The one that got away - ON HOLD

Chapter 20 part 1 - short chapter

Hi guys,,

it's been a pretty long time since i've updated, so I thought I'd just post a snippet of the next chapter!

Hope you enjoy!

xx H.

Chapter 20 –

Julianna’s P.O.V

Niall stayed quit for a long time of the drive, just staring straight ahead, ignoring me and rubbing his chin with his left hand, his right one wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.

For the first time since he picked me up for dinner, the silence was uncomfortable and I honestly didn’t know what to do. With my friends one of us always cracked a joke, or made an inappropriate  comment that would make the others laugh, but none of us had been in a situation like this before. And I was pretty sure those jokes wouldn’t go well tonight.

How the hell were you even supposed to react to something like that? You think you are just going out to dinner, with a friend you want to get to know, and everything goes perfectly. You have fun, you enjoy yourself, but the minute you step outside of the restaurant to go home, paparazzi is swarming around you, trying to capture every little step you make, shouting things to you that aren’t even true.

How do you react to that?

I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, as I stared out of the car’s window, watching people on the curbs and cars passing by, living their own lives and lost in their own thoughts. The radio softly filled the silence, but the tension was still very much present.

And Niall wasn’t helping to. Why was he so quit all of a sudden. He was the pop star. He was supposed to have experience with this. Why did he just freeze up? All he said was ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘don’t listen to them’ when we walked towards the car, but from that point on he hadn’t spoken a word. To me nor the people around them.

I wasn’t sure this was a date in the first place. Maybe it was just a friendly dinner, but I was pretty sure that those god damned paparazzi had screwed everything up. Niall wouldn’t even look me in the eyes right now.

A soft sight escaped my lips, as I mulled everything over in my head and watching cars pass by. People were so oblivious to the things around, lost in their own world and not caring the slightest about the person’s walking past them. I knew I was the same, when I had my ear buds in, but it just stood out even more now. Especially when you sat next to a guy who seemed to be oblivious to me.

This had just gone from great to crap.

“I’m sorry about that” Niall said suddenly. His eyes were still focused on the road as he mumbled the words, making me look over in surprise.

“What?”

“I’m sorry about that. I should’ve expected the paparazzi to show up and I should’ve warned you” he said, and for the first time in at least half an hour he looked my way.

His eyes were pleading and filled with guilt, as they switched between me and the road, making a guilty feeling rise in the pit of my stomach.

God damned those eyes.

“I know, It’s okay.. It just.. it scared me” I confessed.

Niall nodded, taking a deep breath and giving me a sad smile.

“I know. I didn’t expect them to find out where we were so fast” He answered.

I nodded again, the wheels in my head spinning like crazy. I knew he meant every word he say, but how was I supposed to deal with this?

“I… “ Niall started, but he stopped talking. I raised an eyebrow, giving him a confused look.

“What?”

Niall took a deep breath, before looking at me.

“When we were talking at dinner, I.. A place came to mind that I.. I wanted to show you, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea right now after…” he stopped mid-sentence, but we both know what he was aiming at.

“What kind of place?” I asked, curiosity seeping through in my voice and I couldn’t help a soft smile from appearing on my face. Niall smiled lightly to, before shrugging.

“Just a place.. somewhere I like to go when I just need to be alone or think. When we talked, it was the first thing that came to mind. And I think you’ll like it too” he answered, his smile chancing. His whole mood seemed to lift up when he talked about this place, making me even more curious to where it was.

“Sounds nice” I said, also smiling. The way Niall’s mood changed, affected me to, and I couldn’t help but feel the guilty feeling slowly on fading.

“Yeah, it is”

“Well. Then I’d like to see it. I mean, if you still wanna show it” I said smiling, pulling the sleeves of my jacket over my hands.

Niall’s face lit up, as he took a sudden turn to the right.

“Key then”

A devilish smile came to his face, as he drove towards his special place. My heart started racing in my throat as I watched him drive the road he seemed to know so well.

And curiosity was getting me really anxious.