Mute » 1D

Chapter 14: Niall

Chapter 14

Kashine

Now, Niall:

"So, what's up, boss?" Niall asked as we went into the recording studio. Dancing, I mouthed and he grinned. "I thought maybe you would say that," he said. "What's first?"

I motioned for him to stand next to me and began twisting around. Niall copied me, but when he twisted left he yelled, "OW! This hurts! I'm gonna die! This workout's too hard! Help me!" I rolled my eyes and swatted his head. Time for fun and games on Saturday. The rest of the time we had to work.

He stopped yelling and began to stretch for real, but he didn't try when he reached down to touch his toes. He only hung limp and brushed his hands against his knees.

So, sighing, I went behind him and pushed his back down. "Ow!" he yelled again, but this time it sounded real. I kept pushing him until his fingertips looked like they were touching his toes before letting up on him. He stood back up and rubbed his spine best he could, a small grimace on his face. He wasn't very flexible.

I pointed to a chair and he sat down. Next I pointed to his eyes and then to mine. Watch me. He nodded and I started the music. Once you listen to it multiple times in one place or altogether it gets kind of annoying after awhile. Good thing it's a good song.

I started his part, which was just Zayn's dance moves. Quick and simple, with a lot of finger movements. Yep, if Simon didn't let us use those microphone headphone thingies, all my plans for them were ruined.

When I was done, Niall was nodding. "Yeah, I think I can do that," he said and stood up. He was being a lot more cooperative than I thought he would. Not a single complaint of hunger or boredom yet, and that had got to be a record. But it'd be coming soon, I knew it.

I stood in front of him and did what I did for Liam and Harry. Apparently Niall couldn't do it. Not at first anyway. He couldn't keep the moves straight, and when I did one move, he would do another. I had to show him two more times by myself for him to remember the order correctly.

Once he got the hang of it going real slow, I allowed myself to quicken a tiny bit. He caught up, so I did it faster and faster. I don't think Niall was even aware that we were going faster.

When I stopped, he kept going, doing the same thing over and over again. At first I thought he just trying to impress me, and he was doing a pretty darn good job, until I realized he was staring into space and was just doing them absentmindedly. But impressive nonetheless.

I snapped my fingers in his face and he woke up. "What--" he started to ask, but his body was still moving. He got confused, and he tripped. He fell into me, and we went crashing down to the ground. "O-oops!" he cried and sat up immediately, his face reddening.

But I started to laugh, and slowly so did he. We laughed for about five minutes, and long before that it wasn't all that funny. It was just that his laugh is so contagious.

I finally got a hold of myself, taking deep breaths, and Niall did the same. "Let's try again," he said and I nodded. He helped me up, and I noticed that we were still grinning. Who knew smiles could be contagious too?

I decided to turn on the music and immediately put it to Niall's part. I wrote on my arm and showed him before actually playing it.

Since you were doing so fine before without the music, this should be a piece of cake.

Niall shrugged. "I don't know," he said sheepishly. "I wasn't really paying attention. And I get the feeling I'm supposed to pay attention to know what parts to correctly dance to."

You'll be fine. You just need faith and a larger attention span.

He laughed in agreement and I turned on the music. His/Zayn's part came up, and the reason I say slash is because Zayn sings this part first. But who cares anyway? It's just a lyric.

He moved around right, grinning the whole time, and I was glad he was having fun. Hopefully that meant I was doing my job right.

At the end, I burst out laughing: he added a little moonwalk at the end, and we all know how good he is at those. "Suck it!" he yelled at an imaginary audience and I laughed harder.

He smiled at me, and I stopped laughing long enough to smile back. "I can moonwalk, right?" he pleaded, actually folding his hands in a praying gesture and staring at me with large blue eyes. I nodded.

Truthfully, I loved it when he did his little moonwalk. It's so amusing to watch. I mocked his little moonwalk and he laughed, so naturally I ended up laughing too.

We were laughing too much, and dancing too little. I still needed to show him the chorus moves. I went over to my iPod and moved the song back to that part. Niall sat down obediently and watched me do the moves.

"Piece of pudding," he said nonchalantly and stood up. I smiled: no such thing as a piece of pudding. That's means this was going to be difficult for him. Haha, I was such a smart aleck.

Niall started doing the moves on his own, and he was surprisingly pretty good, just a little slow. I realized I hadn't yet turned on the music. I did, and Niall sped up slightly and stumbled. I stopped the music and went over to him. I wrote on my arm:

Don't stress yourself. You don't have to get it perfect the first time. Take your time: we have an hour.

He nodded, and I went back over to my iPod. I set the music back a little and pressed play. I stood next to him and danced with him, nodding encouragingly whenever he hesitated or faltered. I clapped my hands once the chorus was over and turned the music off again. He twirled and bowed, and I giggled.

We practiced a few more times, using up the whole two hours, until he almost got it down pat. He really wanted to do his moonwalk thing, and I was struggling to find ways I could fit it in anywhere. After all, the boys should have some say in what they got to dance to and what they danced. I'd already got a few ideas for their freedom of choice.

Niall didn't ask for a break even once, and I was impressed. He was really set on getting these moves right, and because of his persistence he got pretty close to perfect.

But then there was a knock on the door, and we jumped. I answered it, and Zayn was standing there expectantly. "I'm ready for the dancing," he said. I nodded and slammed the door in his face. I wrote quickly.

You did good, Niall. I'm very impressed with you today.

He grinned. "Why, thank you," he said rather smugly and I smiled.

Now it's time for Zayn to dance and for you to do yoga.

Niall grimaced, but nodded. Why was it that they all seemed to resent yoga so much? "Good luck," he said sincerely, and left the recording studio.