just the beginning ➣ one direction

chapter 30 // casey

chapter 30 ayyy

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[ Lunchtime ]

I take my lunch tray and walk to the outdoor lunch tables. I walked over to the vacant table on the far right. It's the table Rachel, Emma and I usually sit down together for lunch. For some reason, they weren't there. Maybe I'm a little early.

I sit down on my usual spot, and start picking on my salad with my plastic fork. I looked up to see a bunch of strangers eating and talking on other tables, until I see Rachel and Emma cautiously come towards me. They join me by the empty table, as they begin to stare at me. I stared back awkwardly hoping they would say something.

"Hey gu---" Rachel interrupted me.

"So, what have you been hiding from us?" Rachel blurted out.

Right then, my stomach kicked in and I immediately knew what they were talking about. I silently gulped a big chunk of saliva down my esophagus and clenched my fists tightly.

Emma glared at her, and smacked her behind her head. "You don't just say it like that." She hissed.

Emma grasped her attention back to me. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Y-Yeah.." I unknowingly cough in between my sentences, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, yesterday during lunch, you were completely ignoring us the whole time.." Emma went on, "So I just thought maybe she isn't really having a good day.. so I look at you, and your eyes and mind and whole entire train of thought was focused on somewhere else.. or someone else."

"So I followed the direction of your eyes, and I saw Niall who was 4 tables away from us." Emma took a deep breath, "Like, it occurred to me, why would Casey Tomlinson be staring at Niall Horan from 4 tables away?"

She stopped talking, and they were both staring at me. I felt silence around us as they waited for my response. I didn't know what to say because everything was true. I, Casey Tomlinson, was staring at Niall from 4 tables away and I never realized how I selled myself short and how my friends already knew about my little tiny secret.

"Yeah," I hesitated, "I was staring at him."

"Why?" Rachel asked, "Is it because you li...li...ke him..?"

She couldn't even say it clearly, oh god.

I reluctantly nodded, and both Emma and Rachel's eyes bolted. They sprung up like dandelions and daisies on a spring afternoon. Emma's jaw dropped as Rachel jumped from her seat and granted me a great hug. I was confused for a minute, why would Rachel be excited?

"Oh my god, I KNEW it." Rachel belted, smiling.

Emma lifted her jaw back up to the other half of her mouth, and smiled also. "Yeah, same."

"What?" I said surprised, "How?"

"Well, you guys were always so close and stuff," Rachel added, "Besides, I always feel some sort of weird tension when it comes between you, Niall and Naomi."

I laughed, I actually do admit that it was kind of awkward between me and Naomi when it comes to Niall being there. I didn't know why whenever they would kiss right in front of me, I would feel so irritated and now I know why.

"You guys would be so cute together." Rachel beamed as she kept on smiling. I gave her a crooked smile, and silently voiced the words it would never happen.

"He has a girlfriend." Emma said.

"Shut up." Rachel punched her on the arm, "I'm just saying, they would look cute."