Promise

Chapter 3.

"Hannah? Hello? You're seriously freaking me out. Answer me. What's wrong?"

She holds out her phone. I take it from her tanned hand. On her screen I can see she's tweeted with the hashtag saying it's her birthday and she deserves to be picked. Okay? I don't see how this is a big deal.

"Okay, so you tweeted for the contest? What's the problem?"

She points to a different tweet on the screen.

"@NiallOfficial: Congratulations @Hann_Mann! You've won the contest!! Me and the lads will contact you shortly to schedule a meeting"

Her phone threatens to fall from my hand, but I tighten my grip on it before I can do any damage. Oh my god. I can't believe this. My cousin is the winner of the contest and she gets to meet One Direction. My cousin. I think I just need a moment. We both just stand there and stare at the ground, taking it all in.

After a few quiet minutes, I break the silence.

"So you won, huh?"

She breaks into a smile. It's almost like a relief, moments before she had me thinking something bad had happened. That smile gave me some sign that this was okay. It wasn't the time to be jealous. My cousin just won the chance to meet One Direction! Of course I should be happy for her.

"I guess I did," she says. "But, Shell you love them just as much as I do, if not more. You should come with me to meet them."

I stare at her, astonished. I can't believe she would be as generous as to let me in on her winnings.

"Do you," I start to ask, "Do you think that's allowed?"

"I don't know, but we can try."

She unlocks her phone and re-opens the twitter app. She starts composing a tweet.

"@Hann_Mann: !!! I can't believe this! @NiallOfficial I might have a question about this whole thing though.."

Seconds later Niall tweets.

"@NiallOfficial: @Hann_Mann ah babe, what might your question be?"

"Fuck! Hannah! Niall Horan is having a conversation with you," I'm filled with excitement, "Answer him!"

"@Hann_Mann: @NiallOfficial can we dm so I can ask you the question??"

We stare at the screen expectantly. We wait. Nothing happens. Refresh. Nope. Nothing. Minutes pass. I'm started to become anxious. Maybe he's changed his mind. Oh no. What if I've ruined this for Hannah? My mind is running rapid with thoughts. Maybe this was a mistake. We shouldn't have asked to dm. We're strangers for God's sakes. While I'm having my mini internal meltdown, Hannah doesn't seem to mind that he hasn't replied. She's probably still riding off the high that Niall Horan tweeted her. More silence passes and still nothing.

"Hey, I think we should get back to your party," I offer.

She clears her throat, brushes off her skirt, and nods her head. I follow after her as she walks back into the party. I can't stop thinking about Niall. I wonder why he didn't tweet us back, or dm us like we asked. He seemed to respond quickly to the first few tweets. Why did he just suddenly stop? Did we creep him out or something?

"You wanna dance," Hannah interrupts my thoughts.

"Sure."

She grabs my hand and pulls me out to the middle of the floor. I don't even know what song is playing, but I don't care. I'm going to distract myself from my thoughts of Niall and twitter. I dance like I do when I'm alone and just want to have fun. I dance like nobody is watching. It's satisfying. I feel free. Free of body and soul; it's almost like I don't exist for a second.

With pure joy running through my veins I almost don't hear it. The ding of a new notification on Hannah's phone. A new notification. Could it be?

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