Taking The Chance [A Niall Horan Fanfiction]

// Chapter Two //

No, no, no! I felt my heart drop and my knees go weak as the train disappeared into the horizon. I felt a hand rest on my slumped shoulders; I turned and faced the guard, holding up his walkie-talkie.

“I’m sorry you missed your train, mademoiselle. But I will get you on the next train. May I have your boarding pass?” I handed him my boarding pass. “I will return with a new boarding pass for you on the next train. It leaves at 10:54 AM.” I nodded as he walked back to the security office.

Sighing, I sat at a seat nearest to the giant glass-paneled walls overlooking the platforms. So this is what it felt like to miss a flight, except I missed a train. I clenched my fists while trying to relax myself. I will get to London safely and only a little bit late… no big deal.

Wait. Crap.

I fumbled with my pockets, trying to find where I put the phone number of the man who was supposed to pick me up when I arrived at the station. He doesn’t know I’m not on the train heading to London right now; he doesn’t know I’ll be late! After some long seconds of rummaging through my pockets for the number and change, I headed to the payphones. Both of the payphones were occupied, so I waited in line for one of them. In front of me, a blonde boy wearing a red polo and khaki pants was talking in a hushed tone to another person at the end of the telephone line.

“Yeah, I missed the train.” I gave a small sigh of relief; at least I wasn’t the only person to miss the train. His accent wasn’t French or British, so he isn’t a native or someone travelling back to London. Scottish? I don’t know. “I was in the toilet. With all the breakfast you gave me, you expect me to hold it? I didn’t know boarding would take such a short time.” He distanced the phone from his ear as the sound of an angry mother blasted through the speaker. Even I could hear it from behind him. Ouch. “I have a boarding pass for the next train that leaves in an hour, so I’ll be in London only an hour later than I would have arrived.” He paused. “Okay, bye mum.”

He hung the phone back on the hook and turned around to leave the payphone. I looked away to avoid eye contact, since I was eavesdropping on his conversation and eavesdropping is kind of an invasion of his privacy. Once he grabbed his bags and exited the payphone area, I stepped up and dialed the number.

“Hi, is this Lew-is?” I squinted as I tried to read his name on the paper. My hands shook, hoping I dialed the right number as those were my last Euros.

“The ‘s’ is silent, love, but yes, this is the ‘Lew-is’ you are trying to reach. Is this Mara?” He replied with a hint of sass.

I nervously chuckled. “Oh, sorry, Louis. I didn’t mean to butcher your name.”

He clicked his tongue. “It’s no problem. So why are you calling? Shouldn’t you be on the train to London by now? Your dad told me you had no cell phone—”

“Yeah, about that,” I interrupted him, “I missed the train. I’ll be an hour late…”

I heard Louis laugh on the other end of the line. “Didn’t know that the passport check and security was upstairs, huh?”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “No,” I muttered, “they should have a sign to properly indicate that.”

“No worries, Mara. I have to wash my dog and replace a couple of light bulbs in my flat anyways. I need the extra hour.” I felt more relaxed knowing Louis wasn’t mad at me for being late. “I’ll see you then.”

“Bye.” I hung the phone back on the hook, grabbed my bags, and made my way back to the waiting area. I still had a little less than an hour to kill. This wait would be extremely dreadful. I had no phone and my laptop was in an unknown spot in my luggage. What was I supposed to do?