Moments With You (One Direction)

Chapter 21

“Are you sure about it, Kol?” her dad asked her with concern as they had a Skype call. Her mother was currently beside her father in the screen, and their faces showed exactly how they felt about the news.

“Yes and no. I’m nervous, but…it’s the good kind.”

“I don’t know. I always thought you’d end up with someone else,” Dad explained, rubbing his eyes as he took off his glasses. “To me, Niall will always be that great love that you had your adventures with, but, you would end up settling down with someone who had a grounded perspective with life.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how your dad just doesn’t like celebrities,” her mother, the compromiser, mediated. “I think, Kol, that you’re rushing into things. You’re only twenty-two. You have a few more years to think about it, and you’ll meet a lot more people.”

“I think that you’d eventually fall for someone who is a lot more serious, to be honest,” Dad said.

“I thought you liked Niall, Dad.”

“I do like the guy. I just think that you should wait a few more years and look through eyes that don’t have love goggles on.”

“It’s just a lot to take in, Koly. We’re both surprised.” Mom looked over at Dad and they shared a look that Kol could not interpret. “But congratulations to the two of you. I think you’re old enough to decide what to do. You’ve been living alone for all these years. I think you’re responsible enough to know just how heavy marriage is.”

“It won’t be just cooking dinner and snuggling by the fire at night,” Dad warned. “You’ll have bills to pay. Responsibilities added. You might even start a family of your own. You get married, you’re set with him for life. You’ll be stuck with him.”

“Don’t say it like it’s such a bad thing, Dad. I love him.”

“We just hope you’ve thought it through, Kol. The idea of marriage is completely different from what it really is. Just think it through, okay? We have to go to bed now but we’ll talk to you again next week.” Mom smiled as she spoke. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Dad said. “Goodnight.”

“I love you guys too. Goodnight.”

The screen turned black as both ends logged out.

Kol dragged her fingers through her face, just processing what her parents had just said. What was she doing? Was she really ready to get married to anyone? She could hardly take care of herself, much less be responsible for another person. Niall had been the reason for her sanity, but what if it was the other way around? Could she be the pillar that he could hold onto? There were more challenges to come that were much more difficult than they encountered. Would they go through them and still come out strong?

He had already cheated on her once. How was she to know that he wouldn’t do it again? As nice as it was to think about the white dress and Niall at the end of the aisle, it was also nerve-wracking.

Breaking her long streak of not smoking, she went ahead and pulled out an emergency pack and took one cigarette and went out on the veranda to savor it.

*

“My parents were really great with it,” Niall said, leaning on the rails as the wind rushed by. He was with Marissa, catching up. So far, there hadn’t been any fans that had come up to him, so he had still managed a few hours of relaxation.

“Why though?” she asked, sipping on her can of Coke. “You have so much to do still.”

“Yeah, but they love her. The whole family loves her, probably as much as I do.” Niall couldn’t help but praise Kol. The prospect of having only one person to love for the rest of his life was sort of daunting to him, but he had managed to shake off whatever jitters he had about it.