese, tacos, warm bread rolls, shrimp pasta and a salad with apples, walnuts, goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette. The boys also made some steaks since they needed something more filling.