Captivated by shadows [h.s.]

22.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Niall asks after Harry and I climb down safely and walk back to the car together.

"Relax, we're back." Harry replies resignedly and sits down in the car like me.

"Are you all right?" Niall asks me as he drops into the seat next to me. I answer his question by nodding. He looks at me for a moment until he takes his eyes off me again and looks out of the window.

"Let's go to a bar, I could do with a drink." I heard Liam say for the first time since we'd been out. Everyone agreed and less than fifteen minutes later we were sitting at a bar counter.

"Are you drinking whiskey?" asks Niall, after dropping onto one of the bar stools next to me.

"I don't mind." I reply, shrugging my shoulders, which made him smile.

"You heard the lady, a bottle of whiskey and two glasses." Niall turned to the bartender who asked for our order a few seconds ago.

Harry, Louis, and Liam were doing their own thing, talking about memories from a year ago, but I only listened half-heartedly.

When the bartender brought us our order, Louis and Liam jumped off their stools and ran straight to two girls about our age. Harry stared resignedly at the glass in his hands and Niall poured us the whiskey.

"Don't you want to find yourself a pretty girl for the evening?" I ask Niall, turning my gaze away from Harry.

"I'm already sitting next to one." he replies, grinning mischievously.

I roll my eyes in amusement. "You joker."
Without saying another word, I downed the amber-coloured liquid and then poured myself another shot.

"How are you?" Niall asks me, also leaning his head back to drink the whiskey.

"Good" I reply briefly and succinctly, nodding at the small glass in my hands.

"Come on. You can talk to me." He turns more in my direction on the bar stool.

"What do you want me to say Niall?"

"The truth"

"I don't know how I feel." I mutter, shrugging my shoulders. "My life has changed abruptly in the last two weeks and I don't really know how to deal with it yet." I sigh and rest my head in my hand.

"You know that you can always talk to me, right?"

I nod. "Yes, I know that. It's just so hard to realise that all this isn't a bad dream. I mean, I'm supposed to marry my kidnapper to avoid being hunted down and killed myself? That's so absurd." I finish my whisky again.

Sometimes I forget that Niall is also one of my kidnappers. He makes me feel safe, and somehow he's managed to make me trust him. That must be why I spoke to him so openly.

"I know little lamb, I know. This all really sucks." he mumbles and drinks his second shot.

"It's not just that I'm going to be Harry's wife tomorrow, or what happened with Richard. I don't know, I'm sure it sounds crazy when I say this now, but I miss Edith. I miss Edith, my friends, just my old life."

"That doesn't sound crazy at all."

"Don't you think?"

"No, I would've been more surprised if you didn't feel that way." He reaches for the bottle and pours us both another drink. "I can't promise you anything, but maybe I can persuade the others to give you your phone back for a few hours so you can talk to Edith and the others?"

I straighten up a little more on my bar stool. "You'd do that for me?"

"Sure, I'd do anything for you, little lamb."