Chapter Text
Leena hates alarm clocks, especially in the mornings. Either way she rolled over and shut it off before rolling out of bed.
“OW!” she yelled as she tripped over some clothes she left lying on the floor.
She went to her bathroom to shower before work. She figured she should have a good day seeing it was her last shift before she went on vacation. She really didn’t mind, for the most part she liked working at the Paw Shop (vets) even if it could be pretty slow some days.
“Good morning Charming” Leena greeted her cat on her way to the kitchen.
After making herself a pancake breakfast and feeding Charming she grabbed her keys and drove to work.
Pulling up to the Paw Shop she could see why, even though it was the only veterinarian shop within miles, only people from Mullingar ever went there. People would literally go out of their way to go to another vets instead. It was a rundown older building in the middle of a strip mall. The paint on the sign was peeling off and the screen door didn’t fully shut. But it was owned by the greatest people; and the rest of the staff is awesome too and not just cause Leena was part of it.
“Hi Edna, hi Mack. How was breakfast?” Leena asked.
Edna and Mack were the owners of the Paw Shop, they were also the sweetest couple you could ever meet. They had been married 50 years and were still so happy together; they went out for breakfast every morning and Mack has brought Edna flowers every Thursday since they got married. Mack was a retired veterinarian and their son Kol had followed in his footsteps and was now the town’s resident vet.
“It was as good as always” Edna replied “Could you please set out the treats today? Jilly is running late”
Jilly was the final person who worked at the shop. She was 18, the same age as Leena, and they were great friends. As much as they were considered best friends it was hard for just anyone to hold that title for Leena.
Her best friend had been there for her since she moved to Ireland and they were basically each other’s lives. They had done everything together and she was even considered family by his entire family, even by his mother that didn’t even live in the same city as them. Now that he had moved away they didn’t get to see each other very often or talk as much as they’d like but they were still as close as ever. The only difference now is that everyone wants to be his best friend, and why wouldn’t they? He is THE Niall Horan from one direction.
It was hard having Niall gone almost all the time but he was good about skyping her whenever he had the chance. Plus she always had his family around whenever she needed. Her parents didn’t really pay much attention to her life so it was really great that she could consider the Horan’s her second family. Her parents had her quite young and hadn’t been ready to give up their life of partying so she ended up being babysat by Niall’s dad Bobby for a good chunk of her childhood.
“Sorry I’m late! I overslept this morning” Jilly announced as she burst through the shop doors.
“Nah, you just didn’t want to set up the treats today” Leena teased as she finished setting up the treat display.
“Well I figured you would want to do my share of the work today since you’ll be gone for a few weeks” Jilly teased back as she set her stuff down behind the counter.
“It’s not going to be the same without you around here, now Saturdays will just be me and Jilly” Kol exclaimed resting his hands on Jilly’s shoulders.
“Yeah a right tragedy that will be” Jilly mumbled sarcastically.
It’s no secret that she has a huge crush on Kol. He likes to tease her about it because of the age difference. She’s 18 and he’s 23 so it’s barely legal and it would definitely be frowned upon by her insanely strict parents.
The day went by slowly as it usually did, they got a lot of cleaning done though.
“You want to come over tonight?” Jilly asked Leena as they were packing up their stuff at the end of their shift.
“Can’t, I’m going to drop off Charming at Greg’s and they invited me to stay for supper. Plus I have to finish packing, but you’re still driving me to the airport tomorrow right?”
“Of course I am”
Leena said her final goodbyes to Edna, Mack and Kol before heading home.
She gathered up all of Charming’s things before luring him into his cat carrier with a few treats she hadn’t packed for him.
“I expect you to be on your best behaviour for the next couple weeks. So no hissing at Theo and no urinating anywhere but your litterbox, got it?”
Leena looked at Charming in his carrier which she had placed on the front seat beside her before frowning.
“I’m talking to a cat. I really need more of a life” She sighed then laughed realizing talking to herself wasn't much better.
She arrived at Greg’s house within 10 minutes. Everything in Mullingar was at a close distance; it only took her a couple minutes to drive to Bobby’s or a little over five minutes if she walked.
“Hey!” Denise greeted as Leena walked up the driveway holding Charming’s carrier to her side.
“Hi, Greg not home yet?” she asked noticing his car wasn’t in the driveway.
Denise and Greg have been married almost a year now, they had been living together for a few months before. They had Theo a couple months after the wedding and made Niall and I the godparents, Denise and I were good friends and since she didn’t have any sisters they asked me to be the godmother.
“He went to pick up Bobby, his car is having problems again” Denise answered my question before ushering me into the house “You can put Charming's things in the corner of the laundry room and just make sure he knows where the litterbox is”
“Okay” I agreed heading towards the room off of the kitchen “Where’s Theo?”
“Taking a nap, took me forever to put him down so be as quiet as possible” Denise stressed, Leena giggled softly as she showed Charming where is litterbox would be.
“So I see my sister’s here and parked in my spot” Greg joked as he entered the small house.
“Well it wouldn’t be a problem if you had a bigger driveway” Leena teased as she hugged him hello.
Greg and Leena considered each other siblings since she had been around for so long and was close enough to the family to even have her own room at Bobby’s house.
“I’m going to miss your sarcasm when you’re gone”
“I’m going to London not Australia” She sassed.
“Alright enough sibling rivalry, let’s go help out in the kitchen” Bobby intervened.
“No need, everything is ready. Let’s eat!” Denise announced.
They ate in mostly silence except for minimal conversation about sight-seeing in London. Once supper was finished Leena helped by feeding Theo while Denise cleaned up the supper dishes and the boys watched football.
“Yeah so just make sure that he doesn’t overeat, he might meow a bit because he’s still hungry but if you don’t put your foot down he won’t stop eating. He takes after Niall like that” Leena explained for the third time before she left.
She was giving Bobby a ride home, but instead of turning onto his street she kept going until she got to hers.
“I figured you might as well take my car for the time I’m gone. Just in case yours won’t be fixed for awhile or breaks down again”
“Don’t you need it to get to the airport?”
“No, Jilly is giving me a ride so I can say goodbye to her”
“Alright well I suppose I’ll see you in a few weeks” Bobby said getting out of the car and going to hug Leena “Just be careful and stay safe. Give Niall a hug for me. Love you”
“I will, promise. I love you too” Leena exclaimed still hugging him.
The next morning Leena was all packed and ready to head to the airport. She had just cleaned up her breakfast dishes and was waiting for Jilly to show up.
A knock at her door had her gathering her stuff up, shutting off the lights as she made her way through her apartment.
“Morning!”
“Good morning Jilly”
“Got everything you need?” Jilly asking eyeing her suitcase and carry on.
“Think so yeah, let’s go”
So the two girls set off to the airport chatting lightly about the trip and other random things. It took them about an hour to get to the airport, only stopping once to get coffee well hot chocolate since neither Leena nor Jilly drink coffee.
“Well that’s my flight, I should probably go now”
“I’m going to miss you so much!”
Leena hugged Jilly tightly before telling her she would miss her as well.
“But it’s only a couple weeks. I’ll be back before you know it” Leena promised.
Jilly watched as Leena boarded the plane, she smiled knowing what an awesome time she was going to have in London.