“I suppose we did…” I trailed off, wondering why Niall suddenly had a nervous look on his face. He played with my untied shoelace, rolling it gently between his musician’s fingers.

“Would you like to come to my flat and watch a film with me?” he asked, glancing up at me through his lashes. I blinked, astounded. “Of course I would! Just let me run back to my hotel to shower and change real quick.“

“Do you want me to come with you and wait?”

“If you don’t mind, that’s all right. I’ll try to go fast,” I promised and he held out his hand to shake. I laughed to myself and accepted his hand, grasping it firmly. He seemed impressed by my strong handshake, and then we left the café and headed out into the cold London air. It was getting late and I hadn’t expected it to be this cold; especially since I was still wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I shivered a little and Niall saw out of the corner of his eye. As he did not have a jacket either, just a long-sleeved shirt, he kindly wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his warm body.

I felt his hand softly rubbing my forearm to push out some of the cold and for that I was grateful. I noticed he kept his head down and walked with a brisk pace that I tried my best to match. He slowed slightly so that I could keep up easier, but we still maintained a relatively fast gait, reaching my hotel in a few minutes. I assumed he was just eager to get over to his home.

In my room, Niall sat on the couch while I quickly grabbed some clothes and showered. Afterwards I furiously brushed my teeth, not wanting to keep him waiting any longer. I dressed in some warm sweats and packed my favorite fleece blanket in my bag along with my phone and room key.

“Okay, I’m ready!” I called, strolling into the main room. I saw Niall, sitting on the edge of the couch where I had left him, but he was hunched over, studying something intently. I crossed the room to see what he was so engrossed in. In his hand he held a spiraled pad, flipping through the pages, an expression of wonder on his face. I recognized what he was holding. My sketchbook.

My private sketchbook.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

His head snapped up and his face look apologetic. “I-I’m sorry, I just saw it sitting on the table and I was curious…” He gave it to me and stood up, waling over to the door. “Ready to go?”

I stared at him, clutching the notebook limply. Gathering my thoughts, I set it back down on the table and walked over to him. “Niall, it’s fine. You don’t have to apologize. I usually don’t let anyone see that, but if you want to, it’s all right...”

He met my gaze tentatively. “I just don’t want to upset you. I could tell those were special to you. They’re very good, by the way,” he said shyly.

I smiled warmly, “Thank you.” His eyes softened and he led me out and to the elevator. On the ride down and on the way over to his flat we discussed my trip here. “So did you just come here to see the game?”

I nodded. “Yes, I have always wanted to see a game at Wembley, and I got tickets as a gift from a friend.”

“That’s really cool,” he replied. “When are you going back to America?”

I grimaced. “See, that’s what I haven’t decided…technically I should be going to my first year of college right now, but I was overwhelmed with everything going on and I decided to take a year off before continuing my education. That’s not something I ever thought I would do, but it just seemed like the right thing at the time.”

“So you’re just going to stay here for a while, then?’ he asked hopefully, and I grinned at his expression; he resembled a small child who’d just been promised candy.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t even discussed that with my parents yet…they think I’m coming home in a few days, but I kind of want to stay for longer. I mean, it’s not like I have anything to do when I get home; I don’t have a job and I don’t want to have to live off my parents any longer.”

“Could you stay with a friend?”

“I suppose, but pretty much all of mine are off at the best colleges in the county. Most of my good friends graduated top of our class and got full rides to the school of their dreams,” I said wistfully.

“Did you not get accepted where you wanted to?”

“That’s the thing, I did,” I laughed without humor. “I finished third and got a scholarship-for academics. I wanted to play soccer in college, but my injury put me so far behind technically that I couldn’t compete at the same level as I used to. Colleges had been looking at me before, but they lost interest when I got hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, with genuine feeling. “It’s okay,” I responded immediately, “I have to live with it. I also wanted to be a doctor, but with the turn of events, I just couldn’t do it right then. So I kind of drifted around a bit and then got to come here.” I shivered again and his arm found my shoulders again, squeezing reassuringly.

“We’re nearly there,” he told me, as we turned a corner and I saw a nice building standing in the frigid night. The lampposts cast a dim light on the dark bricks and he pulled out a key that he inserted into a wrought iron fence that looked newly re-painted.

He turned to me. "Well, I'm glad you came here," he said, and then ushered me through and we climbed a few flights of stairs, coming to a door on the third level. He unlocked the door with another key and put his hand on the small of my back, guiding my though.

I stepped in while he flipped on the lights. “Welcome to my humble dwelling,” he chuckled.