Chapter 20 ~ Niall
"Niall, wake up," I heard a voice say to me, a voice that seemed very far away. I just ignored it, turning on my side and snuggling back into my covers.
"Niall, for goodness sake, wake up right now!"
My eyes shot open instantly, realising that it was my Dad's voice I was hearing, and he was extremely pissed off.
"What is it?" I asked groggily, glancing at my phone to check the time. It was only 8am. What was he doing waking me up this early, especially during the holidays?
"I'm just letting you know that I have to go on a little business trip for my work," he told me, and I just groaned in response. Did he really think I cared what he had to do for his work? He was there more than he was at home, and he never usually bothered telling me what was going on.
"Mmhmm, okay."
"I'll be gone for a week, so I've left my debit card on the worktop down the stairs so you can buy food and other essentials. I'll be checking the account when I come back though, so don't go off on any shopping sprees or anything, because I will know," he warned, and my half-asleep self took a while to register all of his words.
"Okay, bye... Wait, what? You're going to be away for a whole week?" I suddenly felt so much more awake.
"Yes. I'm sorry it's short notice, but the guy who was supposed to be going is really ill, and I'm the only other person in the department who is able and ready to go a couple of hours after being told. My colleagues all have young families and wives, they couldn't just drop everything, but I know you'll be okay on your own."
I didn't even know what my Dad worked as, I just knew that he had gotten a really high-up job in a bank, and that's the reason we came here in the first place. One of the reasons anyway.
"If you need anything urgent, call your Auntie Sarah, but I'm sure you wont have to. Her number's on the fridge just in case though. If you have to contact me, phone my boss, and he'll put you through to me, but I don't want you bothering him unless it's a life or death situation, you got that? And if you want to, you can have some of your friends round, or go to there's, just remember to always lock the doors before you leave."
Sure, I've been home alone before whilst my Dad's been working, during the day a lot, but only for one night at a time, never seven. I'm not exactly scared of being by myself, I just get anxious and worried, because I don't know what I'd do if the house caught fire or if we were burgled or something.
"I have to go now, or I'll miss my flight. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going, but I'll let you know when I get there safely, and I'll give you more details when I know when I'll get home. Have a good week," he said, walking out and shutting the door behind him.
"Bye Dad, I love you," I told him, but as usual, he didn't say it back. Back in Mullingar, me and my Dad used to spend every minute together when I wasn't at school, but now it's rare for us to be sitting down and eating dinner at the same time. I had thought that because I was on a break from school, he would find some time for us to do some things together like the old times, but I guess I thought wrong.
Now, I was wide awake with nothing to do. I thought about getting out of bed to make some breakfast, but I was too lazy for that at the moment. I picked up my phone, and saw that I had a message from Harry that he must have sent me after I had fallen asleep last night.
'Goodnight, babe. Sweet dreams x'
After our little outing with Zayn, I've only seen Harry a couple of times. He's asked me if I wanted to hang out with him and Zayn again, but I always decline, making up some sort of excuse. It's not like Zayn is a bad person, it just annoys me that he's spending more time with my boyfriend than I am.
If Harry thought he was going to impress me with one little goodnight text, then he had another think coming. I was really upset that Harry didn't seem to be making any effort in our relationship anymore, it's been 4 days since we've last seen each other. At least he texts me everyday, but it's just not the same as being face to face. I miss his kisses.
Even though it was now only 8.30 in the morning, I decided to give Harry a call and see if he was awake. There's no way he would be with Zayn just now, unless he stayed over, but I don't want to think about that.
"Hello?" Harry's beautiful morning voice greeted me, him having obviously just been woken up by my phonecall.
"Hey," I replied happily, knowing my cheerfulness would annoy him this early in the morning.
"Why the hell are you calling me this early babe?" He asked, sounding grumpy, but I didn't care.
"Well, my Dad woke me up to tell me that he's going away for a week, something to do with his work, so I was wondering if I could stay at yours?" I asked, biting my lip uncertainly. Would we get bored of each other if we spent 168 hours straight together? If the situation was reversed, I would say yes in a heartbeat, but I'm not sure if he's going to. He might have something planned with Zayn, and I wouldn't want to distrupt that.
"Hmm, I don't know," he answered, but I could sense the sarcasm in his voice.
"A whole week with my boyfriend? I'll have to think about that one..."
"It's fine if you, you know, don't want to. I just thought it would be an idea, I would get so lonely all by myself," I told him, because I wanted to make sure that he knew that he didn't have to say yes just to please me.
"Of course you can stay with me Niall. I'd love it, my Mum would love it," he assured me, and a grin broke out across my face. Harry's Mum was so lovely and kind to me, and treated me like one of her own. I wouldn't say that she was a replacement for my Mum, no one could ever be, but it was nice to have her around.
"But you'll only be able to stay till Thursday," he told me, and my heart fell. Of course it was too good to be true.
"Oh, okay. Are you doing something will Zayn then?" I asked, trying, but failing, to keep the hint of jealously out of my voice. Even now, I was thinking of what else I could do instead. Anna was still away in France, but maybe I could ask Liam? I've only seen him once or twice so far, it would be good to catch up. We could go and play basketball again or something.
"What? No! You really think I'd kick you out because of that? You think that I'd pick Zayn over you?" He asked, sounding hurt.
"Well, isn't that what you've been doing for the last couple of weeks? Oh, sorry Niall, I'm meeting up with Zayn Niall, maybe another day Niall," I mocked, trying to keep my anger under control.
"I didn't know that you were bothered that much about it. I offered you to join us, but you always said you couldn't!"
"That's because I don't want to be spending time with you and Zayn. I want to be spending time with you and me, together, alone," I admitted to Harry.
"You should have said something babe! I would drop anything and everything for you, you know that right?"
"Yeah, I know," I sighed, ashamed of how silly I had been being. Of course Harry would have changed his plans with Zayn if I'd asked him to, but I never did.
"Next time something like that's on your mind, make sure you talk to me. We're going to have no secrets from each other, okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry Harry," I apologised.
"Don't be. And anyway, the reason you can only stay until Thursday is because I have a surprise for you."
"The surprise you and Anna were talking about before we finished school?"
"Yup, that surprise exactly," he said, not giving anything away.
To be honest, I had nearly forgotten all about that. When Anna had said that I was going to have a better holiday than her, I didn't believe her. The more time Harry spent with Zayn, and I spent alone, the more I began to doubt her words. But Harry seemed to be very proud of whatever it was, and knowing him and his romantic tendencies, I had no idea what it could be. I just knew that I was going to love it.
"Can you give me a clue?" I whinged, but I knew how stubborn Harry was.
"Nope, you'll just have to wait and find out!"
"But it's only Monday, Thursday is too long away!" I moaned, even though no amount of moaning would change his mind.
"Tough," he teased me.
"Can I ask you one question?" I pleaded.
"Depends what the question is..."
"You said I couldn't stay at yours, so does that mean we're going out of town?" I questioned excitedly. I hadn't left Cheshire since I've arrived here.
"Yes, but I'm not telling you where we're going. It's nowhere fancy though, so don't get you're hopes up. And it's in England, so no-where abroad. All I'll tell you is that we're getting the train on Thursday, and then coming home on Saturday morning."
My brain was working hard to try and process all the new information that I had just heard, and trying to figure out where he was taking me.
"I thought we just agreed that there would be no secrets between us?" I said, trying to guilt trip him into divulging the location of our little trip.
"It's a surprise, not a secret. There's a difference, Niall!"
A/N - This is the final filler chapter, I promise! After this it's all drama drama drama until the end ;) I can't believe that this story is on chapter 20 already :O And thank you so much for over 4k reads, that's amazing! I hope you liked it!
