December 16th 2013    Charlotte POV                           

“Alright… on the count of three…”

The man we had asked to take our picture held the camera to face us. We all put on our best smiles.

“One…”

I tried not to blink.

“Two…”

I leaned onto Niall a bit more.

“Three!”

The flash went off at the exact same time I squealed. I flew backwards when Lou tickled me from behind. He started to laugh hysterically while the rest of our group shook their heads.

Liam jogged away from the Eiffel Tower and took his Polaroid from the American tourist. “Thank you sir,” He said kindly. He checked the picture and gave us a thumbs up. I sighed of relief that I didn’t look like a screaming monkey.

“Oh Louis look how pretty it is,” Eleanor cooed up at the tower. “It’s so perfect.”

Louis wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close. “It sure is,” He said into the crook of her neck as he pecked her. She lightly flittered her eyes closed at his sweet touch.

I readjusted the tight scarf I had wound around my neck. My braid was stuck to the sweaty cold skin underneath. I shivered as a breath of cold air flowed by. Paris sure was cold in December. I started to rub my bare hands together.

“Let me,” Niall said softly. He came up in front of me. Then he gently took my hands, cupping them in his. While his crystal blue gaze never left mine Niall brought my frozen digits to his mouth. Lingering my hands just above his lips he breathed hot minty air on my fingers.  A small smile played on my lips. Slowly he blinked, breaking our eye contact for only a second. When they opened again I was hit with another wave of goose bumps and another fireworks display. My breath hitched.

“Who’s ready for some dessert?” Harry hollered excitedly. “Because that guy with the hot chocolate over there looks real happy.”

“I guess it is eight,” Liam checked his watch and mumbled. “Okay. Let’s go to that café we passed.”

“That’s what I just said,” Harry sassed.

Niall rolled his eyes, making me smile bigger.

“No that’s not what you said,” Liam argued back. “You said you wanted dessert.”

“Yeah. From the café.”

“Cut the bullshit Styles,” Eleanor added to the conversation. Perrie and I laughed.

Harry glared. “Remind me again why we took you on this trip?” A playful dimple deepened on his cheek.

“Because you can’t live without me, Harry. Admit it.”

“Okay can we just go now?” Zayn asked.

“Sure, let’s head out.” Liam initiated.

They all started to walk away, talking and laughing as they did so. Louis turned back to us and waved Niall forward. “You coming buddy?”

“Yeah just a minute,” He answered back. I furrowed my brow and Louis just shrugged, leaving us by ourselves as they went to the café.

I laughed as Niall stared at me goofily. “What are you doing?”

Without a word he took me by the arm.

The illuminated Eiffel Tower and starry sky flew by us as I was dragged in the opposite direction. I kept a raised brow. Niall finally slowed his trot when we got to a cute little flower shop that was closed for the season. He smirked at me before ducking into a dark alley between it and a closed library.

I sighed and followed him in.

It was dark and musty there. The air was a few times colder, the space a few shades darker. I hugged myself and tried to spot his face in the blackness.

“Niall what are we doing?” I asked. I looked around the empty place and shivered.

Niall centered my attention by taking my hands in his. The rest of the world was ignored by my flustered mind as Niall leaned down to kiss me. His mouth moved across mine; just as buttery smooth as it always was. I pressed myself up against him as quickly as I could, wanting to feed that fiery feeling in my stomach. Stars danced in front of my eyes. I took the back of his head in my hands, lightly running my fingertips through his hair. I felt his skin go bumpy at my touch. Niall sighed, parting our lips just a hair. I smiled. This forced us apart even further. To pull me back Niall dipped his hands under my thick wooly shirt. His palms rested on my bare stomach. I made a whining noise at the back of my throat.

Niall’s cold hands slowly worked their way up my warm torso. I had to remind myself to breath as I started to feel his fingers on my chest. I bit down on his lip.

Niall took this as a good sign. In that dark alley he pushed me up against the brick wall. His breathing was raged and hot as he trailed his mouth down my neck. I stood on my tip toes, wanting to get as close to him as possible.

A hand wound its way under my thigh. He picked my leg up and around his waist. I swung the other one over to hook my feet at the back of his jeans. With one arm Niall held me up. Our lips locked. I clenched the neck of his hoodie unbelievably tight. My knuckles were white. My fingernails made claw marks on my palms.

I could taste the cool mint on his breath. I felt the way his heart was speeding inside his chest. I smelled his fresh cologne that sent my nerves on edge. And I could sense the hunger that grew inside of him.

“Niall,” I gasped.

Niall backed away, slowly as if it was painful to do. “What’s wrong?” He asked. His voice was incredibly deep and quiet.

I took a moment to catch my breath. After I felt my chest rising evenly against his I whimpered, “We can’t do this here.”

Niall gritted his teeth. But then he nodded. “Okay,” He gave me a small smile and said. “Even though I want to.”

I looked down at my legs that were wrapped around him like vines on a tree. “I know,” Was all I said.

“Later?”

I trailed my eyes to look up into his. They were glittering with hopeful giddiness, even if his quiet mouth was not. “I promise,” I said so softly.

Niall used one arm to brace against the wall as he kissed me once more. He pulled away first, gazing down at me. “Good God I love you.”

“I love you too babe,” I told him back.

With a smile on his handsome face he gently lowered me to the ground. My feet touched the pavement with a light thud, my heart doing the same. Niall fell into step beside me as we walked to the café. Our hands were tangled up in between us.

We passed the Eiffel Tower again. The streets were deserted and the city had a sort of peaceful hush to it. Niall stroked the back of my hand with his fingertip as we walked, our feet disturbing rain puddles on the dull sidewalk.

Another gust of cold wind blew. I closed my eyes and shivered. My cheeks were red and numb.

Niall draped his only jacket around my already covered shoulders. I wanted to argue, tell him that I was fine and he would catch another cold. But I knew that he would just ignore me. Give me lies about not feeling the wind nipping at his cute nose.

The small little coffee shop came into view soon. Hour old raindrops dripped from the yellow awning up above the front door. Niall swung it open for me, stepping out of the way as I rushed into the heated building.

“Hey!” I heard Louis holler. I turned my head to see him and the others at a huge table at the back. I gave them all a smile.

“I’m gonna go get something,” Niall told me with a hand on my back. “What do you want?”

I thought about it for a second. “Surprise me?”

He smiled. Then he pecked a kiss on my cheek and took off to the front counter.

I wandered to the back of the café. Harry kicked out my seat for me from the other side of the table. I expressed my gratitude by sticking out my tongue. He rolled his eyes back into his head and did the same.

I planted myself next to Perrie. She grinned at me broadly, her pretty white teeth glowing behind her two dark red lips.

“Isn’t that Niall’s hoodie?” Louis pointed out with a jab his finger.

“Sure is,” I said. I slipped it from my shoulders, having finally gotten back to a normal temperature. I draped it on the back of the chair next to me.

Zayn shot me a teasing look before nudging Louis. “She still wants the lad to take off his clothes.”

As Louis laughed I groaned. “One time. I said it one time. Not to mention it was like, a year and a half ago.”

“You said it twice,” Harry corrected.

“I didn’t mean to say it!” I whined. This only made them snicker louder.

Louis made a big show of biting his lip and looking seductively into Zayn’s eyes. “Niall… Niall… Niall I think… I think you should…” He tried not to laugh as he finished mocking me, “Should take off your clothes now.”

Harry cackled.

I huffed hot breath.

“Leave Charlotte alone,” Perrie spoke up. “She was barely even conscious.”

“But she had to be thinking it in the first place,” Harry mumbled, looking down at his coffee cup.

I opened my mouth to retort but fiery Perrie beat me to it.

“She would haven’t have ever been unconscious in the first place if her three best friends hadn’t been such ignorant blokes that night.”

The table grew quiet. The other girls tried to hide smiles. We were all remembering that fateful night in Vegas… the night my purse was stolen and I ended up lost in the big city.

Harry huffed just like I had. “Charlotte admits to that being her fault, too.”

“I don’t hear her admitting anything.”

Everyone stared at me.

“It was. All of it was,” I said.

Eleanor shook her head from across the table. “They should have been with you, love.”

“You can say that again,” Liam mumbled.

Zayn glanced over at red cheeked Liam and then to me. “He’s still a tad upset about that if you can’t tell. He was worked up for a real long time.”

I blinked. “Didn’t seem like it, though.” I stared at Li with a cloudy memory. Had he really been that mad at us?

“Liam’s good about that,” Zayn told me. “He can keep a level head. Only because he knew us four had suffered enough. In his head? He was pissed.” Zayn stopped to take a sip of his hot chocolate. “Don’t let him fool you.”

Louis set his palm on Liam’s face. “Thanks for not killing me,” He said as he patted Li’s cheek.

“Oh believe me, I thought about it,” Liam replied slowly with a joking smile. “But I would have missed you too much buddy.”

Niall came up to us then. With his straight white teeth showing he plopped down on his chair. He spun a blue cup on the table in front of me. Then he laid a little brown bag next to my hand.

Louis looked up from his cookie and eyed my treat bag. “Ohhhh… what did you get?”

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. Deciding to find out, I peeked inside. There was a cute little chocolate pastry and a peanut butter cookie. “Thanks babe,” I told Niall. He gave me curt nod before ducking his face into his hot chocolate.

I picked up my cup with both hands. The heat from the chocolate seeped from the glass to my palms. I brought it to my lips, smiling as I saw the little rainbow sprinkles on the whipped cream. I glanced over at my boyfriend. We couldn’t stop the giggles that started to roll.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asked amusedly. He stared on with a slight grin.

I shook my head, unable to explain.

The first week of living together was great. The first day of the second… that wasn’t as nice. We got into a fight about something or other, ending with him sleeping in the spare room. I woke up the next morning to find a little tray on the coffee table. There was a cup of Starbucks, my usual morning smoothie, and a huge stack of pancakes. Everything was just covered in whipped cream, which was one of my new favorite guilty pleasures. Then on top of that were buckets of pretty rainbow sprinkles.

Needless to say I forgave him. And we used sprinkles a lot after that. It became sort of an inside joke.

“Can I try your cookie?” Louis asked.

I reached into the bag and pulled it out. After I took a teasingly slow bite I passed it to him across the way.

Harry then started to tell a story about some crazy shit he got himself into. Perrie and I laughed and relayed the day’s events. From across the table Liam started to flick sugar packets at Niall. Niall’s happy laughter rang throughout the empty café. Vintage Christmas music played above me. All I could smell was hot coffee and baked cookies. The air was warm and sweet. Sitting in that little Parisian café with the most amazing people in the world was all I could ask for that night. I had Niall’s hand in mine, my lips smiling giddily, and a heavenly cookie in my mouth.

And I was so damn happy right there and then.

 ********************************************************************************************

Niall POV

I was very happy.

It was past midnight. The interview was on hold while the commercials played on peoples TV’s. I was just casually sitting on the couch with Charlotte beside me. Her made up eyes danced around the live studio audience. She looked relatively chill.

“How’s it goin, love?”

She smiled at me. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“About?”

Charlotte leaned back into her seat and looked up at the ceiling. She bit down on her lip before slowly dipping to face me. “I was just thinking about how much fun this week is going to be.”

Those two brown jewels glittered at me teasingly. I lost my train of thought as my eyes wandered to her curled red lips.

“How’s it going with you?” Charlotte asked me.

“Huh?” I shook my head and cleared my throat. “I’m good. Very good.”

She giggled.

“Alright everyone take a seat!” A producer hollered.

Harry flew in beside Charlotte. He rammed against her, sending her tiny body flying onto my lap. I caught her clumsily as her arm went out to brace against my chest.

“Oops. Sorry,” Harry laughed. We both rolled our eyes but smiled.

“I’m HERE!” Louis announced as he took a seat on a raised couch behind Charlotte. “DO NOT FEAR!”

Liam went and sat beside him. Then Zayn went on the other side.

“We’re live in ten!” A heavy French accent yelled.

Our interviewer sat down on a chair adjacent to ours. The man took a swig of his coffee before running a hand through his thin black hair. I silently thanked god he could speak English; translators were not my favorite.

“Three, two, one!” The camera guy took his spot at gave a thumbs up.

“Hello, and good evening! I’m back live on Live at Late with the one and only One Direction!”

The crowd took a moment to whoop and holler.

“Now, before the break we were talking about your last signing tour. But now I want to know; what has One Direction been up to off the scenes? You’ve had a few months to catch your breath before the next tour: what’s everyone doing?”

“Well Phil,” Louis started. He swung one leg over the other and smiled. “I’ve just been back at home with my girl while she goes to uni. Taking a break. Not doing much.”

“What about you, Harry? Have you been hitting the dating scene?”

Harry laughed, his head bobbing backwards. “No not yet. I’m not looking, but if the right girl were to come around I would be ready.”

Charlotte casually looked back at Louis. They shared an eye roll. I knew that both of them were big “Harily” fans.

“And you two?” French Phil nodded to Charlotte and me, her hand on my bouncing leg. “The rumors say that you two are living together in Mullingar… care to elaborate?” 

“Yeah. We’ve settled down for a bit,” I answered.

“That’s a pretty big step for such a young couple,” Phil said.

“Charlotte’s nineteen and Niall’s twenty,” Liam added. “The big 2-O.”

Phil puckered his lip thoughtfully. Then he leaned forward in his seat, looking into Charlotte’s wide eyes for his next question. “You’ve gotten to be a pretty big deal this past year, young lady. What’s the hardest part about hanging with this classy group?”

Charlotte tapped her foot against the ground. “I would have to say…” She shot me a quick glance before continuing. I myself was curious about the answer. “Having to share food with the lot of them. They eat like crazy.”

Phil looked a little taken back but went with it, laughing a little. “Food? Not the fame or the fans?”

“Nope. That’s all been really great.”

“Wow. Well we think the same. You have a fan base, that’s for sure.”

A strawberry blush tinted her porcelain cheeks. Her smiling eyes glittered like chocolate gold as she stared down at her lap. I couldn’t help but drool over how pretty she looked. Her eyes lined with light makeup, her hair straightened down her back.

“To wrap it up boys I have one last question,” Phil said slowly.

“Shoot,” Liam replied.

“Well, I think I’m speaking for most of us when I say I’m curious about what’s next. Do you have another album? Are you thinking of slowing down this year?”

“We aren’t slowing down, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, what Zayn said. We’re planning on being real busy this next year,” I said. “More songs, definitely. And our tour starts this spring.”

A producer backstage rolled his hand, telling us to wrap it up now.

“Thanks boys,” Phil said with a grin. “And Charlotte. We really enjoyed having you this evening. And have fun in Paris, okay?”

“You got it Philly,” Louis cracked, causing the first few rows in the audience to giggle.

Phil looked again to the camera. “Up next we have our reporters on the streets, more money saving recipes, and another surprise guest. Stay tuned!”

The cameras stopped rolling and the little green light went out. Charlotte let out a deep breath.

“Thanks again, boys,” Phil said as he stood. “We should do it again soon.”

“Of course.”

He shook each of our hands before we were ushered off set. We removed our microphones from the under layers of our itchy clothes. Then we went out backstage to go through a private door. The alley behind the studio was dead quiet and very dark. No people were in sight to take our pictures and ask us questions. Our car was a few blocks away.

“That wasn’t half bad,” Zayn said quietly. He fell into step behind Liam and Charlotte. I stood next to Louis, who was trying to ride on my shoulders.

“Better than the last,” Charlotte added. “Thanks for not tickling me this time Lou. And I’m glad Harry decided not to yank one of the hairs from my head.”

“One time,” Harry defended. “That was one time and I couldn’t help myself.”

“I’ve only tickled you three times now.”

“It’s very embarrassing when I start to scream on live TV.”

He laughed, “Oh don’t be-” 

Lou stopped with a whine. His weight stumbled into me, his body crashing against mine.

We both landed on the cement.

“Louis,” I said in a panic. I started to shake him by the shoulders. “Louis!”

Tommo was out cold.

Harry started to run over. In the blink of an eye he hit the ground with a thud. His head smashed against the alley wall before sliding to the cobblestone.

My heart pounded out of my chest. What the hell was going on?

Liam stumbled back into a wall. His arm went behind to keep his feet from going weak. He tried to focus on my face; but his eyes refused to stay open. I watched on in horror as he slumped down on his knees: the blood drained from his face.

“SHIT!” Zayn shrieked. He squinted his eyes and fell onto his hands and knees. It was only a few seconds before he was pressed against the ground; his mouth hanging open.

I looked around the alley in terror. The only thing I saw was Charlotte standing a few yards away; her mouth covered by her trembling hands. Her shoulders heaved up and down as she stared down at Lou in my arms.

I had no fucking clue what the hell was going on.

But I knew she had to get out of there.

“Charlotte, go!” I screamed. “Get outta here! Go!”

She started to back away on hesitant feet. But to my horror Charlotte clutched her neck with a whine. With shaking fingers she pulled a little blue dart from where it pricked her skin.

Her eyes were wide with fear.

“Niall,” she barely whimpered.

“Shit,” I stuttered. I quickly set Lou aside and stumbled to my feet. I had to get to her.

As she started to stumble to the cobblestone ground I felt a sting to my neck. A fire burned where a needle seeped into my skin. The world was brought in and out of focus. The only noise I could hear was my unsteady heartbeat. I swatted blindly at my swollen feeling skin. My feet came out from under me. I dropped directly on top of Zayn.

Everything was dark.

Everything was quiet.

And that was when everything changed.