Always On Time: A Niall Horan Mini Series

I ended up keeping my date with Aiden but I was already regretting it when we arrived at our destination, the movie theater.

Not that I minded going to the movies for a date, it’s just that Aiden was very quiet and if we were going to keep dating I wanted to get to know him a little better. Plus, the movie he picked out is something I’d never seen on my own. It was just a lame action movie with cars and explosions. No – I needed drama, romance and suspense in my movies.

Aiden was a good looking guy: Tan and muscled with dark hair. Tall. The type I usually go for. But there was nothing about him that showed his vulnerability or humility. No facial expression to soften the tough guy façade. Sometimes it was annoying, other times it turned me on. But most of the time it was annoying.

I asked myself why I was even dating this guy and I figured because it was just something to do. Obviously if I had my choice, Niall would be first on my list. But as I said earlier, he’s a celebrity and I’m a nobody. Why would he want something with me long term? And on top of that, he was only going to be here for three months. So there was no point.

“What’s up, you okay?” Aiden nudged my shoulder as we stood in line for our tickets. He set his hand on my waist and for some reason it felt wrong. Since Niall touched me earlier that day I didn’t think I’d ever be satisfied with anyone else’s hands on my body.

I felt weird, being there with Aiden when I had slept with another man earlier that day. I wondered, should I tell him? We’d been on three dates, so that definitely didn’t constitute for a relationship. I wasn’t sure if I’d want to know if he’d done the same thing or not. On one hand, maybe I would, because then I would know where I stood with him. If I was just a chick he was casually dating or someone he was considering investing more in. Even if I did tell him, now would not be a good time.

Aiden generously paid for our tickets, so I offered to pay for our snacks and drinks. I knew he was health conscious but I didn’t know just how much until he refused even a small bite of my popcorn. I rolled my eyes at him which luckily he didn’t see, although I probably wouldn’t have cared if he did.

The movie was just as I suspected. Car races. Cars blowing up. People having sex in the cars. Cars. Cars. Cars. A small, tender moment at the climax and then more cars at the end. It was like a bad spin off of the fast and furious movies, and those weren’t all the great in the first place.

Aiden loved it though, of course.

I was pretty much done with the night and ready to go home when he brought up a nightclub on the way back to my place.

“It’s supposed to be pretty cool.” He said. “Good music and the drinks aren’t overly expensive.”
At first the idea sounded awful; I was tired and underwhelmed from the lame movie we just saw. But then I thought about it for another moment and concluded that maybe I could use a drink. It had been a long week, especially with Niall coming back into my life in the midst of my dating another guy.

“Okay, we can check it out.” I gave him a small smile. “Want me to call some of my friends?”
“Let’s make it just you and me.” He placed his hand on my thigh.

Odd. I thought a nightclub was a place you went with a group of friends, not for a date. Or in this case, a continuation of a date.

But I went along with it anyway. What harm could it do?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wasn’t overly thrilled with the club.

I found myself stood against the wall with Aiden standing next to me awkwardly, nodding his head to the beat of the music. I had downed two drinks already just to make myself feel a little looser and not so tense.

I guess tonight wasn’t the night for conversations between us. First a movie, and then a loud nightclub where we couldn’t even hear ourselves speak. Honestly, what were we even doing there besides getting a little tipsy?

“Want another drink?” He shouted in my ear.

“Sure.” I shouted right back and handed him my glass. “I was drinking jack and coke.”

I was starting to get annoyed when fifteen minutes had passed and Brett still hadn’t returned with my drink. I should’ve just left, this whole night was just a waste of time and I wasn’t feeling it with him anymore. I didn’t have the kind of chemistry with him that I had with…

Niall.

He was stood in front of me all of a sudden, in all of his broad shouldered glory with a stunning white smile on his face.

“Hey stranger!”

“Hey!” I smiled back and got closer to him so he could hear me. “What are you doing here?”
He leaned against the wall with his hand and slipped the other one in his pocket. “I was here with some of the lads, but we were just leavin’. You here all by yourself?”

“No.” I heard a voice behind me and felt a hand come across my tummy and pull me back into their body. “She’s here with me.” Aiden sounded a little defensive. “Here’s your drink, babe.”

He was definitely pulling the macho man act and I didn’t like it one bit. He wasn’t normally handsy like that and he never called me “babe” up until that point.

“Good, yeah.” Niall reached his hand out to Aiden. “Just wanted to make sure she had a way home. I’m Niall.”

I took a generous gulp of my drink so I could ignore the tension rolling off Aiden’s body. It tasted funny, making me cough slightly.

“You okay, love?” Niall rested his hand on my shoulder.

“She’s fine.” Aiden clenched, slapping Niall’s hand off of me. I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt my head and I was starting to feel fuzzy. You’d think the bro down would have been sobering me up.

“Alright man, take it easy.” Niall put his hands up in defense. “I’ll see you later, Carmen.” He gave me a tight lipped smile.

“Bye.” I slurred and began swaying against Aiden, who had his hand on my waist. It seemed as though the liquor had hit me all at once.

I wanted to scold Aiden for the way he had acted towards Niall. I wanted to yell at him, shove my hands at his chest. But all I could do was lean against him as he held me, I was so drowsy and my mouth felt slack.

“Alright there?” Aiden asked me, tipping my chin up to him. “You want to dance?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up to a pounding feeling in my temples, my body being cradled by the cloud like feeling of a soft mattress and a thick duvet. I rolled over, seeing Niall sat on the edge of the bed. I tried to remember the events of last night after I had seen him last, but I just couldn’t. I noticed I was wearing one of his t-shirts and some sweatpants. It dawned on me what may have happened. But…no, Niall wouldn’t take advantage of me like that, would he? He wouldn’t have sex without my consent, and being under the influence of alcohol makes you incapable of giving consent. Surely he knows that?

“Niall, what the fuck?” I sat up quickly, my head pounding again. I squeezed my eyes tightly at the feeling and hissed through my teeth.

He turned around to face me, his hand on his heart as if I had startled him. “Oh, bless you darling, you’re awake. Had me right scared for a while there.”

He came closer, his eyes examining me before he tried to wrap his arms around me. I pushed at his chest, rejecting him.

“No! How did I get here, Niall? What the fuck happened last night, did you touch me? Tell me what happened!” I seethed.

“Christ, Carmen, No! Nothing happened between us last night. That arsehole you were with must’ve put something in your drink, because when he was taking you to his car, you were out cold!”

“What?” My lip quivered. “You saw me?”

“Yes.” Niall affirmed. “Me and the lads stayed outside the club for a while before leaving. Couple of them wanted to have a smoke and whatnot. And I’m really fuckin’ glad for it. I saw that cocksucker dragging you to his car and I ran over to see what was going on.”

Niall pursed his lips and his eyebrows went low, like he was sorry for what he was about to say. “It…it looked like he had already ripped your clothes a bit.”

I felt a single tear roll down my cheek. How could I have been so stupid?

“Niall…tell me everything.”

*flashback*
Niall’s POV:
I had a sinking feeling in my chest as I approached Aiden and his hunk of junk vehicle. He had just gotten her strapped in, her body was limp and leaning to the side.

“Just what the fuck do ya think you’re doin, mate?” I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t trust this guy from the moment I saw him.

Aiden sneered as he slammed the passenger door shut and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not really any of your business, is it, Horan?”

“Wait a minute.” I said. “How do ya know me last name?”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “You’re from that whiny boy band, New Direction or whatever. I know who you are. I’ve seen the pictures on Carmen’s Facebook from when she met you. She probably spread her legs for you too, didn’t she? She’s just a whore. You don’t need to be bothered with her.”

“Like hell I don’t!” I growled, and before I knew it I had knocked him square in the jar, his back smacking against the car. Carmen flinched, but she still didn’t wake up.

“Tell me what you did to her!” I held Aiden by the collar of his shirt and he looked taken aback by my actions and held his hands up in surrender.

“Fine.” He spit. “I put something in her drink, happy? Nothing happened.”

“Then why are her clothes ripped?” I snarled.

Aiden explained himself as quickly as he could. “I could tell when the drugs were starting to really get in her system, so I told her we had to go. We went through the back alley to get to the parking lot and I think she still had a bit of an idea of what was happening. She was trying to fight me, wiggling all over the place like a damn fish out of water. I had her against the wall and the brick ended up ripping her shirt.”

“And then you got her here.” I scoffed. “What were you planning on doing exactly?”

He planted his hands in his pockets, looking to the ground as if he were ashamed. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“NO!” I shouted. “Answer the fuckin’ question, prick. What. Were. You. Planning. On. Doing?”

Aiden’s eyes flit to me, and it looked as though he was trying to hide a disturbing smile creeping onto his face. “Do I really need to say it, Horan?”

“Fuck this. Carmen is coming with me.”
*end flashback*

Niall described how he had made his friends catch a ride home and how he had to have his security guard come and pick him up and safely move me from one car to the other. He said he’d never known anyone who’d been through this before, so he wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of my waking up. He wasn’t sure how long it would take. His security guard told him that it was most likely the date rape drug Rohypnol that he had slipped into my drink, and that I should wake up mid-morning.

“He also told me that ya probably need to get yourself examined.” He explained. “So…ya know, you’d know if he had…”

“So you don’t think he was telling the truth when he said nothing happened?” I interrupted, holding my knees to my chest.

“I dunno.” Niall picked at his nails, a nervous habit I’d noticed the last few times we were together. “But it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

I felt so dirty, not just at the thought of the possible rape that could have occurred, but I also just felt disgusting in general. My hair smelled like cigarettes, I still had the taste of jack daniels in my mouth. I wanted to throw up or shower or maybe both.

“Do you think I could take a shower?” I asked Niall.

“No, we gotta get ya examined first, petal. I’m sorry. But I’ve been reading about what to do in a case of date rape and it says you must not shower or brush your teeth after the event and get examined as soon as ya can.”

“And what do we do about Aiden?” I peered at him, feeling the worried look take over my features.

“Not sure yet, petal. We’ll have to see what the doctors say and then go from there.”

I was so grateful for Niall, he always seemed to be there when I needed him. And he really came through for me last night. Of course I would be upset if it turned out Aiden was able to get his hands on me, but at least Niall saved me from any possible further damage.

“Will you come with me to the hospital?” I asked the beautiful boy sitting beside me.

“Of course I will, darlin’.” He placed his hand on the back of my neck and kissed my forehead. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

“It’s not your fault, Niall. Thank you for saving me from that creep. I didn’t think he was like that. It’s always the ones who you think are innocent, isn’t it?”

“Ya got that right.” He agreed. “And you’re welcome. Wish I coulda gotten to ya sooner.”

I rested my head against his chest as he stroked my hair with his large hand. He smelled so good as always, and I probably smelled like a trashcan. I took one more breath of him before speaking.

“So when should I get my examination?” I questioned as Niall ran his hand over his hair.

“I’ll take ya right now, we need to get it done as soon as possible.”

Notes

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