Promise Me (N.S.)

CHAPTER TWELVE

I flopped down on the bed, letting out a heavy sigh.

As I stared up at the ceiling, my head began to spin. Niall wanted to be friends. He might not be gay but I had no idea. According to Louis, he gave me looks but what does he know? Niall could have just been zoning out or something. I didn’t know. I was so confused.

I knew one thing though: I couldn’t push Niall away like I had all the others. I couldn’t be my normal, gloomy, quiet self. No matter how uncomfortable it made me, I had to open myself up to him if there was any hope for us to be real friends. I wanted him to trust me. I wanted him to be around me.

I wanted him to care about me.

I sat up and thought back to when he put his number in my phone. I said a silent ‘thank-you’ to Lou as I pulled out my phone. My hands began to shake as I typed the message.

            Hey, Niall. It’s Harry.

It was a short message, but I was still so nervous to send it. As I felt my finger hover over the send button, I heard a voice in my head practically scream, “DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” I took in a deep breath and pressed the button, sealing my fate.

My phone buzzed a few moments later, nearly giving me a heart attack.

            Harry! I thought you had forgotten you had my number! What’s up, mate?

 

I smiled as I eagerly typed a reply.

        Yeah, I guess I spaced haha. Listen, sorry I left in such a hurry the other day, I had to get         Lou home. He was absolutely smashed.

 

He texted back almost instantly.

        Its ok Harry :) Zayn was pretty hung over too. What are you doing? Are you busy?

 

I about lost my shit. I started to panic a bit inside. Should I say I was busy? Should I say I wasn’t? Oh my God, what the hell do I say?!

After a minute of deep thought, I figured that I didn’t have anything to lose. My fingers found the keys and typed my reply.

            I’m not busy. Do you want to do something?

 

I breathed heavily as I awaited his reply. I hoped to God it was good.

        I would love to! You can come over if you want. We can play video games or watch a movie         or something. Whatever you want!

 

It took a moment for me to realize that I had been grinning like an idiot as I read his text.

He texted me his address and I quickly told him that I would be there soon. I got dressed in a hurry and rushed out the door just as I heard Louis yell, “Hey, where are you—“

But I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. I slammed the door before he could finish; I was too eager to get to Niall’s house. As I started walking down the street, it started to drizzle.

Shit.

I walked faster; soon I was running and it was pouring. Luckily, he only lived a few streets away so it didn’t take too long for me to get there. However, I was absolutely soaked when I arrived on his doorstep.

I went to knock, but stopped. I almost ran away because I was so nervous. I really didn’t want to screw anything up, but if I ran then Niall would think I was blowing him off, and I couldn’t do that to him.

I mustered up all the courage I could, but before I got the chance to knock, the door swung open, revealing a very happy-looking Niall.

“Harry! You actually came!” He beamed at me.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I chuckled.

“Oh, shit! You’re soaked! Here, come inside.”

He ushered me into his small flat. By the looks of it, he lived alone, which made me a little happier knowing that it would just be us two today. Even though it was small, his home was very cozy and just felt like him: warm and inviting.

I took off my coat and pushed my hair into place. I was nervous, and that was putting it lightly.

“Do you want some dry clothes, Harry?” Niall called from the other room.

“Uhh…yeah that’d be great. Thanks, Niall.”

He came out carrying his red flannel, the shirt I had first seen him in.

“Sorry, I can’t find any clean pants, but here’s a dry shirt,” he smiled sheepishly as he handed me the soft flannel.

“Thanks,” I said as I gave him a small smile.

As I started to walk into the other room to change, I heard Niall let out a small sound. I turned around to see him looking a bit conflicted.

“You—“

“What?”

“You can change out here, you know. You—you don’t have to—to leave.”

I just looked at him; he was really good at catching me off guard.

“Oh…o-okay…” I hesitated a bit. He wanted me to change in front of him? I didn’t understand, but I was starting to get colder by the minute so I started to pull my wet t-shirt over my head. As I took it off, I could hear Niall breathe out quickly.

“Are—are you okay?” I asked, concerned.

“Ye-yeah,” he looked down, scratching his head.

I buttoned his shirt over my tattoo-covered chest and swept my wet hair back into place.

I looked up at Niall, who looked like he was trying not to stare. I grinned; maybe Louis was right, maybe Niall did look at me when I wasn’t paying attention.