Never be the Same... (Niall Horan)

Chapter Two.

Her mouth opens to say something but she closes it seconds after.

We both just stare at each other for what feels like hours, but was only minutes. She has changed, her hair is a light red, obviously dyed, and she has lost a lot of weight, but her eyes shine and she looks happier.

She's wearing similar clothes to me, black skinny jeans, a baggy jumper that most likely belongs to Harry and black healed boots, and a white beanie.

"Come sit down." Carol tells her, breaking us apart from our staring, she smiles and sits down.

"Have you been filled in on the details?" Sue asks and Elle nods.

"We do a photoshoot where we have to be best friends." She smiles at me.

"Good, okay, let's get started shall we?" Carol asks and we nod, standing up and following her out of the room. Elle comes and walks next to me.

"Hi." She nervously smiles.

"Hey." I give a small smile back.

"Are you free for lunch today?" She asks.

"I was going to have lunch with Sue." I tell her, giving her an apologetic smile.

"It's alright. We can do it another day." She smiles.

My phone buzzes from my bag, I pull it out and I have a message from Sue.

From: Sue

Hey darl, I'm going to have to cancel, something came up! Maybe another day! Sorry! xx

To: Sue

That's fine, we'll do it another day :) xx

I slip my phone back in my bag and turn my attention to Elle.

"You still up for lunch today?" I ask and she nods.

"Yeah, sure am." She smiles.

"Great." I nod and we walk into the dressing room.

***

"So, how have you been?" Elle asks before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, pretty good, the kids are good, too. How are you?"

"I've been good, exhausted, but good." She smiles.

"How are things between you and Harry?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"Great, actually." She nods.

"I saw a while back you had a pregnancy scare." I chuckle.

"Yeah, we did, but nothing to worry about. I'm no mother." She chuckles.

We talk for about an hour, just catching up on stuff when I remember the photo I took this morning.

"I have something to show you." I blurt.

"What's that?" She looks up from her phone.

I unlock my phone and load the photo then pass my phone to her. She looks hurt, but then smiles to herself.

"That's actually me." She chuckles. I give her a confused look so she explains.

"Harry and I decided we wanted to like, trick people, so I dyed my hair black for a week and put on a shit load of make up. Then we saw twitter and the press go crazy." She smirks. She's still the same.

"Oh, that's okay then." I chuckle, as she hands me my phone.

"Is it alright if Harry joins us, he keeps asking if he can come see you?" She asks and I nod.

"Yeah that's fine." I smile.

"Great." She smiles and types away on her phone.

"They miss you, you know." She tells me.

"I know." I nod, I know I sound arrogant but I have read the messages from them.

"Good." She smiles, and I frown at her answer.

We talk for a while longer until we hear screaming and Elle groans.

"Bet you missed that." She jokes.

"Yeah, totally, I felt so lost without cameras following me around." I chuckle.

She was about to say something else but someone calling out my name stopped her.

"Izzy?!" I turn my head and see Harry standing there, panting.

"Hey!" I smile, waving at him.

He opens his arms for a hug, I get up and run into his arms.

"We miss you." Is the first thing he says.

"I miss you guys too." I smile, looking up at him.

"You haven't been seeing anyone have you?" He asks and I shake my head. I went on a few dates, but they were all dicks.

We walk back to the table and Harry slides in next to Elle, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her, I look away and focus on my coffee.

They pull away when his phone goes off, signalling he has a message.

He pulls it out of his pocket and checks it. As soon as he reads it he looks uncomfortable.

"What is it?" Elle asks.

"Um, Niall want to come here." Harry says scratching the back of his neck.

"It's fine." I give him a small smile, knowing I'm still lying to myself.