Barred (nh au)

VI. Best Friends and Almost Kisses

NIALL'S POV:

Yesterday was a day I'd remember forever. It was one of the best evenings I'd ever had. After I had finished my tasks for the day, I had decided to pay Haley a visit. She was sitting there on our hangout spot, reading Harry Potter.

She was so engrossed in her reading that she hadn't realised I was there until I completely sat down. She looked up, giving me one of her beautiful smiles, but then I noticed her puffy eyes. She had been crying and that felt like a stab to my heart.

When I asked her what was wrong, she insisted that it was nothing and that she just missed her parents. I had a feeling that it wasn't just that, but then I let it go. She then proceeded to tell me about how she hadn't seen them in almost a month and that she misses them.

This was the most she had ever told me about her parents and I was shocked by this. I didn't expect her to be telling this to me at all. I could only imagine how hard it must be for her and that's what I told her. She just shrugged like it was nothing and she was used to it.

I told her about how my parents divorced when I was five. She apologised but then I explained there was no need for it, since I still got a perfectly normal upbringing. We bantered for a bit before Louis, Eleanor and Alyssa entered the backyard, beer and food in hand.

Soon enough, everyone was here. There were two new people, Luke and Casey. Luke, I came to know, was Alyssa's boyfriend and he seemed cool. Haley explained that Casey was a friend who had shifted to America and come to visit them.

We then had an amazing evening, chatting and having a blast. For the first time, I saw Haley completely break down her walls and I was ecstatic was an understatement. She was thoroughly enjoying this moment and I was really glad to see her this happy.

After we had all hung out for a while longer, we all headed for our respective homes. I hugged Haley goodbye and walked back home with a huge smile on my face. It had been a fantastic day.

The weather was getting a bit colder and the constant need for a jacket increased. I randomly decided to go out for a bit. I roamed around, exploring the place. Manchester was beautiful, definitely. It was so green and amazing, some things that reminded me of my home back in Ireland. Before I knew it, it was already afternoon.

I thought about Haley on my way back. We had definitely grown closer in the course of this month. She was opening up to me, bit by bit. The topic of her parents never came up after that day. She started avoiding it again. But I got the general gist of it by the little confession she made.

Staying alone for weeks on end, with no one to give the parental affection required, it can really have a huge impact on you. And I think that's one of the things that happened to Haley. It's definitely not just her parents' absence that had made her behave like she did, but it was a major reason.

I walked past Haley's house, sneaking speak at our hangout spot, but she wasn't there. I let out a sigh before walking back home.

HALEY'S POV:

I sat there in Alyssa's room, doubling over in laughter as she told me something that happened in her sociology class. We were hanging out like we usually do. Earlier we were having a pretty serious conversation which involved me listening and helping Alyssa out with whatever was wrong. It's usually her doing it for me, but sometimes we do change roles.

And now, the problems all forgotten, we were having the time of our life as we jammed to songs, dancing and belting out lyrics on top of our voice. Her mum had already come in twice, asking us to tone it down.

We had this thing where we would send each other snapchat videos of miming to songs playing on our playlists. Alyssa's videos involved her dancing as well. It's always so hilarious and I always laugh at them. We do it almost everyday. It's a lot of fun.