Darling Harbor (Niall Horan)

Chapter 29: Thanks, Valerie!

~UNEDITED bc I'm sleepy already~

Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2013

“So basically, Barbara’s point was she’s tired of fooling around with you. She was just a pussy to say it directly to you, but all she wanted to tell you actually was she’s tired of your shit.” Niall’s pregnant best friend, Valerie, harshly says without meeting his eyes because she is busy arranging the flowers in the large crystal flask on top of the tall roundtable.

She is cutting the excess stems and leaves of the flowers with various colours before putting them inside the vase. Niall sits at the couch behind his best friend who happens to be the would-be mother of his best mate, Harry’s child. His back leans lazily against the couch as looks of wariness and distress cover his whole features.

He seems not fazed at Valerie’s words. He’s used to her rather harsh remarks and he admits that it would be a lot surprising if she starts comforting him with soft words. To Niall, Valerie’s bluntness is her own way of showing her concern and love for him as her best friend.

They may fight a lot like siblings—especially when it comes to food as Niall’s appetite could also be compared to a pregnant woman—but they will always be there for each other at trouble times. Valerie denies that Niall is her best friend though, but Niall claims that she is indeed his girl best friend.

So even though he knew she will just mock him about his problems, he would still come to her for some sort of advice, in her own special way of course. That’s one of the important reasons why though—because she always makes everything feel lighter to handle, because she always laughs at all the problems.

“Valerie…” Niall murmurs from behind her, still immobile in his seat but he shakes his head lazily at the headrest. “Barbara isn’t like that. She’s a sweet and nice girl.”

To Niall’s surprise, Valerie starts laughing her lungs out and he sits up almost immediately in amusement.

“Sure,” She says sarcastically once her laughter dies down. “But let’s face it,” Valerie turns to Niall this time with the cutter pointing at Niall subconsciously. He gulps at the sight of the pointed tool in her hands and Valerie realizes that so she puts the cutter back on top of the table. “Let’s face it…” She repeats, her eyes directed at the troubled blonde boy. “Barbara is a free-spirited girl. She wouldn’t settle for a very long time and commit in a serious relationship. She’s still young after all. So clearly, she’s tired of you.” She shrugs and turns to face her task at hand once again.

“Maybe she was tired of you long after Bree appeared here in London,” She continues and Niall frowns, although she considers his best friend’s words as a possibility. “And maybe she took Bree’s sudden appearance as a cue to finally get rid of you.” They both laugh lightly at that. Niall couldn’t actually believe Valerie’s words but he considers it because Barbara quitting on him was just an out-of-the-blue decision. But the hint of incredulity is still lingering in his head for the short but treasured moment he shared with the brown-haired model.

“But I commend her for advising you to get Bree back. I’ll give her that.” Niall let her continue her ramblings as he let himself get entertained with the beautiful colours adorning the now almost perfect flower arrangement that she is working on. “Oh, I almost forgot,” She hails all of a sudden and quickly turns around to him.

“Where’s my purse by the way?” She asks him and his brows scrunch up in curiosity because he has little to no clue what she is talking about.

“What purse?”

“You know the small purple bag with small crystal beads all around it.” She looks at him in a way that tells him that he should know what she was talking about, gesturing her hands in front of herself as if to describe the accessory with them.