Niall's POV

The first week of classes wasn't too bad. I called my dad halfway through the week to see if I could use the cabin that we had. After a long stern talk about who was going and what things would not be happening at the cabin...I finally got the yes. My mom didn't care as long as it was okay with my dad. Her words were: 'It's your father's cabin so I don't care if you go just be a gentleman okay?' Clary's mom was a bit harder to persuade. But on Friday, Clary came flying into the care with a huge grin on her face. All she said was 'yes.' I was really confused but then she explained it out and I was grinning the rest of the day.
Right now I was packing up all the important stuff while Clary, true to form, was packing up her things this morning. I was lugging out a box when she came over. "Hey...I'm so pumped and ready for this!"
"I can see...you have that twinkle in your eyes." I took her bag and threw it in the trunk.
"My eyes don't twinkle." I gave her a quick kiss before yelling goobye to my mom.
"Sorry but they do babe. Now hop in we have a lovely three hour drive ahead of us." She groaned but still hopped into the car with too much excitement. I cranked on the tunes and off we went towards the lake.
*Skip car ride*
It was just a little past noon when we pulled up to the cabin. It wasn't grand or anything but I hoped she liked it.
"Just wait here while I open up and make sure everything is okay...my dad doesn't use this place that much anymore since he moved." Clary just nodded and had that far away look that she gets from time to time. Usually that look is accompanied with a string of Russian sounding words. I smiled and pecked her cheek before jumping out of the car and heading up to the door.

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Clary's POV
I just watched Niall head up to the cabin door. This place reminded me of the little cabin in the woods that my dad used to take me too.
[FLASHBACK]
"Come on Clarissa...shouldn't be too long now..."
"Daddy I'm tired...Grammy always said that princesses don't hike." That just got me one hearty chuckle.
"Oh sweetheart...I'm sure she wouldn't mind all that much. Besides it's good for you." I huff but agree with him. My artist eyes were already drinking up the scenery to sketch later.
"What if Grammy finds out?"
"If you don't tell I promise to take you here every year. My dad and I used to go here every year...Ah! Here it is!" I ran past him to see the most quaint cabin ever. It looked like something out of a painting.
"Oh its beautiful..." I felt my dad hug me and then lead me inside. Those few days were heaven to me. No princess training, just my dad and me. We went swimming, fishing off the dock, hiking, cooking over the fire. It was the best. When we got back home to the US I told mom all about it. I showed her my sketches and everything. She smiled and kissed my head. But I caught the worried look in her eyes...a look that was for my dad and not me.
[END FLASHBACK]
I never got to go back to the cabin. The war tore across our land, hell I don't even know if it is still standing. Probably not...everything I loved over there was burnt to the ground. The palace I spent so much time running through...gone. The stables filled with amazing horses...gone. My grandfather's beautiful garden that I could just spend hours in...gone. My relatives that I adored...gone. I snap out of my trance and sigh. No point on living in the past...I hop out and look at the place. It was quite nice...It was very thoughtful of Niall to bring me here.
Soon Niall and I were unloading the car and carrying sheets and stuff inside. I smiled and looked around.
"This place is great!" Niall just hummed while loading up the fridge with our food we got. Then he showed me the lake. I ran down the dock and looked around. It was really something. I smiled sadly, wishing my dad was here to see this. I couldn't wait for the rest of the weekend.
The Next Day...
Yesterday we spent most of the day in the water, swimming about. Niall's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw me in a bikini. Today however, it decided to rain on us. So we are stuck inside playing card games.
"We could go into the little town and do something?" I look up at Niall and shrug. I had another idea in mind.
"I want to go swimming."
"It's raining Clary..."
"So? We're getting wet anyways I don't see the problem." He just rolls his eyes at me. But I can already tell that he's going to give in. Mostly because it's either be bored in the cabin or be bored in the tiny town up the road.
"But we could catch a cold..."
"Oh live a little Ni!" He grumbled a bit more but didn't move. Was he being serious? He wasn't going to go out there. I could just see it in his eyes. He looked outside, where it was now just down pouring rain. My dad liked the phrase 'it's raining buckets'.
"Fine but if I can't play this week since of pneumonia I'm gonna kill you." I hugged him and gave him a kiss before hurrying off to change into my bikini.
I run right past him and out in the rain. I spin around smiling. I look over at him and he's fighting off a grin. I run over and drag him outside. He hisses because it is kind of cold. I wrap my arms around his torso and snuggle into his chest. He chuckles then peels off of me.
"Last one to the lake has to load up the car." Then he was off. I squeal but run after him. I'm running as fast as I can go barefoot. But he still wins.

After splashing around for a while we head in and take hot showers. Then I had to load up the car. Which was awful, he ended up helping a bit towards the end, claiming I didn't know 'proper packing technique'. That just got him a glare and a punch on the arm. It was a fun little break after the first week of classes. But then once we got back I knew the bubble would pop. I had to focus of getting scholarships to schools and he was focusing on a different dream: X-factor auditions with the boys. Hopefully our paths that we are going down don't rip us apart. I would miss him too much. Sure he's my boyfriend, but he was also my first friend over here. And that's not something that I could easily forget.

Notes