What I meant by a long walk was a really f.ucking long walk. We walked in silence and still hand in hand. I had so many questions for Niall, but I knew he would answer them in time. My first thought about the kiss was that Niall was unbelievably drunk, which was half true. He was swinging his shirt above his head on the dance floor and his torso, neck and cheeks were flushed from the alcohol. But then again, he did seem to know what he was doing, which was defending me and proving a point. What point? Well, that was something to figure out.

After a few more minutes of silence I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped dead on the spot on the side of the road, clutching onto Niall’s hand so that he couldn’t walk away from me. “Are you gay?” I asked him flat out like he had done to me not to long ago. I felt his hand tense up in my grip and he couldn’t look me in the eye.

“I’m-“ He started, but then bit his lip. “I’m not supposed to be.” He muttered and my heart broke. Growing up in the city was a lot different then growing up in a country town like this. While I had all the freedom in the world with hardly anyone judging, I was able to be myself freely. Here though, right from the start, I was shunned because I was different. People treated me different because they knew that I had an inclination for the same sex.

“You’re not supposed to be anything but yourself.” I said confidently. Niall shook his head. He slipped his hand from mine and began walking down the road again. My eyes had adjusted long ago in the dark and I could see that he was slowly swaying away from me. I bet he was still pretty well drunk, but at least sobering up in the night air. “Niall, come on.” I raced after him and steadied him again. He looked up at me and smiled.

“How do you know all about how to live life and make the best of it?” He asked me, leaning into my side for support. I shrugged and walked slowly forward. I couldn’t recognize anything familiar on the road, but Niall swore that we were going the right way. But since we were in the car for a good thirty minutes, then I figured that walking at a slow pace would mean that we wouldn’t get home until sunrise.

I sighed and thought about Niall’s question. I didn’t think that I knew everything about life. If I did, then why did I always feel like the world was out to get me, or that I had the worst life out there? So I answered him as best as I could. “I guess that I know a lot because I’ve been through a lot in a short time. I had to grow up fast.” I really did. Even at thirteen I would act like an adult. Sure I made a few mistakes here and there, but I made it through.

Niall sighed heavily, leaning even more into my side. I adjusted my stature to better hold him up. “I can’t seem to make up my mind most of the time.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“And when I- When I kissed you…” He looked up at me, his blue eyes catching enough of the moonlight to make them brighter, shone. “When I kissed you, I think I made up my mind.” I smiled; taking his shoulders in my hands and having him face me. He was finally out of that mopey funk that he had been in for the past few miles of walking.

“It’s going to be awkward.” I told Niall. This, whatever this was, would be hard. People saw us at that party. We could have totally played it off as a drunken stumble, but since we left hand in hand, there was no turning back from that.

“I can handle awkward.” Niall said proudly.

“People will be mad. If you haven’t noticed already, they aren’t too accepting around here.” I motioned around me to symbolize Niall’s town, but honestly we were in the middle of cornfields. “I mean, you heard all the people back at the barn.”

“Well, are you mad at me?” Niall asked. I shook my head because I didn’t know of any reason that I would be mad at him. “I mean, for the kiss. Are you mad that I kissed you?”

I frantically shook my head back and forth. “I was, well, really excited that you did. It was a little short lived, but I’m not mad at you.”

“So it wasn’t bad?” Niall asked timidly and it was the first time I had ever seen him this shy. I shook my head again and he smiled brightly. “So you were excited, yeah?” He started to get cocky and I rolled my eyes at him, and stuffed my hands into my pockets. “Well, I really like you, Zayn. And I’m glad that you came to live with us.” He smiled goofily and took a step back from me, stumbling a bit before falling into the ditch on the side of the road. I doubled over laughing, as Niall just lied there, staring up at the sky.

“Come on, let’s get home.” I tried to help him up, but he was heavy and being a pain.

“Let’s just lay here.” Niall scooted a little ways up the ditch and lied more in the grassy patch before the field started. He reached his hand out and urged me to join him. My feet were hurting pretty badly, so a little rest would do some good. I got off the road and sat next to Niall in the grass. He yawned and turned to his side to face me. His hand crept over and rested on top of mine. After a while, Niall was knocked out and I had managed to lie next to him. My eyelids were heavy and I was warm due to Niall’s body heat. I also drifted off to sleep. I would have never thought in a million years that I would be sleeping on the side of a country road with the most amazing guy I had ever met.

But all good things must end, because early that next morning, Niall and I were woken up by a jab to our sides and a flashlight shown in our face. I blinked a few times and realized it was an officer. I quickly sat up and nudged Niall. “Hey, wake up.” I nudged him again and he finally stirred awake, rubbing his eyes with his palms and sitting up. He blinked a few times before looking up at the officer who had woken us.

“G-good morning Officer MacArthur.” Niall greeted the man nervously. Obviously he had known him, he was probably the town’s favorite officer or something like that.

“Mr. Horan, care to explain why you and your friend here are sleeping on the side of the road? You’re mother called in and was worried and had me on the look out.” He pointed to the spot where we were just lying down. I kept silent, knowing that anything I said would probably end in us getting arrested. I was just lucky like that.

“You see, sir.” Niall got to his feet and helped me up as well. “We were tired.” He smiled, trying to joke around. “And well, our ride ditched us, so we had to walk back.” What Niall was somewhat truthful. Our ride was Liam, but he didn’t ditch us. We ditched him.

“You’re a long ways from home. And you?” He looked at me and I gulped nervously. “Were you heading back with him?” He asked. I nodded and Niall slung an arm around my shoulder casually.

“This is Zayn, sir. He’s staying with my family.” Niall then removed his arm, patting me on the back. We stood there awkwardly until the officer finally let us off the hook. He even offered us a ride back to Niall’s house. We eagerly accepted. The ride was silent as Niall and I sat in the back of the car. I wanted to ask if Officer MacArthur would put the sirens on for fun, but I could already tell that this guy wasn’t very trusting of me.

He dropped us off in Niall’s driveway just as the sun was rising over the horizon. We thanked him and waved him goodbye. As he pulled out of the driveway, we looked at the porch door and saw Maura standing there. She looked less than pleased. By the way we were dressed and by how dirty we were, she knew that we had been out all night. We were busted.

“Inside, now.” She ordered. With our heads hung low, we walked into the house to receive our punishment. Maura grabbed the back of our shirt collars and dragged us to the kitchen table. Niall’s step dad was sitting there as well, his hands cupped together in front of him. “Sit. The both of you.”

We did as told because there was no telling how mad Niall’s parents were. I had never seen Maura this aggravated before, but when I took a look at Niall, I knew he had experienced this before and it wasn’t going to be good. Niall reached under the table and squeezed my hand. I squeezed back. We were in this together.

“So, boys.” Chris unhooked his hands from one another. “Where were you last night?” I looked over at Niall and he looked as though he was trying to figure out something to get us out of the mess. When he kept silent, Chris turned to me. “Zayn?”

I sighed heavily. “A party.” It was best to tell the truth. “It was- It was my idea. I’m sorry.” Niall’s mouth was wide open, gaping at me, and his eyes were wide. “And our ride ditched us, so we walked back.” I hung my head low and Chris remained silent.

“It wasn’t Zayn’s idea. It was mine.” Niall spoke up. Dammit. I was trying to keep him out of trouble. He was already distraught as it was. Not knowing who you are or how you truly feel can eat you alive inside, trust me. I knew. He didn’t have to take the blame. That was just one more inconvenience to add to the load he was carrying. 

“And there was alcohol at this party?” Maura crossed her arms over her chest. We both nodded regretfully. “Niall James Horan, you know how I feel about that. You too, Zayn. I know you two think your all grown up, but Niall, you are only sixteen, and Zayn you’re only seventeen. What if you were caught drinking? It was bad enough that Officer MacArthur found you two sleeping in the fields.”

“Okay, we did something bad. Didn’t you ever do anything when you were a teenager?!” Niall was getting riled up and I tried to push him back down in his seat so that he wouldn’t get reprimanded even worse.

“Niall, this is not about your mother.” Chris spoke up, his voice calmer than anyone else in the room.

“Right, it’s about me. Because I’m just a terrible kid and I never do anything you ask.” The sarcasm was laced in his words. “I do one bad thing, that isn’t even that terrible, and the whole world has to stop. It’s bull s.hit.” Niall had bitten off more than he could chew. Chris was now standing, hands pressed down on the tabletop. Maura had a shocked expression on her face.

“Niall, do not speak to your mother like that!” Chris barked. I kept silent, not wanting to interfere with Niall’s burst of pent up anger.

“And you can!? I hear you guys all the time.” I was shocked to hear that Maura and Chris fought so much that Niall would be this angry about it. “I expected it from my dad, but not you Chris.” Niall spat. He was too far-gone now. I had to do something.

“Niall, come on, man. You need to calm down.” I whispered, grabbing his hand and pulling him back to his seat. He huffed and sat down, face red from anger and tears forming in his eyes. I kept all my attention on him and ignored Maura and Chris’s yells. There were more things going on in this household than I thought. They were pretty good at hiding it.

When things died down a little, Niall got up from his seat and stomped out of the house, slamming the screen door behind him. I looked over at Maura who nodded at me with a drained face. “I-I’ll try to calm him down.” I practically jumped from my seat and ran after Niall. I saw him just before he slipped into the barn.

A/N: Wow, an intense chapter! I'm already starting to write the next one, so I will probably be updating earlier than next wednesday! Sorry about the delay. I was having a hectic day yesterday so I couldn't update. =[ But I got it up! Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter!

Much Love

Jachxx