Chapter 13:

Niall handed me the flowers and I grinned happily at him.

"You can go put those inside, if you want." He offered. I put them in the crook of my arm as I used my crutches to get back into the room. He helped me along and I put them in a vase right next to the flowers he gave to me last night.

"We have a driver waiting downstairs," Niall informed me. I nodded and together we made our way to the elevator. I felt butterflies gather in my stomach and I felt much more nervous than I had the previous night. For some reason, this felt more like it was my first date. Last night, Niall had tried to make it seem more like a friend date. But knowing this was going to be similar to my actual first date with Niall, I could feel the nervousness building. Niall placed his hand on my lower back as we walked to the waiting car.

"Where are we going?" I inquired as he helped me into the van.

"Well, in London, our first date was at this little one of a kind restaurant. So I found something similar, called Namis." He told me.

"This really means a lot to me, Niall, thank you." I was truly touched. This boy obviously really cared for me if he went to all of these extremes. "I don't know how I got so lucky and I know I'm kind of messed up right now, but it means a lot."

"You are not messed up. At all." Niall contradicted, "We're just at a very interesting point."

"I just wish I didn't have to ask you everything, I know it's getting annoying. And I hate having to ask." I sighed, turning to look out the window. I felt a hand sneak into mine and I turned back to Niall.

"We're all in this together."

"Alright then, Zac Efron." I teased, laugh spilling out of my lips. Niall smirked before starting to belt out the words. I laughed before joining him in the horrible off-key version of the song. 

"We're here." The driver announced a few minutes later. I glanced out the window and saw an adorable little Italian restaurant. Niall climbed out of the car and grabbed my crutches before reaching up to help me out. Thank god I was out of the damned wheelchair. 

"Ready, my love?" Niall asked, holding out a hand. I gladly took it and readjusted myself on the crutches so I could continue to hold his hand. Together, we made our way to the small quaint restaurant. Niall let go of my hand to open the door for me. I smiled gratefully at him as I hopped my way in. 

"Hi! Reservations for Horan, correct?" The hostess asked the second we were both in the little area. Niall nodded and the hostess smiled and led us to a small booth in the corner. "You should have plenty of privacy. If you need anything, just let me know, alright?" 

"Thank you." Niall and I chorused. I placed my crutches in the corner and let out a deep breath the second I was seated. We both started looking through our menus, and a few items caught my eye. 

"What are you going to get?" I questioned as I continued to flip through the different choices.

"Uh, the chicken alfredo, probably." Niall replied. "You?"

"I was thinking the margherita pizza." I replied, the sound of cheese and tomato made me happy. I noticed a ghost of a smile on Niall's lips. "May I ask what is making you smile, Mr. Horan?"

"You ordered that on our first date." Niall said happily, closing the menu, his grin spreading.

"Then it's settled, I guess I'm getting it today as well." I laughed and placed my menu on top of his. We made small talk until our waitress came over. She was in her twenties and had blonde hair swooped up on the top of her head.

"Hi, I'm Marie and I'll be your waitress today. May I take your order?" Her thick Australian accent drawled. Her eyes finally left her notepad and her eyes widened as they settled on Niall. Oh great. 

"Yeah, I'll have the chicken alfredo." Niall smiled politely at her. She nodded and scribbled something down, eyes flitting between him and I.

"I'll have the margherita pizza." I added as I handed her the menus. 

"Drinks?" She inquired, hands still sprawling across the small notepad.

"Beer for me. What about you, Brook?" Niall tilted his head at me. I almost laughed at his adorableness. 

"I'll just have a beer and a water." 

"I'll be right back with your order." Marie smiled widely, eyes lingering on Niall before she practically pranced away.

"That was interesting." I commented once she was gone.

"Quite similar to our first date, although for our first date the lady was at least twenty years older and at least forty years saggier." Niall chuckled. I laughed loudly at the thought of that. "She was also much more of a flirt."

"Oh god!" I bubbled out through my laughter. "I can totally picture it, too."

"It was hilarious, she even tried to slip me her number. You got pretty jealous." He winked and I scoffed.

"I don't get jealous."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Do."

"Not!"

"Do." Niall chuckled at how worked up I was getting over it. 

"I do not and that is final." I crossed my arms and glared at him. He simply grinned at me, his crystal orbs sparkling. "So what did we talk about on our first date?"

"We played twenty questions, which sounds kind of lame, but hey. It was fun." Niall told me.

"Let's go then." I challenged. "I know you already know everything about me, but let's pretend you don't."

"What animal would you turn into if you could turn into any animal?" Niall shot at me.

"Wolf. Favorite place you've ever been?" 

"Uh, I'm really liking Australia. Don't really have a favorite though. Favorite member of One Direction?" Niall smirked.

"That's evil." I reprimanded. "But definitely Louis. Only because he's my brother."

"I mean other than your brother, because your brother is an obvious answer." Niall rolled his eyes at me.

"Fine. Most definitely, one hundred percent, it has to be.. Liam." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I see how it is." Niall fake pouted.

"To be quite honest, I can't pick a favorite yet. You're all so different and special. Uh, what do you order at McDonalds?"

"A Big Mac, large fries, and some nuggets." Niall recited without even having to think.

"Oy." I laughed.

"Favorite song?" Niall asked.

"She Will Be Loved." I grinned.

"Here's your food." The waitress interrupted us, placing the food on the table. She lingered behind for a bit. "Anything else you need?"

"Nah, we're good." Niall nodded in her direction.

"Alright, if you need anything, let me know!" Marie hesitated before heading off. I made a face at her retreating back and Niall stifled a laugh. 

******

"Uh, is that Louis?" I raised an eyebrow as we exited the building. Sure enough, a figure that looked exactly like Louis was resting against the hood of a car. He tried, and failed, at hiding his face once he realized we were walking towards him.

"Indeed. Figured you needed the whole first date experience." Niall winked and I almost snorted at  the fact that Niall even got Louis to play his part.

"So then what?" I questioned, noticing that the van we had rode in was no longer there.

"We try to lose him." Niall said with a cheeky smile, placing a hand on my back and leading me away from the building and away from Louis. I giggled as I pretty much hopped along with Niall, trying to escape my brother. I trusted that he knew where we were going and would not get us lost. We followed along the sidewalk, the restaurant walls next to us. I snuck a glance behind us and saw Louis following along at a distance, wearing a black beanie. Niall continued to guide me and eventually I noticed we were no longer near buildings. I almost asked where we were at, but decided to keep quiet. Niall seemed to know exactly what we were going to be doing. As I hopped along, I kept glancing behind me. Louis was no longer behind us and I assumed he had done his job. "Just a bit farther."

"How long did it take you to plan this?" 

"Uh, Harry helped me plan it out last night." Niall said offhandedly and I realized it probably took a lot more work than he was letting on. We silently made our way and the sidewalk ended, leading into a small park. Niall's hand was still resting on the small of my back as he gently pushed me to where we were supposed to go. 

"We can go sit on the bench over there." He directed and I obeyed, taking a seat on the nice little bench.

"This is beautiful." I commented, my eyes wandering around the small park. I heard the faint noise of children's laugher a bit far off. I assumed we were by a playground. "I've always loved parks."

"That definitely hasn't changed, although we don't go to them too often.." A far off look made it's way to the crystal eyes. I couldn't read the expression that was currently on his face and I suddenly felt forlorn.

"Because of the tour?" 

"I guess so." Niall sighed softly. I wanted to know what was wrong, but I didn't want to push any limits. It was amazing how quickly we went from laughing about dinner to sitting on a park bench and simply sitting there. I took a risk and let my head rest against his shoulder, he turned his head to drop a feather kiss on my forehead. 

There were parts of me that was just screaming warning signs, that I didn't know this boy as well as I should. That I shouldn't be taking this humongous leap. Was I moving too fast? If I wanted to remember, I would have to take steps out of my comfort zone. Plus, this wasn't technically new to me. I had done all of this before, I just couldn't remember it. That was the thing that scared me the most. I almost felt like I was living someone else's life. Like I had just been dropped into this other girl's shoes. I lost three years of my life.

"Can we walk by the playground?" I asked quietly after a few minutes of silence. Niall's eyes met mine, his face flashed hurt for a millisecond before he nodded. He took a deep breath before standing up and offering a hand. I took it and situated myself with my crutches. We started towards the park, but I could tell there was a slight hesitation with Niall. I couldn't quite place a finger on why he was acting so on edge. We reached the playground and I smiled as I saw all the children running around and laughing.

A little boy, about two, came running up to us. He had short brown hair and a wide smile, he reached up and handed me a blue flower.  He stood in front of us for a bit and I felt Niall tense beside me. Did he not like children? The little boy was absolutely adorable, I wanted to pick him up and cuddle him. I don't think his mother would appreciate that though. 

"Bye!" His voice came out squeaky as he waved and ran off to his friends.

"He was absolutely adorable." I sighed happily. I had always been a fan of children, they were so carefree and happy. 

"Yeah." Niall's voice seemed far-off, as if he wasn't all there. He had a far away look in his eyes. 

"You okay?" I raised an eyebrow at him. 

"'Course." He shrugged.

"We can go if you want too.." I trailed off, unsure of what was making him so strange. 

"I'm sorry, it's just.. Yeah." Niall said, his blue eyes meeting mine. Why did he look so hurt?

"Want to talk about it?" I tried not to push him for answers, but I was quite curious as to why he was acting this way. 

"Not yet. Soon, though." Was his answer as we made our way out of the playground. Suddenly I had the strange feeling that this all involved me as well. 

The feeling that I was missing something huge was slowly edging it's way back.