A Light in the Dark // Flicker Series Part I #wattys2019

I Want to Love You Forever

Chapter 77
Evie's POV // I want to love you forever 

My eyes sting when I open them to find the bedroom full of mid day light.

I have no idea what time it is but I feel pretty safe in betting that it's no longer an 'a.m' hour. We didn't even get home until the 'a.m' hours, so i'm sure we've slept until well into the afternoon.

I roll over in the arms of the man I love and smile proudly in admiration of him while he's still sleeping away.

Shawn's question last night had snapped some sense into me about how ridiculous I was being and I was pretty blissful the rest of the night.

A few minutes later Niall had stepped out on stage in a wide brimmed hat that made him look like he was preparing for a rodeo instead of playing a song from the pop charts. But in spite of his funny choice in headwear, I was still practically heart eyed for him through his entire performance.

Niall's performance was impeccable, and twitter caught fire immediately afterwards with everyone commenting on just how good his performance was. He's performed 'Slow Hands' a hundred times by now, but something about last night's performance was extra special.

He quickly redressed in his navy blue plaid Paul Smith suit after his performance and joined me once again —without his wide brimmed hat companion.

Shawn and I had both laughed a bit in shock when Niall stepped out on stage in that hat. We teased him a bit after he returned to his seat, but Niall defended his wardrobe choice before eventually caving and admitting it was a bit wider brimmed than he had originally thought.

When the show went to commercial break again I watched as Niall gushed to Shawn and myself about how good the performance felt, and we both reassured him that it had in fact been amazing.

Niall had completely focused on his performance all night to distract himself from the looming awards announcement. I think that's one reason his performance was extra special, because he was so focused on it. But after the performance was over, his brain had nothing else to distract itself from thinking about the award.

As the minutes ticked by I could tell Niall was beginning to feel the nerves a bit more. I took his hand in mine and rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand where I held it in my lap. He looked up at me and gave me a gentle smile as he let out a sigh.

Yep. He was nervous.

We didn't exchange too many words from that point on until it was time for the 'Best New Artist' award to be announced.

He took a deep breath and squeezed my hand once.

"Hey look at me." I said gently and waited for his head to turn to me. "It's going to be ok." I smiled reassuringly at him and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips before the cameras started rolling again after the commercial break.

The host stood behind the mic, introducing the award and it's nominees. The camera flashed to Niall who gave a nervous smile.