Try To Remember (Niall Horan Fanfic) [Completed]

Chapter Ten

NIALL

Harry, Louis, and I were playing football in Liam's backyard. They had been the ones to suggest I needed some air. Zayn went out to get some food. I think Maren and Liam were inside...

Ugh. There I was thinking about Maren again. But that was the truth: Maren was always on my mind.

"So, I'm super excited about going to America again." Harry finally said after awhile. He passed the ball to me.

"Same." I said. We were going to the States to do a promo for our tour and album.

"Eleanor is meeting us there." Louis added. I knew he couldn't hide his excitement about seeing his girlfriend again. I internally sighed. I wish I had it easy like they did...

"Erm, Niall, I know you don't want to talk about this but do you know if Maren is going?" Louis said cautiously, dribbling the ball at his feet.

"Niall, you don't have to-"

"S'all right, Harry," I bit my lip. "Dunno. She doesn't exactly talk to me, you know." I scratched the back of my head. Maren would look at me every now and then but we wouldn't talk so much. The most we'd talk about was the weather and um... that's about it.

Like I said we barely talked. I didn't know why. Maren had increasingly been growing close to Zayn, Harry, and Louis like before but she kept her distance with me. Why?

"Oi, Liam!"

The soccer ball whizzed past my head to Liam's hands who apparently came up behind me.

"What's wrong?" I questioned by the furrow in Liam's bushy eyebrows.

He shook his head, immediately smoothing down his furrow and plastering a smile on his face. "Oh, nothing, Maren just had a girl question I couldn't exactly answer." Liam added a laugh and I nodded.

He was lying. I knew it.

"Okay," I replied. I didn't want to go into it. I just decided to leave the topic alone. I didn't need more to worry about, especially something about Maren.

"Want to play?" Louis asked when Liam kicked the football back.

"No thanks," Liam said, exiting to go back inside. I decided to follow him. Liam sat down on the island in the kitchen and took out his phone. I lingered back a bit. Maybe it was wrong to spy on my best mate, but still. Something was up.

He dialed a number. "Hello? Hey, mum, it's me." Liam said.

That was odd. Liam usually called his mum later in the day and maybe every other day. It only aroused my suspicions that there was something amiss.

"Yeah, it's about Maren- oh, she's fine. It's just she's not feeling comfortable here, with me and the boys." Liam looked worried and concerned.

Why wasn't Maren feeling "comfortable"?

I had heard enough. There were two hallways in Liam's flat. One was the back way, from the fire escape and small backyard that lead to the kitchen and parted to Maren's room. Another came from the main room that lead to all of the rooms in the flat for the most part. The point of that was basically that I took the smaller hallway that lead almost directly to Maren's room.

When I reached her door, embellished with the letter M on it, I could hear faint indie music from the inside. Indie music was Maren's favorite. A small smile was brought to my face, remembering some of the memories that came with that topic.

I knocked on her door.

"Yeah?" The door was revealing casually dressed Maren with her darkish hair falling around her shoulders. She was perfect. Maren had a slight surprised expression on her face but it went as quickly as it came. "Oh, hey, Niall, what's up?"

"Erm, Mare, can I talk to you?" I asked, lowering my voice a little so Liam wouldn't hear me.

"Sure, come in," Maren opened the door wider and I stepped inside. Everything was just like I had remembered. Same pale blue walls, polka-dotted curtains, same ocean blue bedspread with her assortment of pillow pets, same Taylor Swift poster (which is the reason why Harry feels uncomfortable being in Maren's room), same bulletin board with her collection of photos and memorabilia, same fuzzy gray rug.... Everything was the same.

But she wasn't.

"What do you want to talk about?" Maren asked, sitting at the chair in front of her desk, hugging her knees to her chest.

I sat at the foot of her bed, facing her. "Be honest with me?"

She nodded slowly. "Sure," Her hazel eyes met mine for a split second before wandering elsewhere.

"Are you thinking about leaving?" I said quietly.

Maren tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and rested her head on her knee. She didn't say anything for awhile. She looked out the window at the fading bright sky and I knew she was trying to search for some kind of answer.

"I won't be mad," I added.

"Then yeah, I am." Maren finally looked at me. "I can't handle not being in a place that I know. I need to go back to somewhere that I'm familiar with. I need to go home." Maren stood up and gestured around us. "I don't remember having this room. Buying these clothes. Living here. My brother being in a band...." She walked over to the window and I followed slowly. "As much as I try to remember.... I just can't. I'm sorry."

Maren turned towards me and her lovely eyes bore into mine. Our faces were so close. If I could reach out and touch her face, hold her in my arms...

I blinked quickly, loosing my trance. "Don't be. Being in an accident isn't your fault." I said gently. The tears started to gradually fall.

Maren shook her head, brushing the tears away and forced out a laugh. "God, my life sucks."

"No, it's just a little messed up."

She looked at me and smiled a little. "Thank you, Niall."

I tilted my head to the side in question. "For what?"

"For being a good friend, for listening to all of my crap... For everything really." Maren gave me a half-hearted smile.

We were so close now. So very close, it hurt. I could just kiss her now. I hadn't kissed Maren for nearly two weeks. It literally killed me.

"Anytime," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Everything was in slow motion. We were both leaning in, it was about to happen. We were about to kiss.

"Stop." Maren said suddenly, backing away.

My eyes widened and I stood a step back. "S-sorry, I-I..."

Maren turned away. "I think you should go."

My cheeks reddened and I mumbled sorry before hastily exiting. Yet again, I had ruined another chance with Maren. Way to go Nialler!