courage {Niall Horan}

XII

"So you were born in Mullingar and lived there for 3 years?" Maura asked me. We were in this cute, little restaurant to get lunch and right now, I didn't regret coming here.

"That is correct." I said with a smile.

"I assume you didn't go to the same school?" She asked and I shook my head. "What are the names of your parents, maybe I know them."

"Jane Clarke and Thomas Jacobs." I said softly, "he only moved to Ireland after their marriage and she lived in a town nearby untill shortly before I was born."

"Oh" she said and I could see that the names said something to her. "I do know them." Niall and Chris looked at eachother a little confused while I tried my best to tell her to drop the subject non verbally. "Anyway, what else is on the planning today?"

"The National museum of Ireland is a short walk from here so I thought we could do that this afternoon." Niall said with a smile to his mom before looking at me. I smiled back at him before looking at the waiter that was bringing our food, finally.

"I'm sooo hungry." Niall said excited when the waiter was gone and his burger was placed infront of him.

"When are you not hungry?" I asked him before starting to eat too. I was freaking hungry too.

I think we all were because a silence fell over us while eating. But it was a nice silence. Although Maura's eyes on me were making me very uncomfortable. If she knows them, she knows a lot of things I wanted to stay hidden. When I looked back at her she quickly looked away.

"I remember when you were a kid, we had to drag you behind us to museums because you refused to go. So I was surprised to hear you say we could go see the museums." Maura said with a smile when she was done eating.

"I knew Charlotte would like visiting them, so that's how I got her to come to Dublin." He said with a small grin.

"I already thought you weren't into history or nature." I said and let out a soft chuckle.

"So you're really into history?" Maura asked

"History but mostly astronomy. I'm a real nerd to be honest." I said as I looked around at them.

"It's strange meeting a friend of Niall who is into these things. As that's far from what he is into." Chris said

"I'm also into music so we got that in common, but while he loves watching sports, I'd much rather read a book." I replied before looking at him "differences are good in a friendship."

"I don't mind going to museums, I'm not the most enthousiastic about it but I don't mind to go." He said with a smile as he looked back at me.

We finished our dinner and Niall made sure to pay the bill before I could even say something about it. We walked out of the restaurant and Niall put his cap and sunglasses back on before leaving the restaurant.

"Besides, the chance of people guessing that I'm going there is so small." He said jokingly to me before putting his arm around me again. I looked at him with a smile before taking out my phone as it was going over for the 10th time. I looked at the contact and my smile faded the exact same second as I saw the contact. "You can pick that up if you want."

"I'm fine." I said when I declined the call and turned my phone off. I need to get a new number.

"Okay" he said softly before lightly squeezing my shoulder. I send him a small smile before we walked to the entrance of the museum. My mind was far away while Niall went to get us tickets and Maura seemed to have noticed that.

"If there is anything you need help with, you can come to us."

"I'm fine" I said before putting on a smile again. I took one of the guidance books and went through the first pages to wait untill he got back.

"No sunglasses or any kid of hats allowed inside, so let's hope to god that there are only old people in there." Niall said when he came back to us with the tickets. "But according to her it's a quiet day and there aren't any teenagers inside. And incase there would be a group of teenagers she would send someone to warn me."

"I knew we should have went for the wig and moustache." I said jokingly. He smiled at me before we went inside. "I'm going to prove to you that museums can be interesting."

"Goodluck with that Charlotte" Maura said with a laugh.

—

"You can't tell me that that wasn't atleast a little bit of fun?" I asked excited when we walked back outside. I out my sunglasses back on for the sun and Niall put his cap and sunglasses on for protection.

"Your excitement and stories made it fun." He said with a grin. I looked at his parents as they walked beside me at my other side.

"I thought it was really nice." Maura said which made me smile. I was just an excited kid now.

"I just love your enthousiasm for things like this." Niall said with a happy smile.

"I don't get how you aren't interested in things like this." I said in disbelieve to him.

"It's just not my thing" he laughed a little as he looked at me while we walked back to the hotel alongside the water.

"I'm going to show you that history can be interesting. You just have to look past the boring facts and find the fascinating evolution of life." I said with a nod. "But right now I think we have a different problem."

"Oh god, I posted something from the museum right when we left." He said before taking me by my arm to pull me into the first shop. His mom and Chris followed us closely and they went to the back.

"I'll stay here and say when the coast is clear." I gave him a reassuring nod before going back outside and looking at the postcards outside. I saw the fans come closer rapidly and they looked inside every shop. But you couldn't see them from outside so I just looked around at everything outside. When they passed, I could hear them talking about Niall and the One Direction music playing loudly. I laughed a little at how obsessed they were before following them with my eyes, when they went around the corner I walked inside of the store where he was taking a picture with the girl from the store. "It's safe to go."

"It was nice meeting you." Niall said with a smile before they followed me back outside. "The guys asked if I wanted to go drinking with them tonight, do you want to come too?"

"I have stayed away from drinking since that night out so I think I'm just going to bed early tonight." I said and he nodded before sending a text.

"We have an interview tomorrow morning so we'll be back at the hotel around 11-12 for part two of the Dublin tour." He said with a small smile, his mood had completely changed after he had to hide into the shop.

"Everything alright?" I asked as I looked at him, I waited to ask it untill his parents were walking ahead of us.

"Yea, I just hate having to be so carefull when walking around the street and that I have to put you and my parents through that aswell, if those fans would have seen me, we would have had to call security to get away and I would have screwed up your privacy too."

"We're alright, so stop worrying about that." I said to reassure him. "I'm fine, your parents are fine and you're fine. I know what the risks are to being your friend and I have accepted them the second I got in the car to come here."

"I wish there weren't any risks to being my friend, because I know that if you would have been a guy, there wouldn't be a problem. This is probably the part of the job I hate most next to being away from my family."

"Just stop worrying about me, alright?" I said with a smile before putting my arm around him to give him sort of a walking hug, he smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.

"I'm glad I met you at that bar." He said as he looked at me with a smile.

"I wish I could say the same." I replied with a small grin. He laughed before looking ahead of him again.