Ellis.
Niall had invited me down to London during the week, on a Tuesday, the only day he could get off. I had college that day, but I decided to bunk off for the first time in my life to see Niall. The train journey down was a slow one, just heightening the anticipation of seeing Niall’s face. I still watched the X Factor, and I kept telling myself it was because I was supporting Harry, but I let myself drift to the blond for most of the performance.
“Steady on! Okay, I’m waiting outside, ya gonna hurry up? x”
We’d arranged to meet at Starbucks, and I was already a bit late, so I sped up, I was only a block away. When I turned the corner, I was pretty much blinded. Dozens of cameras were flashing, people talking, not at me, but at someone else. I managed to push through them, taking a guess as to who they were surrounding. Sure enough, a small blond head poked his head above the cameras, a smile drawing across his face when he saw me. He reached out a hand to me, the cameras turning in my direction as he did. He bent down and whispered in my ear as I took his hand.
“Fancy a jog?” Niall left me no time to reply, as he pulled in my sleeve, breaking out into a run. I ran behind him, the cameras still flashing. After a few minutes, they gave up and left us alone, and we slowed down into a slow walk, still hand in hand.
“Bloody hell, guess Starbucks is out of the question.” Niall gave my hand a small squeeze, and we both laughed nervously. Now that we weren’t running, I had the chance to really look at him. He’d changed. So much. He was skinnier, paler. He looked happy, but he didn’t look well. I was shaken from how different he looked. Dark roots were growing through his hair, and dark circles under his eyes. It. broke my heart to see him like this. He was tired. I didn’t blame him.
“Yeah.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“Just.. stroll?”
That’s what we did. We walked around Oxford Street, stopping into shops, buying random things. Niall found a cute brown tiger hat in River Island, and I bought a dark grey bear hat. We looked like a pair of losers, but it stopped Niall from being recognised. It was nice being with him, still hand in hand. No one payed attention to us, which surprised me, but I was grateful for having this time with Niall.
“I’ve missed you, you know.” We were stood at the end of Costa, waiting on our drinks when Niall turned to face me, seriousness on his face. “Well, missing is an understatement.” We collected our drinks and slipped into a small table in the corner.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well..” Niall took a sip of his hot chocolate and continued “I mean I really wanted you around. I needed you around. When you came down the first week, it felt so great to have you there, just to see you in the audience. Well kind of. It was dark, so I had to guess you were there. But it was just.. nice. And then you stopped coming down after our discussion, and it hurt. But then you came down last week, and it felt good to see your face again.”
I stared him, my mouth hanging open. I didn’t expect this. I thought maybe a simple “I missed your hugs” or whatever, but this? It blew my mind. Completely blowing my brains out across the cafe.
“Okay, now I’m rambling.”
“No. No! It’s fine!” I reached and and gripped Niall’s hand, stroking his fingers tenderly.
“What I’m guess I’m trying to say, is that I really do need you in my life. Like, as a friend, you know. It’s like, amazing when you’re here, and I could really do with a friend like you. I know you don’t want anything to happen, but we can be close without going further right?”
What was I meant to say? My head was telling me to nod and agree, but my heart was telling me to reach forward and plant my lips on his. Wait, scratch that. My heart had forced me to reach and plant lips on his, as the next thing I knew, his hands were in my hair, my hands clutching his wrists to pull him closer. Our lips moved in sync as my heart danced with happiness, finally getting what I’ve been needing for the past six weeks.
