Painted Black *punk niall horan

Chapter 3

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I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react

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"Gene! Wait up!" A high pitched voice called out to me. I turned around to find Stacey running over to me, panting. 

"Hey Stacey, I'm just returning Zayn's jacket to him."

"Yah, I figured. I wanted to visit him too and see if we could all go out tonight. You in?" Stacey asked, still out of breath.

"Umm sure, sounds fun." I said, continuing to walk.

After about 20 minutes we were heading up the driveway of a very familiar looking house. I was about to ring the doorbell when Stacey grabbed my hand.

"It's alright, I know them." She opened the door and walked right in, me trailing along behind her.

"Hey James, is Zayn around?" I heard Stacey ask a boy who had just appeared in the hallway. I recognized his name from the group messages.

"Nah, he went out, but he said he'd be back soon."

"Damn, I thought we could all go out tonight with my new roommate."

"Just for old time's sake?" The boy asked.

"Exactly."

"Well, who do you have with you?" James leaned around to see me behind Stacey and I saw his eyes widen.

"Hello again sugar." He said grinning. I smiled and moved closer to Stacey.

"Niall is going to love this." James raised his voice and called for Niall.

"What do you want James?" A grumpy voice called back.

"You'll never believe who Stacey's new roommate is." James never took his eyes off me as Niall appeared in the small hallway.

"What is she doing here?" Niall asked as if I wasn't in the room. I cleared my throat.

"I'm here to return Zayn's jacket."

"Zayn isn't here." Niall spat.

"Then we'll wait for him. No need to be a dick." Stacey said grabbing my hand and pulling me past both of the boys into a living room where most of the other boys seemed to be. There was a chorus of "Hey Stacey"s and then silence as most of them seemed to recognize me.

"Hey! It's bench girl!" One of the boys called out and they all laughed. I surprised myself by laughing along as well.

"We're just here to wait for Zayn." Stacey explained sitting down on a couch. I sat next to here and was surprised when a boy immediately sat next to me. The boys chattered for a couple minutes before I heard a door open and Zayn walked in.

"Hey Gene, what are you doing here?" Zayn asked obviously surprised.

"What? I don't get a hello?" Stacey asked annoyed. Zayn smiled and finally noticed his jacket in my lap.

"Oh wow, thank you so much." I handed it to him and got up from the couch.

"Hey Zayn, you on for dinner tonight?" Stacey asked, getting up behind me.

"Sure, the usual gang?"

"Yup." Stacey followed me to the door, and I began dreading the long walk back until Stacey turned around and asked,

"Hey Zayn, give us a ride back will you?" She batted her eyelashes at him and he smirked.

"Lazy asses."



"You are so borrowing one of my dresses tonight Gene. Plus, Niall's going to be there." Stacey said the minute we walked into our room.

"How does he have anything to do with me?"

"I saw the way he was looking at you, it was....different. It was actually rather weird."

I stared at her.

"Whatever."

Stacey pulled out a couple dresses and tossed them on the bed.

"What about this one? It would go great with your green eyes." She handed me a soft purple dress and I eyed it gingerly.

"Go on and try it on, please?" Stacey clasped her hands together dramtically and I sighed as I pulled it up around my waist. Stacey quickly zipped up the side zipper and gasped.

"All the boys are literally going to be begging to get in your pants tonight." I blushed at her choice of words and looked in the mirror. My cleavage showed a little too much for my liking, but other than that, the dress clung to my figure pretty nicely.

"I am so doing your hair and your makeup though." I heard Stacey say as she pulled on a strapless white dress.

An hour later I found myself standing outside in the cold with Stacey waiting for Zayn to pick us up. I clutched my purse tightly.

"Where are we even going?" I asked.

"Just this small pub. It's really nice, there's dancing and music and really good food."

I admitted that sounded nice. It'd be great to meet some other people too before I started classes.

Zayn pulled up and I was about to crawl in the backseat until I realized someone else was already sitting there.

"Hello! I'm Louis."

"Oh. I'm Gene." I answered, awkwardly getting into the car.

"I know." The boy winked at me as Zayn pulled into the parking lot of a small building. The ground seemed to shake as we walked in, and it took everything in me to not cover my ears. Pop hits were blaring out of giant speakers that hung from the ceiling.

"This is not a pub, this is a club!" I screamed. Zayn, Louis, and Stacey burst out laughing at my annoyed expression and I pushed my way through all the bodies to get to our table.

"Hey guys, this is Gene, my new roommate. She's a freshman here, so let's not fuck up her first year." There was laughter and I glanced around the table, only recognizing Niall and James. I sat in between Stacey and Zayn, extremely thankful because I knew them the best.

"So what are you majoring in?" A familiar curly haired boy leaned across the table and asked.

"Nursing." I said smiling at him. He was awfully cute.

"That's great, I'm just here for the parties." He smiled and two deep dimples appeared. "Oh, I'm Harry by the way."

"Really nice to meet you." I answered. I suddenly glanced to my right and found Niall glaring at me. I lowered my head and hoped he didn't notice.

"Oh my god, how rude of me." Stacey said. "This is Harry, Britney, Niall, James, Laney, and Patrick. All the boys are in Phi Kappa Psi." I smiled at each one of them.

"Ooo, Zayn let's go dance. I love this song." Stacey clapped her hands and pulled Zayn up from his chair.

"Later, mates." Zayn said before allowing Stacey to drag him onto the dancefloor. I could feel the awkwardness of having two empty seats on both sides of me. Within the next 5 minutes the other two girls and some of the boys left to dance, leaving behind Niall, Louis, and I to watch the table.

"Do you want to dance?" Louis surprised me by asking.

"I-no, I'm really sorry. I don't dance." I said, feeling guilty.

"Oh. You're like Niall then." Louis grinned.

"I.....yah, I guess so."

"Well you don't mind if I....." He gestured to the dancefloor.

"No, of course not Louis. Go ahead." I watched Louis disappear into the crowd and I smoothed out my dress as I waited for Stacey to come back. I felt Niall's eyes on me, but I purposely looked anywhere but his direction.

"Why don't you dance?" A sudden voice asked. I looked over and saw Niall, slightly red, as if he didn't realize he had said that out loud.

"I'm just......no good, I suppose."

Niall nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Why don't you?' I dared to ask back.

"I don't know how." He answered bluntly. I nodded and cleared my throat as I looked away. An extremely attractive man approached out table and stood in front of me.

"Care to dance?" He asked, slightly smirking.

"I don't dance, sorry." I smiled.

"That's what the lad back there told me, but I thought I'd still give it a try." He laughed and I found myself laughing along. "C'mon, it'll be fun, I promise." The man didn't seem in a huge rush to leave, which was unfortunate because I was definitely not dancing.

"No. I'm sorry." I said again.

"Aww, what's the harm?" The man whined. He obviously could not take a hint.

"No." A new voice answered for me. "She doesn't want to dance with you." Niall said harshly.

"Oh, wow. Is she with you then?" The man asked.

"Yes. She is." I widened my eyes at Niall's answer and watched the man back away with his hands up.

"Alright, not looking for any trouble." He said before disappearing.

"Thank you." I said quietly.

"Whatever, he was being a persistent douchebag." I flinched at his choice of words, and smoothed out my dress again.

"I mean for bringing me in when it was raining."

"Whatever." He repeated.

"Why did you?" I asked. I was really curious. He could have just woken me up and sent me on my way.

"I don't know, do I have to have a reason?"

"Why didn't you just wake me up?"

"Fuck, why do you have so many fucking questions?" His eyes burned into mine, but I refused to look away.

"I just want to know." I insisted.

"Well I'm really regretting it right now." He snapped. I recoiled and looked down, straightening out my dress once more.

"Look, it's already happened, so just let it go." He said, in a much calmer voice.

"I'm leaving. It was nice meeting you." I hissed, suddenly remembering what he had written in the group chat.

"Who's taking you home?" Niall asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Didn't Zayn drive you?"

"Why do you have so many questions?" I asked, using his own words against him. I hastily got up, grabbed my purse, and pushed my way to the exit. I would just have to walk home, but I wasn't going to stay at that table with him for the rest of the night, that was for sure.

"Gene!" I heard a voice call out. I groaned. Now who was the persistent douchebag? I walked faster, pushing against the door and walking out into the frigid night.

"Genevieve!" He called again. I whirled around.

"How did you-" I began.

"Lucky guess. Look, I'm sorry I've been a dick to you, since we've met."

I scoffed.

"Okay, yes, I've been an ass. At least let me drive you home." I wanted so bad to walk away, but I was freezing and it would be at least a 20 minute walk back to my dorm, if I could even find it in the dark. I nodded, my whole body vibrating as my teeth chattered.

"Oh damn, you're cold." Niall shrugged off his black leather jacket and handed it to me.

"Nnnoo tthhannkkss." I said, hugging myself.

"Shut the fuck up and take it."

I glared at him and snatched it from his hands. It was still warm. We approached a silver mustang and I widened my eyes as he got in the front seat.

"Nice car."

"It works." He answered shortly. "Now get in before I change my mind." I recalled Zayn telling me guys with tattoos had manners, but obviously Niall was an exception.

"Back to normal?" I asked.

"I never left." He said as he raced out of the parking lot. I set my purse down on the floor of the car and somehow managed to strap myself in with the seatbelt before he lurched to the left and headed onto the road. Niall's piercings gleamed whenever we passed by streetlights and I couldn't help but wonder what he would look like without them.

"Why are you staring?" He asked, his eyes still on the road.

"I just....nothing. I wasn't." I lied horribly.

"Like hell you weren't. Okay we're here. Get out." He said pulling up to my dorm. I nodded, before realizing he could barely see me.

"Thank you for the ride, Niall." Niall seemed to tense up when I said his name, but almost immediately he relaxed.

"Bye." I climbed out of his car and hurried into the building. It wasn't until I was back in the room that I realized, once again, I had forgotten to return the jacket. But this time, I had forgotten my purse in his car as well. I groaned loudly.

"Looking for this?" A voice called out. I turned around to see Niall dangling my purse in front of me.

"Oh. Thanks." I grabbed it from him, embarassed. "How did you even get in?!"

"You left the door open." He said, staring at me like I was stupid.

"Well, here's your jacket. You can go now. Thank you again." I shoved his jacket into his chest. Niall turned to leave, but almost immediatley spun back around.

"Here." Niall handed me a bright blue gum wrapper.

"Ummm, gee thanks." I took it from him, wondering what he was up to. Niall actually smiled a little at my response.

"It's-never mind. Fuck, forget about it. I didn't give it to you." Niall swore before nearly running out of the room. I stared at the spot were he had just left before placing the gum wrapper on the dresser next to my bed and falling asleep.

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