"BREATHE" (One Direction fanfic)

Chapter Nine

            I can’t believe I did that. I thought to myself as I sat on the clothing rack, the clothes dangling in front of me, and I pulled my legs close to my chest. I mean, Harry kissed me purely for show, but why did I kiss him back?!

            “Yuka, what are you doing?”

            I glanced up to see Niall part the clothing to reveal me sitting at the bottom like a child.

            “Uh, nothing.” I answer quickly…a little too quickly and Niall raises an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m hiding.”

            Niall nods like he understands then rearranges the clothes so that they dangle in front of me again. A few seconds later I feel him crawl next to me on the clothing rack.

            “I’ll hide with you then.”

            I smile at his comment and feel my cheeks warm up.

            “Do you want to tell me why you’re hiding?” He asks gently, I feel his shoulder touching mine. “It’s fine if you don’t, but usually it’s better to talk about things.”

            “I’m hiding from Harry.”

            “Harry?”

            “And Renae…”

            “Harry and Renae?” Niall leans his head against my shoulder and I see his long fingers play with a single thread dangling from one of the clothing items. “That’s an odd pair of people to be hiding from.”

            “Well…” I paused and thought to myself for a second. Did I want to tell Niall? I turned to look at Niall who was resting against my shoulder and he looked at me with glowing blue eyes. “You see…Renae likes Harry.”

            “I think that’s pretty obvious actually.” Niall says laughing; I laugh back realizing that it was pretty obvious. Renae’s confident enough that she can flirt openly.

            “Okay, so we all know that Renae likes Harry, but I just kissed Harry.” I started to talk faster, explaining how Harry only kissed me for show. “But I don’t know why I kissed him back; Harry kissed me because he was pressured to by Ellen and the crowd. But I just…kissed him, because…I don’t even know.”

            Niall is quiet. I stop talking too and just sit there, listening to his even breathing. Finally he clears his throat. “Do you like Harry?”

            “What? No way, nu uh!” I quickly deny. There was NO WAY that I liked Harry. He wasn’t my type; too forward, too cheeky, too flirty. “No.”

            “Are you positive?” Niall asks, lifting his head from my shoulder. He was really close to my face now; I could feel his warm breath on my cheek which sent shivers down my spine. I could feel my heart racing, being this close to Niall. “…because that would explain why you kissed Harry back.”

            I couldn’t think straight right now; I’ve just been kissed by Harry and now Niall was a few centimeters away from me. “I…I don’t think that’s the case.”

            “Did you like the kiss?”

            Yes, yes I did like the kiss. But I wasn’t going to tell that to Niall, what kind of girl would I be, saying that I liked kissing the guy my friend has a crush on? I didn’t answer and turned to face Niall. I took in his ruddy cheeks, blue eyes surrounded by lush lashes, blonde hair, and pink lips. He was beautiful.