Chasing Pavements - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter 5: All Too Well

Becca sat near the back of Starbucks; her leg propped up in the empty chair beside her and her nose in a book. She was finished with her day. Bree wouldn’t be home for another hour so she decided to grab a coffee and chill. Her phone lay on the table, seemingly abandoned. For anyone watching her, they would think she wasn’t interested in it at all. However, that wasn’t the same. She glanced at it every minute or so. It was still on silent so she had to keep an eye on the little green light to start blinking. It let her know she had a text. She hadn’t heard from Niall all day. He was back in London after ten days touring Australia and New Zealand. She figured her was resting for the day. He’d text when he was awake enough to do so, but the suspense was killing her.

They had managed to talk enough. They weren’t texting every few minutes, but they texted enough. Of course, she knew Niall was just placating her. Becca felt completely ashamed she said anything to him about forgetting her. She shouldn’t have put that on him. It wasn’t fair of her. She apologized to him when she woke up. Profusely. Several times. Basically when he woke up, he woke up to at least ten texts telling him to have a great time and she was sorry about things she said. He told her not to worry about it. If it was a legitimate fear she was having, then she needed to bring it to his attention. Becca didn’t quite see it that way. There were just some things she needed to keep to herself. Her fear of him forgetting her was something she shouldn’t have told him. 

She turned a page in her book, taking a sip of her passion tea lemonade. Her eyes glanced over the phone. No green light yet so she went back to her book. She felt as if someone was watching her, staring at her really. Shifting uncomfortably, she tried not to look around to see if she were right. 

“Becca?” 

She closed her book. She knew that voice. The book almost fell out of her hands when she looked up to confirm that it was Jacob. Sitting up straight, she forced herself to look up at him. “Hi.” Her voice sounded weak, almost pathetic. She hadn’t seen him since they broke up. At least, she hadn’t this close. She saw him in Louisiana a few times from afar but never this close up. 

“H-how have you been?” he stammered out. Jacob was nervous. She could tell by the way he shoved his hands in his pockets; deep like he was trying to find something. He shifted from one foot to another like he was unsure. His brown eyes shifted to the floor before looking back up at her. 

“I’m good,” she answered. He motioned if he could sit with her, and she nodded against her better judgment. The truth was their breakup still stung like a bitch when she thought about it. While she had moved on, sometimes she still thought about it when she was alone in her room at night. 

Becca loved Jacob once; deeply loved him. In high school, Jacob was part of the popular crowd while Becca mostly stayed to herself with her headphones on. They lived maybe a mile away from each other in a rural area of Louisiana. Their parents were really good friends so Becca and Jacob would hang out sometimes. Then came the summer before junior year. Jacob found his girlfriend in bed with one of his best friends. Finding her there was like opening the proverbial can of worms because it led to Jacob learning about who else she had been sleeping around with. By the end of it all, Jacob really had no friends left except for a few loyal guys who wouldn’t dare do that. For the rest of the summer, Jacob hung out with Becca. He told her she was one of the few honest people he knew. Of course, Jacob didn’t know she had been crazy about him since freshman year. Fall rolled around, and Jacob wasn’t hanging out with the popular crowd anymore. Instead, he found himself a seat next to Becca. She left her headphones in her bag, and they would talk about everything. Eventually, it was just understood they were together. No big deal made about it, no asking required. They just were, and their relationship was perfect.