Escort // h.s. au

Burnt

His blue eyes make contact with my brown ones and the guilt is instantly piled on me. He looks back and forth between Louis and I, but Louis doesn't notice. He is too focused on staring at me, asking me if I'm alright as Niall and I collided pretty hard.

I quickly assure Louis that I'm fine, before turning to Niall. "Hey, Niall. How are you?" I say shyly. I can see the hurt in his eyes as he tries to assess the situation in front of him. I know exactly what conclusions he is drawing and I can't blame him, but I also can't do anything to stop it. None of this matters after tonight anyways. After tonight I'm bound to be Harry's.

"I'm alright. Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" he says, pointing behind him with his thumb while nodding his head to the side. I nod quickly and latch my hand to his arm, before remembering Louis and pulling away. "I'll be right back, he's a friend," I say, and I can see something grow cold inside of him. He nods anyways before sitting down on a bench nearby, setting the lion in front of him and just staring at it sadly.

Niall takes me to the Ferris wheel and we get in line for it. "What are we doing?" I say, my fear of heights quickly overtaking me. "We're going on. I want to talk to you," he says, handing the ticket-taker eight tickets, enough for us to each go around two times. My heart rate accelerates dramatically, and I feel fear start to conquer my whole body.

"Niall, I don't know if this is a good idea..." I say, stopping and staring up at the massive ride in front of me. "Trust me, love. It'll be fun. It'll be almost straight out of The Notebook," he says, grinning and grabbing my arm, dragging me towards the spinning wheel of death.

We sit down in the orange swinging seat and the person working the ride pulls down the bar over our laps. "Well, I guess I can't turn around now," I say, trying to make light of my anxiety. "Not that I had an option anyways," I say, teasing him.

I look over to him and see that he's not smiling anymore. "Holly, who was that that you were with?" he says, and I can see his fragility. "That was my neighbor," I say truthfully. As of right now, he's no more than my neighbor. My neighbor who I thought was creepy but is actually really cute and misunderstood. The one that won me a giant stuffed animal and made me laugh and feel giddy. 

He nods, looking off in the distance like he is contemplating something.

"Holly, I like you. I'm just going to put it all out there. I really, really like you. And seeing you with someone else today hurt me a lot. I know it seems clingy and soon, but I could never have known my feelings would grow this much. I want all of you, you and me, every day," he says. 

My blood warms, but as my mind catches up to my heart it turns ice cold. I have to break the news to him now. I was not prepared for this.

"Niall, I really like you too. Trust me, I do. But there's something I really need to talk to you about. I-" he cuts me off with his lips on mine.

I let myself give in to this kiss, revelling in the moment that I have up in the clouds with this boy who has nestled his way into my heart. I will let myself have this, because in a moment I will have to yank him out of the hiding place he found in my heart and rip him to pieces.

We pull away from one another, and I look into his blue eyes that make my heart flutter constantly. "What was that?" I ask, breathlessly.

"Before I got the bad news, I wanted to do that at least one time. Sorry for the rude interruption, you may continue," he says, waving his hand in front of him, instructing me to continue my schpiel.

"It's a very long and complicated story. One that I believe I am legally bound not to tell to anyone or I could be in huge trouble. Basically, I have a binding agreement with a new company I'm affiliated with that does not allow me to be with anyone not approved by them. Unfortunately when I ran you by them, they denied it. I'm very sorry, Niall. I like you more than you could even imagine. But my career always comes first."

I am quite pleased by the lie I came up with on the spot. It kind of makes sense with the business I am in, and it really wasn't a lie at all. It's just that the only person on the face of the planet that the company would approve is Harry.

He looks out to the right of the ride, the lake next to us reflecting the moon in the most beautiful and haunting way.

"And there's nothing you can do?" he says sadly, grabbing my hand in his.

"No, there's really not. This is a huge opportunity for me and I can't pass it up. My career means too much to me and I've worked too hard to do that," I say, rubbing my hand on top of his to try to comfort him a bit.

"Well then, if this is our last time we can be together, I want to make it last. We still have a circle and a half left on this thing," he says, opening his arms and inviting me to lean into him, letting him hold me.

We stare out into the water for the remainder of the ride, and it just feels so natural for us. Natural yet so sad. Both of us know that this is it for our relationship, at least for a very long time if not forever.

Our cart comes back down for the second time, symbolizing not only the end of the ride but the end of our short-lived love affair. He hugs me intimately before kissing my forehead gingerly and walking away, toward his group of friends.

I walk back up to Louis, who still looks as sad as when I left him. 

"I'm sorry about that, Lou, that was an old friend. We had to talk about something, but I don't think I'll be seeing him for a very long time. Shall we go?" I say, trying my  best to brighten his mood.

He stares at the lion for a few seconds before saying, "That's alright, Holly. Why don't I take you home? It's been a really long day and I'm beat." 

I nod and he stands up, putting his hand on the small of my back as he manages to carry the stuffed lion with ease and guides me to his small car. He finds a way to fit the whole lion in the backseat of his car, and we drive off. The only thing breaking the tension between us is the radio that is humming softly in the background.

We make it back to the apartment complex and we walk up the stairs slowly, the events of the day catching up to both of us. I open the door to my apartment, and he puts the lion down on my couch.

I walk him out to his door and thank him for an amazing night. We hug and then go back into our own respective apartments.

I sit down next to my lion, who I've deemed will be called Gus, and reflect on the day. Technically, I went on three dates today. One with Harry going to breakfast and meeting with Tammy (although you can't really call the second part a date), one with Louis and the festival, and one with Niall on the Ferris wheel. Every time I try to get myself out of these messes, I end up doing things like going on three dates back to back. Why must I make life so difficult for myself.

I quickly shower and get into my most comfortable pajamas, and before I sneak off to bed, I run to the living room and drag Gus by the arm to my bedroom. I cuddle with Gus, and right before I drift off to sleep I get a text from an unknown number.

Unknown: You two will have a date tomorrow. Both of you be ready by 10 a.m., a car will be there to pick you up at your respective houses. And wear something comfortable, but don't be sloppy!

I would have to be an idiot to not know who this is from. I see that the text was also sent to Harry, but ignore that as I save the number as "Tammy" in my phone.

As I drift off to sleep, the events of the day replay over and over in my head. How did I manage to get involved with three different guys in three very different ways? This is just my luck.

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(A/N: Vacation is over tomorrow and I'm flying back home and back to my life full of college and stress and homework and coldness and living where going outside hurts because the air is so cold.

Anyways, hope you like this chapter! I will get back to the escort schtuff soon, I promise! I wanted to fully develop these relationships first, and I'd say I've done just that!

Thank you for reading, please don't forget to vote and comment what you think!)