Tattooed Heart [Ziall] (Very Slow Updates)

Chapter 5

Niall still felt lonely when he got home. He's been wondering all day why he's been feeling so lonely. It's not like Zayn was his friend anyways. Was it because of his stupid dream? Had he felt lonely from the thought of Greg and Bobby gone? Had Zayn just walking away added to that feeling?

Niall didn't have much time to consider it. As soon as the door was closed behind him, his mother turned around. Maura had been reading, but she turned her attention away from it considerably fast when she heard someone come through the front door.

"How was school, sweetie?" Niall's mother asked, putting her book down on her lap to turn all of her attention to Niall. Maura asked Niall the same question every day, a few moments after he closed the door behind him.

"It was pretty good." Niall said, shrugging. He'd felt extremely lonely after third period, and Liam making out with Harry for five minutes straight in Maths didn't really help that lonely feeling. But he didn't want to let that ruin his day. "Hey, um, this boy invited me over to his house. It's not, like, anything special, we're just working on a project together."

"Okay." Maura said, turning her body slightly so looking at her son wouldn't hurt her neck. "Who's this boy, then? I don't know him, do I?"

"You don't know anyone at my school, mum." Niall chuckled. "His name's Zayn- Zayn Malik. He's... I don't know. He's not rude, but I don't think he likes me all that much."

"Oh." Maura said, sounding a little more than disappointed. She even had a pout on her lips to accompany it. "Are you sure he's not rude? I don't want you going over to a bully's house- I don't care if it's for a project."

"No. Nobody bullies me, honestly." Niall said. It really wasn't a lie, Niall wasn't bullied. Maura could tell, now, that he wasn't lying so she nodded.

"Do I have to take you over there?" Maura asked, and Niall shook his head. He realized he didn't really know what he was going to do- was he going over directly after school? Was Zayn going to ask for his number and call him? He didn't even know Zayn's address.

"I don't know, actually." Niall said. Maura turned again, because she's picked her book back up and shifted back to a comfortable position. "I'm not exactly sure where he lives, so he might just take me there after school."

"Okay." Maura said, turning back to her book. "Well, if you do go to his house after school you'd better call me."

"Okay." Niall agreed. He just stood there for a moment, his hands in his pockets. His mind had fallen back into a coma of depressing, lonely thoughts and he couldn't really move. He hated this. He hated fire. He hated Zayn. Why did he feel like this towards someone who felt so little towards him?

"Sweetie?" Maura asked. She'd set her book down on the table, now. It was closed, so Niall guessed she'd bookmarked it. "Niall, honey, come here."

Maura pat the seat beside her. Niall shuffled over, sitting down heavily. His book-bag was still slung over his back, and he didn't bother to push it away. It wasn't bothering him, so there was no point taking it off.

"What's the matter?" Maura asked, reaching out to wipe tears off of Niall's face. Niall hadn't even realized he was crying. He hated that, too. When Niall cried, sometimes, he didn't even realize because the tears were so familiar to his face. He only ever noticed the tears when he was looking at himself or when they soaked into one of his freshly washed shirts (or when sobs were ripping through his body, but he wasn't thinking about the tears when he was sobbing).

"I'm lonely." Niall muttered. He sniffled and looked down at his lap, taking to wiping away his own tears. "I feel lonely, but I'm not. Not really. I mean, okay, I guess I had a really bad dream this morning and I found out my kind-of-best-friend has a boyfriend now and maybe my partner didn't walk to lunch with me but all of these things have already happened and I knew Liam and Harry were going to happen and I don't know why I'm hurt."