One More Night (Niall Horan)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Explanation

“Niall!” I shout after him, following him back into his house, Harry faintly asking anyone if they know where Tamia is. I’ll deal with her afterwards, I don’t want her to hate me. But right now, my boyfriend is more important. “Niall please wait!” I shout when he continues to speed-walk and grab his coat off the coat rail. “Niall Horan stop right there!”

He flinches at the sound of his name, and stops suddenly, when he turns back to me, there are tears trailing down his cheeks which are red from anger.

“What? Do you want to tell me about it?” He shouts, “Want to describe every moment of your amazing night with Harry?”

“Ni-“

“My best friend!” He cuts me off before I had even begun my apology. “Anyone in the world. Any number of Rob Kardashians, that I can handle, Lenn. I could handle if you slept with every single damn guy in the world! Just not my best friend.”

“It…” I try to explain but I’m cut short. How am I supposed to explain myself when I don’t know why it happened? How am I supposed to describe it? A drunken mistake? “It just happened.” I tell him, “And I know that must sound like buffalo shit to you but that’s what happened. I’d caught you with Molly, gone down to the bar to poison my blood with alcohol and Harry asked me what was the matter. He was being a good friend and trying to make me feel better just like your friends were doing upstairs.” I gesture wildly as I talk, speaking loudly and trying to make sure he understands. “We both got... stupidly drunk and it just happened.”

“Is this what it felt like to you?” He asks with his voice so quiet and soft, “When you found out that Molly was pregnant?” He moves closer to me but moves onto the sofa and tugs his hair between his fingers. “Because I just don’t know how to feel. Why would you keep something like this from me?”

“It wasn’t my intention to hurt you by doing what I did… I don’t want to ever be the reason you’re in pain.” I confess, I pull his hands from his hair and he tangles his fingers with mine. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay.” I doubt it but I admire that he’s putting on a brave face as he wipes his tears with his sleeve and then smiles at me. “I’ve done worse.”

“I don’t want to upset you.” I say again, kneeling down so that I’m now smaller than him and I press my hands onto his knees and he places his hands over mine.

“It was just a shock. I wasn’t expecting it. When I told Harry to tell the girl he was in love with, I didn’t know it was going to be you.” He chuckles. “I’m still pissed off by the way. But I’m not angry with you.”

“No, you’re not going to be pissed off with Harry!” I demand. “If you’re going to be pissed off you have to be pissed off with the both of us because-“

“no.” He cuts across, squeezing my hands. “Lenn, I’m pissed off because this is all down to me. If I hadn’t been so fucking insecure that you would break up me I never would’ve been with Molly, I mean, look at everything’s that’s happened since then! You slept with Harry, I got Molly pregnant, you got married to someone else!”

“Ni, we have to stop focusing on everything’s that happened in the past.” I tell him, “We need to stop regretting the mistakes we’ve made because they’ve happened.”

He nods,

“Can you just give me some space for a bit?” He asks, completely catching me off guard. I thought we were okay. We’ve confessed and shared, I don’t want to waste time with him giving him some space.

I agree anyway. I just need to work things out with Tamia now.

*

“Lennox wake up.” I open my eyes groggily, still asleep on Harry’s sofa, I’d decided to let Niall have the bed in the guest room, he needed space, I was giving it to him. “Lenn, they found out.” Niall confesses to me and when I look over, I see all the boys either on their phones or reading through magazines and newspapers that are scattered across the table.