Cleo Horan
It was three in the morning... and I was swimming.
I hadn't been able to sleep for two days now, since Niall showed up, and everything was seeming like a fucking fever dream. The numbness in my brain was replaced by my restlessness and I just couldn't relax enough to fall asleep.
That didn't stop me from pretending or taking short naps, but that was literally all I was managing to do. Harry, on the other hand, was sleeping like a rock and I really envied him. But tonight I just couldn't bring myself to stay in the room and stare at the ceiling, I was too agitated.
So that's how I ended up in the pool.
I'd been wanting to swim here ever since I first saw his pool, and the night was simply beautiful. The lights around the pool made the water seem an unreal shade of blue and it was actually quite relaxing.
I was swimming around or just floating in the water, enjoying the silence around me and focusing on controlling my thoughts. I hadn't felt this calm in a while and I was already very fond of this pool.
It was good to have some alone time to think, but it was safe to say that I was feeling slightly better now that I knew my brother was innocent and just as shocked as I was about this whole situation. I trusted Niall a lot and I knew my brother, the moment he looked into my eyes I just knew he wasn't guilty.
Harry was still being a dick about this because he got pissed off that Niall chose to break into his house, but like, what was he supposed to do? Harry knew it better than anyone else how stupid we could be when we were desperate. We made impulsive decisions... and Harry was the CEO of that.
I also appreciated the fact Niall could contact me from now on, and we were texting occasionally just to make sure he was safe. He told me he came up with some vacation excuse so our mother could leave him alone, and I told him that the best he could do was to stay on the low and be safe.
There were some things I didn't tell him, such as the fact June was now Amber and also a fucking FBI agent... or that we agreed to help each other in exchange for immunity. Niall would freak out even more if he knew there was a case on our family for over ten years now.
And I just wanted to keep him safe, he wasn't used to this as much as I was, and Niall was most likely one to get himself killed if there was a fight. So I didn't tell him about that... and I didn't tell him about Louis or Zayn's kidnapping, I kept it focused on the list and our parents.
Poor Niall, it was already too much for him to process, added to the small detail that he knew Harry and I were... well, we were fucking. We were working together... and we also liked each other.
I didn't know what to call that, it was complicated.
And Harry didn't help when he made sure to tell Niall we were fucking, I could understand why my brother assumed I was working along with Desmond and my mother. I mean... I was staying at Harry's house and Niall knew how much I used to hate Harry.
Not anymore, obviously... that arrogant bastard was all I could think about whenever I wasn't overthinking about the list.
He was trying to be understanding and we actually talked a bit every night before he went to sleep... he told me Zayn also thought Niall was innocent and that was great to hear.
But Zayn had been in a bad mood all day because Amber called... and she was going to stop by tomorrow so she could tell us some 'important information' she refused to say over the phone. Needless to say, Zayn was very fucking pissed at her and she was coming to Harry's house... that was going to be fun. Neither of them trusted her and I was the only one who did, which made me feel a bit uneasy
