Crossroads of Life

Chapter 7

Niall’s POV:

My heart sank a little. “But I might just try to kiss you.” Why did I have to say that? I must be stupid. I just wanted to kiss her so bad. I don’t even know why. It’s like she had hooked me with a fishing line and was slowly reeling me in.

When she said she didn’t want to kiss me, she had joked about it. Maybe she thought I was kidding? Or was she just avoiding her real feelings? Or maybe she didn’t want to kiss me, simple as that. I was driving myself crazy with these thoughts. I layed in bed under the comforter, staring up at the ceiling. I ruffled my hair as my mind replayed the scenes of tonight in my head.. I could almost feels her lips brush against my cheek.

After we tucked Zayn, Harry, and Louis in bed, Liam and Danielle crashed, and it was me who ended up walking Bailey home. Not that I minded of course. We walked up the driveway and down the street. My hands sat in my pockets as we made our way down the sidewalk.

I looked over at her, her face illuminated by the street lamps.

“Hey Niall?” she asked suddenly.

“Yeah, Bailey?”

“What’s it like, being famous and all?” she glanced over at me and I caught her eye. She quickly looked back down at her feet and I could just barely make out the pink color forming on her freckled cheeks.

She was cute when she was shy like that. Sometimes she was so outgoing, but other times she slipped up and let her shyness show. It was her shyness that made me want to kiss her. Made me want to show her how beautiful she really was.

Her hair blew in the wind again and she pulled on the half sleeve of her dress. “Niall?” she asked again, shaking me back into reality.

“Oh, well, um. It’s.. different, I guess.”

“Well, you know, I kind of figured that..”

“I mean, I miss my friends and family a lot, but the fans and the experiences make up for it by a long shot.”

“Oh, well that makes sense,” she said plainly. She looked back down at her shoes and I could tell she was thinking about something by the way she bit down on the corner of her bottom lip.

“Why?” I asked, prompting her further.

“I was just wondering,” she said cheerily, skipping ahead of me.

“Well, now ya know!” I said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Are you excited for the tour?” she shouted back at me, while looking over her shoulder.

“Of course, you’re gonna be there!” I didn’t even mean to say it out loud, it just burst out of me like air out of popped balloon.

“Stop it,” she blushed, as she fell back into pace with me.

“I’m looking forward to visiting America,” I stated, making an attempt to change the subject. “You can show us all the best places!”

“And the best food.”

“That is one thing I can definitely appreciate.”

“Yeah, I bet. It’ll be wicked fun; I can show you all the places I grew up around, while we’re in Louisville. I’ll take you on the duck boats, or to a ball game or something,” she smiled.

“The what boats?” I asked.

“Nevermind.” The grin on her face grew slowly as she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky while we walked. She closed her eyes briefly and I stole a glance at her.

The street lights caused her eyelashes to cast small shadows on her face. Her nose was scrunched slightly from her smile.

“BEEP!” a car horn honked, forcing me out of my thought and back to reality. Bailey jumped a little closer to me at the honk, her eyes open now. “London bridges falling down, falling down..” I looked over at Bailey as she hummed softly into the wind. “Falling down.”

“London bridges falling down, my fair lady,” I sang along quietly, wanting to to be able to hear her voice over my own.

“Take the key and lock her up, lock her up. Lock her up,” she sang a bit louder now, gaining confidence as she went.

“Take the key and lock her up my fair lady!” I matched her volume and reached over, engulfing her in my arms. She let out a fit of laughter at this and I pulled her down the street.

“Niall, let go,” she gasped between giggles.

“I can’t, I have to lock you up,” I told her.

“Niall, come on.. my..lungs..hurt!” She grabbed at her sides as I picked her up by the waist  and pulled her down the street. Only when we were feet away from her block of flats did I set her down on the pavement.

She reached over and smacked me on the arm with her clutch.

“I did not deserve that,” I said indignantly.

“Twice in one day now you’ve kidnapped me.”

“I wouldn’t say kidnapped, more like.. I.. took you on an adventure. I brought you home, didn’t I?”

“You most certainly did,” she answered. She glanced down at the ground and then back up at me. One hand still grasped her black bag, the other hung loosely by her side.

I slowly reached for it, and wrapped my fingers around her hand and smiled at me, her fingers wrapping around my own.

“I had fun tonight,” she said. “You’re really funny.. different that what I expected.”

“Well, what did you expect?” I chuckled lightly.

“I don’t know.. it’s just you’re so.. normal. Well, normal-ish,” she corrected herself. “I’m not sure ‘you’ and normal’ can really be associated with each other.”

“You don’t say?” She tilted her head up at me, a questioning look spread across her face. “Yeah, you’re definitely different babe.”

I took a small step closer to her, desperately wanting to close the gap between us. I stared into her eyes, and the next thing I knew, her face was inches from mine. She stood on her tiptoes lightly as she slipped her arms around my neck. I paced my own arms around her waist and pulled her in as close as possible.

Her lips grew closer and closer to mine, and all of a sudden, they were home. Our lips danced together, just like we had in the club earlier that night. The kiss was soft, gentle.. a whisper of lust. But it made me feel like I was on top of the world. I felt her pull away and I resisted the urge to pull her closer again; all I wanted was to hold her. It was hard to believe I only met her yesterday.

Bailey Decker. I had fallen for her. In one night, she was my everything. Why? Why was it that easy? I watched her turn and walk into her building and for a second, I just stood there on the street, wonderstruck.