Hurt

Chapter 3

I hope everyone's liking this so far, even though no one's reading it lol

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I walk around a bit to think about Claire on my own without Niall badgering me about being whipped. When I get back to where Niall was, he's gone

Probably couldn't restrain himself any longer. The thought sickens me.

I scan the room. I see Zayn dancing with some blonde girl, and Louis is dancing with a brunette. Andy and Liam and Josh appear to not be in the room.

I frown. Where is Niall.

I spot him over by the back door, alone, leaning against the glass. I make my way over to him.

"Hey! You dissapeared," I say leaning beside him.

Niall just shrugs. "It's not as loud over here," he says in a low voice.

I look over at him. He's looking at the ground and he's holding one arm with his other hand. He's slouched against the back door, and he appears to be completely NOT into his party.

"Wanna tell me what's bothering you?" I ask him, nudging him with my shoulder.

He doesn't retaliate and I know something is actually wrong. Normally he'd take the bait, and we'd be wrestling in seconds.

I was closer to Niall out of the rest of the boys since we grew up together. Our moms are best friends, and sort of arranged our friendship right from the get-go. We got along real well, and always behaved (sort of)...(actually we never behaved).

We were constantly together. When I lost my first tooth, Niall was there. Got my first girlfriend, Niall was there. Through mum and dad's divorce, Niall was there. We learned how to ride our bikes together. We were always in the same class. He came to all my birthday parties, and when kids picked on me, he was there for me, just like I was there for him when need be.

We were always asked if we were somehow related. No wonder, since we knew every little thing about eachother and our moms were always together as well. They assumed we were cousins. At one point, we had our entire class convinced that we were cousins in year 3.

Niall was always the happy go lucky talkative hyper child out of the two of us. I was too, he was just more so. I was cheekier, more sneaky and troublesome. Niall was also troublesome, but more ADHD troublesome. Niall was normally the one who cheered me up.

So you can understand why I'm so concerned about him. He's in his element right now. People, music, dancing, chaos. He lives for it.

He hasn't answered me yet so I ask him again.

"What's wrong lil' bro?" I ask facing him.

"I'm just feeling kinda worthless ya know? I mean, is THIS what I wanna do for the rest of my life? A string of parties, alcohal poisoning, and one night stands?" he says looking at me.

I look at him incredulously.

"What?" he says guardedly.

"I feel the exact same way," I say staring at him.

Niall breathes a sigh of relief.

"I didn't wanna be th' only one... I thought like maybe I was goin' crazy or somethin'," Niall says looking at me with an incredible amount of relief on his face.

I reach over and hug him, because sometimes that's what Niall needs. He's so innocent it's hard to believe some of the things he's felt pressured to do. It's easier to believe some of the stuff I've done compared to Niall. Cheekiness isn't always a good trait to have.

When I release him, he blinks a few times.

"I think I'm gonna head home. Text me later will ya?" I say.

He nods and smiles at me.

"Later,"

"Right. See ya,"

I walk out to my car, fighting off a few crazy girls along the way. I make it there unscathed though. I put the key in the car lock and just as I'm about to unlock it, I hear someone come up behind me.

"So how come you're leaving so early?"

I turn around and see Claire. My heart does this annoying little Irish dance that Niall sometimes does to be weird.

"I could ask you the same question," I say smiling a little bit.

She smiles too, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"Got tired of the constant feeling of being squished and the smell of BO sort of overpowered me," she says dryly.

"Claustrophobic?" I ask. It was said more like a statement though.

"Something like that," Claire says putting a hand on her hip casually, and blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

She's got a jacket on over her tanktop, and the jean material looks old and frayed.

"You didn't answer my question," Claire says raising her eyebrow and cocking ger head at me.

Right.

"Got bored," I say shrugging.

"Right. Not enough girls for you here? Or is the beer not up to your high standards?" she says, sarcasm practically waterfalling off of her words.

She's disgusted in me and my reputation.

"No. I just felt like going home," I say, trying not to let my irritation show.

She nods. I can tell she doesn't believe me.

"Right then. Bye," she says, and leaves as suddenly as she came.

I wave, and open my car door and slide in. I slam the door shut and just sit there for a moment. Then I savagely punch the steering wheel.