It was surprisingly cool as the summer air hit my face. Even though it was a Thursday night, the city was hopping with people.

My laugh sounded out as Avery let out a little yelp, calling back an apology to the group of girls she had almost swerved into. She shot me a playful glare as she passed by me, once again back in the street where I have been watching her from a safe distance.

I stood up from my seat, peddling a few times and letting my eyes close for a brief second. "This is great!"

Avery turned back to me with a grin that matched mine. "See, I knew you'd have more fun staying out!"

I nodded my head in agreement. It must have been passed 12 o'clock by now, and all thoughts of going home and wallowing in self-pity had disappeared. This could be my last night after all, so why not spend the rest of it with this gorgeous girl, who apparently didn't know how to ride a bike properly.

"Don't laugh at me!" She talked loudly as she slowed her bike to my pace.

Another laugh escaped me without warning. "It's just so funny though."

"You're a mean one, Niall," She pointed an accusing finger at me before we both broke out into a fit of laughter.

How could I have only met this girl just this afternoon? She has just so quickly put my mind at ease. I've been bricking it about the surgery for over a month and now it didn't even feel like it was going to happen, much less tomorrow morning. But my happy mood was tarnished the second I heard the beeping of a car horn and the yells that came from inside the vehicle.

"Hey! What are you up to tonight?" The head of a guy maybe a few years older than us popped out of the open window of the black Nissan.

I scanned the contents of the car to see it was filled to the brim with douchebaggery. My eyes narrowed as the guy now practically hung out of the car.

I could tell Avery wasn't going to respond, so instead, I spoke up. "Nothing, man."

He shot me a glare. Judging by the cackling coming from the rest of the guys in the car, it was quite obvious that everyone in their group was completely shitfaced.

"Oh no, I not talking to you," He waved me off before turning back toward Avery. "I'm talking to this fine young thing. Hey, baby! How you doing?"

I was already pissed because these assholes had to come in and ruin our good night in a matter of seconds and now on top of that this guy thought he could talk to Avery, or any woman for that matter, like she was a piece of meat. Drunk or not, you don't talk to anyone like that. There was no respect in his eyes as he continued to bombard Avery with incoherent questions.

My bike was left lying on the ground before all the words could even leave his mouth.

"How bout you ditch this kid and that bike and hope in with us. We'll give you something to ride!"

I made my way toward the now stopped car, seeing as Avery had halted her bike at the guy's words. With determination in my step, I moved as quickly as I could until I stood in front of the open window the guy was still hanging out of, blocking his view of Avery entirely.

I voiced the question that had been playing over in my head since this whole thing started. "What makes you think you can talk to someone like that?"

If it was any other normal day I probably wouldn't have been in this situation at all, and I most definitely wouldn't have grabbed a guy by his shirt collar and punched him square in the face. But I guess from the start, this hasn't really been a normal day.

"Oh my god, Niall!" Avery stared up at me with wide eyes as I moved toward her.

"I think it's time we go," I spoke over the yells from the guy I had just punched.

"You think?!" She turned her bike around and sped off as I ran for the bike that was stilling lying in the street a few feet away.

"I'm going to get you, you son of a bitch!" I heard from behind me but could tell by the laughs that erupted from the rest of the car that they had no intentions of coming after us. The one great thing about alcohol is that it causes a severe case of temporary stupidity.

"You are such an impulsive idiot!" Avery hissed at me as we sat crouched behind a few bushes like it was exactly what a couple of mature young adults should be doing on a Thursday night.

"I'm sorry," I held back a laugh. "I wouldn't normally do something like that, I swear."

"You're unbelievable," She shook her head at me disapprovingly, but I could tell she was trying her hardest to hide a smile.

I just kept smiling at her, batting my eyelashes cutely in hopes of getting a laugh out of her. The idea was a total success as she let her laugh give away our hiding spot to any passersby.

Before I could compliment her on how infectious I thought her laugh was, she stood from her spot. "Come on."

She reached her hand out for me to grab and I soon towered over her. Our hands stayed together as we made sure our bikes were still well hidden. Avery then pulled me toward the entrance of the public park that I hadn't noticed we were hiding outside of.

"You know these places are always closed after dark, right?" I continued to follow after her.

"Do you ever do anything that's even just the slightest bit dangerous?" She countered.

"Well I did just punch a guy in the face," I pointed out with an amused tone.

She scoffed squeezing my hand lightly. "Don't remind me."

I could only laugh as we continued to make our way deeper into the park.

"Oh, look!" Avery pointed toward a tiny lily pond that sat near the heart of the park.

We had been aimlessly strolled about the paved walkways for a while, just enjoying the night air and of course, each other's company.

Avery led me carefully over to the pond and to my surprise, she began slipping off her shoes. I watched her as she tiptoed around a few rocks before she settled down on a large one not too far from where I stood. Taking a second, I quickly pulled my own shoes off, along with my socks, making my way over to her. I mirrored her actions, letting the cool water envelop my toes.

As silence descended on us, my mind wandered back to the only thing that had been there for weeks. I cursed to myself as my eyebrows pushed together in frustration. Just a few hours left.

"What are you thinking about?" My eyes darted to Avery as her words caught my attention.

Could she read my mind? I stared down at her for a moment, contemplating on what I should tell her. I decided to tell her the truth.

"I was thinking about how great tonight has turned out," I cracked a smile, hoping to settle the slightly worried expression on her face.

"So you aren't angry with me for leaving you alone at the party?" She looked ashamed.

I shook my head. "It's alright. I'm used to being on my own, so I was fine."

She stared at me for a long moment, not saying a word, before letting her eyes drop down toward where our feet made ripples in the water. An amused smile grew on her face the longer she kept her eyes down and I racked my brain as to what could be funny in this moment.

"Your toe is black," My face fell at her words as my eyes turned down to where she was still looking.

Oh my god. I had taken a shower earlier and tried my hardest to get all the blue sharpie marker off my toe, but now it just looked like I was diseased in some way. There was always something bring me back to reality, reminding me that tomorrow is still coming and this was one of those moments.

"Actually," I tried my best to laugh it off as I felt tears prick my eyes. "It's blue sharpie. I was coloring earlier."

The cutest giggle-snort erupted from her as she heaved a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand in the process. "So is coloring one of your hobbies? How old are you again?"

She continued to laugh as my mind thought of all the things that were going right in this moment and all the things that could go wrong tomorrow. Just don't think about it.

"I'm 23, mind you," I finally spoke up. "And coloring is only one of my many talents."

"Oh?" She looked up at me questioningly. "And what's another one of your many talents?"

My mind raced as I tried to think back to anything I used to do as a kid that could count as a talent.

"Tin foil dinosaurs," I said randomly.

When I was maybe 12, our art teacher had given us an assignment to go home and make a sculpture out of something that we found in our house. I wasn't the most creative child, but I did get an A+ on that assignment.

"Excuse me?" Avery just laughed louder.

"I can make a pretty mean dinosaur sculpture out of tin foil," I repeated myself. The longer I heard her laugh, the redder my cheeks became. I am such an idiot.

Before she could tease me any further, there was a yell from across the pond. Both our heads snapped up toward the voice to see a security guard was headed in our direction, flashlight pointed at us. Without a word, we glanced at each other momentarily before we hastily started to weave our way back around the rocks. A wave of dizziness hit me from standing up so quickly and I shut my eyes for a brief second, not realizing what I was about to walk into.

"Ah!" I let out a gasp as I tripped head first over one of the many rocks surrounding us, my body crashing to the ground.

My eyes narrowed slightly in pain as the security guard dabbed my forehead with ointment. How does this always happen to me? I glanced at Avery to see she was watching me with concern written all over her face. There was no coming back from this. She must think I'm some kind of freak after all the shit she saw me do today.

"Well maybe if you didn't go busting into a closed park in the middle of the night this wouldn't have happened," The guard scolded me like I was a five year old.

"Fuck," I mumbled as the man applied the last bit of ointment.

"Watch your mouth!" I looked up at the guy with wide eyes, surprised from his tiny outburst. "There's a lady present."

A crooked smile appeared on my face as I looked sheepishly over at Avery to see she was shaking her head at me once again. I could get used to her looking at me like that. Or maybe I couldn't.

The walk back to Avery's house was slow, both of us too tried to ride the bikes so we pushed them along. I scratched subconsciously at the bandage just above my left eyebrow. What a night. By the time we made it back to her place it seemed as though everyone who had been there had left. Avery quickly unlocked the door before we both stepped into the messy living room.

"There you two are!" Jake's voice made me jump as he came around a corner.

"Hey!" Avery smiled. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh you know," He waved his hands around excitedly. "This is something we like to call a reverse surprise party, so everyone hides after the party is over."

I choked back a laugh as he stared over at his sister with a serious expression on his face. Jake really was a strange guy. Avery just rolled her eyes, swatting him in the arm for being such a smartass.

"But seriously, everyone is going out," Jake reached for his jacket that hung off the back of the couch as his girlfriend came walking through the kitchen. "Mel's friend is playing some kind of underground show, so we're all heading over there."

"That sounds cool," Avery spoke thoughtfully.

But I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about how the clock above the stove in the kitchen kept ticking and how the time I had left was slowly slipping away. My energy was dwindling. I hadn't done this much in so long, I had forgotten how tiring it was to have an active social life.

"I should probably head home," I said quietly.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Avery looked over at me worriedly. Wasn't she sick of me yet?

"No, you should go," I smiled down at her.

"No." Both Avery and I turned to look at Jake.

The room fell silent as he continued to stare at me awkwardly, with no intentions of stopping until I agreed to go with them. I rubbed my temples slightly as I stared back at him, prolonging the moment that I knew was coming.

"Fine," I agreed finally. "Let's go."