" I'm slipping into the lava
And I'm tryin' to keep from going under
Baby, who turned the temperature hotter?
'Cause I'm burning up, burning up
For you baby"
- Jonas Brothers, 'Burnin' Up'
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The world would be a better place if it was filled with people like Niall. People like Niall are never upset and always take life by the horns. Or they would take life by the horns if there were actual horns.
"I didn't even know I was in their wedding," he told me a few days later. "Harry just told me that I needed to get my tux. And that I had to watch Hollister. Hey, did Hollister really hump Zayn's foot?"
We were working together again. And by working I mean studying. And by studying I mean that I was filling out Niall's World History study guide and Niall was filling out my Trig II study guide. What? The kid wanted to be an engineer; he obviously knew a thing or two about numbers. Since it was finals season it wasn't like we were swamped with customers. Only one kid had been in there in the three hours that I had been working to buy some pencils. Really, it was a slow day.
"How did you know about that?" I asked, cringing in anticipation of the answer.
"Zayn told me," Niall shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. But it was a big deal because Zayn Malik had used some of his precious words to talk about me but then wasted them to talk about Hollister. "Did Zayn tell you about the baseball game next week?"
That was definitely a predicament. You see, I really do like baseball. I played softball for a few years back in elementary school back when everyone was allowed on the team and you didn't need actual talent. And then Richie, my oldest stepbrother, played baseball throughout most of his life. So, yeah, it was one of those things that I really missed about home.
But then it meant that I would be at a bonding event with all males, and it's not even possible to make that sound like a good idea.
"Maybe I should give my ticket to John and then I could stay here and study," I suggested, tapping my pencil on the glass countertop.
"Why would you do that?"
Huh? "Because I have to study?"
"No, why would you give your ticket to John?" Niall gave me a weird look. This was also the longest time that he had ever gone without eating. That's how intense finals are at Oxford; we don't stop for food.
"Because John's a guy and you're all guys and I thought that you could just have some really big man-bonding time," I explained slowly and what the hell was I talking about?
It was a good thing that Niall usually just laughed at my innuendos instead of making a show while pointing them out. "Well, for starters, isn't John pre-Med? He's never going to be able to leave the campus if he wants to make it to med school." Phooey. I hated it when Niall had to point things out to me. I enjoyed being the one that he turned to when he needed a question answered. Which, yes, was really selfish of me, but so was the entire thing with Louis so there's really no need to judge. "And are you trying to get Eleanor to kill you?"
I kept up with the tapping. "Why would Eleanor kill me?" I mentally added ‘this time' onto the end of that statement because it seemed like Eleanor wanted me dead was a common theme of that month.
