Chapter 30:

I stood in front of the mirror, trying to decide if this was the right dress or not. A soft knock sounded on the door and I immediately granted access. Juliet came in and lent against the wall, arms crossed as she examined my outfit.

"Adore this dress, it's absolutely adorable. You'll have to let me borrow it sometime," she stated after a minute.

"Do you think Niall will like it?" I hesitated, fingering the material with doubt.

"What I know is that Niall likes you, I honestly don't think it'll matter what you wear. You're a beautiful, somewhat confident, girl. Own it!" Juliet said, taking a few steps over to me so she could hug me. 

"I just, I feel like Niall is such a perfect boy. He's the perfect prince. He's immature and slightly perverted sometimes, but truly, he's an absolute gem. Lately I've been feeling like I just don't deserve him, you know? He's this huge, well-known popstar with a huge heart, a caring spirit and he honestly treats me like a princess. I don't deserve it, especially with everything I've put him through the past four months. What, with not knowing, not talking to him, kissing Josh, practically ditching him after finding out we almost had a baby together.. It's like I've done horrible things to him and he takes it all with a smile. He'll press a kiss to my forehead or cheek and tell me it's okay, that he loves me. I just don't deserve it, but I'm trying.." I ranted, practically collapsing onto my bed, trying to squeeze my eyes so the tears wouldn't spill over.

"Oh, Brook," Juliet said sadly, pulling me into a hug. I leaned into her shoulder, refusing to let even one tear shed. "You need to talk to Niall about this. He has plenty of flaws, believe me. He's not taking this as easily as he'd like you to believe, I've gotten an earful from Louis about how he got an earful from Niall. He's really understanding and doesn't want to overwhelm you, or scare you away. That's why he's been so sweet, not that he wasn't sweet before. You need to talk to him about this, believe me, I think it'll help." Juliet soothed, her hand rubbing comfortably on my back.

"I have to finish getting ready.. I'll talk to him tonight, I promise." I smiled weakly, trying hard to keep myself from crumbling.

"I'll help you. I can curl your hair? I have a new style I want to try out," Juliet jumped off the bed, offering her hand to me. I took it and let her lead me to a stool in the corner of the guest room. Immediately she plugged in the curling iron and looked down at me, a small smirk on her face as she started separating my sandy brown hair into different sections. "Niall won't even know what hit him."

~*~*~

"He's in the living room with Louis, you might want to hurry, I think Louis might be going big brother on him." Juliet warned, shooing me out of the room. With a hurried thank you, I bolted out of the room and straight into the living room. And straight into Niall. Literally. Straight into Niall. My forehead connected with his chest, almost knocking him off his feet.

"What the- Oh! Brook, it's you." Niall looked at me with confusion. His hand rested on my shoulder, trying to steady me.

"Well, I was right. Kind of. He didn't know what hit him," Juliet snickered before grabbing Louis' hand and tugging him away. Louis immediately started protesting, naming off random excuses for him to stay. "Save the protests for Jimmy, c'mon."

Louis halted to a stop, looking at Jules with wide, surprised eyes. "You did not just-"

"Heh, maybe. No! Don't hurt me, stop! It was a joke!" Juliet screamed as Louis started to chase her. Almost instantly, the room was left to just Niall and Brook. Juliet's squeals of 'sorry' rang through the entire flat along with Louis' maniacal laugh.

"I think we better leave.." Niall suggested, the left side of his lips tilted upwards in a half-amused smile. "By the way, may I say, you look absolutely stunning."

A blush worked its way up my cheeks as I looked down at my dress. The shimmery black strapless dress flowed out perfectly, reaching just above my knee. "Not too formal, is it?"

"It's absolutely perfect. We better go, reservations at five." Niall nodded towards the door, hand reaching for mine. Together we made our way outside where a black SUV was waiting. Niall helped me into the backseat and we made small talk on our way to the restaurant. 

My eyes were watering from a joke he told when we arrived at what looked like a top-notch restaurant. He led me inside where we were ushered towards a secluded table. The hostess presented us each with a menu before scurrying away.

"You okay?" Niall asked, noticing I hadn't really said much since we had arrived. I looked up from the fancy, long words on the paper and locked eyes with his crystal blue eyes. I was almost taken aback by how blue they were, something I did every time those eyes met mine. They were the perfect shade of blue, the shade of the ocean just before it crashed onto shore.

"Yeah.. Just, thank you. Thank you for being there for me, no matter what stupid mistakes I make.. And heaven knows I've made plenty in the past few months. It means a lot that you've stuck through it all with me, you've been incredibly patient." I said before taking a deep breath in. A smile was playing across his mouth, the shiny metal of the braces glinting in the light. "But Niall, you really don't have to always be happy around me. I know for a fact that a few times in the last couple months you've been fed up with me. You don't have to pretend like you're not mad at me. I don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of your kindness. I also feel like I don't deserve someone like you. Please, if you get angry with me, let me know. I want to know you have emotions too."

Niall's face flashed with understanding and I swear I saw relief flood his eyes. "Thank God. To be honest, when you told you had kissed Josh.. I was pissed off. I might have broken a plate or two, and Liam might have listened to me rant for fifteen minutes."

I felt my heart pang, I didn't even want to imagine how Niall felt. "This is exactly what I meant, I need to know what you're feeling. I haven't really been thinking about the fact that I'm not the only one struggling with my memory loss. It's taking just as big of toll on you and the others. I'm really sorry, I've been a bit blind."

"Sure, it's difficult for us, but you know, I would probably never be able to deal with it, especially with the ease that you are. Sometimes, especially lately, I completely forget that you don't know everything. You have no idea how proud I am of you," Niall smiled gently at me and I felt tingles in my stomach.

"Alright, new deal, we're going to be completely open with our emotions. If I ask how you're doing, I want you to answer honestly. Same goes for me," I settled easily, an entire weight lifted off my shoulders.

"Sounds like a brilliant deal," Niall concurred before holding up his wine glass. I bumped mine with his, grinning. "So, like, I was heartbroken the other day.. My nail, like, actually chipped. What even is that? It just broke my heart and I cried for hours!"

"Your girl impression is scarily accurate," I commented, a laugh bubbling out of my lips, "But girl, I have the best polish to fix that up for you."

~*~*~

"No way! No way! Niall, tell me this is a dream! No way!" I squealed as we entered The X Factor building. Niall chuckled from beside me, his hand tightening in mine. 

"This way, Mr. Horan, Miss Tomlinson." A man announced with a toothy grin, his pudgy belly bouncing as he led us around the empty hall. Guess I should get used to walking around empty, VIP hallways. Especially if I was going to keep going on dates with Niall. We went up quite a bit of stairs and finally reached the top of the building. The man escorted us into a small area with a few seats, cupholders and a bird's eye view of the entire venue. A contestant was already performing.

"This is fantastic, Niall!" I exclaimed as I leaned into his shoulder. His hand landed just above my waist as he pressed a short, sweet kiss to my forehead.

"I'm glad you like it. We're going backstage afterwards and we can meet a few of the contestants," Niall smiled, eyes glued to the girl belting out on stage.

"I swear, you spoil me. My mum warned me of that the day we met at the hospital," I let my eyes scan the venue, people were everywhere. We were at the very top of the chairs, people a few rows in front of us. But no one had seemed to notice us yet, since we had kind of snuck in. About ten minutes after we had arrived, four boys set on stage. 

"Union J!" The announcer said in his announcing voice. 

Music started slowly, the familiar tune of Bleeding Love starting. The first boy started singing and a small smile made it's way to my lips at his velvety smooth voice. The chorus came along, the harmonies tight and beautiful.

"They're good," I murmured to Niall who murmured an agreement back. "You must know what that's like."

"I bet they're all shaking, on the top of the world and wanting to scream. All at the same time. That's how I felt when I was in that position," Niall replied, a fond expression on his soft features. It was as if he was having a flashback to the time when he and his bandmates were competing for a spot.

"I'm so proud of my little Irish cupcake," I said, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

~*~*~

"Oh my goodness, you're adorable!" I said excitedly as Niall and I met the four boys we had watched perform earlier. I felt the urge to pinch George's cheeks but I managed to keep my hands to myself.

"Uh, thanks." The boy laughed before turning to Niall with admiration clear in his eyes. "Honor to meet you, mate."

"You were brilliant tonight, in the beginning, I thought Brook was going to leave me for another boy band." Niall joked, blue eyes twinkling.

"That would never happen," I slapped him lightly across the shoulder while the four boys chuckled. "Now, how old are you George? Eighteen, correct? Good, you're my age."

"Oy, Brook, you don't want me to tell Lou, do you?" Niall turned to me, nudging me with his hip.

"I'm kidding. But really, you guys were brilliant tonight. You have undeniable talent, plus you're easy on the eyes. You're going to far." I said in complete honesty.

"Thank you so much," they chorused. Not quite in unison. A stagehand called for the boys so I snapped a quite picture of Niall with them, then Niall took one of me with them. They then scurried off, with waves. 

Once they were gone, Niall laced our fingers together. "You ready to go?" 

"Yeah, I'm exhausted. Plus I want to go to your rehearsal tomorrow. Darn it, I forgot to get George's number!" I smacked myself on the forehead, just as Niall started mumbling under his breath about how I needed to stop making him jealous. He tugged me out of the room, smiles lit across both our faces.