Chapter 11

Sorry for the delay guys! Merry Christmas by the way! Hope you all had a great day!

There’s a nice amount of Nouis in this chapter, call it my present to you! :L

Hope you like the chapter, remember to leave your thoughts in a comment!

ENJOY! x

Chapter 11

The door creaked open and Harry and I looked over in surprise.

“Sugar,” said the familiar voice of my sister, Lottie.

“Lottie?” I said confused. There was a silent moment before the door creaked fully open, to reveal a very awkward looking Lottie Tomlinson.

“Okay,” she stared as she made her way into the room, her eyes, flickering between me and Harry. “I will admit that I was eavesdropping. I was just walking past when I heard you two talking and I was curious!” she defended.

I looked at Harry who was looking slightly uncomfortable.

“I want in on the plan,” Lottie said abruptly. I looked at her confused.

“What?” I said.

“I want to help you and Niall get together!” she said, “ after all the times we talked about you and Niall, I think that Harry’s plan can finally bring you two together!” she let out a dreamy sigh smiling like an idiot.

“What? NO! You can’t joint the plan, how they hell can you help? Huh?” I said. I looked at Harry who was smirking at Lottie, his eyes diverted to me and his smirk turned to a meek smile.

“Why can’t she help? She can help with phase two! And she can help think up new ways of making Niall jealous!” he defended.

“Because it’s really creepy! I don’t want my sister helping me with my love life,” I stated.

“That didn’t stop you from opening up to me nearly every night!” she argued.

“Yeah, well, I’ve never asked for your help Lottie, you just saunter into my room acting like my personal therapist!” I tried to argue back.

Lottie’s face contorted in sadness. Oh god. I let out a deep sigh and fell back on the bed. I wiped my hand down my face. After a long moment of silence I sat up and looked at the faces around me, Harry was staring at me sadly, making me sigh again.

 I diverted my eyes, finally, to Lottie who was wearing her legendary pout. When our eyes met her eyes turned all ‘puppy’ on me. For God sake.

“Fine!” I hissed. She began to do a happy dance and I rolled my eyes dramatically. I looked at Harry who was grinning widely at Lottie.

Brilliant, now there are two of them, trying to help me win Niall’s heart. I mentally sighed.

¬¬¬¬¬ (*a couple weeks later*) ¬¬¬¬¬¬

“You should have seen his face Lottie!” Harry chuckled, “priceless!” Lottie laughed with him while I sat silently on the bed next to them.

“I tell you! My flirting is definitely paying off, you can see the jealousy!” he giggled. I let out a long sign.

“My bum still hurts,” I claimed, “there is no way, you needed to slap it that hard Harry!” i complained.

“I wanted to get his attention, I wanted him to see!” he argued. I let out a harsh sigh and just shrugged.

“Whatever” I said.

“What’s up with you grumpy guts?” Lottie said smiling, “my plan worked!”

“your plan?” Harry said sceptically, “I’ll have you know this is my plan!” he warned her.

“But the slap on the butt, and the wink was my idea!” she argued.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” he said smirking; she gave him a disbelieving look and retuned her eyes to me.

“So what’s wrong with you?” she said crawling up to me, and straddling my stretched out legs, her butt crushing my knees.

“Nothing,” I said stubbornly.

“I don’t buy it, what’s wrong,” she said concerned.

“I just- nothing, nothing’s wrong,” I said, keeping my doubts about the plan bottled up.

“What? ‘I just’ what? What were you going to say?” she pushed.

I wanted to keep it to myself, considering how happy they seemed to be getting over the simple glances that Niall would give me and Harry. But the longer I kept it bottled up the more the doubt that this plan would work, grew. I should something, but I had already predicted their reactions to be all ‘oh don’t be silly, of course he’s jealous’ and ‘why would you think that? Trust me, it’s going to work’. I didn’t want those answers; I wanted a real, honest opinion. 

I let out a long, exhausted sigh.

“I just... doubt that Niall has any feelings towards me, that he actually cares at all, no matter how many times Harry slaps my bum” I stated.

“Louis,” Harry said, catching my attention, I looked at him. “Niall James Horan, is head over heels for you.” I gave him a sad smile.

“You don’t see it do you, Lou?” he said.

“See what?” I asked. He smiled at me, his eyes glittering in the sunlight.

“When you enter the room, his eyes light up, like it’s the 25th of December.  When you laugh, he smiles. No matter what he’s doing when he hears you laugh, a smile grows on his face,” he said, “sometimes  I see him chuckling to himself at something you’ve said or done.” I felt a smile creep on my face slowly.

 “I never mentioned how when you’re not there, when someone mentions your name; he smiles like an freak,” he chuckled, “Niall defiantly has feelings towards you, did you not see his face when I slapped your peachy arse? His eyes sent me daggers and I swear he was checking out your arse as we walked away.” I felt my cheeks heat up into a blush.

“Awh, that’s so cute!” Lottie squealed. Harry and I looked at her smiling. “Right, phase two?”

“Yeah, it’s defiantly time for phase two!” Harry said excited. I sighed smiling lightly.

“What was phase two again?” I asked.

“Phase two is to get you two to spend some time together, make him really realise that he needs to make a move,” Lottie said, smiling at Harry.

“Yeah, so I was thinking, paintballing? Double date?” he smirked.

“Double date?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, you and Niall, me and Lottie!” he chuckled.

“Wait-what? You’re going to date my sister?” I exclaimed.

“don’t be stupid, no I’m not going to date your sister, she’s just going to accompany me, so that you two can team up against us!” he explained. I nodded in understanding; I looked over at Lottie who was grinning wildly.

“Ahh!” Lottie squealed, “I’ve always wanted to go paintballing!” Harry shot her an amused smile.

“Oh good, well, this sort of completes to tasks then doesn’t it?” he said, “you get to go paintballing for the first time,” he pointed to Lottie, “and you get to seduce Niall!” he slapped my stomach excitedly.

“Seduce Niall?” I asked sceptically.

“Yeah, just make him fall for you, pull out all the stops! Be a proper gentle man! He’ll be putty in you palm!” he smirked, “Niall’s such a romantic, he loves old fashioned things like opening the door for one another and all that cheesy stuff.”

“Niall’s a romantic?” I said I surprise.

“Yeah, he believes that he will find his ‘princesses’ and all that” he shrugged, “well, more like his ‘prince’ now I guess” he chuckled. I felt my heart warm, Niall is so cute, oh my god.

¬¬¬¬¬ (*a couple days later*) ¬¬¬¬¬

Saturday had came too soon, I was so nervous about this whole ‘paintballing date’ that I’d barely had any sleep for the past couple days. Harry had sorted it all with Niall and he agreed to come.

I lay there in bed for a long moment. I didn’t feel like getting up, fear had been clouding my mind all night; questions whirled around my mind making me more and more nervous about today.

What if he thought I was a weirdo for opening his door and being all gentlemanly?

What if I made a fool of myself?

But the worst question; the one that still played with my heart and mind, burning the edges of my confidence just thinking about it.

What if it didn’t work?

“GET UP! NOW LOU!” shouted Lottie from my door way. I let out a long sigh.

“In a minute,” I delayed.

“NO, NOT ‘IN A MINUTE’, NOW!” she shouted. I let out another exhausted sigh.

“Okay! Calm down, what is wrong with you?!” I said getting out of bed slowly.

“Harry will be here in 20 minutes to pick us up!” she said running down the hallway, “so hurry!”

I groaned as the cold air of my bed room hit my bare chest.  I rushed to the bathroom, picking out a towel from the airing cupboard on my way. I took a quick shower, my mind wandering to the beautiful blonde that I was supposed to ‘seduce’ today.

I got ready for the day in a daze; pulling on some boxers as I opened my closet to pick out something to wear.

“I want to pick out your outfit!” said Lottie from the doorway as she skipped her way in. I let out a sigh, I’d been sighing a lot lately. Life was starting to feel like a chore.

Lottie rifled through my closet picking me an outfit out.  I trudged over to my bed lying down with a huff.

“What’s wrong now?”Lottie said, as she threw some cloths onto my tired body.  

“Nothing,” I muttered picking up the cloths and pulling them on my body, pathetically while still lying on my bed, making me wriggle around like a worm. I let out a frustrated huff and got up off the bed, so I could put the cloths on properly.

“For god sake Louis you’re like a child. What Niall see’s in you I have no idea!” Lottie chuckled, “Hurry up Lou; he’ll be here in 10 minutes!”

I stumbled about, trying to get my other leg into my trouser leg. I heard Lottie sigh and leave the room. Hurriedly I slipped on my shirt, and brushed my hair quickly swiping some hair wax into it styling to look as decent as possible.

My heart beat sped up to a painful rate as my hands began to get clammy. What if he felt uncomfortable with me being on his team? Oh god, I can’t even think straight. My breathing started to pick up and I started to feel dizzy. This is a big step, we hadn’t talked it what felt like forever, and I couldn’t just start to be all comfortable with him being so close to me today.

“You look great, now come eat your toast, I made it for you downstairs,” Lottie said from the door way, I looked over and smiled a weak smile. I followed her lead down stairs into the kitchen. Everyone was out; mum had taken the other girls to the cinema leaving me and Lottie to lock up when we left.

Lottie passed me a small plate with a slice of toast with butter and strawberry jam on.

“Thanks,” I muttered sitting down on the table.  I took a bite out of the toast but I found it hard to swallow, as my stomach churned with worry.  I watched Lottie as she poured out two cups of Yorkshire tea, reminding me of home.

“How long till Harry get’s here?” I asked as Lottie placed the cup of tea in front of me and sat down.

“5 minutes or so,” she said, sipping from her flowery mug. I tried to force down the toast but it just clogged up my throat, so I gave up and just drank my tea.

“Are you okay?” Lottie said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Nervous,” I admitted.

“It’ll be fine, just do little things, to help him and be really kind,” Lottie said.

“Yeah, I know, I’m just nervous that he’ll feel uncomfortable,” I muttered. I heard a car horn sound from outside. I looked towards to door then back at Lottie who was grinning widely. We got up from the table and made our way out towards Harry’s car, locking the door behind me.

“Hey Harry!” squealed Lottie as she got in the front seat of the car, putting on her seat belt.

“Hey Hazza,” I muttered getting in the back.

“Why are you so grumpy?” Harry said, turning his head to look at me.”

“He’s nervous,” Lottie said.

“No need to be nervous mate, it’s all going to go to plan, you’ll see!” Harry smiled, as he pulled away from the curb. We started heading to Niall’s house, which wasn’t far from here, quite literally 5 minutes walk away. Taking the familiar route to Niall’s house, memories of walking Niall home from our tutoring sessions flooded my mind, the way his eyes glittered in the light of the lamp posts and how he laughed at the ground when I told him a funny joke; Niall Horan is the Cutest boy on earth, I swear.

“When we get to Niall’s house, get out the car and open the door for him!” Lottie squealed in excitement.

“Yeah, he’ll love that cliché stuff!” Harry chuckled. I swallowed the lump in my throat as we pulled up outside Niall’s house. Niall stood on his porch, waiting for us in all his gorgeous glory.

I slipped out of the car and held the door open for him to get in. Niall began walking towards the car, and when he noticed what I’d done, he lightly blushed and smiled at me. He slipped in the car shifting alone so I could get in beside him.

The car journey was slightly awkward and Lottie tried multiple times to start a conversation but it didn’t really flow. I caught Lottie looking at me through the rear mirror and she winked at me, laughing silently. I rolled my eyes at her smiling. What is up with her?

I looked over at Niall, who was already looking at me, when he noticed I’d caught him looking he looked away, blushing brightly. I chuckled lightly; he is so cute when he blushes.

“So we have to team up for paintballing,” Lottie said, trying to start another conversation.

“I call first dibs on Lottie!” Harry chuckles from the front.

“Fine,” I said feeling confident, “I don’t want to go with my sister anyway! Niall and I will beat you guys hands down.” I looked over at Niall who was grinning.

“Yeah, right!” Harry retorted, “be prepared to be beaten by the Hottie team!” Lottie let out a loud laugh.

“Hottie?” I questioned, chuckling.

“Harry and Lottie equals hottie,” he said, as if it was obvious.

“Oh yeah?” Niall laughed, “Well, team Nouis are going to make you weep!”

I laughed loudly at Niall’s ‘come back’.

“That’s right!” I chuckled, giving Niall a high five, “be ready to get your arses whipped youngsters!”

The car pulled up into a large car park filled with cars and teenagers that were laughing together in groups making their way toward the small cabin on the other side of the car park. Harry deliberately parked really close to another car, so that the only doors that could be opened where on mine and Lottie’s side. Lottie and I jumped out of our side, and Harry squished out of his door smirking at me.

I held the door open for Niall as he slid out of the car, blushing at my gesture. I smiled triumphantly; things were going great so far. I really didn’t need to be worried at all. We made our way towards the cabin, walking in our teams as we exchanged retorts of how we would beat each other.

“Ooh, fighting talk from the opponents, Niall,” I said slinging my arm around his shoulder confidently, “we have to beat them now, huh?”

Niall blushed and smiled up at me.

“Yeah” he said, looking away in an attempt to hide his obvious bright blush. Can this boy stop blushing? It’s driving me crazy.

When we got the cabin, we sorted it all, and began to get our gear on. Our protective hard vest and suit (to protect our cloths from paint) and we had a short talk from the assistant explaining the paintballing guns and the health and safety rules etcetera.  Basically the aim of the game was the have the least paint on your team’s body after 1 hour, the team with the most paint splodges loses, and we weren’t allowed to shoot each other in the face, or head.

(AN: the rules and protective equipment of paintballing are different depending on where you go)

After what felt like forever, we headed out into the woods next to the cabin.

“I’ll give you a 1 minute head start!” I chuckled at Harry and Lottie, who laughed and nodded while running off into the wood together. I turned around so I wouldn’t see where they were hiding, all part of the fun I guess, and I looked over at Niall who was smiling at me. Was it possible that he looked extra cute with that protective vest on?

After what felt like a minute I decided it was time to get on with the game.

“Come on,” I said, beginning to walk into the wood looking around wearily; Niall by my side. We kept walking till we were deep into the wood. I heard a rustle of leaves and snapped my head around; holding my paint gun high, and close to my chest. I heard the fire of a paint gun and yelped at I felt a sharp pain in my arse.

“Holy crap!” I squealed clutching my butt. I heard a chuckle from Niall as he checked out my bum injury. Then there was another fire and Niall squealed as he held his leg laughing lightly.

“Run!” I shouted, unconiously grabbing hold of Niall’s hand while running through to wood. His hand felt warm, making my cold hand all tinglely.

More gun shots were fired and I could hear loud laughing from behind, making me glance back, to see Harry and Lottie running after us shooting us wildly. Feeling more hits to my back and butt and looked back forward checking for a place to go.

 Niall laughed as I pulled him faster, feeling out of breath, I looked back again, to see the other team had vanished. So I stopped in my tracks and looking around for a place to hide.

“Over here,” Niall hissed, clearly reading my thoughts and pulled me over behind a fallen tree. I checked out my butt injury again.

“Harry,” I muttered, knowing he was the one behind the butt shooting. Niall chuckled quietly.

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Niall laughed. I could feel my cheeks heating up at the thought.

I shrugged trying to hide my blush, as Niall laughed harder. That’s when I realised I was still holding Niall’s hand, it felt so... right. Like it fit perfectly; his warm palm radiating into my cold one, running tingles up my arm.

I heard another rustle from nearby and I looked at Niall alarmed, but he just smiled, letting go or my hand to prepare his gun, popping his head over the fallen tree wearily. He let out a soft giggle when he shot his gun.

“Ouch!” shouted the familiar voice of Harry Styles.  Niall ducked again, grabbing my hand pulling me into a crawl as we made an escape. I laughed out loud, a bit too loud, giving our position away to the opposing team, forcing us to run for our lives. Niall and I laughed hysterically as we ran away as fast as we could.

 I looked back to see if they were following us but I tripped on a branch causing me to fall over, pulling Niall with me, Niall feel flat on my chest. We laughed for a little, but the laughter died down and I realised how close Niall’s face was to mine. I looked deep into his ocean blue eyes as he stared back into mine, I could feel his heavy breathing fanning my lips, bringing the realisation of just how close we were to each other. Niall’s eyes flickered down to my lips then back to my eyes, as I did the same to him. The tension grew as Niall’s face got slightly closer to mine.

“GOTTCHA!” Lottie shouted from nearby, bringing us both back to reality. For God sake Lottie.

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