Foreign Exchange

Harrys POV
“Well, that was embarrassing” I mumbled to myself as Nikki hysterically laughed, circling around me on her ice skates.

“What happened Harry?” she asked, standing in front of me as I looked up at her. I narrowed my eyes at her smirk and she offered me her hand. I was tempted to pull her down with me, but that would be mean, and she might hurt herself. I mean c’mon, it’s Nikki; clumsy, adorable Nikki.

“Thanks” I mumbled, still embarrassed.

“Aw, it’s okay Hare” Nikki said as she helped me up. We just got on the ice and I immediately ended up landing flat on my arse. I know how to skate, this obviously isn’t the first time I’ve gone skating. It’s just that the ice is sort of...like fresh? Extra slippery and stuff like that.

“The ice is really slick” I said, wobbling and almost falling over again. Nikki held onto my waist to steady me and smirked up at me.

“Hold on there” she teased and I rolled my eyes. I took her hands off my waist and with enough courage, shakily skated away from her.

“Harry!” she called after me, and I pretended to ignore her. I smiled to myself as I heard her repeatedly call me name, her voice changing tones. “Ahh!” I heard her scream and I turned around. Nikki was sprawled out on the skating rink, bright red despite her caramel skin tone. I burst out laughing. She sat up and covered her face with her hands. Some strangers looked at us, wondering what was going on.

“Aw, what happened?” I teased, dodging other skaters and slowly making my way over to her. She kept her face in her hands and shook her head.

“Don’t even..” her voice came out muffled. I chuckled and kneeled down in front of her. I gently and slowly moved her hands away from her face and gazed at her beauty. Her cheeks were still an adorable shade of red. I kept her hands in mine and lightly squeezed them.

“Are you okay?” I said, rather than making fun of her. Nikki seemed surprised by this and vigorously nodded her head.

“I-I’m fine” she said and I planted a kiss on her forehead. Without another word I helped her up onto her feet. “Thanks” she said, shyly smiling at me. I shook my hair out and shrugged.

“Anything for you” I replied and we soon started skating together, hand in hand. We both were shaky at first, but quickly got the hang of it and flowed with the small crowd of people who were professionals. Okay, so they weren’t professionals, but they were really good.

“I haven't skated like this, ever” Nikki said.

“Like what?” I asked, glancing at her.

“Like fast” she said and picked up the pace a bit to prove her point. I picked up the speed even more and she seemed impressed. “Do you skate often?” Nikki asked.

“My mum would always take Gemma and I to the lake when it froze over. First, we just used our snow boots to slide around, but my mum bought us skates one year” I explained, thinking back on my memories. I smiled to myself, remembering how Gemma would whine and hold onto me because the skates kept hurting her ankles.

“Gemma. That’s such a pretty name..” Nikki said, but mostly to herself.

“A pretty name for a pretty girl..” I said, also talking mostly to myself. I absolutely love my sister, despite how mean we could be to each other. When I first came here, I cried one night because I missed her so much and she forgot to call me. Same thing with my mum. I just love them so much.

Now that I think about it, it makes me a little sad. I didn’t forget about them, I never could do that. I just haven’t been giving them attention, like calling them frequently. I think about them from time to time though. The night that I yelled at Nikki and Gage, just a week ago, I silently cried for a few minutes alone in the bathroom. I wished that my mum and Gemma were there to help me with all of this.

The truth is....something was always in the back of my mind. I secretly wanted an escape; I felt like everything was getting too hard. At some point I actually was thinking about booking the next flight out of here. I had so many mixed feelings that night.

Not one of the boys know what I really was thinking and feeling.

Of course I felt guilty, but there was more to it. Things were getting out of control and I lost hope that Nikki would even like me anymore. Luckily, a small flame was still deep down and I knew that I couldn’t just give up and leave. I lightly shook my head to rid myself of remembering the feelings I felt that night.

“Do you miss them?” Nikki asked, and I turned my head to the side to properly look at her.

“Hmm?” I hummed.

“Your mom and sister” she said. I wish she didn’t ask that question, since I was just thinking about them and had gotten sad about it.

“Yeah..” I said, looking away. I think Nikki could tell that I was a little upset because she stopped skating. I abruptly stopped and caught myself from falling over. She pulled her hand away from mine and I looked at her in confusion. “What’s wrong?” I asked. She looked at me blankly before a smile broke out on her face and she raced past me.

“Come and get me!” she said, skating around people. I blinked and watched her skate off like a goof, bumping into people even. Of course she would apologize repeatedly to them like she just committed a crime, then go on her merry way. I smiled wide and chuckled to myself. This is why I can’t leave and just let go.

“Here I come!” I yelled after her and started to skate. Of course people were looking at us, some amused and some annoyed. Either way, I don't care. I lost her in my sight when a group of people got in my way. I looked around trying to find her.

“You’re so slow!” she said, grabbing my elbow from behind and pulled me around, spinning me. I immediately started waving my arms around as I spun, trying to keep my balance. Once I stopped spinning and stood still, knees bent and arms spread out, I let out a breath, blowing my curls from my eyes in the process.

“Ah..” I quietly uttered, and chuckled awkwardly, strangely proud of myself for not falling over.

“Excuse me sir” Nikki said, grabbing my hand and tugging me around. I struggled to skate, tripping over my skates. She let go of my hand after a few seconds, leaving me to balance myself once again.

“Nikki!” I frantically yelped when I started to lean backwards, waving my arms backward in circular movements.

“I got you” she giggled, placing her hands on my back. That usually would have prevented someone from falling, but remember, I’m slipping over on my skates backward with full force and Nikki is barely applying pressure. “Woah ah!” she yelped when I continued to fall backwards. I felt her shoulder dig right between my shoulder blades, trying to keep me up.

“Ow Nikki!” I said, but stopped falling backwards. She has really boney shoulders.

“See? I got ya” she said, and I could feel her breath softly tickling my neck. A shiver went down my spin and I’m sure that Nikki felt it because I heard her lightly gasp. After a few seconds of staying propped in our uncomfortable positions, Nikki seemed to lose her footing and slipped over her skates. I fell backwards as Nikki fell to the side.

“Oof!” I said as I hit the cold ice. Nikki’s skates were dangerously close to my face and I went cross-eyed as I stared at it. People were trying to dodge and go around us but someone managed to trip over Nikki, causing Nikki’s leg to flinch and..

Zayns POV
“Okay, brownies are done!” Liam shouted from the kitchen downstairs.

“Yes!” Nick sprung off my bed with a huge smile on his face.

“You really like brownies” I said and let Nick grab my hand and drag me off my bed.

“Liam makes the best brownies!” Nick said, pulling me along with him into the hallway.

“He makes them from the boxed kind though..?” I chuckled.

“He told me that he doesn’t follow the instructions and always adds a secret ingredient” Nick said, looking like an adorable, excited kid.

“Well alright” I said, smiling at him. Liam did make good brownies, but aren’t all brownies made from the box taste good?

“Hey Lou, I know what will cheer you up” Niall said at the top of the stairs, Nick and I approaching them.

“Harry coming back with the van unharmed” Louis grumbled. Niall cackled loudly and shook grinning madly right next to him. Niall hopped in the stairwell railing and turned his head around to look at all of us.

“Woo!” Niall yelled as he slid down the stairwell railing and jumping off just before the railing ended.

“You’re crazy” Louis said but hopped on the railing. “You didn’t even do it right” Lou sassed, his mood lifted. He held up his arms as he slid down the railing screaming “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride!” Nick and I laughed at how ridiculous he was.

“I got you” Niall said when Louis dramatically bounced into Nialls arms.

“It’s not easy being that good” Louis said.

“Liam! Louis needs a brownie, stat!” Nick said, hopping on the railing. Nick nodded to the railing across from him and gladly joined in on the fun.

“He can when he walks his fatt butt into the kitchen!” Liam replied and Louis was quick to reply.

“Im flattered that you think my beautiful, round bottom is fat. You must be jealous” Louis said, now standing next to Niall.

“I bet I can slide down faster than you” Nick challenged and I pretended to evilly laugh.

“You are no match for me” I challenged back.

“Go Nick!” Niall cheered. I looked down at Niall and gave him a fake hurt face.

“Ah-what?” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

“I got you Zayn” Louis replied and got up in Nialls face. “Who do you think you are?” Louis said with a ‘menacing’ face.

“Niall Horan?” Niall giggled uncontrollably, leaning away from Louis. Louis squinted his eyes at Niall and held up one finger towards us.

“On the count of three” Louis said. “One!” he said, looking up at us.

“Two Three!” Niall said really fast and Louis jumped on him. Nick and I both were quick to act and slid down the railing.

“Ah!” Nick yelled and laughed. I joined in with him, screeching inhuman noises. We both jumped off the railing just in time.

“I won!” We yelled in unison.

“No way!” I said, shaking my head. “I was first” I said, lightly running my hand over my hair.

“It’s obvious that you just can’t accept defeat. Too bad, because it’s obvious that I won” Nick shrugged, acting nonchalant.

“Oh no I get it. You just can’t comprehend that I beat you. It’s okay” I said, mimicking his nonchalant stance.

“Niall can back me up” Nick said, looking over at Niall and Louis. Louis was too busy flicking Niall and Niall was too busy laughing about it.

“Fine, you go get him to back you up while I go get brownies” I shrugged, trying to keep up the act.

“Or I could just join you” Nick gave me a cheesy smile, which a happily responded with my own.

“No one eats the first brownie!” Louis shouted before running off to the kitchen and we followed him. Liam was sitting on the island, eating a brownie and swinging his legs like a child would. He looked up with puppy dog looking eyes from his phone that he was on just seconds before.

“I was wondering when you would join me” Liam swallowed his brownie and smiled.

“I said that no one eats the first brownie!” Louis whined.

“Um, that was my third one..” Liam said, making us chuckle.

“Nick here says that you make the best brownies” I said, slinging my arm around Nicks shoulder and guiding him over to the brownies on the stove.

“It’s because of his secret ingredient” Niall said and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s just love” Louis said, hoisting himself up on the island next to Liam “You big love bug!” Louis pulled Liam in for a side hug. I looked down at Nick and chuckled when I saw that his mouth was stuffed with brownies.

Nicoles POV
“I’m really sorry” I gushed.

“For the thousandth time, it’s okay love” Harry smiled and opened the door for me to the Frozen Yogurt shop.

“But it looked like it really hurt” I said, refusing to walk through the door. Harry rolled his eyes and gently shuffled me inside the shop. “Maybe we should just leave now” I said, biting my lip and looking at Harry.

“I’m not missing out on this, so the answer is no” Harry said. I sighed and studied the patch on his forehead just below his hairline. I accidentally hurt Harry with my skates...and I feel extremely bad. The first aid lady at the ice rink said that he didn’t need stitches, but Harry kept wincing and the cut was bleeding really bad. Not to mention that it also was pretty long.

“Bu-” Harry covered my mouth with his large hand.

“Please, I want to spend some time with you...” Harry said, leaning down so his face was level with mine. When I didn’t respond Harry cupped my cheeks and squished them. “Okay..?” he said with his ‘cupcake’ smile. I couldn’t help but giggle back and nod. Harry kissed my forehead and let me go, brushing past me. I stood there for a second and placed my hand to my forehead. Harry’s been kissing my forehead a lot ever since I told him that I thought it was cute and romantic.

I guess we both are hopeless romantics.

“Nicole! Love, did you know they had a pineapple flavor?” Harry asked in amazement and I smiled to myself. I turned around and spotted Harry in front of the yogurt machines, checking out all the flavors. I then looked around the shop and noticed that it was empty except for a middle-aged man who was cleaning the tables.

“Yes Harry” I said, walking over to Harry and wrapping my arms around his waist from behind. Harry looked over his shoulder at me with an excited look on his face.

“And they have peanut butter! PEANUT BUTTER! Is that even possible?” He asked looking back at the flavors.

“Well, obviously it is” I said and let go of Harry. I let my eyes wander over the flavors until I settled on mango. I love mangos. I took a few steps away from the yogurt machines and grabbed two gigantic paper yogurt cups.

“Get the biggest cup I see” Harry said when I handed him his.

“What can I say, I like my yogurt” I shrugged and pulled the lever for mango yogurt. I watched the orange colored yogurt fill my paper cup with round eyes, ready to just stick my mouth under the machine and take my cups place. That sounds really weird, but it’s actually on my bucket list.

“I’ve always wanted to just stick my mouth under these” Harry says and I laugh out loud at how similar we think. “What?” he asked with a smile.

“I was thinking the same thing. It’s actually on my bucket list” I said and walked over to the toppings area. As I pondered over what to get, Harry set his chin on my head and hummed.

“I think I got too many flavors” Harry said and held his paper cup in front of me.

“For sure I can tell that’s peanut butter” I giggled.

“I’m feelin’ a little nutty” Harry joked, making my laugh louder.

“And..vanilla?” I guessed.

“And...?” Harry said.

“And...” I said, studying the yogurt closely.

“Cookies and Creme” Harry answered and moved away to stand next to me.

“Those are quite the flavors” I said, looking up at him.

“Well at least I wasn’t lame and got only one flavor” Harry said, taking a spoon and applying sprinkles to his yogurt creation.

“Lame?” I said, gasping. “I am not lame!” I said, taking the spoon away from him and putting sprinkles on my yogurt.

“No, you aren't, but you are cute” Harry complimented and winked at me. I blushed, turned away and distracted myself by piling strawberries on my yogurt.

“Would you like a kiss?” Harry whispered in my ear.

“What?!” I practically screamed and didn’t look at him. My heart started pounding and I licked my lips. I don’t know why but..I’m getting nervous again about kissing Harry.

“Yeah, a kiss” Harry said, holding out a hershey’s kiss in front of me. I sighed and nervously smiled.

“Um, okay” I said, turning to fully face him. He gently placed the hershey’s kiss on my yogurt.

“Are you done?” I asked, looking at his yogurt with many different candy’s ontop of it.

“Yeah, you?” he asked and I nodded. The man who was cleaning the tables not to long ago was now behind the cashier with a small smile on his face.

“How are you guys?” He asked as we placed our cups on the weigher.

“Good, how are you?” I replied with a polite smile.

“I’m doing just fine, thank you very much” He said, adding up the total. “That’ll be $11.42” he said.

“Woah” I said with wide eyes. Harry started pulling out a twenty dollar bill, but I stopped him. “Shouldn’t I help pay?”

“No” Harry chuckled and handed the man the money.

“What happened here?” The man said, pointing to his forehead. Harry reached up and lightly touched the white patch with a light red mark.

“I had a little too much fun ice skating” Harry chuckled and the man whistled.

“Did you get stitches?” he asked.

“No” Harry said, shaking his head.

“Lucky boy, here’s your change and enjoy” the man said, sticking plastic spoons in our yogurt and handing Harry his change.

“Thanks” Harry and I replied and grabbed our yogurt. We decided to sit outside since it ended up not being as cold as we thought.

“I’m still really sorry” I said, sitting next to Harry on a bench that was nearby.

“If you apologize one more time, we are never doing anything like this ever again” Harry threatened, pointing his plastic spoon at me.

“Okay, okay sor-” I stopped myself from apologizing.

“Good” Harry said and scooped yogurt into his mouth. His squinted his eyes and puckered his lips as he moved his mouth around.

“Are you okay?” I lightly laughed and Harry nodded, not changing his facial expression.

“Interesting combination” Harry said, looking down at his yogurt. I should mix these together and have it as a new flavor!” Harry proposed and I shook my head, scooping yogurt into my mouth.

“Alright, I’d like to see you try” I said, chewing on a strawberry. Harry reached over and grabbed a strawberry from my yogurt. “Hey! Strawberry kidnapper! We got a strawberry kidnapper over here!” I yelled.

“Oh shush” Harry laughed and threw a gummy worm at me. I dodged it and watched it hit the ground.

“Oh! Now we’ve got a gummy worm litterer! I repeat! We’ve got a gummy bear li-” Harry shoved a spoonful of his yogurt in my mouth. I immediately stopped talking and focused on tasting the weirdest combination of flavors. Harry looked at me, waiting for me to say something.

“Well..?” Harry slowly said.

“Well...” I said, licking my lips and tapping my chin “it definitely is uh...unique” I said, choosing my words carefully.

“Yes” Harry fistpumped the air before taking a big scoop of yogurt and shoving it in his mouth. I laughed and continued to eat mine. After a few minutes of silence, Harry spoke up again. “Hey Nikki..?” he said in a small voice.

“Yeah Harry..?” I said, looking up at him with concern.

“Am I your best friend..?” he asked and I froze. I wasn’t expecting him to ask that so suddenly, but I’m not exactly surprised about it. We both know that even though we like each other..we’re not best friends. And I know that this isn’t regarding Nick, this is regarding Liam. Harry wants to be my best friend; closer than Liam and I.

“Ha-”

Sunday morning rain is falling

I sighed and retrieved my phone from my pocket. “Hello?”

“Guys where are you!?” Louis shouted through the phone.

“Frozen yogurt?” I said, looking at Harry. “Why?”

“Simon is going to be here in ten minutes!!!” Louis screamed and my eyes grew wide. I stood up, whatever was left of my frozen yogurt fell to the ground.

“Ten minutes?!” I yelled.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked, standing up now.

“We gotta go Harry! Louis, we’re on our way” I said and hung up.

“B-” Harry started to say, but I grabbed his hand and started sprinting to the van.

“Woah, Nikki!” Harry said. We reached the van rather quick and I kept yelling for Harry to hurry up with the keys. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Harry asked.

“Simon is going to be home in ten minutes” I said “And it takes about fifteen to get back to Simons” I said. Harrys eyes grew wide and he quickly started the car and recklessly pulled out into the street. Just as we were approaching the first green light, it turned yellow and Harry slammed on the brakes, stopping just before the light turned red.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking over at me.

“Harry! This is fast and furious! Not driving Mrs. Daisy!” I yelled. Harry smirked and shook his head.

“Did you just quote A Cinderella Story?” he laughed. I almost lost it and started laughing, but I huffed out a breath and waved my arms.

“Yes I did but that’s not the point! Harry we have to hurry!” I whined.

“Well then, fasten your seatbelt” Harry said in all seriousness, and I obeyed. Once the light turned green Harry stepped on the gas and accelerated. Harry speed through yellow lights and kept changing lanes to pass by people.

Sunday morning rain is falling

“Lou, we’re almost there” I answered my phone.

“Guys, hurry! Please!” Louis said, and I could tell that he was panicking hardcore.

“Hang in there Lou, Harry, not much longer right?” I said, looking over at a focused looking Harry.

“Consider us there” Harry said and gasped before taking a sharp turn, causing my phone to fly out of my hand. Harry took another sharp turn and we started spinning.

“AHHHHH!!!!!!!!” we both screamed as Harry kept turning the wheel. I gripped onto my seat belt, scared out of my mind. I watched the world around me blur and felt the dizziness get to my head. The car suddenly screeched to a stop in the middle of the street. Harry and I took deep breathes, just staring straight ahead at Simons house which was just at the end of the street; literally less than fifty feet away.

“What. Was. That.” I said between deep breathes.

“I don’t know. A rabbit or something was in the middle of the street” Harry said, trying to even out his breath. I noticed Harry’s patch start to gradually grow red.

“Harry!? Nikki!?” Louis yelled through my phone that was somewhere in the van.

“Harry!” I said in worry and unbuckled my seat belt. I leaned over to him to get a better look “Are you o-” I stopped and gasped when a car turned onto the street and was heading straight for us.

Harry noticed and wrapped one arm around me. He accelerated while turning the wheel with his free hand, just barely moving out of the way of the car. I gripped onto Harry’s shirt and would have flown out the window if Harry’s strong arm hadn’t kept me to him. I kept my eyes shut and felt the car spin, then swerve then stop again. We were left breathing heavily again. I listened to Harrys heartbeat, which was beating just as fast as mine.

I shakily and slowly pulled back to look at Harrys face, his hold on me never loosening. Harry had broken out into a cold sweat and his eyes were wide. I looked around and noticed that we were outside of Simons house. Not perfectly parked next to the curb. Actually, not next to the curb at all. We were just on the street right in front of Simons house. Harry collected himself unwrapped his arm from me to cup my face and forced me to look at him.

“Are you okay!? Are you hurt?!” Harry frantically said, looking all over me.

“Harry...” I said, still shaking.

“Nikki!? Answer me!” Harry said, looking into my eyes. I reached up with shaky hands and pushed the curls away from his face, not saying anything. Harry sighed and started to laugh in relief. “You’re okay” he said, kissing my face all over. I couldn’t help but laugh with him.

“Guys!” Louis said, running out of the house with the others. Harry stopped kissing my face and we watched as watched Louis yank the driver side door open. Liam yanked the passenger side door open started to panic.

“We heard car tires and you guys were screaming through the phone” he said. Harry and I burst out laughing and they all looked at us like we were crazy, which we probably are.

“Guys, we’re fine” I said.

“You may be fine but Harry’s bleeding!” Louis said and practically pushed me off of him. Liam helped me out from the passenger side and looked me over.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” he asked and I nodded with a smile. He sighed in relief and smiled before pulling me into a hug.

“Hazza what happened!?” Louis yelled.

“Just a scratch, I’m okay. No stitches” Harry said.

“How did you get that?” Nick asked. Harry smiled and looked over at me.

“It’s a secret” Harry said while winking at me. I smiled at him and tilted my head to the side, wondering how is it even possible for someone as amazing as Harry to exist. He can be stubborn and jealous and jerky at times, but that’s okay because he’s still perfect to me. He’s caring, funny, thoughtful-I could go on. But most importantly, he’s a life saver. He saved my life today. Not just physically when he held onto me in the car, but also emotionally.

Notes

Long time no update D: I sowwie! I got injured during tennis so my mother confined me to my room and rest and wouldn't let me do anything once I would get home from school :/ that and I was actually hesitant to put this chapter up and just kept fixing it and changing it when I got the chance to sneak on the computer xD
Anyways, I hope that you like this and forgive me for the long wait! I will try harder to get the next chapter up soon. The good news is that I've already started writing it! Yay! :D
I love you all and thank you so much for all your support and patience!. You all get Horan hugs! :D
Please vote, or comment, or hey, do both!


My favorite hairstyle on Louis <3