Our Little Secret {One Direction}

Chapter 15

-NIALL'S P.O.V-

I'm not a sulk. I'm not. But I've been running for ten minutes straight and my knee is starting to hurt. My chest rises up and down as I trail beside Liam and Harry, across the empty corridor and then turning into the next. We've checked the previous studio, she's not there. We've checked the front of the building, she's not there. We called her name from outside the girls' bathroom, nada. Liam turns another corner, his head looking down at the ground as he takes steady breaths. "Liam can we just slow down a little..." I whine, wincing as I take another step with my sore leg. He looks up from the ground with a sigh and stops almost immediately, his arms flopping down to his side. "I didn't mean 'stop'," I mumble frustratingly. I jog up to the corner where Liam is standing, his head looking out to the corridor ahead of him. "Li what is-" My jaw almost drops as I look out t the two people walking up to us. I look behind me to where Louis, Zayn, and Harry are catching up. "Wh-Who's that?" I stutter, my heart sinking as I watch Zoe stare up at him adoringly.

"Dunno..." Liam mumbles, before letting out a deep breath and walking forward. I follow shiftily behind him, my thumbs fiddling nervously with the denim of my jean pockets.

"Thanks again," she smiles, turning towards the guy and flashing him a cute grin.

"No problemo." He smirks, "See you later!" The guy waves goodbye and Zoe slowly walks up to us, pecking Liam on the side of the cheek.

He wraps his arm around her waist and looks down at her with a cheeky smile, "I'm gonna ignore the fact that we just spent ten minutes trying to find you, and ask you who that guy was instead," he laughs.

"Who? Him?" she asks, clearly surprised. Liam raises his eyebrows, waiting for her to go on. "I was sitting on the stool in the studio and started daydreaming. I didn't realise everyone left until he came and told me. He offered to show me to the new one so..."

"That's it? I was kind of hoping for some mushy, cute, love story or something..." Liam mumbles. Love stor- Oh. I almost forgot. No one knows we're actually dating... I mentally sigh as I look up at Zoe, my teeth digging into the underside of my bottom lip as I resist the urge to wrap my arms around her and take her into a private room. I know it was only yesterday that we made it official but I already miss her touch, her smell, her voice, her laugh... I just wish we were back at home, chilling in one of our rooms as we cuddle up together, limbs intertwined. She's mine now, and I cant even to begin to explain how happy I am and how privileged I feel. But nonetheless, we've spent less than twenty minutes together today and I'm longing to prove to her how much I love her. I don't know why we haven't told the others yet, I guess we both just silently figured that we shouldn't say anything until it was one hundred percent definite. I look down at Liam's arm, my biceps aching as I forcefully keep them by my side and away from Zoe's waist. MY arm should be there, not his. I feel like I'm a magnet at she's the giant piece of metal pulling me towards her. I can't do this- I just-

-NORMAL P.O.V-

I look up at Niall, my heart sinking as my eyes reach his usually blue, bright, and happy ones. He looks tired, drained, confused, and simply hurt. Well I'm not exactly sure if its hurt or frustration, but either way he's clearly not okay. I would hug him right here, right now, but the problem is is that none of the others know about 'us' and they'd be freaking confused if I suddenly fell into his arms. I mentally sigh as I resist the urge to wrap myself around him. I feel so disconnected and drained, I just want to go home... I send him a soft smile before leaning further into Liam's arms for comfort. For the second time today I find myself wishing he were someone else.

Its almost 5pm and we're still at the studio. After their lunch break the boys started their single shoots which have taken like half an hour each. Liam went first, then Louis, Niall, and Harry. I'd like to say things got more interesting after the thing with Mike but they really didn't. I've been sitting on this stupid couch the past two hours and my bum is painfully numb from being in the same position for so long. At least it's not a stool though... Zayn's the last one left so everyone else is free to do whatever they want. Liam and Louis just went to go get some coffees from the café around the corner and Harry's outside on the phone to his sister. I look around the small room, a wide yawn escaping from the pit of my throat. I lift my hand up, covering my mouth as I watch Niall walk up to me with a piled plate of food from the snack bar. "You look tired..." he mumbles, dropping down onto the couch beside me. He looks around the room cautiously before shuffling closer to me and pulling me over to rest on his shoulder. He kisses me lightly on the top of the head and passes me a packet of chips. "You need to eat babe, it's been like five hours since you had lunch."

"I'm not hungry..." I mumble, kicking my feet over the armrest and leaning my head back onto Niall's lap.

"Nonsese..." he mutters, leaning over me and grabbing my packet of chips. He pulls it open and shoves his hand in, picking up a round chip and holding it in front of my lips. "Open wide..." he coos. I reluctantly open my mouth, watching him carefully as he slowly places it onto my tongue. He smiles down at me as I pick it up with my fingers and bite half of it, eating it slowly. He moves his plate from the couch cushions and puts it on the floor beside his feet, before slouching forward and lying sleepily on the couch. "How was YOUR day?" he asks, his fingers fiddling with the tips of my hair.

"Boring," I whine.

He laughs quietly as he wraps a piece of my hair around his finger. "Wait so you didn't enjoy sitting on a stool for half a day?" he jokes.

"No." I reply grumpily.

He shuffles around underneath me, giggling at my childish frown. "I wish I could stay like this forever..." He sighs, looking down at me.

"Like what?"

"Like this. With you." There's a comftorable silence as we lay amongst each other, treasuring each and every second that we are left alone from the rest of the group.

For ten minutes we were left at peace, none of the others having returned to the side of the set. We didn't say much, we simply lay together, listening to each other's heartbeats as our minds wondered off to another world. Neither of us knew how long it would be before one of the others came back into the room, causing us to jump apart and pretend as if we were having an ordinary, casual conversation. I tried not to think about it. In all honesty, I knew it'd be hard to pull myself away from him and act as if I didn't love him with all my heart when in reality I was aching for his presence in each second of the day that he wasn't there. And much to our expectations, the moment was about to quickly disappear as Harry closed his phone outside the building and made his way back down the lean corridor; his eyes fixed on the door to the studio.