Call Me Ella (ft. Niall Horan)

Chapter 16 - Conversation

Chapter 16 - Conversation

“And this is Persephone,” I say as we keep walking around the stables. We stop in front of the chestnut horse with the white mane and when she sees us, she snorts and moves, excited. “And she’s clearly happy to see us here,” I add and Niall and I approach her to stroke her hair.

“She’s beautiful,” he says and smiles at me. I totally ignore the flip my heart does. “Do all the horses have Greek names?” He asks next and I can’t help the smile from coming to my lips because he realised.

After the topic about his girlfriend, we started to talk about horses. I introduced him to every single one we have here, with names and time they have been here. And yes, all horses have Greek names.

“Yes, it’s something my dad started when we thought that having horses would be a good idea for the retreat centre,” I explain and he nods.

“So your dad started this. And where is he now?”

I stay quiet and frozen on my spot because even if it was many years ago, it still hurts to think about him. Persephone feels my distress because she rubs her head against mine as softly as she can, comforting me.

“He died years ago. A few years later after my mum,” I tell him and I hear him gasping.

“Oh my God, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry,” he says immediately, taking a step closer to me, but I step back. I need distance between us.

“It’s okay, I’m okay. It still hurts, but I came to terms with it long ago, that’s all,” I say but he still looks at me with pity in his eyes. I don’t blame him, everyone does the same when they find out I lost both my parents.

We’ve been here talking for a while and I don’t know why I even tell him about my parents, but just like he said about me, there’s something that makes it easy to talk to him, even if it’s about horses, or about my dead parents. He gives you this you-can-trust-me vibe when he smiles and after all the things he’s told me, it seems fair that I let go a bit about my own story.

“So now you only have Rhonda,” he says and I jerk, clenching my fists and Persephone snorts, worried this time. “Woah, you don’t like her, do you?”

“Very perceptive,” I tell him. “I hate her guts, I’m just counting the days for this summer to end so I can finally leave and I won’t see her again.”

“You won’t ever come back here? But this is your home,” he tells me and I shake my head.

“It stopped being my home the day my dad died, it became a prison and I just wanna be free. I wanna go to Uni and do what I want. This is the last summer I work here,” I answer honestly. I’m impressed I’m actually telling him these things.

“So if I come back here, I won’t find you around,” he muses and my head snaps in his direction, taken aback from his statement and the way he said that. His eyes are on me and for a moment I catch my breath, not sure of what to do.

“No, you won’t,” I reply and he looks disappointed.

He doesn’t say anything else, he just strokes Persephone’s hair and I focus my attention on her as we stay in silence for a little while, until he speaks again.

“At the end you didn’t go to the ball, did you? You told me you weren’t going to but maybe…”

“I didn’t,” I finish for him and he nods as if that’s what he expected, but again, he doesn’t look exactly pleased with my answer. “I had work to do. Rhonda gave me a huge list. I didn’t even sleep,” I tell him.