Confined [N.H]

Day 19: Big Cleaning Friday

Nat's POV

I get woken up by the sound of the vacuum cleaner. Shit! I completely forgot that cleaning is a thing we do!  I quickly finish my morning routine before I get out of my bedroom. I look for him and he's as usual in the sitting room. But unlike usual days, the shelves are all empty.

'What the fuck are you doing?' I ask surprised.

'It's Friday. Big cleaning day. I'm cleaning everything. Top to bottom.'

'Okay...? Where do you need me?'

'In the kitchen. Have your breakfast. And if you're gonna make coffee count me in!'

'Okay...'

I give him his coffee and sip on mine, eating some biscuits quickly. Then I ask him again what can I do to help and he just tells me that he doesn't need help. So I go to my room and do my bit of the cleaning. I vacuum up the whole room, change the sheets on the bed, and clean the en suite bathroom. When I finish he's still in the sitting room, mumbling something about lots of dust. I try my best to convince him to let me help but he won't budge.

Niall's POV

I need to clean the whole house. Alone. I can't talk to her until I'm done. That was the deal. She said yesterday that I need to talk about my feelings for the person I have feelings for. But she has no idea it's her. I'm so nervous. So I'm cleaning. And I won't tell her anything until it's done. And I'm planning on taking as much time as possible. That's one of the reasons why I don't want her to help me. So that we wouldn't finish earlier than planned. The other being if she did help me, we'd spend time together, and she'd ask me about it. And we'd have to talk about it before I'm ready. She keeps checking in every half hour. 

'Okay, do you really have to empty all of the kitchen cabinets?'

'Yes! There are things in here that have been here for so long, they're expired and need to be thrown out.'

'Let me at least help you!'

'I really don't want help! I'm having fun! I have music on, cleaning around.'

'Niall, I'm worried about you. Are you sure you're okay?'

'I'm great! This is a regular Friday!'

'You didn't clean that much last Friday.'

'I only did the necessary. Every once in a while I need to clean everything from top to bottom.'

'Okay...'

'I'm okay. I promise. Just go have fun or at least keep yourself occupied. I'm almost done. This is the last room.'

Nat's POV

The house has been calm for a while. I guess he's done. I swear I heard him talk a while ago. I guess he got a phone call. I don't think I've heard anything since. So I go over to where I thought I'd find him: laying on the couch with the TV on at some news channel while scrolling on his phone.

'Did you finish the cleaning?'

'Yeh.' He answers in a very dry tone.

'Tired.'

'A bit.' He answers similarly.

'Everything okay?' I ask, knowing the answer would be no.

'It's fine.'

'What was that phone call?'

'Nevermind. Work stuff.'

Do you want to talk about it?' I try, not knowing what else to ask in his state.

'Look, Nat! I appreciate you wanting to help me, but this is not something that you're gonna help me with. This is not something you can magically fix by making me talk about it when I clearly do not want to talk about it!' He shouts.

I feel smaller than ever when he's shouting at me like that. I know he doesn't mean to shout at me. He's just going through something. But I think he needs space. So for I grab my laptop from my laptop and sit on the dining table and watch my series using earphones to not bother him. I glance back at him often. He's scrolling on his phone, occasionally typing something. The more time passes the more relaxed the look on his face gets. But it doesn't look any happier. The anger and sadness have washed away by dinner time. He's accepted whatever news he got, knowing it's out of his control. But I still miss his smile. So I'm gonna do whatever I can, even if he doesn't want my help.

I'm starting to feel hungry so I check the newly organised cupboards and decide to make some rice and chicken recipe with the ingredients and spices that I find. It takes me about an hour to finish everything. Niall has disappeared somewhere in the flat so before I call him to eat, I light two of his favourite scented candles on each side of the dining table, I put his favourite Eagles album on the vinyl player, and finally, I put on youtube a muted video of space to run in the background. 

He finally walks into the room, he looks around confused. He noticed the food on the table so he approaches.

'You cooked.' He says.

'I did...' I chuckle nervously.

'I didn't know you can cook like that.'

'You never gave me the chance to show you. You're always in charge.'

'This is actually... healthy food!'

'You seem shocked.'

'I am yeah. Sorry.'

'You'll be sorry after you try it and decide that it's actually delicious.'

'If it's anything like your omelette then yeah. I'm definitely sorry.'

I smile at him as he takes his seat on the dining table. We start eating and his eyes are glued on the TV, while his head is bopping to the fast-paced song playing. Seems like it's working. But he's still not saying much hopefully because his senses are well stimulated and not because he's still feeling bad.

When we finish eating, I clear the table insisting on him not helping because he's been cleaning all day and is possible very tired. I get started on the dishes. Shortly after, he hugs me tightly from behind with a smile on his face.

'You are amazing you know that?' He says.

'I'm trying my best.'

'Well, it's working. Thank you so much for everything tonight! It was perfect. And I'm sorry I yelled.'

'Are you feeling better now?'

'Well, the situation still sucks. But It's the right choice right now. Nothing more we can do about it. We just gotta make the best out of a bad situation.'

'Yeah, that's true.'

'Hey, Nat. I'm gonna chat with Lewis for a while on Zoom. But when I'm done I need to talk to you.'

'Okay!' I say and then shyly chuckle after he kisses my neck. 'You should shave that beard you know!'

'I trimmed it a few days ago!!' He argues.

I go hang out in the sitting room while he's back in the kitchen on his laptop like yesterday. Eventually, somewhere around 1 AM, he finally joins me again.

'What is it you wanted to talk about?' I ask eagerly.

He takes a deep breath before he starts talking, 'It was pointed out that I might be assuming things that are wrong. Truth is... I always thought that you're out of my league and that you'd never go for me. So since now I know that it's not necessarily true, I thought I'd just ask you. Do you think it would be okay if I asked you out sometime maybe?'

'Yeah... Maybe...' I smile sweetly at him. He's so nervous it's adorable.

'Okay...' He mumbles leaning back into the couch. 'Ok, maybe I will.'

 I wait a little longer expecting more to come. But nothing. So I smile at him again and stand up, 'Good night Niall.'

'Good night!' He says smiling back at me.