Under A Paper Moon |N.H|

13

NIALL HORAN

"So are you two dating now?" Easton asks, turning around to face me, his back now directed to the stove. He holds a pan in his hands, a spatula in the other, and dumps his now scrambled eggs onto a paper plate.

I look up from my own plate, my fork stopping somewhere between my mouth and the table, somewhat stunned from what he asked me, so suddenly and casually too. That's how he operates though. He hits you with these realizations he has, and he gives you no insight that he's even onto you.

I have been seeing Davina for about three weeks, having drinks, hanging out, a lot of sex in the mix too.

Still, I feel surprised that he even picked up on how much time I've spent with her considering he's out all the time, either at work or with whoever he has met recently.

When I don't answer, Easton simply raises his brows, urging a response. He tosses the pan into the sink, a dish that probably won't get touched for a few days, unless I get tired of looking at it and do it instead. I stab at my food, avoiding his eyes.

"I don't know."

I hear the fridge door swing open. He grabs a beer, even though it's only ten in the morning. "How is that possible? I swear she's here all the time."

I look up, now worried that it's becoming annoying for him or that he's bothered. It's just as much my place as it is his considering I pay my share of rent and do my cleaning, which usually includes some of his. I don't mind, as long as I have somewhere to stay.

"I'm just taking it easy, I guess," I mumble, concealing my words with another bite of breakfast. I try to hide that we're meeting up right after this for lunch.

Easton cracks his beer open and slides his plate across the counter for him to sit next to me. "So, you're seeing other people too?"

I shake my head. I hear him laugh under his breath. 

"Is she?" he asks next.

I reach for my cup of orange juice. I had to get on E's ass about him trying to put alcohol in it. "No."

Well, shit, I don't think so.

"Then you're dating," Easton says confidently before starting to devour his breakfast.

I drop my fork onto the counter, sit up straight and look at him beside me. "Is it as simple as that?"

"Unless you're in love with her already, and in that case, I bid you farewell, my friend," he says through a full mouth of food. "I've lost you to a French woman. I'll miss you greatly."

I mean, we've been hanging out a lot, more and more as some time goes on, but it hasn't been all that long after all. I don't even know where her head is to be completely honest. She likes me, I know that, and we have fun. Is that all that matters?

"Then yeah, we're dating."

<>

I might be on my way to make an insanely stupid decision, or this could be my best idea yet.

It can't be my best idea, and if this would be my best idea, that's honestly pathetic of me.

Anyway, Brianne never answered last night. I'm not necessarily surprised, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed by that. So, I'm taking my next risk, which is going to Bloom.

I would have told Easton in advance, simply to shout out where I was headed when I saw he was still home as I was leaving, something we always do for each other. The only issue with that is I know he would try giving me shit for it. He would tell me to forget it, let Brianne go off and do whatever she wants. But the difference between me and Easton is that nothing in his life is permanent. He loves change, or maybe he just hates permanence so much that the only thing he knows how to do is stay inconsistent. This includes relationships, which I don't think he has ever experienced.