s e v e n t e e n

Christmas Day is my all time favourite day of the year. You get to spend it with the people you love and watch their faces beam with joy when they open the present you got them. I've always loved giving more than receiving so when someone smiles as soon as they tear the wrapping paper off a present it makes me unbelievably happy.

When I woke up on Christmas Day my head was resting on Niall's bicep and using it as a pillow. His arm was stretched out and my fingers of my left hand were tangled in his near the edge of the bed. When I tried to move my hand his fingers flinched so I didn't try a second time because I didn't want to wake the sleeping boy.

I knew it was early because it was still dark outside. The window was directly opposite the bed and the curtains hadn't been shut the night before so when I noticed snow starting to fall I didn't even try to hold in my smile. It had only ever snowed once on Christmas in my entire life and that was when I was 13 and even though I was 20 I still got hugely excited about it, so excited I jumped out of bed and made Niall groan.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a raspy morning voice and his eyes still closed.

"Outside," I smiled as I pulled on jogging bottoms and a hoodie quickly from the end of the bed. The jogging bottoms were mine but the hoodie was Niall's which made me happy because I loved his hoodies more than I should. I also grabbed two different socks from my suitcase and yanked them onto my feet. One was a Christmas sock and the other was just a plain black one.

"What why?" he attempted to sit up but fell back again before he'd even sat up straight.

"Because it's snowing."

"Is it actually?" Niall said while he rubbed his eyes with his palms.

"Yes look," I pulled the curtains back even though the were already open.

As soon as Niall saw the snow falling outside he was hanging off the side of his bed and grabbing a pair of boxers. He sat on the edge of the bed as he pulled them on and then walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out the same clothes as me, joggers, hoodie and socks although his socks were matching.

I let out a short scream when he suddenly scooped me up from where I was stood by the window after he'd finished dressing and walked towards the door of his room.

"Shhh, everyone else is still asleep," Niall whispered into my ear making me smile because his breath tickled. I giggled as he ran down the stairs, me still in my arms, and thew open the front door without even getting shoes on.

The air outside was possibly the coldest thing I'd ever felt but I didn't mind. It hit my face with immense force and my nose immediately began to freeze. There was more snow falling than I thought and there was already a small layer covering the drive and the road like a blanket. I wasn't to sure how long it had been snowing but I had a feeling it hadn't been for long. An hour at the most.

"We probably should've put shoes on," Niall said in an attempt to look down at his feet but my body was in the way.

"Nah it's fine. Come on," I laughed and wriggled out of Niall's arms and landing on the snowy ground, my feet getting wet straight away. Within a minute, my toes had gone completely numb but I didn't care to much. I walked through the snow, making a footprint with every step.

"Lily!" Niall yelled from behind me. I spun around only to be met with a snowball that smacked me right in the mouth and make my lips burn with coldness.

"No no no no! It's down my top!" I screamed as already melting snow fell down my hoodie, Niall's hoodie, and made my body freeze. Niall laughed as I tried my best to get all the snow out, so much that he ended up bent over like he was about to be sick.

While he was bent over and laughing until he quite literally could only just breathe, I gathered as much snow as I could in my small hands and walked over to him. I stood next to him until he stood up straight again and then pushed the handful of snow right into his face. It didn't just go on his lips like it did for me. It went everywhere, all over his face.

"Oh I see what's going on here," he said with a smirk when he'd brushed the majority of the snow off his face. There was still a few small flakes in his eye brows and balanced on his eye lashes but he didn't seem to care.

I giggled, "What is going on?"

"Snowball fight!" he yelled and laughed both at the same time and I joined him in laughing as we threw snow at each other. Neither of us really bothered making balls, we just picked handfuls of snow up and chucked them at each other. Most of the snow that was thrown at me hit me right in the face where as I only got Niall's face a few times which made me a bit annoyed. It was ridiculous that we were adults yet we were having a fight in the snow at sunrise on Christmas morning. But again, we didn't care.

"Oh I'm gonna get you!" Niall shouted as I pushed a large handful of snow right down his hoodie.

My screams and laughs all merged together as I ran frantically away from Niall and the huge amount of snow in his hands. He chased me all the way to the road. At least I think it was the road, I couldn't tell because the snow had made everything even so I didn't know where the pavement stopped and the road started. And then I slipped and fell right back into the snow.

"Oww," I groaned.

"Lily!" Niall said from about a meter away. In less than a second he was knelt next to me with his head near mine, "Are you alright?"

"No I'm dead," I said and stuck my tongue out the side of my mouth like everyone thinks dead people do and shut my eyes.

"Oh no, what am I gonna do?" Niall joked and I did my best to hide the smile that was trying so hard to come onto my face.

Suddenly I felt another tongue touch mine for a brief moment. My eyes shot open and my tongue went back into my mouth without me even thinking.

"You lied to me!" Niall gasped sarcastically and laughed.

I smiled and pushed myself up so I was sat next to Niall who was no longer kneeling but sat as well, "What are you gonna do about it?"

He smirked and I blushed because his intense blue eyes looked deep into my soul as he moved himself forward to join his freezing lips with my freezing lips. His hand that was a little wet from the snow rested on my cheek, his thumb right up close to my eye so when I closed my eyes I could feel my lashes brush against it.

I moved myself onto Niall's lap, my lips still on his, and began running my hands through his hair just they way he liked. His hair had small snowflakes all in it which made it wet and cold but I took no notice and carried on kissing him until I suddenly remembered we were in the middle of the road.

"Ni we're in the middle of the road," I said. I'd never called him Ni before but somehow it automatically became one of my favourite names to call him, along side babe. I was almost 100% certain that no one else called him it so I was excited that it could be a name that only I would use.

"I know," he said and kissed me again before I could say anything else. I just smiled because I couldn't be bothered to reply and carried on kissing him.

"Seriously you guys! It isn't even eight o'clock and your basically shagging each other right in the middle of the road!"

I broke off Niall and turned my head to see Greg stood next to my brand new car. He was holding a mug with steam coming out of it and I wanted to grab it and poor the boiling liquid all over me because I was so cold.

When I turned back to Niall he had a big smile on his face. I wondered what he was smiling about but I didn't have to think for long because Greg soon gave it away.

"Oh shit. You guys already had sex," he said, his mouth dropping and a smile coming onto his face just like Niall's.

"Uhh no we did not!" I said quickly, standing up from the floor.

"Really?" Greg said with a smirk identical to Niall's one.

"Yes really. And even if we did, it's none of your damn business," I said with a fake smile before walking past Greg and back towards the house.

"Where are you going?" Niall yelled. He'd finally gotten off the floor and was standing next to Greg.

"The shower!" I yelled back.

"Oh ok," I heard Niall say in his normal voice.

"You guys totally did it didn't you," Greg said in a hushed voice just as I reached the door. I could tell I wasn't meant to hear it because Niall shushed him despite his already quiet voice.

"Yeah we totally did!" Niall said in a voice even louder than Greg's. I turned around and saw them high fiving just like in the picture on the stairs. I chuckled at their stupidity as I opened the front door, making the warm air of Niall's house hit me in the face. I pulled my soaked socks off before walking up stairs and turning the shower on. The laundry basket that stood behind Niall's bedroom door was already full so I had to shove down all the dirty clothes so my wet ones would fit in. 

I walked to the bathroom in a towel seeing as though it was right next to Niall's room so I didn't have to go far at all. Maura had cleared a space in the small, under sink cupboard for me to put my toiletries so I grabbed my shampoo, conditioner and body wash before climbing in the shower and immediately relaxing into the hot water that loosened my muscles and ran down my bare body.