Who Do You Think You Are

Chapter 13 - But your words cut like knives

Niall was hurt. He tried to hide it; but I could see it in his face as he turned it away from me. I placed my hand on his arm and I could already feel cracks beginning to form in my heart, threatening to cause it to fall to pieces. I couldn't handle seeing Niall upset, couldn't handle the fact that I was the reason. He didn't pull away, but turned to face me again. His eyes were glassy. I held my breath in an effort to fight away the tears that were whelming up. My stupid tear ducts threatened to give way. This time it was me who placed my hand on his.

 "Niall, I didn't know," I began. I didn't want him to think I was choosing Harry over him. The truth is, I hadn't chosen at all. Things just happened this way. "I don't know what to do..." I tried to explain. "I don't wanna hurt you." My battle against the tears was futile, and they began to stream down my face. "It's okay," Niall said, his voice broken and gentle. "No. No, it's not," I shook my head.

"Shhh," he rubbed my back. "Please don't cry."

I could hear that he was crying too. I was breaking his heart and he was comforting me.

I wiped away the tears and tried to regain my composure. "I…I'm so sorry."

He nodded but didn't look up at me. He was sitting forward, looking down at his hands. I placed my hand on his back. He was tense. We just sat there thinking a thousand thoughts, unable to verbalize any of them.

Niall's P.O.V.

I didn't blame Stacy. It wasn't her fault. She never meant to hurt me. I knew that. But it still hurt like hell. I couldn't speak to her. It was just too painful. I didn't want her to feel guilty. If anything, this was on me. If I hadn't been so slow... I was brought back to reality by a loud hooter. I looked around and realized that I was driving through a Stop sign and had just missed a red Cadillac by a few inches. The driver cursed at me and I apologised, still stunned by everything. I wasn't mad at Stacy, but Harry - now that was a different story. Why didn't he tell me? He had the chance. For goodness' sake, we were together 99% of the time! He knew I was going to ask Stacy out and instead of telling me that they'd snogged the day before, he decided to let me go and make an idiot of myself. What a bro!

Stacy’s P.O.V.

The entire drive home I had one picture stained on my brain – Niall walking away.

It was an image that tortured me. I couldn’t shake it off, no matter how hard I tried. I scurried up the stairs and unlocked the door. I was home, but I felt lost. As I opened the door, my eyes went straight to the bouquet on the table in front of me. 'Damn it, Harry. What am I supposed to do now, huh?' The answer came to me immediately. I had to call him. I didn't even feel like it. I felt like crap. But there was no way around this. I tossed my keys on the counter and sat on the edge of the sofa. I dialled Harry's cell number and held the phone to my ear. "C'mon Harry. Pick up." I said under my breath. But he didn't. I hung up and tried calling again. No answer. Great. That's just what I needed. I gave up and curled myself into a ball, tucking my hands into my pockets. I felt lonely. I was used to being alone. I had been for a while. But now I felt just plain lousy.

I felt something in my pocket and pulled it out. The clover.

I held it in the palm of hand, observing it. It was three hearts on a stem, how ironic. I looked closer at the leaves and saw that they had been crumpled in my pocket and had fold-marks which frayed them. One had a slight tear.