Take Me Back

11 - Jenna

My body tensed as I woke up to the freezing January weather. I pulled our comforter over Niall and I, then snuggled myself closer to him. His hot breath blew down my neck as his stomach rose and fell while he breathed. Taking in the moment, I drifted back to sleep.

About two hours later, I was awake again, so I crawled out of bed. I turned my head and saw a winter wonderland outside. Snow had kissed the ground with its delicate lips, making the whole city a bright white. I squealed a little, excited for the day. I crawled on top of Niall and started giving him little pecks to wake him up. His eyes fluttered open, and a soft smile appeared. He kissed me back, and I felt warm inside.

"What's the occasion?" I pointed to the window, and he mirrored my grin. "Snow day!" I nodded and kissed him again.

"Can we go skating, please? You know you want to..." I tickled his bare chest, making him squirm.

"Yeah, of course we can. Just give me some time to get dressed". He sat up, making me fall backwards. We both cracked up, just enjoying each other's presence. After we finished giggling like teenage girls, I rolled off of him so we could bundle up. I put on a pair of leggings, a t-shirt, and a long white coat. Niall wore a tan pair of pants, a white shirt, and a navy blue jacket. There was no way we could drive with the road like that, so we walked about ten blocks to the park with the skating rink.

"I haven't put on a pair of these babies in a long time. I might be a bit rusty". I explained to Niall, who was knelt down tying my laces. 

"Don't worry, I'll hold your hand. So, if you fall, we both look like idiots". I laughed as he helped me up off of the bench. We waddled over to the entrance, where there were already a lot of people. He led me onto the ice, and we both stumbled a little. I held onto the wall with a death grip. "Come on, love, loosen up. Have a little bit of fun". I reluctantly let go and pulled him closer to me. Hand in hand, we glided across the ice. Sure, I we fell a couple of times, but it added to the fun. After about a half hour, our cheeks were red as could be, so we went to get cocoa.

"Thank you, Nialler. January skating is my favorite thing in the world". He gave me puppy dog eyes, and I grabbed his hand. "Other than you, of course". He gave me a kiss on the forehead as we walked down the sidewalk with our steaming drinks. A couple of kids were in the grass, building a snowman. Niall tapped my shoulder and pointed them out to me.

"We should do that someday". My face dropped and I went silent. "Petal? Jenna?" I snapped out of my trance and looked to him.

"Oh. I actually wanted to talk to you about that sometime soon". I sighed, and spit out the news. "I don't think we should sleep together". His previous expression turned into a big frown. Niall dropped my hand to my side.

"Jenna, we're getting married. What do you mean, we shouldn't sleep together? You're gonna be my wife". I knew that it probably sounded crazy to him, but I thought my reasoning was good.

"I know that. But, I feel like if we do, things will be weird. You've never even seen me naked. I guess I'm trying to say I want to keep our marriage more like a friendship than a romance".

"Yeah, sure. If that's important to you, we don't have to". We walked in silence for a little bit longer until he spoke up again. "How do you feel about adopting a baby?"

"I'd get really attached and then with my luck, the thing will fall through and we'll never see them again. Either that, or it ends up hating me. Kids tend to hate me".

"No they don't. What about your little brother, or the neighbor kids back home? A big ball of sunshine like you is bound to be fallen in love with. How do you think I got here?" I fumbled with my ring a little bit and took his hand again while we walked back to the house.

When we got home, I could still tell that he was upset about our conversation. I hated seeing him like this, so I tried to cheer him up.

"One time". Niall looked at me, clearly confused, so I explained. "Our wedding night. One time, just like every other couple does. But nothing more after that". He grinned and pulled me into a passionate kiss. 

"Thank you, petal. But you don't have to do that for me if you don't want to. I mean, I'm not complaining, but I know you were pretty firm that you didn't want to". I touched his hand, moved by his kindness.

"I was. But I have to consider your feelings too, and I know you're still a guy, even though you're better than the rest". He smiled and wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you, Jenna".

"I love you too, Niall", I said as I buried my face into his chest.

The sun was slowly falling out of the sky as the moon rose. Since it was winter, it got darker earlier than usual. It was already past sunset by the time I started cooking some pasta for dinner. Niall sat on a barstool at the island, typing on his computer. He was working from home a lot more recently, going in only a couple days a week, so he had to do a bit of extra work after hours. Right now, he was doing status reports. Boring, I know. He must have read my mind, because he spoke up.

"Trust me, I'd rather be doing anything other than this, but I don't really have a choice". I nodded and went back to stirring the sauce. "I may have to let some guys go soon, too. Some of the recruits don't have very much potential. Even without them, we have great clientele, but it's just that they're good guys, and real close to us. But the company can't afford to keep players who haven't improved". I knew this would upset him a lot, and so I went and rubbed his shoulders.

"I know you wouldn't do it if you didn't have to. Just remember that it's whats best for you guys, right?" He faintly smiled at me and looked back down at his keyboard.

I saw the boiling water bubbling over, so I ran to turn off the heat. I strained the pasta and put it into two ceramic bowls. I pushed one over to Niall, who closed his laptop and set it aside so we could eat. I poured two glasses of wine, knowing we could both use one.

"Thanks, love. I appreciate you cooking us dinner". He was always such a gentleman, even with the simple things.

"You don't have to thank me for making us dinner, it's a basic thing to do".

"Yeah, but it's the little things that make my day". I gave him a cheeky grin that made my nose scrunch up. "But you're my favorite little thing". He loved to poke fun at my height, even though he was shorter than the average man as well. As revenge, I stole a bite of his pasta. His eyes widened, and a fake frown appeared on his face.

"Oh, now that's the last straw!" He got up and chased me around the kitchen, finally catching me and tickling me non-stop.

Later that night, Niall sat in our living room chair, facing the huge windows we had. He was playing a few chords on his guitar, softly singing along to them. I saw what he was doing, and walked over to him. I sat on his lap and snuggled myself close to him as he continued to strum.

"I love it. Keep going". I rested my head on his chest, and felt it vibrate as he sang. We watched the snow fall down in front of us as we slowly fell asleep in our own little world.