put a little love on me // niall horan

chapter ten (!)

Tatum's POV:

I got out of my car, grabbing my purse and my wallet before closing the door and locking it. I put my sunglasses in my purse as I was walking into the coffee shop, getting in line to order.

I ordered a simple iced caramel macchiato with an extra pump of caramel syrup before sitting down at a small table, waiting for my drink to be made. There weren't too many people here which was good considering this coffee shop tended to get super crowded. I went out of my way however to go to one not super close to where I lived so not many people would recognize me.

"Hey sorry I'm late," Niall said, walking over to me before pulling his chair out and sitting in it. "How are you, pretty girl?"

Niall and I agreed to meet today, two days after everything had happened, so we could finally talk about everything. We couldn't let that just slip this, knowing it was something the two of us had to discuss and figure out.

It was too obvious we couldn't go back to normal right now but there were still so many other options.

We could either be friends with benefits, start dating, or anything. The only thing I needed was the fact that Harry didn't know anything. I didn't want to tell him something that would fuck up everything.

"I'm good, how are you, pretty boy?" I asked him, the nickname simply rolling off my tongue. It wasn't even on purpose, it was just something the two of us had called each other and it fit so well.

"I'm doing good," he responded. "Sorry I was late, my mum wouldn't let me leave the house until I did some shit for her."

"It's okay I didn't wait too long," I told him, sipping some of my coffee. I knew Niall was heavily a tea over coffee person which was the only thing we disagreed on. He liked tea over coffee except when it was Irish coffee but it's not like he could drink that in public in California.

Maybe in Ireland where he was legal but not here, which I thought was extremely stupid to me.

"I don't really know how to start this conversation," Niall admitted, his cheeks slightly pink as he ran his hands through his hair. I noticed that Niall tended to do that when he was either nervous or was slightly awkward in whatever situation he was in.

"Do you regret what happened?" I asked, starting off the conversation. I needed to know his thoughts on it just in case maybe he realized it wasn't what he wanted.

"No, no I don't regret it one bit," Niall responded quickly, reassuring me slightly. Those few words were enough to relieve the pressure in my chest filled with worry and doubt. "I think this was bound to happen at some point, we just didn't know when you know?"

"Yeah definitely," I answered.

"So what does this exactly mean for us Tate? Cause I really do fucking like you and it would sting if you didn't want anything more," Niall awkwardly laughed.

"I really do want more with you Niall," I said. "But I think we need to realize that no matter what, it's not going to last. I graduate next May and I'm probably going out of state and you're going to stay here. I don't want to set us up for failure."

That was my major concern. I didn't want to ruin our relationship or ruin the chances of something happening in the future between us.

"How do you know we're going to fail Tate? You never know until you try right?" Niall said.

"I'm just being wary Niall," I responded. "I think our best option is just to go with the flow. We're obviously not going back to just friends again but we don't have to label exactly what we are. We can just be Niall and Tate."