Laney:
Addie and I walked into the dark theater that was filled with people. Riley and Sam had gone in before us to save our seats while we bought our snacks. Addie was horribly slow because she just needed to flirt with the cashier, which I can’t blame her for, he was quite cute. We walked down by the front where we saw two empty seats beside a couple boys. I walked into the seat directly next to one of the guys and Addie followed. I was about to put my drink in the cup holder to my right but it was already full so I put it to my left. I looked back to the right cup holder and then up at the side of the face beside me. It was pale with thin pink lips and long dark eyelashes. His hair stuck up a little in blonde points and the light from the screen reflected off of his crystal blue eyes.
I turned to Addie and whispered “Addie, these aren’t our seats. I’m not sitting next to Riley or Sam.” She looked at me puzzled and began to open her mouth. Just then the movie started. She shrugged and turned to face the movie.
Halfway through the movie I heard my cell phone buzz against the seat. Both Addie and the stranger to my right turned to look at me. I turned to Addie telling her I’d be right back and walked out of the theater.
Riley:
Where are you guys? The movies halfway over!
I rolled my eyes at the text and quickly typed a reply
Laney:
We sat by some random guys by mistake! Catch you after the movie and stop texting in the theater!
I put my phone on silent and returned it to my pocket as I walked back into the theater and headed toward Addie. I took the seat I was in before. The stranger to my right was sipping his soda loudly and shaking the ice around in the cup. I hadn’t touched mine yet so I put it in his cup holder with a respectable eye roll.
“what’s that for? I was using that cup holder!” came out of his thin lips in a perfect Irish accented whisper. Turning my head to face him I responded almost silently “You were being really loud with your drink there, and I’m not thirsty. You can have mine.” He shrugged and picked up my full cup and put the straw between his lips. I was watching him from the corner of my eye and I felt his finger tap my shoulder. I turned and whisper yelled “what?” and a sly smirk crawled onto his face. He looked at me and our eyes met and I realized that for the past forty seven minutes or so I’d been sitting next to Niall Horan from One Direction.
Silently I fangirled but my facial expression didn’t change. He opened his mouth and said “Orange and Root Beer?” he was talking about the soda. I nodded and returned my attention to the screen, trying not to let him realize I knew who he was.
When the movie ended I watched him and another guy get out of their seats and walk with their heads down and hoods on to the back of the theater. The rest of the people filed out of the theater. They were mostly teenage boys since we were seeing The Avengers. Sam and Riley ran down to where we were standing and loudly applauded the movie.
“That was AMAZING!” Sam shouted jumping up and down. He had a very grown up look to him but he was such a child. Riley put a hand on his grumbling stomach “I’m hungry, can we grab food on the way home?” we all agreed it was a good idea.
Addie, Riley and Sam ran to the bathrooms while I cleaned up our trash. As I was about to walk out the door I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to face Niall. Turns out the guy he was with was their drummer Josh. Now that we were both standing I realized Niall was about six inches taller than me.
“Thanks for the soda.” He said after an uncomfortable amount of silence. I was shocked that he’d remembered it was me that’d given it to him since it had been so dark. “It’s no problem.” I assured him with a smile. “well, I owe you one. Want to grab a bite?” his voice was soft and sweet. I shook my head “I’m going out to dinner with a few of my friends.” I said. He handed me his blackberry and asked me to put in my number. “so I can repay you sometime.” He grinned. I typed in my name and number and handed the phone back to him. “Well, nice meeting you Laney. I’ll talk to you soon.” The way he said my name made me shiver. He pronounced every syllable perfectly like it was made up of only the good letters. He extended his hand and I shook it in reply. “Bye Niall, it was nice meeting you too.”
When I got out to the lobby of the theater Sam was standing with Riley by the theater entrance and Addie was flirting with a guy in his early twenties that was filling a vending machine. I rolled my eyes “I guess she’s been occupied?” Sam nodded scratching the back of his neck. Even though we were twins he was still eight inches taller than me. I reached up high with my arm and put it around his shoulders. “Let’s go Sam. Riley, you get her.” I said pointing to where Addie was leaning against the vending machine with a strand of her perfect blonde hair twirled around her finger.
“You okay?” Sam asked me. We were sitting in his blue Nissan Altima with our fast food meals in our laps. I was staring blankly out the window of the front passenger side silently debating if I should tell them about Niall or not. I turned to face Sam who had his eyes on the road and his hands 10 and 2 on the wheel. “Yeah” I replied folding one of my legs under myself and returning my attention to the window.
We dropped Riley off at his house and Addie just walked next door once we got home. By now it was 11:30 and I could tell my parents hadn’t waited up. It made sense; we were almost 18 after all. I climbed into the steamy shower and thought about Niall’s blue eyes. I was exhausted but I felt it necessary to peel every one of my One Direction posters from my walls and fold them up neatly. I tucked them in the top of my closet and fell asleep with an Irish lad on my mind.
