Picture This (Niall Horan Trilogy)

-Lying's the easy way out [Chapter 24]

Ashley's POV:

The next morning I woke up exactly where I’d fell asleep, in Niall’s arms. The sun was just rising outside and the orange glow of a new day shone faintly through a chink in the curtains highlighting a small amount of carpet as the rest of the room over-hung in shadow. I rolled over onto my back away from Niall slightly and stared at the ceiling, it was 5:30 and still kind of chilly but it would warm up by 9 ish. I was wide awake by now and showed  no signs of going back to sleep so I carefully peeled the covers off of me placing them back neatly over Niall and crept across his room picking up a hoodie that was strewn across the floor and pulling it on leaving my legs and feet bare.

I crept down the hallway the house was silent and showed no signs of life what-so-ever probably half due to the fact that they went out last night and probably have hangovers and the other half because it’s five thirty morning, it always ceased to amaze me how I have no trouble getting up just under an hour before I usually do for college on a weekend but when I have to on a week day for college it’s very painful.

I silently opened the door to my room and tip-toed to my bed taking the book I was reading from underneath the pillow and put it in the hoodie pocket as I pulled my hair back into a loose and messy bun knowing that I looked ugly as anything I didn’t think the birds would mind too much so I crept down the stairs as if when I walked normally and made noise it would disturb something within the house, I didn’t know what but it just felt right to remain silent.

I walked across the patio in bare feet the cold stone sent shivers up my legs and the cool early morning air created Goosebumps on my bare legs but I didn’t really care. I had hardly slept last night, last night I was planning on telling Niall about the New York thing but I couldn’t find the words to say it, he looked so happy and innocent it didn’t seem fair at all.

I had to tell him soon though, I had 3 weeks left of college, 3 weeks before my future would be determined, 3 weeks until everything would be so fucking different to how it is now, if I did go to New York and Niall knew what the hell would happen with us? Would we split up? Stay together until I moved? That seemed pointless, staying together until I left, I knew we wouldn’t be able to keep up a long distance relationship, they never wok, he’d meet somebody else before I’d even got to New York probably, somebody prettier, somebody with more confidence, somebody who was just 100% over and over, all round better than me.

That kinda hurt thinking about him with somebody else. That kinda hurt? Hell who am I kidding? That’s pretty much the end of my world thinking about him being happy with somebody else, loving somebody else and not even having a second thought about me I knew that if I left we wouldn’t still be together. But that would be selfish and stupid of me to not leave for the sake of him not finding another girl because that’s mean and selfish on my behalf if we’re no longer in a relationship he’s fully entitled to another relationship but if that was so honest and true then why did that thought hurt so much?

I curled upon the deckchairs at the bottom of the garden slightly shaded by the trees on the other side of the fence it was cold, giving it being quarter to six it was that kind of early summer’s morning where it was just warm enough to get by in the rising sun and the depths of winter in the shade, so there I was in my pyjama shorts which were like hot-pants, bare feet and legs with Niall’s hoodie over a thin strappy top, I was past caring.

I attempted to read my book but I kept on getting distracted by thinking about when and how I was going to tell Niall about New York. I would still be reading the words but they wouldn’t process in my brain and I would have no idea what I had just read since I was so deep in thought and fear about this whole New York thing. Eventually I gave up realising I was getting no-where, I placed my book on the cold plastic of the white deck-chair next to me and brought my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them just thinking about everything.