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buck-nialled · 4 years

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Two Million Minutes (5) - N. Horan

NOTE: phew...hope y’all are ready for this one. Please let me know how you feel about this part, feedback is vv appreciated!

PLAYLIST // PART ONE // PART TWO // PART THREE // PART FOUR

Thick tension flooded the house in the days following Niall's outburst toward Veronica. They cooked their food and ate it in their respected rooms, or Veronica did at least. Niall usually obtained the couch to enjoy his golf matches, leaving her in a position too uncomfortable to approach him. Over this span of days, Niall ventured to play guitar and destress. While mentally, he was still dazed by what he had learned to play, his muscle memory was not lacking in the slightest. Foreign chord progressions and strings of lyrics he never remembered writing down but did remember singing flew from him like the last five years of his life was something he could evoke well.

The reoccurring dreams with Veronica also continued. Some innocent, others explicit but every one held intimate undertones. Niall was in the dark when it came to know if they were actual memories resurfacing in his unconscious or chaotic figmentations his mind introduced to mock his lack of a relationship. If Niall had continued his string of occasional one-night stands prior to his hospital visit, maybe this was a way of telling him he was overdue for one.

But to hook up with his roommate? His platonic roommate? Not only was the timing inopportune, but she was the single-most trustworthy person nearest to Niall in the central Los Angeles area. To ruin the enigma of a “bond” they had built over the last few weeks seemed like a step too far. Therefore, Niall concluded he would not risk such a thing just to appease his sexual frustrations. In fact, all Niall wanted to do in his moments of quiet was talk to her about something other than the problem.

It was one-night Niall entered the living room to find Veronica sat on the couch. Her dark tendrils fell along her back which was clad in a large sweatshirt as her back rested against one of the arms. Her eyes were focused on the television as she flicked through the channels with little care. It was obvious her mind was elsewhere by the countless number of shows she scrolled over that she adored. Wait, when did Niall suddenly remember she liked Real Housewives and Animal Planet? Shaking his head, he approached the sofa and sat himself down in front of her. Pausing her thumb against the channel button, her eyes flew to his.

“Hey…” she resituated her position on the couch, bringing her knees closer against her chest. Niall took in their silky-smooth appearance in her cotton shorts. “Did you want the TV? I wasn’t really—”

“I came to say I’m sorry.” Niall sighs, bowing his head. “I shouldn’t have yelled at ya like that. It’s just…tough remembering the hard stuff. And…I’m not sure how much hard stuff I can take.”

“What do you mean?” She warily replies, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin from the cold feeling flooded her insides.

“I’m saying…I don’t think I’m ready to start remembering for a while. Do ya reckon...we could just take a break?” Veronica strains to keep her features calm and expression solid, but Niall catches the twitch in her lips as she nods up and down.

“Yeah…that’s fine.” She whispers, looking back down to the warm remote in her grip. Niall caught tears brimming her eyelids before her head craned down. Though he does not quite recall how tight-knit his relationship with the girl was, he does know they must have cared for one another to a massive extent.

“Vee, what’s wrong?” A shattered gasp comes from the woman as her head snaps back up to face him. The nickname was something subconscious, but Niall knew it triggered something within her. “Was that…did I call you that a lot.” She nodded her head up and down, lips trembling.

“Only you called me that, always. Niall…”

“Yes, love?”

“I-I know you’re scared…” the way she began her sentence, Niall knew she would somehow manipulate the subject to point to her suffering. “But…god, this is gonna make me sound like an asshole.” For some reason, her acknowledging the words to come made Niall’s slow-boiling anger come to a simmer inside of him. Or maybe it was the soft spot he had grown for her, which is still very much being dug into him. “I’m scared, too. I know, I can’t know what it’s like to be in your shoes but…damnit I hate being in my own right now.” Niall only nods, allowing her to continue her flow of thoughts, uninterrupted.

“I-it’s just there are so many things for you to try and look back on and I know some of them you’re just gonna skim over. Like a book with a—a boring chapter or an episode to a show that makes no sense I feel like you’re just gonna glimpse and be done with it, and—and I—” Her chest heaves continually while her body crunches into broken sobs.

“I don’t want to be someone you throw away. I-I don’t want to be looked over, Ni. You mean so much to me and I—" Some syllables were drawn out more than others due to her uneven tone and shaky breath. There was no more she needed to say but Niall knew she needed to say it for her. Neither had noticed how they inched closer to one another until her tears fell from her chin, sprinkling, and soaking into Niall’s legs. Her hands flew to her face as she sniffed, but they remained for only a second before Niall’s larger ones blanketed them.

“Hey, hey…” Niall coos, slowly slotting their fingers together. How comfortably they fit together was something the man was ignorant of. But Veronica would be grateful for the gesture for the rest of the night, and weeks to follow. It was the most intimate the two had been in advance to his concussion. “I’m not going to throw you out, okay?” He comforts, dragging their joined hands away from her face. “I won’t.”

“P-promise?” She questions, voice quaky.

“How about this? I won’t give up on you, Vee, but you can’t give up on me, either. I’ll try and remember, but we gotta go at my pace, okay?” The woman sniffs, nodding her head frantically.

“Deal. Deal.” She repeats, removing her hands from his and slinging her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her. When his hands came to rest at her mid-back, the feeling of home Veronica had been so urgently pining after for weeks settled snugly at the bottom of her stomach. Meanwhile, Niall’s insides became victim to a nervous fluttering sensation he felt best he not let show.

“Do you want t’ watch a movie?” Niall offers once they untangle from one another. When the cold air hits her skin once more, Veronica wishes he would have held on longer. “Goonies always cheers ya up…” Niall points, before letting his lips part in surprise by his knowledge.

“That’s right.” Veronica bares a little of her teeth, and the sight is enough to make Niall regret his earlier words. Now he was digging around his head, trying to see if he could remember anything else about the woman, but was fruitless. Veronica began playing the film and snatched a soft blanket hanging off of the sofa’s back pillows. She swung it out to cloak both her and Niall in its clean-cotton softness. Each line the girl could recall, she would recite along with the character verbatim, and that was what she occupied herself with during most of the film in between small laughs. Niall, however, immersed himself in the sight of Veronica enjoying herself with him present in the same room with a similar grin. She paid little notice to his stares and sunk further into the couch every few minutes as the warm blanket aided the restlessness, she had suffered the past few days.

Eventually, Niall’s arm brought itself to rest on the back of the couch and Veronica had slouched against his side. Neither protested the organic attraction of their bodies and rather, situated themselves closer. Niall’s neck craned down at one point to inhale the refreshing aroma of her hair. A new set of images flashed through his mind this time. His view was fogged with steam, the showerhead projected scalding water over Niall’s and Veronica’s bodies as their bodies repeatedly collided against the tiled shower wall and each other. Their collective moans were a symphony and that same scent Niall was being subjected to now, at that moment, made Veronica particularly insatiable.

Veronica’s eyes nearly sealed themselves shut when the thumping of Niall’s heartbeat picked up rapidly and his build grew stiff. She picked her head up off of his shoulder to find him staring ahead at the living room wall.

“Niall? Is everything okay?” Her hand pressing itself against his chest made his throat tighten. A familiar feeling runs through him, but he was certain he had never felt it until then. A friendlier version of fight or flight overcame his system and exposed him to more endorphins than he reckoned the human body could hold. A lump formed in his throat and at that moment, Niall would not have been surprised If it was his heart trying to leap out onto his sleeve. Beads of sweat formed in his palms which he tried holding still to not concern the woman beside him. In addition, he felt his face grow hot with intensity from the thoughts appearing in his mind without his consent. They flooded him instantaneously but skipped like a broken record. The mysterious, reoccurring face who starred in Niall's dreams now held clarity, and confirmed Niall's ceaseless wonders. He and Veronica could not have been just roommates. Unless Niall was desperately in love with the girl and pretended to be okay with the fact. Once acknowledging that his acting was sub-par, the first one remained his hypothesis.

“Yeah. M’fine.” He insisted, pleading internally for his body to relax against his couch once more. So much for remembering at my own pace, he thought.

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