A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though they know you are slightly cracked. 

Austin told the construction company he works for that he would transfer to California, halfway across the world. I told Niall about what was happening and that Austin was leaving. He insisted that I move in with him and the boys because he didn't want me to be alone all the time (even though I have Claire). I agreed in the end.

I have to try not to take advantage of Niall or the rest of the boys. I love them because they're caring and nice and great with Claire. I don't love them because they're offering me a free place to live.

Niall and I agreed to tell the boys that my parents and my brother were moving to California and leaving Claire and I behind. It's not the most fool proof story, but it will do for a short while. We told Claire not to say anything either. I'm sure I'll end up telling the rest of the boys the real story once I get closer to them. I would feel bad living in their home and lying the entire time. I just don't feel comfortable telling something so...personal...to them yet.

During that phone call to Niall I actually learned a lot about him. We went back and forth asking quickfire questions. It was fun just learning useless information about each other. 

"I'll miss you," Austin says as I practically strangle him in a hug. "Stay safe."

"I will. You be safe in Cali too. Call me if there's a problem."

He nods "And Lex, be careful. You're in a house full of boys. You don't know what could happen," he says, giving me a stern look.

"Austin, I'll be fine. I can handle myself," I say smiling and rolling my eyes. "Don't give up," I remind him. He smiles down at me.

"I know. Love you sis. Stay strong. Be smart. Don't give up." He hugs me one last time before saying goodbye to Claire and running to catch his flight.

Don't give up. It's something that Austin and I remind each other of a lot.

I watch as he disappears through the gate, a sad smile on my face. I love my brother. He's always been there for me and has always been so responsible. Now he's across the world. I sigh and take Claire's hand. We walk back to the car. I text Niall.

Me: Just leaving the airport. What time will you pick me up?

Nialler: Be ready by around 4. The lads and I will come by.

I smile and drive home with the radio on. Call Me Maybe plays as I quietly sing along and Claire dances in the backseat. I laugh at her adorable moves as we pull up to the house.

"Are you all packed up?" I ask her. She nods her head. "Go grab all your things and put them by the door so you're ready when the boys all get here." She smiles and obediently goes to her room to grab her stuff. I look around our empty house.

Austin and I took all the furniture and sold it online for money since neither of us would be living here. We only kept the things we would need or want or thought were valuable to us. Austin said he would take care of selling the house from his location in California and that I shouldn't worry about it.

I grab my own bags and push them out to the living room. I check around the house to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I check Claire and Austin's rooms too, just in case. I hear a knock on the front door and open it to find Liam there, smiling down at me. I smile back.

"Ready?" he asks. I nod. He and Niall help me with my bags and Zayn helps Claire with hers.

"Thank you guys so much. You have no idea how much this means to me," I say once we're all inside the car.

"It's no problem," they say, smiling. During the ride there Claire asks them a million questions about the new house. When we finally arrive she jumps out with a huge smile on her face. I look up and my jaw drops open.

"You live here?" I ask, amazed. The house was huge. Harry chuckles as him and Louis help me carry in my bags. Niall helps Claire with hers and I wander around the house.

"Care for a tour?" Liam asks with a smile. I smile and nod, still looking at my surroundings.

He shows me the game room (with darts, a pool table, etc), the kitchen (complete with a breakfast bar), the living room, the tennis courts, the basketball courts, the home theater, the gym, the arcade, the dining room, the office, the green house where fresh fruit was growing, the garden full of flowers, the music room (complete with a grand piano, drum set, guitar, and recording studio), the playroom (why do they have one of those anyways?), the backyard (with a trampoline and playground), the indoor pool, the outdoor pool (with a waterslide), and all the bedrooms. Each bedroom had its own full size bathroom, walk in closet, and a balcony with an amazing view.

"This place is freaking amazing. Why do you guys need TWO POOLS? And seriously, tennis? Do any of you play tennis?! There's no kids that live here, I mean besides Claire now, but I mean before, why did you need a play room?" I continue to ramble on about the houses features.

"Are you gonna shut up and go see your room or are you gonna keep talking?" Niall asks, chuckling. I smile excitedly and follow him and the rest of the boys upstairs. There was one bedroom they hadn't shown me yet, saying that they were saving the best for last. Zayn pushes open the door and my eyes go wide.

"Welcome home," Harry says, smiling. I look around, truly amazed. During that phone call to Niall where I explained how Austin was leaving, Niall and I talked a lot. We talked about our likes, our dislikes. I learned a lot. And apparently so did he. He really must have been listening. 

One wall was blue and faded into purple (my two favorite colors). Over top of the colors was a black painted silhouette of a sea turtle (my favorite animal). Two of the walls were white and the last remaining one was black. The bedspread was purple and had white sheets. The carpet was white and had a large fluffy black rug in the middle of the room. My furniture was made of expensive looking black wood and my mirror was attached to the wall on the inside of my giant closet. Sitting on my dresser was a jar of Sour Patch Kids (my favorite candy) and a brand new laptop. A stereo system sat in the corner that I could plug in an iPod to, too bad I didn't have one. There was a wide flat screen TV on one of the walls and had a black couch with brightly colored pillows and different brightly colored bean bag chairs surrounding it. Above my dresser on the wall it said "Never Give Up" in fancy writing. I loved that. To finish it off, on the back of the door was a huge One Direction poster.

I laughed. "Nice touch."

"I thought so," Harry says, smiling proudly. I walk over and hug each of them, holding onto Niall a bit longer.

"You guys are seriously amazing. You didn't have to do any of this."

"We wanted to," Zayn says smiling.

"I love it. I might not come out," I say laughing. "Whose idea was it to give me a stereo when I don't have an iPod?" I joke.

"Right. See, your phone kind of sucks," Niall says.

"Thanks," I say, rolling my eyes.

"So we got you a new one,” he adds. I stare at him, my mouth hanging open.

"You're kidding."

"Nope," he says, smirking. Liam pulls out a shiny new white iPhone and hands it to me. I stare at it for a moment.

"You guys are crazy. I've only known you all for few days and you're giving me a new room, a new phone, a new laptop, a new home..." I hug them all again. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Did you look inside the closet?" Louis asks. I look at him suspiciously before making my way to the walk-in closet. I open it and see the shelves and racks stacked with clothes, shoes, and jewelry. It was like a second bedroom, but with no bed. Actually it looked sort of like the inside of a clothing store. It was insane. 

"Oh my God," is all I say. I run my fingers along the fabric. "I'm dreaming, right?"

"It was Niall's idea to spoil you this much. He said you deserved it, and who were we to argue?" Liam says with a smile. Niall's cheeks turn pink. I smile and wrap my arms around Niall.

"Thank you," I whisper in his ear. "Thank you so much."

~~~~~~

"Look who I found trying to steal a cookie?" Louis says, walking into the living room and holding Claire upside down in one hand while eating a cookie in his other. She was laughing her head off. I smile.

"Can I please have a cookie Louis?" she asks in her adorable 4-year-old voice.

"What's the magic word?" he asks.

"I said please!"

"But the magic word is Louis Is Amazing."

"That's more than one word!"

"Then I guess I'll just have to eat all the cookies..."

"Louis Is Amazing!"

"Okay you can have a cookie," he says, letting her down and walking with her to the kitchen. I laugh from my seat on the couch. Claire was having a blast here too.

The boys went all out on her room as well, making it all a princess theme. Her bed was a castle and the only way to get down from it was by slide and the only way to get up was by ladder. Her walls were bright pink. In fact, everything was pink. She loved it. And her room was right next to the play room so she could have every toy she could think of just a door away.

"I'm really tired," I say to all the boys who are sitting and watching television. "I think I'll go to sleep," I say, yawning.

"Okay. Goodnight, love," Niall says. The rest of them say goodnight too as I walk upstairs.

"Thanks for everything!" I call before closing my bedroom door. I strip down and jump in the shower. I pull on comfy red and black plaid pajama pants and a black cami before climbing into my new bed. Maybe tonight I won't have a dream. Maybe because I'm in a new place the nightmares will go away. 

I doubt it.

I cuddle up with my stuffed animals (yes, I brought them all with me), and close my eyes.

.

I sit in the living room of the new house. None of the boys are around. Claire isn't here either. I start to wonder where they are just as the closet door bursts open. Dead bodies fall out. The dead bodies of Harry, Louis, Zayn, Liam, Niall, Austin, and Claire. I scream.

"They're just as hopeless as your parents were," I hear the killers voice say. I turn around and see him standing there in the middle of the room with my parents and Jake's dead bodies at his feet.

"You're a horrible man!" I scream at him.

"You can trust me," he says back. His voice is not his own though. His voice I recognize. It was Niall's voice. He was telling me to trust him in Niall's voice.

"I can't trust you," I spit back at him.

"I won't tell a soul," he says in Niall's voice again. "You can trust me."

"No," I say, shutting my eyes tight and shaking my head. "What are you talking about?! No!"

.

"NO!" I sit up in bed and punch my pillow before moving out of bed and making my way to the bathroom. I splash water in my face and lean against the counter, looking up at myself in the mirror. The water drops dripped from my chin and into the sink. I sigh and dry my face before going over to my guitar case. I take it out and walk to my balcony. I decide to play The Climb by Miley Cyrus. It's a good song. I sing along like I usually do. Silent tears roll down my cheeks as I think about my nightmare while singing. They were all dead. My family. My friends. Everyone that I cared about. Why was that man's voice the same as Niall's? Telling me to trust him? It all confused me but whether I understood it or not it was traumatizing.

"Alexis?" I hear Niall say from behind me. I quickly wipe away my tears and turn around.

"H-hey."

"Are you crying?" I shake my head no. He was standing on his own balcony. It was right next to mine so we were close enough to hear each other. "Yes you are."

"Niall, I'm fine. W-why are you awake? It's almost two in the morning." I try to blink back the tears and hide my face so he can't see my puffy red eyes. 

"I should ask you the same thing." He jumps from his balcony to mine and sits next to me on the bench. "I get hungry around this time. I woke up wanting food, and I heard you singing so I came outside." He wraps an arm around me in a hug. "Why are you crying?" I shake my head and wipe away my tears.

"I'm not crying."

"Yes. You are." He looks at me worriedly. I sigh. "I saw you crying Lexi. Please tell me. You can trust me." I freeze. You can trust me. "What's wrong?" He notices me tense up.

"I-I had a dream," I choke out. "A nightmare."

"Wanna talk about it?" I squeeze my eyes shut. "Was it about your parents?" he asks in a voice just above a whisper. I nod.

"It wasn't just them. It was you. And the other boys. And Claire and Austin. And Ja...." I trail off forgetting that I hadn't told Niall about Jake.

"Who?" he asks, catching onto that last name.

"There's something else I need to tell you. Another part to the story. You know that picture on my desk that you asked about? When you asked if he was my boyfriend?" Niall nods. "He was my boyfriend. We were in love. We were planning to get married one day. But that man...he ruined those plans. Jake was defending me. He was with me when the man broke in. He tried to fight him off but he ended up getting killed too. He lost his life to protect me." I shut my eyes and let a single tear roll down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away. "He was in my dream too. So was everyone else that I named. And they were all...dead. Every single person that I care about was dead in my nightmare." Niall rubs circles on my back.

"You should try to go back to sleep," he says softly. I shake my head.

"I have dreams like this every night. They're about different people but they always wake me up and I can never get back to sleep after them. I usually just sit outside and play guitar or something to pass the time," I explain to him.

"You're good at guitar. Singing too. I enjoyed listening to you." I smile a bit.

"Thanks." My cheeks turn light pink.

"Would it help if I sang you to sleep?" he asks. I think about it.

"I haven't had someone try before." He smiles at me. I put my guitar away and lay back in bed. Niall sits on a chair by my mattress. I snuggle up to my stuffed bunny. Niall chuckles. 

"I like your little friends there," he says, smiling. I hug them tighter. 

"They're special. I named every single one of them," I say proudly, smiling. 

"What's the bunny's name?" 

"Bingo. When I was really little I found him at a garage sale and started to walk away without paying for him. They were gonna like, arrest me or something at three years old. So my parents just paid them their 50 cents so I could play happily in peace without the cops showing up." Niall starts laughing. "So he's very special." I hug my bunny tighter. 

"Him? It's a boy? But Bingo is pink."

"Do you think I cared when I was three years old what color my bunny rabbit was? No. So HIS name is Bingo. Get over it. Besides, only real men wear pink."

Niall laughs more and I smile. 

"You kept all these? You have...a lot." I smile and nod. 

"They're all special," I tell him.

"Wow," he says. I smile. "You need to sleep."

"Sing to me!" I demand. He smiles and I hug my bunny tight and shut my eyes,

"Shut the door, turn the lights off, I wanna be with you, I wanna feel your love, I wanna lay beside you, I cannot hide this, even though I try...."

I slowly get sleepier and sleepier until I finally fall asleep listening to Niall's beautiful voice.

AUTHORS NOTE

awww >> http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/LoveLauren316/slideshow/House you can just imagine up Lexi's room cuz you cant google shiz like that lol Leave predictions in the comments and vote if you wanna find out what really happens next. Love you poptarts <33 BYEE