Care for me (L. S.)

15

Monday the 21st of September | Niall

"Who do you think did it?" he asked, throwing a piece of chicken nugget at Carl and absentmindedly watching the dog devour it.

"Huh?!" Alice nibbled at her sandwich.

"The complaint."

"Oh. Dunno." She frowned at the ground.

"I bet it's Marco's parents. I mean their last name is 'Smith', surely they like getting people accused of stuff in front of everyone."

"Hmm"

"Something wrong?"

"No." She shrugged. "It's just Eleanor. The police were asking her all these weird questions. She was so close to crying and they just kept going. And now everyone's looking at her weird. I feel so bad for her."

"Right." Was this a good moment to tell her he totally forgot about Louis having a girlfriend?

They were sitting on a park bench during lunch break. It kind of became a habit over the year they've been together: he and Alice would go to the flat to pick up Carl and then they would get some food and sit down while they let Carl run around on the carefully mowed lawn and let out some energy (which was actually very much not allowed, but the park was nearly abandoned this time of the day so they never got caught).

"Hey Ni," she asked, her head resting on his shoulder and her legs on top of his.

"Hmmm."

"Um. Okay so I want you to answer this question in all honesty."

Niall immediately stopped eating and turned around so he was facing her.

He looked her in the eye worriedly.

"What is it Al?"

"Just promise you'll answer truthfully."

"I promise, baby just tell me."

She took a deep breath. "Do you think my nose is too big?"

Niall looked at her in confusion. "No of course not! Why would you think that?"

She shrugged. "It's bigger than average and my friends suggested I could have it fixed."

"What do you mean 'fixed'?" Niall asked, still very much clueless.

"You know, like with surgery," she said.

"What?! That's what your friends tell you? What the hell Alice?!"

She put her hands on his shoulders. "Hey, calm down. It was just a friendly suggestion. They didn't mean anything with it."

"I sure hope they didn't! Alice, listen to me very carefully, okay? You are so beautiful. You don't even know but you are. I don't know how many times I have to say it before you finally get it, but I'll keep saying it because it's true."

She escaped his gaze, so he put his fingers on her chin and made her look him in the eye again.

"I'm serious. You take my breath away. And can I tell you a secret?" he whispered as he came closer to her and pressed a kiss on her nose.

"Your nose is my favourite. It's so cute!"

Alice hid behind her hands in embarrassment. "Niall, we're in public."

"Al, there's literally no one around."

"Carl's here," she argumented. "You're making Carl uncomfortable."

Niall giggled. "Well then Carl can look away can't he?" And he kissed her face all over, not forgetting a single spot.

Alice started giggling and pushed him off gently. "You're beautiful too, you know?" she said and kissed him back.