Change Your Ticket [n.h.]

Chapter 8

Edited 1/4/16

I am so catatonic that I didn’t even realize when we reached his apartment. I am soaked, chilled, and lost to my own mind with no control on my body. Niall has wrapped me in a blanket and is yelling into his phone.

“I found her, no thanks to you! She is soaked to the bone and will probably catch cold!” he shouts at whoever is on the phone and hangs up. He is pacing around in front of me, pinching the bridge of his nose. Angry Niall is quite intimidating.

“How are you now? Are you warming up at all?” he asks me quietly. He sounds upset with me.

“Not really,” I mumble as shivers run through my body. I stare at the floor, scared to make eye contact with him. I don’t like when he is mad and I really don’t want him mad at me. Running out into the rain was an incredibly stupid move on my part.

He pauses from his pacing in front of me but I keep my eyes down. He is barefoot now. He has really nice feet….I can't believe I just thought that. I feel the blush on my cheeks and warms me a little. He walks away and I don’t look up to see where he has gone. I can hear water running somewhere.

When he comes back in the room he smells like jasmine and vanilla. It's an enticing smell. He stands in front of me again and this time I look up to meet his piercing eyes. Oh. The look on his face isn’t anger at all, it is pure concern and worry. He is worried about me? I must look like a nutcase since I ran off, sat in the cold rain, and barely said a word since he found me. God why am I so stupid?

“Come,” he says softly, holding his hand out for mine. “Leave the blanket.”

I take his hand and he pulls me up off the couch. I glance around and realize that we are the only ones here. Where did his friends go? Where did his "girlfriend" go? He leads me down a hallway, into a spacious bedroom, then into the en suite bathroom. What are we doing here? Oh. The running water I heard…he ran a bath.

“I will leave you so that you can have some privacy but I couldn’t stand you being cold,” he says, almost embarrassed. “If you need anything just yell,” and with that he kisses my forehead and leaves the room.

I am supposed to take a bath? Here? This is somewhat awkward but I am freezing. The bath tub is a large, jetted affair with a mountain of bubbles. There are candles lit on the windowsill next to the tub. I quickly get undressed, dropping my soaked clothes onto the floor in a pile. I pad over to the tub and dip my foot in. It stings a little but the burn only entices me more. I get in and lay back against the headrest, my body has disappeared under the bubbles. I could get used to this.

I close my eyes and just relax. I am not ready to mentally process all of tonight’s events yet. I am glad that Niall found me or I would still be sitting out in the rain, cold and pruney instead of being all warm and pruney in his bath tub.

If I were to tell my friends back home that I was in Niall Horan of One Direction's bathtub I doubt that anyone would believe me. That thought doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I don’t care that Niall is famous. I would actually rather he wasn’t because then we would probably still be enjoying each other’s company at the planetarium. It was so romantic there. But, the fact is that tonight did take a turn. And he has girlfriend or what ever she is. Why am I still here? Why did he bring me back? Maybe he just feels guilty that I sat out there like a loon. Whatever the reason, it still doesn’t explain why he ran me a bath and is being so gracious towards me. If anything he should have let me be, save himself from the drama.

I hear a knock on the door. I look down to make sure I am still hidden by the bubbles. Good. “Yes?”

The door opens slowly and there is Niall. He has changed into basketball shorts and a t-shirt. He looks so normal. “How’s the bath?” He asks with a small shy smile.