1944 [n.h]

chapter five

"Lilly take the water off of the hob, I'm seeing to Henry!" My mother called from Henrys bedroom as I sighed and obliged, dragging my feet to the kitchen and taking the pan of water off the hob. Henry had been sick for a week and my mother had had to take care of him so I'd been in charge of the bakery.

Niall had somehow heard, I presume from Ruth, that the bakery was empty all week and therefore took the advantage to come and pay me a visit. We didn't talk much, he just leant against the counter and watched the customers come and go, asking about them and their stories. Most of the time he was silent, but it was a welcomed sort of silence, it wasn't awkward or unwanted. It was peaceful.

But he only came by twice, out of a seven day week, so for the rest of the days I was alone. I didn't mind being alone, though. It gave me time to think, watching the town from behind closed doors, make up stories in my mind and create a world of my own. I enjoyed doing that, I made up past stories for customers, stories of tragedy and heart break or romance, I could do and make up whatever I wanted inside my head, I could create an entire kingdom, build it up, all inside my head.

"What do you want done with the water?" I asked popping my head in too Henrys stuffy bedroom. My mum looked worn out, bags under her eyes darker than my own, blood shot eyes and a sweaty forehead. She looked worse than Henry.

"I was just going to make some tea with it, would you mind?" She asked as I shook my head and went and made her tea. I left the tea on the side when I saw Ruth outside the kitchen window, waving and signalling for me to come down. Since we were children, Ruth and I had created our own system, made out of hand gestures and facial expressions, it was a five year olds game at first until we realised some of the ideas could actually come in handy.

I sighed and shook my head running to the mirror in the narrow hallway and pulling the filthy apron away from the green and white polka dot dress I was wearing, running my hand over my hair and ran down to her.

"What? Henrys still sick and I have to-"

"No no, you're taking a break!" Ruth insisted and grabbed my hand, pulling me through town as I frowned.

"And where exactly are we going?" I huffed as Ruth let out a girly giggle and turned to me with a mischievous look on her caked face.

"Robert told me to come and watch he and the boys do some training today, and I wasn't going to go all by myself, what with all those men around!" She laughed and shook her head, however, I knew that she wouldn't mind having all those men around whatsoever. I widened my eyes and topped in my tracks.

"Lilly? What? Come on!" She whined as I shook my head. I didn't want to be a third wheel between her and Robert, I didn't want to look that weak and needy. Plus, as per usual, Ruth looked absolutely stunning and I looked as if I'd just been dragged through a hedge backwards.

There was another reason, although I refused to admit it to myself. I didn't want to seem like I was tagging along just to see Niall, because I wasn't. But I didn't want him to think of me as the girl that has no friends other than Ruth and just follows her everywhere she can.

"Lilly please." Ruth sighed and looked at me sadly. She was trying to guilt me in to going. It was working.

I followed Ruth all the way through to the edge of town where the camp was based. There was a huge chicken wire fence surrounding the camp and inside were all these green huts which was where I presumed they all slept. I could see men in the distance, spotted around in various areas, some were doing press-ups and others were climbing up large wooden structures. All off which looked exhausting.

"So you just stand here on your own all day?" I asked bedazzled as Ruth shrugged and dumped her bag down by her feet, running her hand over her perfectly curled hair before whistling to catch one of the men's attention. A tall man with dark thick hair and red lips strode towards us, swinging his arms by his side wearing a smile. "Robert Mills and Niall Horan anywhere near?" Ruth asked as I looked to her with wide eyes. Why was she asking about Niall? I didn't want Niall to hear that we had asked for him, and for him then to come over and see me. I didn't want him to think I was asking for him.