Addicted to You

Part 3

It was Thursday by the time you had got a chance to meet for lunch. With Niall taking over at Gables there was a lot to go through and you had been busy yourself with your presentation.

You'd text straight away after your chat with Rachel that Monday night. He'd replied almost instantly, and while you felt nervous about your conversation you knew it was something you couldn't avoid.

Clearing the air was the way forward, you didn't want it to be uncomfortable at work and you certainly didn't want it to be uncomfortable for Rachel and Ben. With their wedding in a months time you couldn't risk causing tension for that over old feelings.

Niall arrived a few minutes after you and took a seat opposite you at the bench in the park. It was just a short walk from work and you hoped you weren't seen. The worst thing that could happen was being the topic of office gossip, particularly when you'd got such an important contract to win.

"Hey." He said as he took his seat and took off his suit jacket.

"Hi." You replied unable to keep your eyes off him.

"Beautiful day again, lets hope all that summer rain has stopped now."

"Yeah." You nodded in reply.

There was a short silence as he unwrapped his lunch, a salad box from the deli by your office.

"I'm sorry about everything." You blurted out and he looked up from his lunch.

"Why are you sorry?! I'm the one who just appeared after so long."

"I'm the one who has shut you out for the past 9 years. I feel like ..... just, God I was so childish."

"It's not childish. We had a very intense relationship, one we both didn't want to end. Cutting each other out may have seemed childish, but it's what we had to do to move on and try and get over it."

"It was pretty intense." You replied, thinking back to how wrapped up you were with Niall and how it was a miracle you had graduated with a first and managed to maintain any friendships with anyone else at times.

"I've never felt like that about anyone else since." He said, his eyes concentrating on moving his salad around the box with a little plastic fork.

"Me neither." You admitted and his eyes met yours. It hit you then that the feelings you had for him were still there, but you knew you needed to keep them hidden.

"Those three years were some of the best of my life. I'm sorry that we couldn't make it work, I wanted to and I know you did to." He said.

You remembered back to the last night of your trip to Cornwall, how you'd watched the sunset with a couple of drinks. You'd sat on the terrace of your lodge and chatted till after midnight. While the job Niall had been offered was good, it wasn't going to fund flying back and forth to England to see you much. You'd also not secured a job yet so didn't know when your income would start.

"I wanted to contact you when I came to London. But Rachel said you were seeing someone and it would probably complicate things."

"Oh. I may have been seeing someone, but it was probably more because I'd told her I didn't want to hear about you anymore. I didn't realise you and Ben were still such good friends."

"Yeah we are, never lost touch over the years. See him as much as I can around our jobs."

"Rachel said to me on the phone on Monday night to remember how we were such great friends." You said and you made yourself look at him as you spoke the words.