Two Against One

Chapter 26

I'm a mess. I'd gone back to the hotel by myself and slept for the rest of the day and all through the night. Now I was telling Jenna, Lizzy and Rachel the whole story about Harry and Niall. "So..." Lizzy says after a long period of silence, "sounds like this is something you really have to figure out."

"Please Liz. Tabitha obviously has it figured out already," Jenna speaks matter-of-factly. I shake my head and sniff for the hundredth time since I'd been crying like a baby the whole discussion.

"I think it's been a decision for a while... But I feel awful," I say. Rachel gives me a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Which just proves you aren't a cold-hearted user. Don't worry about it too much Tab, you need to do what's right and this is the right thing to do. And we all support you... they will too." 

I give them all a small smile and say, "I guess we better go over to the boys' room and talk then." They all nod and we get up to get ready. I couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.

**

"So it was high levels of stress?" Louis asks after I tell everyone the whole story. They're all sitting on the floor in front of me, full attention on everything I've been saying.

"Yup," I reply, "just stress. And I'll hopefully be getting it figured out soon too," I add.

We then chat for a bit and ordered some room service. Ten minutes after it's delivered, I feel a shove on my shoulder. I turned around to see that Jenna's given me a nudge with her foot. 'Go' she mouths, and points to Niall who's just gotten up and opened the hallway door to walk out. I give a quick nod and jog out the door, where I meet Niall a little bit up the hallway. "Niall!" I pant as I catch up to him. "Can we talk?"

"Nothing to talk about," he replies bluntly and keeps walking. I stop and grab his sleeve so he would too.

"Please?"

He sighs. "Fine."

I give a smile of relief. "Thank you," I say gratefully. "I am so, so sorry about yesterday. I had no intention of hurting you, you know that. Harry took my hand as a friendly gesture, that's all. I couldn't dream of hurting you, I care about you more than anything in the world and no matter what happens I want you to always be in my my life."

Niall replies, "That still doesn't explain why you look at him the way you do."

"I never realized how I looked at him, Niall. I can't help that and I-"

"I know you like him, you don't have to make up excuses anymore," he interrupts. I let out a sigh.

"You're right... I should've been straight up about everything from the beginning but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you. But I was wrong, I shouldn't have made such a stupid decision." I give him a smile but he doesn't return it.

"Does that mean you don't love me?" His voice cracks which breaks my heart.

"Of course!" I exclaim. "How could you ask me that? You've been my best friend for twelve years, you're like a brother to me... which is why dating isn't something meant for us. But I don't regret a second of it, I promise you that. You deserve a girl who looks at you like someone she wants to marry and I'm not that girl." Niall looks down, causing a tear to run down his cheek. "Hey," I whisper, wiping the tear away, "I'm still going to be by your side every second of every day. You're still my best friend and the only family I got. You were here for me when my mom never was, why would I ever give that up?"

Now he smiles.

"Because you're dumb," he jokes. "Never leave okay? No matter how frustrated I get with you, I always want you around... even when I don't make it seem like that way." I laugh and give him a tight hug.

"Of course not," I say with a grin. "Now how about we go chow down on some desserts."

"Absolutely!" he replies. We walk back to the room together and inside we find everyone scattered around the room, all talking and laughing.

"Heey, love birds!" Liam yells from the window where he and Zayn had been talking. Niall and I looked at each other and laugh.

"Not lovebirds," I say.

"Friends," Niall finishes. "We've decided the dating life isn't for us."

"Glad to hear it!" Louis lets out from behind us. "All that ooey, gooey romance was getting old!" He winks and I walk over and give him a shove.

"Tame him, would ya?" I teasingly tell Lizzy who's sitting across from him.

"I'm working on it!" She replies. I then walked over to Jenna who greets me with a warm smile.

"Darling!" She says with a mouth full of chips. "You look chipper!" I nod with a smile, sitting down next to her.

"It went so well Jen," I reply. "Everything worked out and we both agreed we just weren't cut out to date each other."

"Perfect!" Jenna says. "Now what about Harry?" I suck in a breath.

"I guess I gotta talk to him now." I look around the room to discover, of course, he's not there."If I knew where he was..."

"Guess you'll have to go find him," Rachel winks. I give a small laugh and get up, heading to the door.

"Whoa, whoa!" Niall exclaims, stopping me before I could turn the knob, "Leaving so soon?"

"Just stepping out," I replies. "I... have things to figure out." Niall looks around the room and clues in. I couldn't help but tell he looked hurt. "Niall I'm..."

"No," he replies. "don't apologize."

I nod and start to walk out until he says, "Hey Tabitha?"

I turn around. "Yeah?"

"Good luck. I uh- I give you my blessing," he says with uncertainty. I laugh and give him a hug.

"Thank you," I mumble into his shoulder. "That means a lot." With one last smile I'm out the door, about to deal with something I should have dealt with a while ago.