t w e n t y - o n e

4 weeks past until I next heard Niall's name mentioned again. I washing dishes in the kitchen quickly before I had to go to work that evening with the radio on loud when I heard the man introduce Niall.

"Would you care to share what your new single is about?" the radio man asked Niall.

"Ok, sure... um... well it's about a girl who sort of dumped me cause I didn't really treat her right. And recently I saw her with another guy and it kinda made me properly realise that I really do miss her," he said. I could hear in his voice that he was trying to hide his sadness but for me it stood out more than anything else.

"Wow you got me tearing up!" the radio man said in a happy voice and Niall laughed nervously.

"Go ahead and introduce the song then Niall," the man said.

Niall cleared his throat before saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is This Town."

The song began to play and Niall's beautiful voice filled the kitchen.

If the whole world was watching I'd still dance with youDrive highways and byways to be there with youOver and over the only truthEverything comes back to you

"Hey, don't you need to go to work?" I heard Liv's voice from behind me just as the song finished and I jumped a little at her sudden appearance.

"I will, I'm just doing the dishes quickly," I said.

"Lil are you ok? You sound kinda upset," Liv came over and passed me a tea towel for me to dry my hands on.

"Yeah I'm just tired," I said while I wiped away a few droplets of water from my cheeks that I didn't even know had fallen from my eyes. She nodded and hugged me quickly before taking over the dishes from me and allowing me to go to work.

The restaurant I worked in wasn't far from our flat so I could walk there easily. I arrived a few minutes early which gave me time to get my apron on and hang my coat up without rushing like usual.

"Here's my favourite waitress!" Peter exclaimed when I walked to the bar to get my notebook and pen. He was the head barrister, even though there were only 2. He'd made me feel very welcome when I first started working at the restaurant and we quickly became very close. Our friendship was naturally a very flirty one however we both new that nothing would ever happen between us because he was gay and had a huge crush on one of the assistant chefs at the restaurant.

"Good evening Mr Sullivan," I said with a wink and we both laughed, "Any customers for me yet?"

"There's a table at the back that needs service. It's a family of 5 so be ready for a lot of writing," Peter told me. I nodded and blew him a kiss as I walked out towards the back part of the restaurant where the bigger tables were. Large groups didn't often come into the restaurant but when they did I always loved serving them.

"Hi, are you guys ready to order?" I asked the family. The dad went to open his mouth but someone beat him to it.

"Can I have a chocolate bar please," a little girl asked me with a small tug on my apron.

"Me to!" added the little boy who was sat next to her.

"And me!" shouted the other little boy from the opposite side of the table.

I laughed, "I'm sure I can sort you all out with a chocolate bar for pudding but why don't mummy and daddy order the main meal first, yeah?"

All the children nodded and let their parents order the meals. They ordered 3 adult pizzas that I could tell they were going to split in between all of them. The children didn't need a pizza each because they all only looked about 4 or 5. I scribbled down their food and drinks orders and walked back to the kitchen to give in their order and wait until it was ready for me to take it back to them.

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"Excuse me?" a small voice said from behind me.

I turned around from talking to Peter to see the little girl from the family of 5 looking up at me with big, brown eyes.

"How can I help you?" I asked and crouched down so I was more her height.

"Are you a princess?" she asked me.

I smiled slightly at her question and shook my head, "No."

"Really? You look like one," she reached her arm up and touched my hair, making it fall into my eyes, "I want to look like you when I grow up so I can look like a princess."

I smiled again, "What's your name?"

"Eliza."

"Well, Eliza, you already look like a princess and I promise that whatever your going to look like when you grow up, you will look like a princess," I told her.

She smiled an adorable, innocent smile, "Really?"

"Yep... and you'll marry a prince."

"And live happily ever after?" she asked excitedly.

"And live happily ever after."

She beamed at me and then suddenly threw her arms around my neck, locking me in a small hug that I never would've imagined to be as comforting as it was.

"Come on Eliza, the beautiful lady needs to get back to work!" I heard Eliza's mum call from the door of the restaurant.

Eliza unhooked her arms from me and waved as she walked out the restaurant with her family. I could hear her talking excitedly about princesses and princes even when the doors were shut fully and it made me smile.

And then I heard Niall's song that I'd heard earlier play softly through the speakers of the restaurant, filling the entire building with his voice, and my heart sank back down to the hole I didn't even know it was in.

"Your so pretty," he said quietly as he tucked a bit of my hair behind my ear, "My beautiful princess."

Niall's words and actions from the night I forgave him played over in my head and no matter how much I tired to get rid of them, they wouldn't leave. It was the first time he'd ever called me princess and Eliza's question about whether I was a princess or not got me thinking. I knew she was a young girl who was just going through the phase most girls do when they're obsessed with princesses but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Lily, hello?" I heard Peter said faintly from behind the bar but I didn't pay much attention to him.

"I need some air," is all I said before bursting out into the cool evening air of London and sitting down on the bench that was a few metres down the road from the restaurant and finally processing for real everything I knew about Niall.