Pretty Venom |N.H|

26

I woke up at ten this morning. Later than usual, thanks to Niall.

I was having a hard time falling asleep after he left. Maybe because I was awake for almost an hour in the middle of the night talking to him, or maybe because I was overwhelmed with a sudden conversation about a topic I wasn't quite ready to face.

There were so many pieces of our conversation that I couldn't let go of — so much that I wanted answers to — but I had to let him clear his mind without bombarding him with follow-up questions.

What happened when he was younger?

Why did he leave Ireland?

Why did he have to leave Ireland?

Why is he so afraid of his friends leaving him?

Why would they?

What's to come between me and him?

I wanted to ask these questions when he was here, but I guess I hadn't fully processed everything until now. I would feel weird bringing it all up again, especially since he was being vulnerable opening up to me like that, and forcing him to do it again so I could have the answers would be wrong of me.

While my mind was filling with 'What if's' and 'What about's', there was a knock on my door.

I would be lying if I said my mind didn't automatically think of him.

I toss the covers off of me and pull myself out of the well-cushioned bed only because of the guest on the other side of my door. If there wasn't anyone there, I probably could've stayed in bed all day despite the sunny weather outside.

"Who is it?" I call out, loud enough for them to hear me from the hall. I straighten up the bed a little while I wait for a response, and by that I mean I pulled the covers back up and that's about all.

"Housekeeping," the voice answers confidently, and I roll my eyes with a smile when I can identify who it really is.

I step to the door, pulling it open to reveal my visitors.

Louis stands outside of my door with a wide smile on his face, Niall standing next to him. They're both wearing swimming trunks with tank tops covering their top halves, and they both hold a bag over their shoulders.

"Morning," Louis nods his head to me. "It's really hot out, so we're going down to the pool. Someone mentioned the thought of inviting you," he subtly points to Niall before continuing, "And I would have just texted you, but I thought a formal, in person invitation would be nicer."

"Wow," I drag the word out like I'm surprised by the gesture, because I partially am.

My eyes find Niall, tracing over him before I accept the invitation. He's wearing a simple black snapback on his head, one with his initials, N.H., on the side. He has black swimming trunks on and a loose white tank top, so loose fitting that he may as well be shirtless — the material droops down so low that his body is on full display. Not that I'm really complaining about the sight. He has sunglasses covering his eyes, and every few seconds he pushes them up his nose with the knuckle on his index finger.

"Niall invited me?" I ask Louis while I fight back a smile as I see Niall from the corner of my eyes, shrugging his shoulders to tell me 'It's no big deal', with a teasing smile on his face. "How sweet," I pout my bottom lip towards him and watch him shake his head in slight embarrassment.

"I can be nice when I want to be," he finally speaks up as he casually leans the front of his shoulder against the door frame to my room. "You gonna come?" He puts extra emphasis on the last word, clearly trying to insinuate where his thoughts really are.