Smile at a Stranger (1D/ Niall)

Gentle

Chapter 20

Summer POV

"Wait what happened?" Louis butts in, as Niall and I just stare at each other.

"Nothing." I reply.

"Nothing?" Niall sounds angry.

"Yeah, nothing."  I bite back.  Sending him the sternest look.

Before he can say a word, I grab my plate and glass and put it in the sink.  I hear forks starting to hit plates again, so I just walk into one of the bedrooms.  Figured it was time to just be by myself and go on my phone a bit.  

It's been about an hour now.  No one has bothered me.  They've been done with dinner for a while.  I've heard a few doors opened and closed.  They have the TV on in the living room area.  Some stupid game show I'm pretty sure, so I build up the courage to venture out there.  If Niall is out there, I'll just ignore him.  Seems easy enough.

But he's not out there.  It's just Harry, Zayn, and Liam.  I silently take a seat next to Harry on the couch.  I cuddle into him a little, and he welcomes it like it's the most normal thing.  The boys do get quite into Family Feud I must say.  It was very amusing to witness.

After watching this family win the $20,000 grand prize, Louis and Niall come bashing through the door laughing.  They're both wrapped up in towels but still soaking wet.  Louis ruffles his hair with his towel and takes a seat next to Zayn. 

            "Why are you wet, mate?  Isn't the beach closed by now?"  Zayn scoots farther away. 

            "We made a couple friends that knew a part of the beach that the cops don't patrol.  So we went for a late night swim."  Louis smiles ear to ear. 

            "Niall, you're bleeding."  Liam point to his knee.

            "Oh yeah, I ran into some driftwood."  He replies, walking over to the kitchen to sit down.  I didn't want to say anything, but it looked pretty bad.  "Shit, I think I still got some splitters.  Aw fuck these are gunna be a pain in the arse to take out."  He groans.  "I'm going to go put on some dry shorts." He walks into one of the bedrooms and closes the door.  

            "Need some help?"  Harry yells after a minute or two.

            "Are you kidding?  All of you would just rip it out."  Niall laughs.  Harry then proceeds to nudge me, which makes me give him a look. 

            "I'm sure Summer could be gentle."  Harry hints.  Niall doesn't reply, but I'd be a dick not to go help him.  Plus, I've seen plenty of injuries in my soccer days. 

            I walk around the couch and into the kitchen to get tweezers and a wet rag.  I knock on the door, and he opens it.  He gives me a little smile and proceeds to sit down on the bed.  I bend down to look at his knee.  He's got about three small pieces of wood and one bigger piece embedded in his skin. 

            "Ouch."  I say to myself.  I maneuver myself to have a good position to get it out.  I look up at his face.  His eyes look so trusting.  They shouldn't.  I have no idea how 'gentle' I can be while pulling out a splinter. "Ready?"  He nods.

            I slowly and agonizingly pull out one of the small pieces.  He winces and mumbles a couple of choice words.  "One down, three more to go." 

            "Louis, I told you going swimming on some shady part of the beach was a bad idea."  He puts his hand on the side of the bed-side table.  I set myself up to pull out another piece.