Aftershock [ One Direction]

Chapter 16: Epilogue

Chapter 16

Once we arrived at Nandos we took a seat at one of the tables.  After we ordered all the boys turned their attention to Niall.

“Niall, can you promise never to try to do anything like that again?”  Liam asked, looking sternly at Niall.

Niall let out a sigh, looking down at his hands.  He didn’t answer so Liam cleared his throat.  “Niall?”  Zayn asked this time.

Niall looked up with a small smile playing on his lips and he turned to me, grabbing my hand.  I gave him a reassuring smile and stroked my thumb on the top of his hand.

He turned back to the boys with a bigger smile now.  “I won’t ever do anything like that again, I promise!”  The sincerity in his voice almost caused a visible sigh of relief from the three other boys. 

“That’s good to hear mate.”  Louis said, patting Niall’s shoulder.  “We wouldn’t know what to do if we lost you too.”  He added quietly, looking down.  I got up and hugged Louis.  Zayn, Liam, and Niall followed me in this action, so we ended up in a group hug.  Someone cleared their throat, “Um, heres your food.”  The waiter said awkwardly.  We all sat down and ate our meal, every once in a while laughing at Niall’s hurried eating and the constant jokes Louis would say…  This felt right, we were all happy.

After we finished eating, we waited for the bill and chatted for a little bit longer and I said I had to go to the restroom.  Louis made a stupid joke about not falling in and Niall busted up laughing, causing half of Nandos to take notice to him but thankfully at this time there were only older people who didn’t think anything of the four famous boys.

I got up and went outside, searching in my purse for the little thing I had wanted all day.  Once I found them in my bag I pulled out one of the cigarettes and lit it up.  Taking in a drag, I heard the door open beside me and turned to see who it was.  Niall and the other lads stepped through the door. 

“Cora, what the heck are you doing?  Those things are going to kill you!”  Niall said, his face getting a little red.  The other boys were inching back to the car, trying to remain unobtrusive.

“Niall, calm down.  It couldn’t possibly hurt!”  I said, flicking the cigarette on the ground walking towards the car.  He scoffed like what I said was completely senseless.  When we were in the car, there was an uncomfortable silence. 

I reached out to hold Niall’s hand but he flinched away.  I don’t understand it was just one cigarette…  I’ll stop if it was that bothersome to him. 

When we got back to the flat the boys went inside the flat right away but Niall grabbed my hand and started leading me down the sidewalk.  I let him drag me along for a while but he wasn’t saying anything so it was leaving me restless.

“Niall, where the hell are you taking me?” I eventually asked.

“We need to talk and well I need a breath.”  He answered simply, not looking at me. 

After a while of walking, I finally recognized the path we were walking.  He was taking me to the clearing in the woods.  When we arrived to that spot, he did as he did last time and laid down right in the center.  This time I didn’t hesitate to follow and lay down next to him.  I cuddled up to him, laying my head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around me.

“I love you.”  I whispered to him.

“I love you too Cora.”  He said, kissing the top of my head.  I breathed out a sigh in content, feeling the sun warm my skin.

“I won’t ever smoke again.  I don’t want you mad at me.”  I said after some time of silence, looking up at him. 

“I could never be mad at you, I just don’t want to ever lose you.  Especially to something so meniscal and stupid as smoking.”  Niall said, staring deep into my eyes.  His blue eyes literally gave me shivers.

“Still…I’m never doing that again.”  I stated, resuming my place on his chest pulling the pack out from my back pocket and throwing them somewhere in the woods...

“Why did you do it in the first place?”  He asked.

“I’m not completely sure…I figured that they would somehow help me feel better.”  I said sighing.

He chuckled which surprised me.  I sat up and gave him a questioning look. “What’s so funny?”

“You don’t really see how each one of the guys, including myself, have been trying to make you feel better…”  He said sincerely.

“No I do.  I just don’t want to accept it.”  I said staring back into his eyes.

“Your quit foolish, you know that right?”  He said, poking my nose.  I scrunched up my nose.

“I know.”  I smiled and got up, grabbing his hand pulling him back up.

“Come on, I wanna show you something.”  I pulled him along side me, walking toward the secret place.

When we were in a walking distance from the shed Niall spoke up for the first time since we got up.  “Is that the shed you were rummaging through?”  He asked, completely confused.

“Yup.  Its Harry and I’s secret hiding place.”  I said, grabbing a hold of the doorknob and gently opening it.  I stood by the side, keeping the door open for Niall.  He stepped in past me, completely fascinated in the shed.  Its funny how the simplest things still keep him interested, even after having anything he could possibly want, this old secret shed has picked his interest. 

He turned towards the book shelf and ever so slightly slid the tip of his index finger against each of the old books.  Then he went to the pictures on the walls and stared at each picture intently.  I walked to the middle of the room and waited for him to say something.  He turned around and stared at me, “It’s pretty neat in here, almost like its been frozen in time in this forest.”  He said, wonder flashing through his incredible blue eyes.

“Yeah that’s why Harry and I wanted it to be our secret place.”  I stepped forward, hugging Niall around the waist still looking in his eyes.  “Can this be our secret place too?”  I asked.

He seemed slightly dumbfounded. “No.  This is Harry and Your secret place!  I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  He broke his eye contact from mine to look around the small place again. 

“I think Harry would want it to be our secret place.  I mean he loved you too.”  I chuckled slightly.  “Obviously not the way he loved me but you get the idea.” 

He gave me a small smile and leaned forward pecking me on the lips.  “Okay.”  Was all he said.  It was good enough for me.    I look into his blue eyes again, feeling complete…

“I love you Niall.”

“I love you too, Cora”

I can honestly say that that wasn’t the last time we went to our secret place.