Flicker

chapter six

Niall wakes up in a bundle of nerves. He can't quite tell if he is excited or nervous to see Harry Styles preform. The excitement coming from him genuinely excited to see the concert and nervousness for the small chance that Harry styles will see him and recognize him as the weirdo you tweeted at him. Niall thinks about that tweet, and can't help but to try and read into the reply received. Was he flirting with him? Why out of thousands of tweets did he choose to see and reply to that one, and in that way? If Niall didn't know better he would say that he was being flirted with. But this is Harry Styles he's talking about! An up and coming amazingly beautiful musician with thousands of adoring fans that are only increasing by the day, what could he possibly want with little baker Niall, who would rather stay inside and watch TV than hang out and socialize?

It was far too early for so many thoughts to be rushing through his head, and quite frankly he was tired of his overthinking and wanted to get his mind off of the concert that would be occurring later in the day. He decided he needed to go on a run to get his mind off of things, he couldn't remember the last time he had a chance to go running and it finally wasn't a gross cloudy day in London that was calling to him.

Changing and tying up his new sneakers he heads down the street towards a park he frequented often. Since it was Saturday there wasn't much foot traffic with the occasional dog and owner as they also enjoyed this rare sunny morning. Soon Niall was becoming out of breath which made him realize that much more he really needed to start running more often. As he was coming down a trail corner he notices a head a familiar light brown hair ahead of him. He's definitely seen that person before but couldn't quite place it and decides to run quicker to catch up to this person. As he is going to pass them, they turn their head at the exact moment and make eye contact.

"Oh hey! I know you, well you won't tell me your name but I defiantly know you!"

"Ashton! You run here too?!? And it's Niall" He giggles and smiles shyly away remembering their last encounter.

"Well I've only recently started running again because I really want to figure out these lyrics to a song and running seems to clear my head and help."

"You own a music shop and you write songs? Wow, I might have to say I am impressed." As they are running along side each other they slip into a comfortable conversation between the huffs of air. They click so well to a stranger it must seem like they have been friends for ages when in reality this was only their second encounter.

"So, you planning on stopping by anytime soon for those lessons?" Ashton asks shyly, unsure of if the question came off weird because secretly Ashton has been hoping Niall would come in sometime during the last week with no such luck. And every time the bell above his door jingled he hoped to see the bright smile of Niall.

"Yeah sorry, I just got so caught up in work and life, you know how it goes. I have been meaning to make time for it sometimes next Wednesday"

"I look forward to it." Ashton says as he looks straight ahead. If he hadn't looked away at the moment he did he would have notice Niall brightly smiling back at him with red tinged cheeks.

They reach the point in the trail where it loops back and brings them to where they started and the conversation eases to a comfortable silence. As they eventually reach the beginning point both boys are huffing, trying to get as much oxygen into their bodies as possible. Kneeling over, Niall tries to discreetly hide his heavy breathing as Ashton does the same.

They both catch on to one another and laugh.

"I really need to start running more often so I don't feel like my lung is about to collapse." Ashton says.

"I defiantly agree. I think I'm dying" Niall replies to which Ashton bursts into laughter.

"Hey! We should become running buddies if you're up for it. I think it might motivate the both of us. Niall smiles up at him and says, "Yeah I would like that. Let me know next time you're up for run."