Intrepid » n.h. au

Chapter 33

"Niall," She mumbles again, her voice slightly warning, though it's not enough to make me let go of her. "Niall, come on. Come on, you had all morning to do this."

"And you were doing stuff all morning," I mutter back, attaching my lips to her neck as she gives up, and lets me hold her for a bit longer. My left hand slides down her leg, that's thrown over my waist as we lie in bed, while my other arm stays securely around her back; and I can't believe I wasted my entire morning on doing things that don't include her being halfway on top of me.

So far, she's woken up before me and gotten out of bed before me every morning since I got out of the hospital. That's three mornings all together, but still. I haven't had a chance to wake up next to her yet.

"I need to get ready for work," Freya repeats for the fifth time, and then chuckles as I shush her, putting a hand on the back of her head so she'd lie on my chest. "I'm not kidding, this is the only-"

"When are you going to realize that I'm not listening to you?" I ask, putting an emphasis on the first word to make her stop talking. She has an hour until her shift starts and she needs twenty minutes to get to the diner and she's still only wearing the shirt she sleeps in. I know she's going to be pissed at me for slowing her down sooner or later, but I can tell that she'd rather be in this position than standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, growling at her eyeliner.

She sighs, taking me aback a little as she snuggles further into my chest, her head in the crook of my neck, and uses her hands to play with the sweatshirt I'm wearing rather than to continue pushing herself off of me. I knew I was right, she does prefer this position. "Hey, you know what I just remembered?"

I hum in response, the loudness of her voice startling me a bit. She's not even that loud, I'm just starting to fall asleep all over again. "Harry's birthday is in a couple of weeks," She continues, "And he's gonna celebrate it with Kirsten. You know, 'cause they're a day apart."

"Is there gonna be alcohol?"

"No," Freya replies immediately, not even surprised by my question, "The place is gonna be filled with seventeen to nineteen year olds. Then again, Harry could invite some juniors and seniors that'll smuggle alcohol to the party."

"I know a junior that could do that," I suggest, my mind immediately going to Seth and I don't have to guess that she's thinking the same.

"Mm, they don't like each other that much," She tells me, genuinely surprising me for the first time. Seth and Harry don't like each other? Since when? "While you were at the hospital, they happened to be there at the same time, a few times too. And Harry's kinda mad that he told Seth Merry Christmas, but it never occurred to Seth to say Happy Hanukkah."

I blink at the information, continuing to twirl a loose strand of her hair around my finger once I realize what's happened. Am I a bad person to think that it's stupid? "And that's all?"

"Well, to be fair, he had four out of eight days to remember," Freya says, defending her brother – she's a little angry about it too, it's not hard to tell.

"Maybe he didn't know you guys are-"

"Oh, he knew," She cuts me off, "Harry made sure that everything he said implied we're Jewish, one way or another. That's probably why he's annoyed, you know, it's like Seth wasn't even listening to him."

I raise my eyebrows as I stare at the ceiling, not sure how to react to that. Some religious guy Harry is. "Then... you could do it," I offer, kind of wanting to change the subject. Seth is my best friend and I like Harry too, but they'll have to sort out their differences by themselves.