Climbing the Walls (a Niall Horan love story)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24






*Haley's P.O.V.*

Around eleven, we pulled up to a small bar on a random corner somewhere near the alley where Niall and I had shared our first kiss. I smiled at the location, wonderful memories floating into my mind as we exited the van. I clung to Niall's hand tightly. I had never been in a bar before, so you can't really blame me for being a little scared. He just smiled at me in amusement. I stuck my tongue out at him as we entered. It was dark and music was thudding softly in the background.

There was a good amount of people there, but not too many. It smelled weirdly, like baking bread almost. It certainly didn't smell very good. Oh well, maybe I'd get used to it.

You know those times when you just see a person and automatically you just hate them for no rational reason? Well as I entered the bar, hand in hand with Niall, I experienced that. She was about my height, had long, curly brown hair and brown eyes. She was pretty pale, but it was that weird, colorless and no freckles kind of pale. Unlike me, whose cheeks never stopped being red and who had freckles sprinkled over the bridge of my nose.

I'm not quite sure why I disliked her so much, but it probably had something to do with the fact that she seemed to be eyeing Niall from the minute we walked through the door. That tends to bother girls. I clung to his arm, hiding the possession from everyone but the bitch.

I followed everyone over to the bar and let go of Niall and sat in between him and Liam as everyone (besides Dani, Liam, and me of course) ordered. I kept checking over my shoulder to see if she was still checking out Niall, and the majority of the time she was. There are plenty of desperate guys here, hon. Go drool over them! I screamed at her mentally.

"I'M OVER THE MOO-OON!" Harry, Louis, and Niall were chorusing the Cher Lloyd song, obviously very drunk, making me crack up. I've never seen people actually drunk. Sure when my parents went to parties the adults were laughing more than they should, but it was nothing like this. I noticed that Derek wasn't drinking either, but then I remembered the reason they moved here in the first place. He probably swore to soberness a long time ago.

I looked over my shoulder again, checking to see if she was looking again. But she wasn't there. I looked around the room and didn't see her. She must've left, I decided. Good, I've needed to piss for the last hour.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I told Liam. I thought it was safe to go now since there weren't any sluts goggling my boyfriend. Well, no one who was being too obvious at least. He nodded in acknowledgment. I started walking toward the restrooms, but Niall stopped me.

"Can I come?" he slurred. I giggled and shook my head. Silly little drunk boy.

"No no, that's okay," I chuckled as he grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him.

"You sure?" he asked. The smell of alcohol was on his breath, but it wasn't unbearable. I nodded, still grinning. He frowned, making me giggle again. "Okay," he agreed hesitantly. "But I'll miss you."
"I think you'll live," I laughed. He kissed me, and I thanked the lord that it wasn't one of those sloppy, gross, drunk kisses that you always read about. It wasn't as tender as usual, but I still felt the perky little fireworks no matter what. I smiled as I pulled away and winked as I turned toward the restrooms, Dani right next to me. (Girls never go to the bathroom alone.)

I reached the alcove at the back where the bathrooms were. I absolutely hate public restrooms, and I didn't imagine that bars had very sanitary ones, but I was literally about to wet myself. So I opened the wooden door marked with the stick figure wearing a skirt and tried my best not to scrunch my face in disgust. It smelled like alcohol, cleaning supplies, and shit. "Ew," I whined to Dani. She rolled her eyes, and I knew she was mentally calling me a priss. I knew I was a priss, but oh well.

Once my revolting deed was done, I scrubbed my hands thoroughly, despite the fact that the hand soap smelled just as awful as any other public hand soap. Dani crossed her arms impatiently as I dried my hands. I wish I had hurried like she wanted me to. Maybe then I would've been able to prevent what I witnessed next.

I walked out of the bathroom, discussing the grossness of wet hands to Dani, and froze in my tracks. I couldn't believe my eyes. Literally, my chest ached like it had never hurt before. I've never been punched in the stomach, but I'm pretty sure this feeling was about a hundred times worse. Because right in front of me was Niall, making out with the bitch I had been monitoring all night.

Tears peppered up in my eyes and Dani went right up to them. I turned and ran out the back door as fast as my shaky legs could carry me. My vision was blurred and I was choking on my own sobs. I literally heard Dani's hand come in contact with the girl's face. But by the time anyone could've done anything to stop me, I was at least five shops away.
I didn't know my way around here. Plus it was past midnight, so it was pretty much pitch black other than dim streetlights that on shone within a four foot radius. The only sounds were my feet pounding against the cobblestone pavement, my racing broken heart, and my wracking sobs. But they were so intensely magnified by the throbbing inside my skull. I was so lost, mentally and physically. There was only one place I knew how to get to.

As I reached the alley behind the pizzeria, I collapsed to the cold ground. I huddled up in a ball, rocking myself back in forth, crying harder than I ever thought possible. I was wailing like an injured animal and screaming like a siren.



What just happened?



Were Niall's lips really all over someone else's? Then the heart-wrenching memories I had been able to suppress the past few days all came rushing back at once, each one stabbing me in the heart. I saw Chase groping the blonde slut on the bench. I saw his text conversation with her. I heard him telling me how much better she was than me.

But then the more painful memories came. The ones where I was crying in Niall's arms, pouring all of my feelings and fears and pains out to him. The one where I was crying to Louis, but he convinced me that Niall would never do that to me. The one when I finally decided to let myself love Niall with all that was left of my broken heart. The one where I finally started believing again. The one where I was stupid enough to think that Niall really wouldn't ever hurt me, where I thought he was my savior, my angel. All of his promises to me, just ripped apart and thrown away as if they never meant anything. I guess they didn't know. Promises never mean anything once they're broken. I felt so destroyed, so betrayed.

How could he?

He knew how I felt and how scared I was, and he swore he could make it all better. Although, I suppose it was partially my fault for being naïve enough to believe him. It was just so hard to believe that Niall, my prince, my angel, would ever do that to me. He cried for me. Made me feel like someone actually cared. But I guess I just have to learn the hard way that love is not for me, that no one cares and I should just give up.

That's what I had been doing: Not trusting. Then God damn Niall had to be all cute and God damn Louis had to be all convincing. Stupid girl, should've known, should've known...

Those two words echoed in my mind, bouncing around my skull as my body went numb. Should've known, should've known...

How did I not see this coming?

They hammered my brain, and pretty soon they were all I heard. They pulsed around me, all other noises blocked out as those words repeated uncontrollably over and over, sounding as though I was under water. I didn't hear myself crying, I didn't feel the cold, hard ground that was bruising my body as I rocked back and forth, I didn't see anything but floating blackness.

But then two new words began to haunt me. Give up. I knew the voice was right. I didn't want to think anymore. I didn't want to be found. So I cried myself to sleep, huddled up in a ball in a cold, dark alley that once held such perfect, heartbreakingly bittersweet memories. But I shut my mind off. There was no point anymore. I wasn't thinking about what would happen in the morning, I just went to sleep with tears staining my cheeks. Maybe I'll wake up and this will all just be a cruel, terrible nightmare...



*Niall's P.O.V.*

I wasn't exactly sure what was happening. I just saw Dani tear Haley from my arms and full on bitch slapped her. Then I saw another Haley run out of the bar with tears streaming down her beautiful face. Oh, I hated to see her cry so much. I wanted to follow her, but she was right in front of me, cat fighting with Dani.

Wait, two Haley's? Haley would never hurt Dani, and Dani would never hurt Haley... FUCK.
I hadn't been making out with Haley, had I?

Wait- then who was this girl? And more importantly, where the hell was Haley? I guess my thoughts were much slower than Liam and Dani's seeing as how I was drunk, because Liam had already broken up the cat fight and was rushing all of us out to the van. I was sobering up a bit now, processing what had just happened. As I realized that I was the reason Haley was crying, tears sparkled up in my own eyes.

Oh god.

She saw me kissing another girl.

I kissed another girl.


I felt like barfing just at the thought. How had I been too drunk to not even notice the lack of sparks? The lack of tenderness and love that Haley packed into every sweet, perfect little kiss? Would I ever feel her lips again? I started sobbing as I was shoved into the van. People were shouting at me, but I couldn't understand them. I was too lost in my guilty, horrible thoughts. I knew they were all mad at me. I hated myself at the moment.

"Niall!" I made sense of Liam's words as he forced me to look through my blurry blue eyes into his warm brown ones. "Do you know where Haley might be? She left her phone with me, so we can't call her." I tried to imagine where she might've gone. The only place I could picture her was home, wrapped up in my arms, safe under the blankets on my bed as I kissed her continuously and never let her forget how much I loved her. Because that's the only place I wanted her to be.

"She couldn't have gone very far yet," Derek pointed out. With that in mind, I tried to remember where we were. I thought for a while, longer than I would've had I not gotten so bloody drunk, and then eventually it came to me.

"The alley," I murmured incomprehensibly.

"Where?" Liam questioned urgently.

"Go to the pizza shop down the street," I instructed. They all looked at me in confusion, Liam looking doubtful, probably assuming it was the alcohol talking.

"Niall, why would she-" Liam began asking calmly before I cut him off.

"Just go!" I yelled, desperate to find her. No one questioned me this time. Liam just buckled up and sped down the road.

"Go around back," I ordered through my sobs. Please forgive me, I begged silently. Please don't leave me. My inner pleas just mad my heart ache more. As we pulled into the parking lot behind the pizza shop I barely waited for Liam to stop the car before forcing the door open and jumping out, bolting as well as my drunk legs could carry me to the alley. Our alley. I heard Louis and Harry stumbling behind me drunkly, Dani close behind, Liam parking the car.

As I reached the dark space, I squinted through the blackness of the cold night. "Haley?" I called. I got no reply, but as I walked a few steps closer I saw a lifeless body huddled up in a ball on the cold concrete. I let out a horrible sob as I collapsed next to the body and rolled it over. I stared at Haley's unconscious pale face and kissed her slightly blue lips. They were so cold... Dried tears glistened the slightest bit on her light pink cheeks in the dim moonlight.

"Haley," I sobbed as I gently shook her limp body.
"She's over here!" Dani called to the others. But she sounded so distant. All that mattered to me was Haley. It was as though she was the only person in the world.
"Haley," I repeated, a bit louder as the others approached. "Haley!" I screamed. My heart was about to beat right out of my aching chest as I heard a murmur escape her frigid lips. Her wet eyelids squinted open, revealing the gorgeous golden orbs that slept behind them. She looked a bit dazed, then heartbroken, then her face just went blank.

"Haley," I sighed, "I'm so-" She cut me off.
"Where's Liam?" she demanded emotionlessly, her voice raspy and hoarse from sleeping in the freezing cold. How long had she been out here? Her request for anyone but myself shattered my heart, but I couldn't blame her. I had to make things right again. I tried to apologize once more, but she wouldn't let me. "I want Liam," she demanded, trying to wriggle out of my grasp as I attempted to pull her cold body to mine. I let her go, knowing how fragile she was.

"I'm right here," Liam announced, a bit breathless from his sprint. She crawled over to him and he scooped her up in his arms, giving me a look of disappointment. Seeing her burrow her face into his neck the way she should've been doing to me... The look Liam was giving me... What I knew everything was thinking... It was too much.

"You don't have to look at me like that!" I snapped at him. "I know I was an idiot! I know what I did was wrong! I already feel like a piece of shit, you don't have to make it worse!" I yelled through my cries, tears of frustration pouring from my red eyes. I got up and ran back to the van where Derek, Zayn, Michelle, and Sydney were waiting.

"She's not there?" Sydney asked cluelessly. I just went to the other side of the car and sat on the hard, unforgiving asphalt as I clenched tufts of my hair in my fists. How could I? How could I do that to her? She was already so delicate and breakable, and right as I get her to trust me I just ruin everything. She'll never forgive me, will she? I felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around my body, but I didn't look up. I wouldn't be able to look into Zayn's sympathetic eyes. I didn't deserve sympathy. I made a mistake I would never be able to take back. I heard every come out of the alley, and I couldn't help but look up at Haley. She asleep in Liam's arms, but she was twitching furiously. I ran up to her, wanting nothing more than to ease her pain. But Liam caught me off guard as he backed away a bit. I looked up at him incredulously.

"I'm sorry Nialler, I know you love her, but I think it's best you give her some space," he instructed calmly. I couldn't believe him, even though I knew he was right. Fury raged inside of me as he kept me from the only thing I cared about at the moment. I clenched my jaw and fists as my body went rigid. I felt Harry put his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down, but I shook it off violently and stomped indignantly into the van and hurled myself into the back, sobbing out my heart. How could I make my reason to smile cry? Her emotionless face staring up at me haunted my thoughts, breaking my heart. I felt so empty. She had to know it was a mistake... But how? Please let everything go back to the way it should be, I begged desperately in my head as we started driving home.







Please...






A/N***

Ooh, didn't see that on coming, did

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