He's Inevitable || N.H.

T W E L V E

I would love to say that after that finished conversation, everything had changed with Niall. But, it hadn't. One week later, and I was still stuck in his perpetual cycle of trying to relive the bloody past.

"Seriously Niall, the zoo again? What possibly could have changed from two weeks ago?" He smirks to himself as he continues driving along the road.

The day was unusually nice for London, the sun shining brightly as we made our way to our destination. The radio hummed in the background and as I looked out my window I silently wished that something would happen. Anything really. It had been a week, and still no mention of anything. Nothing at all!

Did he really mean what he had said, or was he simply playing with me? Something had to have changed after all that had happened, something had to be different! Why was he doing this?

"We're almost there," he says slipping on his Ray-Bans.

I roll my eyes, already bored with the idea of another trip to the zoo.

If we had honestly finished that conversation, then why hadn't anything changed?

I mope, leaning back against the leather seat, and closing my eyes. Another fucking day at the zoo, wonderful.

I feel the car come to a stop, and open my eyes slowly.

"Wait." I say turning to look at Niall, "Where are we?"

I look around and notice that we're only a few feet away from the zoo, but that he's not actually parked in the lot yet.

"I have a surprise for you." He says with a smile.

"And what is that?"

"Play along, and you'll find out."

–❈–

"No fucking way." I mutter as we enter through the backdoor of the large pool exhibit.

I feel my eyes widen as I look upon the shimmery waters. I feel my breath catch as I realize what Niall had planned.

Niall chuckles to himself, knowing he had truly surprised me, "Yes fucking way." He says taking off his sunglasses and looking upon the pool.

A dolphin swims up and glides upon the width of the clear blue waters. I look in amazement as it jumps and lands once more in the glittery depths.

"How...?" I say turning to look at him.

"Didn't you say you were sick and tired of coming to the zoo?"

"I...I didn't think you would listen to me..."

He chuckles to himself, pleased with what he's done, "Well, suit up."

"Suit up?"

"We're going for a dip, princess."

"What!? Really!?"

A man appears behind Niall and smiles widely, "Hello, beautiful. I'm Rick. I'll be supervising today." He extends his hand towards me and I take it, shaking it excitedly.

"So we'll actually be swimming...with them?"

"Yes you will." Rick says looking towards the pool, "Now, you do know how to swim right?" I nod and he smiles once more, "Great, let's get to it then."

–❈–

"I can't believe that actually happened." I say as I twist my hair, ridding it of it's excess water. Drops of water fall onto the pavement beside me, and I shake out my blonde wavy strands, hoping they won't frizz in this weather.

Niall turns to look at me and cockily smiles, knowing that he had finally managed to surprise me.

He wraps a towel around his neck and slips his sunglasses back on, his hair still shimmering in the light from the excess water. He takes the key from the pocket of his shorts and unlocks the car. His face hiding any type of excitement.

"I mean, did you see me? I totally glided in the water next to it!" I say excitedly, not really wanting to get in the car yet. I lean against the door as Niall places our bags in the backseat, "It even gave me a kiss! It was so cute!"

"He had a name Emma."

I smile, "You're right." I admit. He smirks, knowing it would be one of the few times I'd admit he was. "It was so cute when Freddie kissed me. He's the cutest dolphin I've ever seen!"

He rolls his eyes and finally closes the door to the backseat and turns to look at me, "Careful, I might get jealous." My eyes widen as he leans in closely and I hold my breath. His lips kink into that sarcastic smirk when he sees me turn tense. "Did you really have that much fun?" I nod trying not to acknowledge how close I am to him. "I can tell, I don't think I've ever seen you this excited."

"Yeah." I mutter.

"Better than a regular trip to the zoo?"

I nod once more, "Mmmhmm."

"Guess I need to be more creative from now on." He steps away, the cocky smirk never disappearing. He opens the car door, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get some dinner."

I get in the car, my head still abuzz from all the excitement of the past few hours.

I should be more careful what I wish for.

–❈–

"Okay, but really. You were pretty fucking surprised." Niall says with a smirk as he continues eating out of his take out box.

We ended up back at his place, somewhere I felt unusually comfortable for not having been there in eight years.

We sat with boxes of Nando's scattered across the small kitchen table, and ate whilst watching the sun set through the large spacious window before us.

I hadn't felt anything but pure happiness around him today, even as I sat with him at his kitchen table, I couldn't have thought of a more perfect way to end the day.

As infuriating as he could be, as impossible as the situation was, it was moments like these that made me believe that we could over come all of that. But as always, I wrote it off as wishful thinking.

"Well, I was expecting another trip to the zoo..." I say with an embarrassed smile as I pick at the chicken that was left over in the black tray.

"And instead you got kisses from Freddie." He says with mock envy, placing his fork onto his plate.

"He's the only one I'll be kissing, I don't see what the problem is." I reply coyly, looking up at him, placing my own fork into the tray. "It's not like I'm kissing anyone else, am I?"

Niall gets up, leaning across the small kitchen table, his nose close to mine "Are you sure about that?"

My eyes widen instantaneously, but in this small cozy kitchen, in this house that felt so much like a home, I finally had the will to respond, "Would you like to be the one to change that?"

I had challenged him, and he hadn't expected it. His eyes lock onto mine, as if asking if he really could be the one to change that.

He brings his head closer to mine, not closing the gap, but allowing me to decide if I would. And as I look at his lips, trying to force myself to separate from him, I couldn't. Instead, I let myself do what I had wanted to since long ago.

My lips meet his, across his small wooden table, in the midst of our meal. Every outside factor forgotten.

He breaks our kiss, only for mere moments, to come around to my side and kiss me properly. He grabs my hand, swinging me out of my seat and into his arms in a single motion. His hands wrap around my waist, pressing me to him. His warmth, his lips, his very being...I was going into sensory overload.

"Niall?" I say breathlessly, tilting my chin upwards slightly to look at him properly.

"Yeah?" He says holding me tightly to him.

"We're fucked aren't we."

He chuckles, planting a kiss upon my forehead, "Wouldn't have put it any other way, princess."