Plain Pain: A Niall Horan Fan Fiction

Chapter 64

I watched Niall get off the phone with Scott, who was already waiting at the door with Sean in front of the nightclub. I fixed my dress slightly as Niall pulled his key out of the ignition and we both exited the car. Although I was quite nervous to be spending time with Niall after the odd conversation we had last night, I was a little excited to be getting out of the house. I'd gotten used to always being busy what with my hectic schedule and everything, and being in the house for long amounts of time was starting to become a little suffocating. I needed a proper night out, which was why I called Penelope and invited her to tag along considering I hadn't seen her since we'd both landed in Ireland and separated at the airport. Some catching up was rightfully due.

But I suddenly found myself once again not quite sure about coming here with Niall when I saw that Scott and Sean had company. It was true that I needed to get out of the house, but I wasn't really up for meeting new people tonight. Knowing that it was too late to run back to the parking lot now, I forced a smile onto my face and hugged the two boys before Niall and I waited for Scott to introduce us.

"Uh, Niall, Rachel, this is Stefanie. We work together," Sean paused as I shook hands with the girl and gave her a small smile which she returned. She seemed alright.

"And this is Gerard. We found him on the street," Sean said with a straight face and Gerard punched him in the stomach. Sean laughed through the pain and recovered quickly to admit that he was joking, "Alright, alright, he's my boyfriend. Quite aggressive that one," Sean joked again and Gerard put an arm around his shoulders, pulling Sean into his body.

I found myself feeling not so upset that we had company anymore.

Niall rolled his eyes and smiled at the pair, greeting Gerard whom he'd apparently already met before, "Yeah, alright, are we gonna stay out here all night or what?"

Scott looked up from his phone, "Just a couple more minutes. Maddie and Jonathon are just parking the car."

Great, more people.

I decided to busy myself by calling Penelope on the phone to see where she was. She said she had just parked her car and was walking towards the front door already. I hung up on her when I spotted her across the street, and I waved at her enthusiastically. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed her until she was actually in front of me.

She began speed walking in my direction and I met her halfway, wrapping my arms around her and engulfing her into a hug. I told her how much I'd missed her before we pulled away and began walking towards the group that now had an extra two strange faces.

"Wow, that's a lot of people," Penelope whispered in my ear and I chuckled as we neared the crowd.

Everyone's attention suddenly turned to us, "Guys, this is Penelope. She's my best friend and we work together," I introduced her and she quickly got to know everyone before we finally walked inside. We went to the VIP section overlooking the dance floor and I sat on the couch between Penelope and Niall. Once we were all settled, a waiter came and took our orders. I asked for a soda because after what Niall told me about the last time I got drunk in front of him, I wasn't sure if I wanted to have another sip of alcohol ever again.

It was really difficult to speak with all the loud music playing, and I realized just how stupid it was for me to think that Penelope and I could have our catching up session at a freaking night club. Not to mention, Niall was long gone by now. He went off with Sean and his boyfriend, whom I'd already forgotten the name of, to hit the dance floor. Normally I would've been the first one on that dance floor, but I wasn't really feeling it tonight, and it didn't take long for Penelope to notice.

"You seem down, what's wrong?" Penelope shouted in my ear and I looked at her and shrugged, trying to tell her that I was okay.

She shook her head, "I can't talk to you like this. Let's go to the ladies' room," she shouted again and I nodded before getting up to follow her.