Ride: A Niall Horan Fanfiction.

Chapter 9

When Niall opened the door completely a crowd of people in the living room surrounded the door.

"THANK YOU, LACEYYYYY!!!' They all shouted throwing their arms up in the air. What is happening? I almost fall to the ground from being so thrown off gaurd, I start laughing and look around. Practically everyone Niall and I are friends with are here, along with some of his family and my mum. "What is all of this?" 

"Well, I found out someone was throwing me a surprise party for getting onto Xfactor, so I asked them if they could throw in a little surprise for you as well. It's technically more of a "sur[rise" party for you, but it's still a party for the both of us." Niall answers.

I look around the room again at everyone, 'i get why they'd have a party for you, but why am I having one also?"

"I wanted a special way to thank you. Because I feel like just telling you wasn't enough."

"Aw, Niall!" I say as I jump into his arms hugging him tight, "I love it." Everyone around us awh's. I love every single person in the room at the moment. They all are so meaningful to me.

"Good." He hugs tighter, then lets go. "So, who's ready to party!?" He yells turning back at everyone. In return he gets the crowd of about 30 people in his tiny living room throwing their arms up as they did before yelling a variety of responses, like YEAHH and PARTYY! It wasn't much of a party, just food, music and chatting. It was a lot of fun though. A great thing to come home to. I am speaking with my other friend Elena about everything.

"So, are you and Niall a thing yet?" She nudges my arm with her winking.

I'm confused, "Wait, what?"

"Oh, you aren't?"

"No," Then I start laughing, "if we are then I must've missed the memo." 

"Oh I just assumed you were, you guys are just very close then."

"yeah, he's pracitcally my brother."

"Awh, well either way, I'm happy for you two, for your friendship I mean."

"Thanks haha." I look over and Niall is chatting with our friend, Drew, he looks over at me and sees me looking and smiles. I smile back. "Excuse me, Elena, I have to get some air." She nods and walks away. I go over to Niall and turn to Drew, "Mind if I steal him for a moment?"

"No problem."

"Lacey," He looks confused, "What's going on."

"Just follow me." I take him by his arm and bring him out the back door, by the pond behind his house. 

"You alright?"

"I just needed some air, lots of people, you know." 

"Ahh, what did you need me with you for?"

"Just some company, so I wasn't being a loner." He chuckles at my answer.

"Well, alrighty then," He then points at the ground just at the edge of the pond, " would you like to sit." I nod and we sit.

"I am insanely proud of you, Niall. Like, I wish I could fully explain how proud I truly am."

"Thank you, Lace, I love knowing I can make you proud." I'm not going to lie, that kind of made me blush a little, he basically just admitted to wanting to impress me. But why? I see him picking up a few pebbles form beside the water, and hands me a few, we throw them in one at a time, seeing who can throw farther.

"I'm...." I stop before finishing my sentence.

"You're what..?" He looks over with a concerned look. I look down just to hide my face. I don't want to cry, I'm trying so hard not to cry. I want to tell him exactly how much I will miss him and our moments we have together, the memories we have. I know I'll see him again but I don't know when. "Lacey.." He scoots over a little closer and moves my hair out of my face.

"I'm just gonna miss you is all." He puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close.

"i'm going to miss you too. So, so much." We just sit there like that looking out at the water for a while until his mum comes out.

"Niall, didn't you wanna say a few words?"

He uses his sleeve and wipes below his eyes, he must've been tearing up a little. "Yeah, be right there." She goes back inside and nods. "Alright, let's get inside." He stands up and holds his hands out to help me up, after I stand he pulls me into a quick hug and lets me walk inside before him. His mum is waiting by the stairway in the living room.

"Alright everyone,Niall would like to say a few words. He has me stand by the couch, which is near the stairway and climbs up two steps so he's a little higher above the crowd. Our friends, being the goons that they are, chant "speech speech" "I am you lunatics!" He responds laughing in a sarcastic tone. He clears his throat and begins.

"Hello everyone"

"Heyyyy!" They respond.

"So, as you all know, I have been accepted onto Xfactor," To this our friends and family cheer, "thank you all. But the main reason I'm up here speaking to you all, is to say, well, thank you. I want to thank each and every one of you for being there throughout my life supporting every decision I ever made, every carreer path I said I wanted to take, every dream I had. My friends have been there through some hard times, and I thank you guys for that, my family as well. Thank you all for always being there and being a true and valued support system. Now, there are a few specific people I want to thank. First off, mum. Well, you're my mum. You've been there through it all, every sport I wanted to do, every talent show, play, performance, and audition. You've put so much time, effort, money and love into my life and I cannot thank you enough for it. I really appreciate everything, every last bit of it. thank you, I love you. And now," He exhales, "Lacey." What? I pay extra attention this time, we lock eyes. "Well, Lace, what can I say? You're my best damn friend I have ever had in my entire life and I feel so honored to be able to say that. You're a genuine individual who has the heart of the largest piece of gold in the world. You're selfless, determined, caring and put so much into our friendship. I really appreciate the fact that you have been there for me especially the last year or so while I have been chasing this dream of mine," He looks down for a moment and chuckles, "like I've been saying, if it weren't for you, i wouldn't be where I am. I wouldn't be preparing to start filming on Xfactor and I wouldn't have nearly as many fans. You're the kind of friend I go to whenever I was heartbroken, angry, bored, anything, you were ALWAYS there. Every damn minute of it. I could ramble on forever about how great of a friend you are and still never be able to truly let you know." He looks down and starts to tear up, "And, I'm really gonna miss you when I leave for filming." I run up to him and hug him the tightest I've ever hugged him. I look over his shoulder into the crowd and see everyone start tearing up as well. I feel like it's all a dream. We linger in the moment, savor every second, in his embrace is one of the best places to be. "We should probably get back to the party."

Everyone dispurses back into their little circles of communication, then a cake is brought out. It was one of those fancy cakes that had a picture printed on it in frosting. A selfie Niall and I took about a year ago. "Oh my gosh." I start laughing insanely hard, it was a horrid picture of us, I did his makeup because of a dare, and he threw mud on my face, we were doing duck lips. We looked absolutely ridiculous, next to it, the picture the girl posted on twitter of us just after he got accepted onto xfactor. Oh how much a year can change. There were 11 candles stuck into it. "Why eleven?" I ask.

"One for each year of our friendship." Niall answers will giving me a hug from the side. I blush and look down to my feet. Eleven years. Eleven. Wow.

"You two ready to blow out your candles?" It's almost like a birthday party, but for our friendship.

"Do we have to make wishes?" I ask his mum.

"If you'd like!"

I look at Niall, he looks at me, we each close our eyes and think to ourselves. He blushes during his silence, I wonder what he is wishing for. But I know exactly what my wish is.