Imagine [UNEDITED, ON HOLD]

Chapter 5: Niall

"She was my childhood friend and then I moved back to Ireland and we sort of stayed in touch before we just stopped talking altogether," I lied. The boys nodded and shrugged. Idiots. They believed every word...every lie.
Three hours later, I still lay flat on my back, staring at the ceiling. I shot up as I heard a tinkling laugh. Jade. I stumbled into the living room to see her seated with Liam and Ashton from the band 5 Seconds of Summer.
"R-tmix...Rythmix!" Ashton managed to get out, as Liam and Jade collapsed in another fit of laughter.
"I'm hungry," I announced.
All three rolled their eyes, but Liam, who was always way too protective of me, got up and went into the kitchen.
"Hey, Ash. What're you doing here? And Jade?"
"I'm here because Luke's being annoying," he pouted.
"Jade?" I asked again.
"I just stopped by to come say hi to Liam," she mumbled.
Liam. That prick.
"Ash?" Liam called. Well then, speak of the Liam and the Liam appears. Okay, maybe that's not the actual saying, but it works. "Gimme a hand with this?"
Ashton got up and went into the kitchen, returning shortly with a tub of ice cream and two spoons. Liam followed with another tub, two more spoons, and a basket of biscuits. "Freshly baked," he said proudly.
I settled next to Jade and pried open the bucket. I turned to hand her a spoon, but she'd already begun sharing with Liam. I frowned, but gave the spoon it Ashton.
I scraped a good sized layer out and lay it on top of a cookie before smashing another over it. After spooning a separate mouthful of ice cream past my lips, I took a bite of the biscuit sandwich.
"How long are you two staying? For dinner?" Liam offered. "Lou and Eleanor are coming over tonight as well, and I think Zayn asked Perrie."
"Yeah, stay!" I said with too much enthusiasm. "Well, ya know, if you want."
Ashton laughed, "You always have good food, so yeah, I'll stay."
"Wow, glad that's what you like us for," I teased. "What about you, Jade?"
"Uh, sure," she said. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be back soon."
She stood and left, while Liam stared longingly after her, I glared at Liam, and Ashton obliviously kept shoving ice cream and cookies into his mouth.
Ten minutes later she still wasn't back, so I stood. "I'll go after her." Ignoring Liam's protest that he would go, I trotted up the stairs and went in search of Jade. "Jade?"
I saw a locked door and tapped on it. I heard a shuffling. "Jade? Is that you?"
After a slight pause she mumbled, "No."
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, Jade, let me in."
"No."
I waited outside for about ten minutes and cleared my throat. She seemed surprised I was still standing there.
"What are you doing?"
"What are you doing?" I fired back. "Just gonna avoid me the rest of your life?"
"That was the plan," she mumbled.
"It's not working."
"Thanks."
I sat with my back pressed to the door, my knees pulled up. God, I feel like I'm in Frozen. I spent a few minutes debating whether I was Anna or Elsa before shaking my head. I wasn't either, of course, I'm a guy, there not.
Naturally, I then spent a while deciding if I was Hans or Kristoff. I shook my head again. I was neither, they're fictional, I'm real.
My heart started pounding. It always did when I remembered I was a real person again. "Jade."
"What." It sounded more like a statement than a question.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
I sighed, standing and folding my fingers over the door. My right hand pulled the silver handle down while my left fingers pressed on the lock. I gave it a sharp twist and the lock popped.
Jade was seated on the edge of the bathtub, but looked up and glared at me.
"Sorry," I said without the slightest bit of remorse. "It's a faulty lock, we screwed with it on purpose to mess with our guests."
"Great."
"Can yeh just tell me: why are you bein' like this?" My accent grew stronger as my anger and annoyance built.
"Because you think it'll be just like before," she said. "But it won't. I'm not ten years old anymore, and neither are you. I've moved on, and so should you, okay? You're not the same Niall I knew, how could you be? You're a real person, he wasn't. Simple."
I narrowed my eyes. "Are we really going t' have this fight again? Jade, I thought we'd been over this and I thought you agreed that I came back."
She bit her lip. "Maybe."
"I wasted so much of my life on you," I said quietly. "When I came back, my parents thought I was going mad. But especially when I began to talk about everything, and when I began to have these flashbacks. You know I was admitted to the psych ward when I was fifteen?"
"No. I didn't."
"Yeah, well, I did," I repeated.
"I'm sorry." Her lip had begun to show the beginnings of blood.
"It's fine. Just stop making me waste more time," I whispered.
"How do you mean?"
"Just accept I'm back. Stop making me try so hard. I have been wired this way, to be by your side, to protect you, even now. Just let me do that, please, that's all I want."
She studied my face carefully.
"Please."
She bit her lip again. "No."
"What?"
"No. I need to move on. I need to get on with everything. I need to forget about you. I have a band, a career, three new best mates. I have a loving family now, I have a boyfriend, and I have everything I need. What I don't need is you, and yet here you are," she said. "Someday I'll grow old and stop making music. I'll spend my days reading and singing old Little Mix songs and going on holiday with my family and volunteering at my children's schools and watching films at the local cinema with my husband."
I stayed silent.
"I don't want to be dwelling on a boy I knew from my childhood, a past I don't even want to relive. I'm sorry this is how you are, but I can't return the favour. I can't be that girl anymore, alright? I'm sorry," she said again.
"You don't have to be," I said softly. "I don't mind."
"What? Why?"
"Because I know you do need me. You try too hard and you tell me too often you don't. And that's how I know you do. One day you'll realise that, and ye know what? I'll be there when you do," I promised.
"Why?" she said in a hushed tone, her voice husky.
"Because I love you. Not in a romantic way, but in a way nobody else has loved another. You are literally my life. You gave me this life. Maybe you don't love me, but that's okay. I don't want you to love me, just to need me. Of course, loving me would be a bonus, but we'll save that for a rainy day. You're a special girl, Jade. I can't wait for you to realise that."
I pressed a light kiss to her forehead. When I pulled back I saw that she was crying. So I kissed away a stray tear like I was in some kind of shit romance film.
And that made dinner a little bit awkward.
"So, how come Niall has never been mentioned before?" Perrie asked.
Jade tensed, and then shrugged a bit, her lips closing over a forkful of pasta.
"She's not a talkative person when it comes to her childhood," I said, releasing another comment hinting at her past, but not revealing anything.
Jade then proceeded to glare at me. I smiled at her.