Clean // Niall Horan Fan Fiction

Chapter Seventeen

"When is this supposed to start?" Jess asked looking up at Jillian. She sat on Jillian's lap, the two of them waiting to see Niall on the computer.

"I don't know sunshine, hopefully he calls me before they start- if so I'll make sure you say hi." Jillian says to the small girl on her lap. Jess smiles up at her, excited by the fact that she might get to talk to Niall, the thought alone still sparks excitement. Quickly, she moved her fingers across the screen of her phone, sending Niall a quick text, nothing too special but she hoped that he would see before they did whatever it was that they were doing- if she was honest she didn't really know what he was doing, but she was still going to watch supporting him all the way.

Sitting with Jess, waiting for this thing to start. What exactly is this? Thinking about you x

Niall smiled as he read the text, one two three times, before quickly typing away a reply.

Its a live stream, I was thinking about you too. Tell Jess we all say hi, maybe I can swing a call in before..?

He was quick to put his phone away, knowing he wasn't really supposed to have it out. "Are you ready?" Zayn's voice came up to him, his question directed at Niall. Niall couldn't help but jump, oddly enough feeling as though he was hiding something.

"Y-Yeah, just a bit nervous I suppose." Niall shrugged his shoulders at Zayn who nodded. He didn't really say much, Zayn, but somehow Niall felt like he was almost the closest with the raven haired boy. It was an odd feeling to have any type of... resentment between the two. "Hey look, I-I'm sorry if things have been... off between us. I just have a lot on my mind I guess." Niall started, Zayn immediatley shook his head putting a hand on Niall's shoulder.

"You don't have to explain it to me, I get it. You have a right to feel the way you do, none of us are minimizing that, okay? We just... We just care about you Ni, you're our best friend. Don't think we don't care. Alright man," He asked and Niall nodded. Saying nothing more, Zayn walked away leaving Niall in a bit of a daze. It didn't matter what was going on with anyone, Zayn somehow seemed to sweep in- maybe not at the exact moment- and give one of the boys advice, which whether or not the boys were even aware of it, they needed completley. Niall smiled at himself, thinking about how, yet again, he was grateful for his bandmates- who he also had the great pleasure to call his best friends. They all had a way of keeping each other grounded, and sometimes they didn't even think about it what with the crazy life they all seemed to live now. It was nice, refreshing almost, to have that in their lives.

**

"Jillian I'm thirsty." Jess yawned, leaning back into Jillian. Jess had been sitting in her lap for well over two hours, and if she was honest it was beginning to become uncomfortable. Jillian kept her arms around Jess and shook her head.

"You just want to drink sugary drinks so you can stay up. Jess it's okay to fall asleep." Jillian coaxed looking down at her. A frown formed on Jess' face which only caused one to follow with Jillian. Licking her lips and sighing she got off of the bed, gently setting Jess down as she did so, she stretched and walked out of the room. It took her almost ten minutes to find a vending machine- the one she usually went to was being restocked, and she knew it would take almost all day for them to finish. She fixed the glasses on her face as she walked back to Jess' room, a smile spreading on her lips as she entered the room to see Jess laying on the bed softly snoring. She walked over to the bed, taking the computer off of it, and sitting herself in the chair in the corner of the room. "What the hell is going on here?" Jillian mumbled as she watched Liam trying to pop balloons by sitting on them.