courage {Niall Horan}

XX

Charlotte 🦊: I am sorry for storming out like that yesterday

I read the text while I was laying in bed. It was 7pm already but I was so tired so I decided to take a short nap.

Charlotte 🦊: I will be at Sam's in about half an hour with some friends. Are you coming too? It's christmas songs karaoke night ;)
Me: ofcourse, I still have to eat dinner and take a shower so will be there around 8.30

I couldn't help but look at the picture I had for her contact. It was a silly selfie she took with my phone when I forgot it in her car last week. She took tons of pictures and added a lot of music to my playlist that she thought I had to hear before finally texting my mom to say I forgot my phone. In the end, I'm happy with the music she shared with me, it's pretty great. She has a very different music taste sometimes which I like. But there were also a few songs in languages that she speaks and understand that I had no clue what they were saying. But the sound was good so that's most important.

—

It was freezing cold and extremly busy around Sam's so I had to walk for a while. When I got in I could hear her laugh from across the bar, I looked up and saw her sitting with another guy who had his arm hanging around her waist and was whispering things in her ear. She was smiling and laughing and she looked like she was having the time of her life. I stood by the door and watched them as he made jokes and she listened to every word he had to say with adoration and interest.

I think I watched them for 5 minutes untill her eyes locked on mine and she looked at me with a smile before waving me over. I walked over to them slowly and tried to ignore the guy she was with. There were a few girls and another guy at the table too. I took an extra chair and they made room for me next to Charlotte.

"I'm glad you made it." She said as she looked at me with a smile. "You met them friday and this is Sebastian, he's my best friend that came all the way from Strandhill to see me for a few days." She said with a big smile as she put her hand on his arm.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Great to finally meet the man behind the stories I hear." He said, I just smiled in response.

He was tall, handsome and they've known eachother for years. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a history.

"I know I still owe you an explanation for last night but I'll give that tomorrow when we go ice skating. But I'm really sorry for just leaving like that." She said as she moved closer to me to talk as the music was playing loudly.

— Charlotte's POV —

"Are you ready to go?" I asked when I stopped infront of his room. He most definitely wasn't ready yet to go. He was standing next to his bed, in his boxers with his pants in his hands. He was facing me with his back so my view on his back muscles was pretty good but then I came back to reality. "I'm so sorry. Your mom let me in and told me you were probably just gaming or watching tv untill I got here." I quickly turned around and stood in the hallway. He came into the hallway a few seconds later, still shirtless but fully dressed on the bottom.

"Everything alright?" He asked with a small grin as I stood in the hallway with my back against the wall, probably with a face as red as a tomato.

"Yes" I said without looking at him.

"Just come back in, stop looking like a tomato because that's not attractive and I'll be ready in a minute." He said with a chuckle. I ignored his tomato comment and walked back in behind him before sitting down on his bed. There was a golf game playing on his tv so I just watched that. "Why are you always so early?"

"Why are you always late?" I asked back, a small grin showing on my face. "I remember saying that we were going to go by 2pm and it's now 2.05"

"That's not late, 2.30 would be late." He said with a chuckle.

"I am used to the fact that 5 seconds is also too late so you're late." I looked down at my hat and gloves I was holding while he got ready.

"Is everything alright?" He asked as he stopped in his tracks to look at me.

"Just a lot on my mind at the moment, nothing to worry about." I said as I looked at him with a smile.

"I'm ready so we can go." He said after taking his jacket and hat. I got up from his bed and walked downstairs behind him. "Mom, we're leaving. I'll be back for dinner."

"Great, are you staying for dinner Charlotte?" She asked me.

"No, I'd love to but I already got plans." I said and she nodded with a smile. I put my hat and gloves back on as soon as we went outside.

"Are you sure we're going to walk?" Niall asked me when we got out of the driveway.

"It's a 10minute walk to the market and it will take us longer to drive there, find a parking spot and walk back. Besides, it's not that cold."

"Says the one that's wearing two sweaters and a jacket." He replied laughing.

"I came well prepared." I replied as I looked at him with a smile. Luckily, he doesn't knows I'm also wearing two pairs of pants. He smiled back at me before putting his arm around my shoulder and I put my arm around his waist. He wasn't that tall but I was still smaller.

"Atleast one of us did." He said with a smile while looking infront of him.

"Your mom said you were writing again."

"How long were you in my house before coming upstairs?"

"About 5 minutes, I had a coffee and talked with your mom. When you didn't show up, she told me to go upstairs." I replied and he laughed softly.

"But yea, I felt inspired so decided to make an effort to write something for myself."

"When can I hear it?" I asked excited while looking up at him.

"When can I hear you sing again?" He asked back, I knew that question was going to come one day but I hoped it would have been later.

"Probably only if you break into my appartment while I'm in the shower." I said with a small smile

"Don't give me ideas that you don't want to happen." He laughed a little and I just looked at him.

"If you break into my appartment, I'll call the police." I said dead serious, he stopped laughing straight away and looked at mebto see if I was serious. "I'm not joking, don't get it in your head Horan."

"You were so determined to get on the stage in Sam's every week but once you did it, you stopped trying. You told me not to let my voice get taken away, but you are taking away yours." He said, the last part a little softer.

"I sing with the kids and I'm working on something now so maybe I will find the courage again to do it but right now I'm fine with just shower singing."

"Do you even know how to ice skate?" He asked, I could feel his eyes on me while I looked at the road.

"I did it a few times before but it might end up being equal to my golfing skills." I replied with a chuckle.

"I'll teach you how to iceskate if you teach me how to surf when you come to LA in the spring."

"If I come, I will definitely teach you how to surf. But don't get your hopes up because I still don't know if I can come."

"If you don't come this spring, you will end up coming another time anyway." He said with a grin. I shook my head with a small laugh before letting go of him as it was more crowded now and more difficult to pass people beside eachother.

He grabbed my hand quickly when I had to walk behind him so he couldn't loose me. I looked down at our hands as he guided us towards the ice skating rink.

It sucks when your heart and your brain fight.

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I keep forgetting to update and I'm very sorry about that :( I got less time to write but up untill chapter 37 is already written so that's no excuse for not updating. Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying the book!