Solivagant (adj.)

Wandering alone

Niall's P.O.V

AT THE BOAT

"Thank god you're here." I gushed as Dakota waltzed through the door, admiring the insides of Lillian's childhood home. I had forced myself to walk, climb the ladder and now the couch up here was my bed.

"Well, I brought friends." She announced, moving into the room to let 4 unknown males to enter.

Lillian brought herself closer to me to allow space for the new guests. And I was extremely grateful to these strangers for putting me in this position.

I could smell her perfume and feel the cotton of her shirt itch me occasionally. It was an itch I was not going to scratch anytime soon.

I hear Lillian's dad climb up the ladder from the small kitchen area, his footsteps ceasing when his eyes lay on the mob of people inside his home.

"Oh... hello. I'm just going to go out onto the deck for a while. Make yourselves at home." He is extremely polite as he nudges pass the strangers and onto the deck.

Once he leaves the room, Dakota runs to me and embraces me tight as she hurtles apologies at me.

"You have nothing to apologise for, you did the right thing. Except you are kind of hurting me right now." I chuckled and she immediately lets go, slightly embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry for doing this to you, Niall." She wedges herself back into her spot.

I feel Lillian go rigid beside me, her entire body tense. I sway my arm to grip her hand, encompassing it in my own.

"You did this?" Lillian attempts to keep her voice steady, concealing the resentment and disgust she currently felt towards the girl.

"Well, considering you were actually sent to kill me, I think I came out better than expected."

The boys and Dakota laugh, but Lillian makes no movement, not even closing her hand around mine.

"So, Niall, who is this?" Dakota grins and gestures to Lillian.

"This is Lillian, my saviour. She has been helping me this entire time." I state proudly, trying to lighten the mood. But still, Lillian shows no change in emotion.

"Well thank you Lillian for keeping him safe." Lillian refused to grace Dakota's thank with even a nod, an action completely uncharacteristic to her usual polite nature.

"I better introduce my friends now! This is Ashton," she gestures to the lanky boy with tousled hair beside her who i recognise from somewhere, "and this is Michael," next is the one with midnight black hair and a cheeky grin, "Calum," she refers to the dark haired boy with an awkward posture, "and lastly Luke!" He lifts the corners of his mouth in a lazy smile.

"They're part of an Australian gang and they have agreed to take you under their wing and keep you safe under a different name and in a different place." Dakota grinned with pride, showing off the boys like they were in some sort of auction.

But my reaction was not one of cheerfulness and, apparently, neither was Lillian's. I felt her body slump beside me, her head dropping towards the floor also.

"Dakota thank you so much but... they've captured one of Lillian's friends. And if I don't go there then Charlotte will die in my place." I delivered the news with sorrow.

"Wait you're not seriously thinking of going there, are you?" Lillian pipes up again, looking up at me with horror.

"Obvious-"

"Are you dumb?" Lillian laid a solid punch into my arm, sending it numb for a few moments. She had a solid hit.

"Ow! Lillian?" I stared at her, dumbfounded, but she kept the same flabbergasted look. What did she think I was going to do?

"Niall, I can find a way to fix this and you can escape with the boys. There's no way you're going to do this." Dakota pleads with me but I'm having none of it.

"No you've already gotten into enough trouble for me. And we can't risk them killing Charlotte. I won't hand myself over guys, but I have to go there."

I reasoned with them. I didn't blame them for being reluctant, I was scared too, but it was the only way to save Charlotte.

"Okay. Me, and the boys, will help you fight these two. Even if we die-"

"Woah, Die?!?" The awkward one, Calum, interrupted her. His shock was evident and as I looked around the room, I could tell the other boys felt uneasy too.

"Yes, Calum, die," she reinforced her point and shut him down, "we will fight for you."

I, too, felt uneasy about the whole thing. But I knew Dakota could hold her own and she wouldn't have brought these boys if they didn't know how to protect themselves.

I agreed.

Lillian stayed dead silent as I gave them the details of the place and we discussed the plan.

"We're gonna go get ready. We'll see you there at 11:30." And with that, they filed out of the room.

With a breath, I slumped down onto the floor. My wounds were aching and so was my head.

This was going to be a long day and night.

The space was quiet; the only noise was Gilligan's faint whispers as he talked to the turtles below the boat. Lillian had sat down on a small lounge during my conversation with the others, I assumed she was bored.

"So who is Dakota?"

Her voice startles me, not having heard it for a while, it was unexpected.

I turned my head to look at her. One of her ankles rested on the thigh of her other leg and she picked at the cuff of her jeans.

"What do you mean? You just met her." I turned away.

"No, I mean who is she to you."

The question was confronting but I knew how to answer. However, my current... status with Lillian and seeing how she is reacting now is making me second guess whether to confess.

But this was Lillian and even the thought of lying to her made me queasy.

With a sigh, I spun my body around to face. Time to get it all out on the table.

"Dakota and I used to date. Honestly, it was amazing. We were both in the league so we didn't have to hide anything from each other."

I watched her as I spoke. She had slow steady breaths but her fingers shook with each pluck of fibre.

"But I broke it off. I was thinking about leaving and wanted Dakota to have some time away from me before I left. So that I'd have someone inside working for me and didn't hate me."

There was silence again. There seems to be a lot of that lately and I kind of hated it. It gave me too much time and space to think of things. Things I really didn't want to think about.

"So, what's my role?"

Her tone had changed slightly but it was nowhere near her usual cheeriness.

"In what?"

"In this whole, heist thingy. What do I get to do?"

"You don't have a role."

"What?"

She looked up, finally. But I wished she didn't. Lillian wasn't smiling and there was no happiness in her eyes.

"I mean, your role is to stay here, I guess."

"What kind of shit.ty role is that?"

Her abruptness startled me. Her voice and face were filled with anger.

"It's not like you'd be coming with us to the bank."

I immediately regretted my words when I saw Lillian's face turn to stone. Her lips were pulled tight and her eyebrows sat low on her brows.

"Why would I not be?"

"Lillian, you wouldn't be able to-"

"Oh so I can fake your death, lie to criminals and survive a car crash but I can't do this?"

Sarcasm dripped from every word she spoke.

"Lillian, that's not what I meant. I just mean, you can't fight or shoot a gun, can you?"

"Fine. I won't go."

She jumped from her seat, not looking at me, and stormed out onto the deck with her Dad.

Yikes.

~~~~~~~~~~

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