Outside in the corridor he let my hand go, drawing his fingers through his hair instead. I stood and watched.
“Can I go now?”, I croaked, looking at him pacing back and froth in the empty corridor.
“No!”, he shouted, throwing his hands down, making me flinch. He realized how harsh it had sounded. “No”, he repeated, brealy loud enough to hear this time.
“Can you at least tell me what’s going on?”, I asked, sounding a tad bit hopeful. Niall Horan took a deep breath and took my hand again, pulling me down the corridor. We found a bench, still left to ourselves, and he sat me down on it.
“I didn’t exactly mean for this to happen”, he said. I chewed my lip, listening. “See I kind of need you to work with me on this one”.
“Isn’t that what I’ve just done?”, I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion. “What more do you want me to do? I don’t understand anything!”.
“Well, you see...”, Niall reached out his hands and tried to tell me something, but he couldn’t find the words at all. “It’s just that... argh!”, he swirled around in frustration. “You’re never going to understand!”.
“You were the one that took my books and told them I was your...”, I couldn’t even finish, it was too nuts.
“I know”, he sighed, still as flushed and frustrated like before. “See, I didn’t have a choice, and I got kind of desperate, and then I saw you and I just...”, again he reached his hands out like it would explain anything better. “I just messed up”.
“I don’t get it”, I mumbled.
“Exactly!”, he cried, his blue red with exhaustion.
“Look, Niall...”, I stood up, brushed off my shirt and held out my hand. “This has been nice and all, but I think I’m going to go and find my friend now and then I’ll leave”. He looked down at the hand I reached him, but didn’t react. I shrugged, lowering it and walked away. That’s when he grabbed it.
“No, see you can’t leave now!”, he said, and desperate was really the right term for what he seemed like.
“Why not?”.
“Didn’t you hear what Don said? And didn’t you see that picture in the paper?”.
“Yes, and so?”.
“So we need to stick together now”, he said, and to him it was obvious. To me it was crazy, and never going to happen.
“What makes you think I can do that?”.
“You have to do that”, he said. Again... to him the most natural thing in the world would be for me to throw myself at his knees and thank him for this opportunity. What opportunity even?! What did stick together mean?
“So you’re saying...”, I loosened myself from his hand and put it to my chin instead, pretending to think this through thoroughly. “People will think I’m your girlfriend now, and we’re just going to let them think so?”. Niall nodded. “Or else?”.
“Or else I’ll get my butt kicked and everything will be even worse than it already is”, he said, his words just rolling off his tongue in at a mind-blowing speed. I couldn’t even keep track.
“For you or for me?”, I asked. Niall’s shoulders dropped, and I think he finally got my point.
“Look, you...”, his face went soft.
“See!", I growled at him. "You don’t even know my name!”, I cried, and now it was me throwing my hands around. “You drag me out of your line, and actually, I was pretty amazed because I’ve actually had posters of you in my room, literally! And then you just drag me along into a cab, and you take my books and now you take me here and I don’t know where my friend is and you want me to pretend that I’m something I’m not to the whole world and my parents will kill me and my exam is in just in one day, and you don’t even know my name!”. My knees went weak along with my breath. There were no words left at all in my mouth. Niall stared at me, and seemed just as speechless as me for a second. Nice to see I had at least made some kind of impression on him.
