What Now? | N.H.

Chapter 26 | The Aldaine's

(Niall's POV)

My eyes flutter open and squint at the morning light peeking through the curtains. I reach my arms out craving her warmth when I'm greeted with a fistful of cold, empty sheets. A groan of disappointment escapes my lips as I force myself out of my bed and into a pair of grey sweatpants. I stretch my arms out and yawn as I pass the doorway. I run my fingers through my tangled hair, as I approach the kitchen the smell of sausage and eggs gets stronger and stronger. 

I walk out into the kitchen with a smile on my face as I watch Diana standing over the stove moving her arm methodically, stirring the contents of the pan. She looks over her shoulder and freezes. I look at her confused, she turns her whole body around towards me and tilts her head towards the couch. I trail my eyes towards the couch and see both of her parents sitting there sipping on cups of tea. She glances down and back up at me and I immediately regret not putting on a shirt before I left the room. To be fair I didn't know her parents were going to be on our couch. I immediately turn around and run back to our room as quietly as I possibly can and throw on a somewhat nice shirt and fix my hair in the mirror before walking out again. 

This time her parents were in the kitchen. Her mom is the first person to notice me. She sets down her plate and smiles at me as she begins towards me with her arms held out. 

"Niall! It's so good to finally meet you!" She hugs me tightly, Diana sends me an apologetic look before going back to what she was doing. 

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Aldaine,"

"Please, call me Fay. Mrs. Aldaine makes me feel old,"

"Oh, sorry,"

"Don't apologize, I'm old anyway," She sighs and smiles before turning away. I smile back at her and her dad approaches me. I'm not going to lie, he was pretty intimidating. He stood taller than me and peered down at me with those green eyes that had become so familiar to me. On top of that, he was a very strong, built man and looked like he could crush me with a single hand. He stares at me with a harsh, unreadable expression. I stare down at my feet unsure of what to do. I hear a laugh and look back up and the man's features had softened and he no longer looked like the daunting man he was before. 

"Marc," He says extending his arm towards me which I nervously shake. When he lets go of my hand he wraps an arm around my shoulder and laughs again. "Sorry, Diana was asking me not to look so scary and I don't think I look that scary so I had to test it out," 

"It worked," I mumble and he guides me over to the kitchen. 

"What did you do?" Diana takes one glance at me and then back to her dad. 

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything!" He jokes and lets his arm off my shoulder and grabs a cup out of the cupboard. 

"He looks like he's about to shit himself," My mouth opens in offense. 

"I wanted to see if I was scary," He fills his glass with orange juice and goes to sit down at the table. Diana rolls her eyes and wraps her arm around my waist. I kiss her hair lightly, she lifts her head off my chest and looks up at me. I kiss her again but, on her lips this time. 

"Awwww," Her mom cooes from the table. A blush paints my cheeks but, quickly fades when Di drags my arm over to the food. 

"I made you a plate," She picks up a plate and hands it over to me before fixing her own. "It's bangers, bacon, eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and black pudding," She had stopped what she was doing and started to count off the foods on her fingers.  "Oh! and toast," She reaches out and grabs a piece of toast fresh out of the toaster and tosses it at me. I catch it against my chest and take a bite out of the bread and smile.