Seeing Blind |NH|

Chapter Seven

I didn't see Esta the next day. Management kept us all until as late as possible to go over the next several weeks. By the time I had gotten home I was so beat that I could hardly think. I didn't even think about letting her know. I just went straight to bed.

We had a couple of days off, so I literally slept and stayed in bed all day the next day. The day after, though, I managed to get my ass out of bed and get presentable for the day. Once I'd had a shower, I knocked on Esta's door. No one answered.

I was about go back in when her door opened. "Niall?" she said, softly.

"Hey, sorry if I bothered you, I, uh, just wanted to stop by. I'm sorry about the other day, I was exhausted and got home late and literally spent all day yesterday in bed being a lazy ass--" I stopped. She had a small smirk on her face. "What?"

"Nothing. Seems we both are concerned about the other not wanting to be our friend."

"I am. I enjoyed hanging out with you the one time we hung out."

"Two times."

"Huh?"

"Technically, you could say we hung out twice. Once the night before and once the morning after."

"Oh, yeah, I guess you could."

"So, what's up?"

"Huh?"

"You knocked on my door."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Are you busy today? Would you like to hang out with me today? Actually, with me and a few of my friends? We were all thinking a day at the beach."

"Sure!' she said, huge smile coming onto her face. "I love the beach. Give me ten minutes."

I chuckled, "Okay, see ya in ten."

She went back inside to get ready and so did I. 

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While I drove us to where we would meet up with the lads, Esta and I just kind of chit chatted.

"So where did you go?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Your trip? Where did you go?"

"Oh, um, we went to Colorado and Arizona. Went through Grand Canyon National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Great Sand Dunes National Park."

"And you needed your phone off for that?" I asked.

"Yeah, whenever I go anywhere, even if it's domestic, I like to unplug, you might say."

"Oh, okay.  How was it?"

"Pretty good....for the most part. I think my favorite was the Grand Canyon. Oh, look," she said, pulling out her phone and bringing up a picture of her with her back to the camera, arms stretched out, and the Grand Canyon stretched out in front of her. "Cheesy as it sounds, you really do feel free. And so incredibly small. Same feeling of smallness at the Sand Dunes."

She showed me a few more photos of her adventures. Oddly, not a single one was with Jace. He must've taken the picture but still odd that none had him in them. I wanted to ask her about what happened but thought better of it.

When we got to the beach, I parked and tried calling the boys to figure out where they were. No one answered, of course.

"Well, I don't know where they are. I see Liam and Harry's cars so they're here somewhere," I said, grabbing my stuff while she grabbed her bag.