Matching Rings [h.s]

68

POV: BAYLIN GRIGGS

"You can't tell anyone about this." I blurt to Niall in a fret of having this situation get back to Harry.

Harry and Liam are constantly up each other's asses when it comes to me, so if Harry ever found out that the second I ended things with him I made the terrible decision to hook up with Liam, he'd go absolutely nuts.

God I'm such an idiot. Why did I let it get to that stage? How could Liam have let it get to that stage? We're both complete idiots.

"Who am I going to tell?" Niall replies, seeming completely unfazed while I'm practically shitting bricks.

"I'm serious Niall. If Harry ever finds out about this... promise me you won't say a word." I warn, tucking in my towel so that it would stay up without any help.

"I promise." He shrugs, searching for a worthy chip in his bag of Doritos.

I let out a sigh of relief, choosing to take his word for it and believe that he won't tell anyone about what he saw Liam and I doing. My head falls in my hands and I walk up to the counter that I had backed away from after feeling repelled from it— the puddle of pool water still sitting on it from where Liam sat me down. I blindly sat in a stool beside Niall while he stood and watched me.

"So things with Harry went bad?" Niall repeats his previous question.

I nod my head, knowing he was looking. I feel like my entire brain is spinning in my skull, I'm still high as a fucking plane but I don't feel so in the clouds anymore.

"Want to talk about it?"

This time I shake my head no.

"Good, tell me everything." Niall ignores my negativity.

"I broke up with him." I tell him, not needing to be persuaded further. "He was being an ass, kept trying to contradict what I was saying, or telling me how I was supposed to be feeling. He straight up told me that he didn't like me at the start, proving that it was all for the bet. He practically called me easy by saying he could have slept with me the first day we met if he wanted. And he got upset when I told him that I had talked to you, brought up what happened at the movies again, and was trying to make me feel bad— at least I think that's what he was trying to do." My eyes start to tear, finally the dried tears from earlier come down, "I just couldn't deal with his shit anymore, so I told him we should take time apart." I take a second to collect myself. I assumed Niall would have started talking, but when he didn't I continued, "And then the second I leave, I try to hook up with my best friend. Now I'm the one at fault, I took his trust for granted and went and kissed someone else. And who knows where it would have led if you didn't show up."

I release a huge breath, exhaling all of the harangue that was drenched in emotion. Niall just let me go on and on, and there's still more I could have said but my head is way too scramble to have gone deeper.

Niall exhales as well, taking in the loaded information I just dumped on him. "Well if you two aren't 'together', or whatever, anymore— you technically didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes I did. Liam and Harry have been at each other's throats for as long as they've known each other. If Harry finds out that I went to Liam after I broke up with him, he's going to think I was doing it as some kind of revenge."

"Well were you?"

"No." I answer too quick.

Niall gives me a weird look before speaking again, "Look, I'm not going to judge you, kiss whoever you want to kiss... but you have to admit that maybe a small part of you was doing it as revenge. I mean why else would you try to hook up with Liam?"