The Night It All Went Down

I bit my lip, trying to remember that as much as I wanted that to be Niall's reaction, I had to stay focused. I followed El to the base of the stairs and threw her an uncertain glance. I couldn't believe I was about to do this and yet, I was. Suddenly, I felt my feet slip into mid air and realised I was falling, the space around me zipping passed as I tumbled over my head towards the hard, concrete floor. I braced myself for the bone breaking impact. But it never came.

Instead, I felt two, strong arms wrapped around me, supporting me and I slowly let out the breath I had been holding. I opened my eyes tentatively and found myself staring into Niall's eyes,the playful glint in his eye subtly taunting me.

"Erm....I'm just going to go and find Louis," El coughed, scurrying through the doorway and shutting it behind her to give us some privacy.

I rolled out of Niall's arms and began to dust myself down, embarrassed and annoyed at the failure of my plan. I cast my eyes downwards and tucked a section of my hair behind my ear self-consciously. I could feel Niall's smirk burning my back and I tried to raise my eyes off the floor but found that they were glued there.

"So......you entered classically there, Kayleigh. Couldn't have done it better myself!" Niall chuckled, watching me. Slowly, I pulled my head up to look at him, ready to gently slug him in the arm or do something equally stupid. But something stopped me. And Niall clearly realised it too.

I pursed my lips, knowing that I had to bite the bullet. We weren't little kids that were running around in the playground anymore. I had to grow up and do what needed to be done.

"Niall, we need to talk." I got out, watching his expression alter dramatically.

"What about?" He replied, clearly clueless as to where I was intending this conversation to go.

"Us," I choked on the word.

"Us?"

"Yes, us."

"Oh. I see. Well this was not how I intended this to go - at all."

"Believe me, I know the feeling. Do you want to go somewhere a little more.......private?" I suggested, looking around the hallway of the house.

"Through here. I'm sure Louis won't mind me showing you the games room for five minutes." Niall cleared his throat, phlegm clogging his voice slightly.

I followed him through the door that led to the kitchen, walking towards Louis' pantry and following Niall inside. As much as I wanted to make a joke about the fact that food items were not games, I bit my tongue and refrained from doing so because I realised now was most definitely not the time for snappy one-liners.

Niall removed a bag of flour from the wooden shelf and revealed a concrete wall behind it. Most of the wall was an elephant grey that made me believe there was nothing worth noting however, just as I was about to ask Niall whether he had gone insane, I spotted something. A small rectangle in the wall was slightly discoloured and didn't match up with the rest. Realising what he was about to do, I quickly braced myself for the loud noise.

Niall placed his hand on the rectangle that was slightly discoloured and paused for a moment. Seconds later, he removed it and the wall began to slide open. It was like something out of a cheesy spy movie- or James Bond.

A slight, half smirk spread across his face, Niall turned to me with raised eyebrows. In front of me was a large room complete with orange sofas, a large television and a snooker table. The walls were painted a brilliant white and the furniture, that was dotted about the room, was primarily glass, showing off an assortment of books. I frowned for a second, wondering if I had stepped into some alternate universe where Louis didn't complain every time I tried to convince him to read.

"El and Harry keep most of their books down here. There's some.....err.....interesting titles down here." He stuttered, glancing at a cabinet.

Suspicious of why Niall wouldn't elaborate, I crept over to the glass bookshelf and crouched downwards, scanning the titles. I could see these books were well thumbed and it panicked me when I realised what most of them were about. Jesus Christ! Somebody had to talk to Harry about what was appropriate reading material for a twenty one year old! I hadn't even read Fifty Shades of Grey and I was a more than prolific reader!

My eyes widened when I realised that it wasn't just Harry who would be reading these books it would be......oh, gross! What the actual fuck? Please God no........

Niall caught sight of my disgusted expression and smirked a little wider. "What else do you expect us to do in our spare time?"

"Oh my god! Niall James Horan! That is about the grossest thing you have ever said to me! And that's saying something! Are you kidding me? That's just.....that's just plain weird! I'm not criticising E. L. James or anything because I'm sure her work is fabulous but.....really? I'm not even going there! Just don't ever tell me about it, please!"

"Done. But I thought we were here to discuss something a little less..........sexual?" Niall glanced around, awkwardly. I cleared my throat slightly and gestured to the sofa.

"Err......yeah. Shall we sit down?"

"I'd love to."

We made our way towards the orange sofas and sat down gingerly, making sure we both sat with a little distance between us. I pursed my lips, willing myself to just get into the mindset of being able to say it quickly. Slowly, I opened my mouth and began to form the words.

"So, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I know that you have feeling for me." I started, watching his eyes become panicked. "Originally, El and I had this whole elaborate plan worked out but we're not children. I think we have to discuss this like adults. Especially since we're each other's Matches."

As I rounded off my very brief speech, I waited for Niall's reaction- which turned out to be silence. Wow. Great Kayleigh. You're amazing! Way to woo him with your conversation skills! It was a while before Niall said anything in reply but, to his credit, he didn't run off screaming like I'd imagined he would.

"So you worked it out then." He began, wringing his hands. "But.......Matches? I didn't think we were anything like that. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"It was El, really. But I worked it out when I was in Essex. I'm sorry, Niall, but we have to talk about this because I honestly don't know how I feel about it. How....how long have you liked me?" I couldn't believe I was being so frank with my statement but it felt good to be honest to Niall finally. I watched him rub his face I his palms and heard him sigh. I instantly felt guilty about putting him through this but then told myself that I had to know and couldn't go on like this.

"Since you started working for us, Kayleigh." Niall looked me straight in the eye. "It took me a few months to work it out but I just.....I just knew. I sound like some blonde Edward Cullen or guy Bella Swan but it's true. I guess I felt something click and I couldn't place it. So yeah, I have feelings for you."

I was a little taken aback at his brash comment but tried to take it in my stride, continuing to talk. "Does anybody else know? Actually, I know the boys know." I rolled my eyes, laughing slightly in spite of the situation.

"No offence, Kay, but that was pretty stupid. If you must know, they haven't known long. They worked it out in Paris and tried to convince me you liked somebody else, the twats." Niall grinned.

That was when I knew. I knew exactly why my stomach had twisted itself into knots and caused me to trip down the steps at Niall's comment. I knew why I was confused about my feelings. I knew why I had been hoping El was right. I knew why he'd stuck up for me so much when I was arrested. I knew why I enjoyed speaking and being alone with Niall. I knew why I always loved doing anything that involved Niall. I knew why his mum just kept grinning when we were mucking around in her back garden. I knew why Greg wouldn't stop teasing Niall about something when he'd last come to stay with him. I knew a lot of things. But, most importantly, I knew what my next question was going to be. I just had to pray he took it well.

"New question, what are you going to do about it?" I looked at him meaningfully and spotted his eyes widening and his minute gulp.

"I....um....I guess I have to have a conversation about what I'm going to do next means." He searched my eyes, blue eyes boring into brown.

"And what are you going to do next?" I dropped my voice to a whisper, becoming quite confused as to what he intended to do. To be honest, I was beginning to panic.

"This." He replied quietly, slowly leaning towards me.

Shit! He was going to kiss me. My mind began to ask itself: what do I do? My mind fought against itself for a fraction of a second, each side determined to win. On one hand, I really wanted to kiss Niall. On the other hand, I wanted to knee him where the sun didn't shine, tell him to pull himself together and that the whole reason we were having this conversation was to clear the air. But I didn't.

Instead, I too leant forward and connected our lips. Niall's soft lips began to mole against mine as he kissed me gently, slowly making the world around us melt out of sight and turn into a hazy bubble.

The kiss was.......definitely the best kiss I've ever had, that was for certain. I knew right then and there I had made the right decision, especially since I could feel the electricity crackling around us and the fireworks exploding in my stomach. I guess kissing Niall is, in a word, awesome. And I was so grateful that my mind had made me kiss him back.

I reached upwards and knotted my hands in Niall's hair as he slid his hands further down my back. We were sitting there, pretty much glued together, not giving a damn about the rest of the world. My heart was beating faster than normal and Ibreathlessly pulled away, leaning my forehead against Niall's and blinking.

"So...........we have a lot to discuss." I began.

"We do indeed," Niall replied with laughter present in his voice. But he never disconnected our foreheads and we remained that way, heads pressed together, for a good few, lengthy moments. I was slightly worried exactly what Niall wanted to discuss but I was open to it and pulled away, knowing we had exactly fifteen minutes before this party officially began and we had to go and greet potential suspects.

"So what does this mean, Niall?" I started when an idea occurred to me. "I mean, now that we know we're a Match.....isn't it a bit weird knowing we're going to have three kids?"

"No. Because I know that there's nobody I'd rather be a mother to Aubrey, Max and Finlay that you." He smirked, taking hold of my hand.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "You've NAMED them?" I slugged his arm. "But you didn't think it would be wise to ask me?"

"Chill! I was kidding!" Niall laughed, throwing his head back. "But, I get what you mean. It is slightly odd knowing that you're going to be my wife at some point even though it hasn't happened yet."

His comment knocked me off guard and I felt my breathing become heavier. "W...wife?" I choked.
"So how are you planning on proposing? Over Nandos? Or in Paris?" I joked, finally getting over my initial shock.

"Woah! Slow down! I think we actually need to be a couple before getting married!"

"True. And that brings us to a certain point. Are we going to be a couple?"

"Well that depends on one thing."

"And what is that 'thing' exactly?" I playfully teased him.

"Whether you'd like to go on a date with me." He twiddled his thumbs, nervously.

"No." I replied.

"What?!?" Niall shot up from his seat, surprised. "No?"

"I'm kidding, you loon!" I exclaimed, standing up and taking both his hands in mine. "Of course I'll go on a date with you."

Niall's grin forced his face to spread wide, bending the skin. "Really?"

"Really. But do NOT bring up the weather. Not once! Promise?"

"That was one time! And I was with Chrissy at that point! When you were with the arsehole!"

"Even so, it's obvious why the public never found out about your three day relationship! You brought up how fricking nice the weather was! I mean, surely there was more to talk about than that?"

"She was boring! But you're not." He lowered his voice as he finished his sentence, pressing our foreheads together once more. "You, my good Kayleigh, are somebody who will slap me when I'm being stupid, tell me to buggar off when I'm nasty, not abandon me even though I have my flaws, stand by me through everything, support me when I'm feeling down, tell me to get myself together when I'm moping around and yell at me when I'm an arsehole."

"You forgot one thing." I whispered quietly.

"Yeah? And what would that be?" He smirked, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me slightly closer to his warm body.

"I'm somebody that will kiss you no matter what," and I reached upwards on my tiptoes and kissed him lightly.

"Now that is something I should not have forgotten." Niall laughed minutely, staring into my eyes. "But I'm somebody who will steal your phone while you're distracted!" He cackled, jumping away suddenly and dancing around the room like a mad man. Which any astute psychologist will tell you is probably true. I chased him, screaming.

"Niall Horan! Give that flipping thing back before I get it myself!"

"Haha! You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" He taunted me.

"Urgh!" I replied, unable to form coherent speech.

I chased him around the room, dodging coffee tables, book shelves, sofas and an assortment of snooker, pool, foosball and table tennis tables. Finally, after a lot of running, I hopped over a sofa and closed the gap just enough to close the gap between us. I took a running leap and grabbed his back, laughing as I pulled myself on.

"Give it back or I swear I will tickle you until you cannot breathe!" I got out, my breath coming in spurts.

"Fine! I surrender!" Niall said, throwing his hands up. I jumped down and turned to face him, expecting him to just give it back. But no.

He tackled me onto the sofa and it ended up with him tickling me until I couldn't breathe anymore. When I opened my eyes, however, I spotted him hovering above me, breathing heavily and just watching me like a crazed person. I slowly stopped squirming beneath him and locked my gaze on his.

Lowering his head gently, Niall connected our lips for the third time in ten minutes. That was, until, Zayn decided to walk in.

"AHH! Sexual activity! Louis! Cover my innocent eyes!" He screamed shrilly.

Niall rolled off the sofa in surprise and shock and left me hiding behind the wall of orange leather, silently praying the five idiots (and yes, that included El) that were standing in the doorway would just leave.

"So, let's see," I could practically hear Liam's smirk from where I was hiding. "Niall is obviously with somebody behind there and we know there's nobody else in the house apart from the usual seven. And since five of us are standing here, you're there then that must mean......." Liam trailed off and I waited with bated breath to find out what would happen.

"PEEK A BOO!" Harry suddenly yelled into my left ear, causing me to holler in complete shock.

"Ahhhhhhh! Harry!" I screamed as he picked me up effortlessly and threw me over his shoulder.

"Niall finally convinced Kayleigh he wasn't a complete plonker." Liam finished as Harry carried me over to the four smirking idiots in the doorway.

He set me down and I brushed myself off, glancing down at my dress. I let out an annoyed sigh when I spotted what me chasing Niall had done to my dress. A massive rip ran from my ankle to my hip.

"Ooh! Boys, look! He's even ripped her dress!" Louis placed his hands on his cheeks, jumping up and down. "I think it's time somebody had the Birds and the Bees talk with ickle bickle Nially!"

"Shut up!" Niall growled, moving over towards us. "For your information, Zayn, there were no sexual activities going on here! I would have thought you'd be able to tell when somebody was having sex- considering how much you and Perrie do it."

I laughed out loud and was joined by El, Liam, Louis and Harry as I watched Zayn turn a bright red and quickly began to mumble his apologies.

"You know, I think it's good Niall finally told you how he feels." Liam shrugged, watching me carefully.
"Lord knows the boy has been on about you ever since we found out he had feelings for you."

I smiled a little, glancing down as Niall intertwined our hands and rubbed his thumb over my knuckle. He was trying to reassure me it was all good things, even when we'd had our massive argument.

I knew I had to broach the subject of us being Matches somehow but I wasn't sure how to do it tactfully. So I just said it.

"We're also each other's Matches." I blurted, pausing to take a look at everybody's reactions. El, of course, knew and so remained neutral however the boys were taken completely by surprise. Liam's mouth hung open, Zayn appeared gobsmacked, Louis looked like he wanted to hit something and Harry looked jovial. At that point in time I was quite unclear on why Simon even thought these guys had anything in common.

"Are....are you sure?" Liam spluttered, stumbling a little.

I shrugged in reply, telling him the truth. "Yep, as sure as eggs are eggs."

"Well then, seeing as you both know you're going to end up together in the end, I think a congratulations are in order!" Harry grinned, stepping forward to embrace a confused Niall.

"Hang on. So Niall's your Match? And he's the father of your three children?" Louis frowned.

"Yes, as far as we can tell." Niall shrugged.

Louis opened his mouth to reply but it was then that we heard the screaming.

Notes

Hiya guys!

I feel like a complete prick! I have not updated in eleven days!

I'm so sorry! As I said, I had a little bit of a block in my writing and I didn't really know where to go with it but I'm back! I'm glad I took this chapter the original way I planned! But all is not well, clearly, and (as I mentioned a little while ago) shit is about to go down in the next chapter!

Please comment, rate and subscribe! I love reading your comments and nobody has said anything for a while now! I don't even care if you have a rant at me for taking too long! Just let me know! :)

Love y'all and I promise that I will update soon (hopefully tomorrow as I have a lot of spare time and need to make it up to you all!) So I'll be back soon :)