Winter

The next morning, I felt well rested and I stretched before getting out of bed. Today I was going to spend it with Niall and tonight I was going to celebrate Christmas eve with my best friends, nothing could ever top this. I stared at my ceiling and scrolled through my phone, to see if I missed any calls but I hadn’t which was a good thing because it meant my mom wasn’t worrying about me.

Eventually I got out of bed and hurried to the bathroom with dark blue jeans, a singlet and a grey sweater, which had black snow decorations on it. It just seems to fit the décor of today as there was snow outside my window and as it was Christmas eve, it just felt appropriate. I quickly took a shower, dried my hair and put it in a high ponytail. I didn’t put too much make up on because we were going on a hike, as the castle was a bit deeper tucked away in the forest, I mean yes you have the big castle, which everyone can see but there is also a ruin in the forest, what once was a castle and that’s where I wanted to go.

It was still a fortress but as nobody really came near it, they let it whiter away. It even had a gate, covered in green, which looked pretty awesome on the pictures I saw of it. I grabbed my hiking boots and a small backpack, which I filled with a bottle of water and a few sandwiches. I put my phone in my coat and wrote a little note for the girls.

“Good morning,
I’m out to explore the castle in the woods, will be back before dinner.
Love,
Winter”

That should do it, I put it on the fridge door, to make sure they would see it. I checked everything once more, even went the the toilet before I opened the door and closed it behind me. There however still wasn’t a sign of Niall, which meant I had to get him and that was the last thing I wanted because to be fair, he did made me feel a bit uncomfortable but that was probably due the fact that he was quite handsome and I just didn’t know how to handle men. The world around me was white and it was beautiful to see, back home in the city, you didn’t see things like this and that made it some kind of paradise, a cold one though.

I knocked on the door but nobody answered. I looked up to see if I saw movements behind the curtain but everything was quiet. I sighed but turned around to go by myself when I changed my mind and went looking for a spare key, which I found quickly under one of the pots, near to the door. I quietly opened the door and made my way up. I opened all the bedroom doors, just to see the guys still sleeping. The first one was Liam and I knew from Elena that he was the one that slept naked, which was definitely the case this time. I quickly shut the door again and went to the next one, which showed me Harry fast asleep, he actually looked really cute but again this wasn’t the room I needed.

The next one was occupied by Louis and he was awake. “Ah shit.” I mumbled, which made him look up. “Winter? What are you doing here?” he asked me sounding a bit surprised.
“Niall said he was coming with me on a hike to the old castle but he isn’t up yet, so I was looking for his room.” I quickly explained. “Sorry for bothering you.” He waved it off. “That’s okay, good luck on waking him though.” He smiled and returned to watch something on his laptop. I opened the last door and there he was fast asleep on top of the blankets in nothing more than his boxers.

I was stunned when I saw his body and maybe even a little flustered because he was hot and really cute. His cheeks were flustered as if he had the flu and he snored quietly. I had to wake him up though so after a few minutes of just watching him I finally got my feet to move and made my way to the bed. I gently pushed him “Niall, wake up please.” I mumbled but instead of waking up he pulled me down on the bed and curled his arms around my body. “Niall, wake up.” I was trying to get out of his arms but h only put them around me tighter and he even put his face in my hair and inhaled.

“NIALL WAKE UP!” I screamed it now, which made him bolt right up. He was definitely disorientated and as he was blinking with his eyes, I got up and put my hands over my clothes to smoothen them. “What?” he asked me confused and I smiled reassuring at him, at least I like to think that I smiled like that at him even though I was a complete mess inside. “You said you’d go hiking with me, remember?” I asked him friendly and that’s when a light appeared in his eyes. “Oh shite, I’m sorry, let me get dressed and than were off.” He jumped out of bed and stopped when he remembered that he was in only his boxers.

I looked at me warily and I had to stifle back a giggle because he was quite funny in this state. “Sorry for uhm crushing you in bed by the way.” He apologized and I just waved him off. I sat down in the chair that was in front of the window and when I looked outside I saw that you could see my room from up here and that made me think about yesterday, as I had the feeling I was being watched, not in a perverse way but just being watched.

Niall emerged within ten minutes from the bathroom, in black jeans, boots and a blue sweater, he had put on colourful socks and he was now putting on his cap. “I just need to eat something fast and than we can go.” We walked towards the kitchen and he grabbed some fruit and I watched him eat it all and after this he grabbed a backpack as well and stocked it with food and water. “Al right let’s go.” He said whilst putting on a coat and a scarf. “Wait, you don’t need to leave the guys a note?” I asked him and that stopped him and made him walk towards a notebook.

I didn’t look at what he was writing but I think it was pretty similar to what I had written the girls. “Okay all done.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. We headed in the direction of the forest, this was going to be a long walk but I had a map on my phone and we just followed that. “Why did you want to come?” I asked him curiously, “I mean it’s not like we know each other that well, what if something happens?” I asked him but he just shrugged. “I don’t care, I feel completely at ease with you and you’re actually not that bad to be around.”
How could he say that after just one evening? He had a point though, as I also felt at easy with him. “So you’re Irish huh?” I asked him nonchalant but I had a teasing sound, which he picked up on rather quickly. “Yeah, don’t you like Irish men?” He nudged me with his shoulder and I giggled, which made him smile in return.

“Nope, don’t like the accent.” I was still teasing him because to be honest I loved Irish or Scottish accents. “You don’t, really?” he came really close to my ear and lowered his voice “Are you sure love?” I felt the goose bumps rise and swatted him on his arm. “That’s not fair.” He just laughed. “I have found a weakness.” He declared and I had to laugh at that because he was right, he could make me melt just by thicken his accent. We had gotten to know each other, whilst walking to the forest, when we arrived I stopped because it did feel a bit strange, as it was completely silent, not a bird to be heard, which wasn’t that weird as it’s winter but still, it did make me slightly uncomfortable. “Do you feel that as well?” I whispered to Niall, who had grabbed my hand.

“I feel it to.”

Notes