Guarded

||thirty||

"What are you doing here?" I ask him.

"What does it look I'm doing here? I'm partying." He smirks. God, how I've missed that smirk. I haven't seen it in a near three months.

"Yeah, but what about Dublin?"

He shrugs. "I wanted to come back to New York and visit. It's where all my friends are." Niall looks down at his feet. "I wanted to come back to you, too."

My face flushes and I smile very widely. "I tried to follow you to Dublin, you know."

"You did?" He laughs slightly.

"Emme was gonna pay for my ticket, but her card kept getting rejected. Then, you left and I guess I just kind of gave up." I shrug, embarrassed. "I tried calling you, but your number was disconnected."

"Sorry about that. I got a new number because this insane girl that I gave it to, kept giving it to a bunch of people I didn't know. Then I didn't think you really wanted to talk to me because of how we left things. I'm so sorry, Cassie." He gently touches my cheek and locks eyes with me.

"I forgive you, Niall." He puts his soft lips on mine and kisses me hard.

"I missed you so much, Cassie."

"I missed you more," I reply with a slight smirk on my face.

"I missed you most."

"Well, I missed you mostest." I laugh and he laughs, too. Now there's an eruption of 'Awww's from the people around us, that I guess gathered.

"Yay! Niall and Cassie are back together, everybody's happy. Let's get back to partying!" Mandy exclaims with a clap of her hands.

Everybody around starts talking and moving and the party starts back up. "So, Dublin is good?"

"Yes, it's amazing. The city is so exciting. And uni is good, too," Niall replies. "Are you attending any university?"

I shake my head. "I haven't got any money." Niall looks down at the floor.

"How's that job working for Alexis?" He asks.

"It's good." I nod. "I've almost repaid her for the medical bills. But I just-" I stop in mid-sentence.

"You just what?" Niall looks in my eyes again.

"I just always assumed that by the time I was 18, I would have a good job and be attending a great university. I don't want to be scrubbing floors for the rest of my life, you know?" I take another sip of my Coke.

"Well, you still can. Just apply for a lot of scholarships. You're smart, you can get some extra money. Then, get a better job," Niall encourages.

"It's not that simple, babe." I shrug.

"I'm not your babe," he blurts out.

"What?"

"You broke up with me, remember?" He smirks. "You haven't officially asked me out."

"Niall Horan, you little shit." I fight a smile, but my lips turn up anyway. "I can't date you." My smile instantly fades.

"What?" He frowns.

"You still live in Dublin! I don't believe in long distance relationships, you know that. This would never work." I shake my head.

He curses under his breath. "This isn't how this was supposed to go."

"How what was supposed to go?"

"The plan!" He shouts, but then he lowers his tone. He takes my arm and he leads me to the elevator, then takes me outside.

"What plan, Niall?" I ask when we're alone.

"The plan to get us back." He puts his forehead in his hand. "Mandy said she was having a party and I love her parties. Also, I needed an excuse to actually be in New York. So, this was it. And the boys got her to invite you, then I could surprise you and everything would be better and we'd be together and I'd be happy." And he mumbled, "Then, I could move back to New York."

"What? No. No. You're not moving back to New York for me. We can make this work. I'm an adult. I can try a long distance relationship. But you're not going to move back. You're going back to Dublin to live your dream."

He doesn't break my gaze. "Except that all my dreams were crushed when I left you." He smiles weakly. "Also, I got kicked out of uni."

"Okay, first; awwww, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. And second; you got kicked out of uni?! What the hell did you do?!" I say in a loud voice.

"That's not important." He shrugs.

I scoff. "Uh, yeah, it actually is important, Niall."

He sighs. "Well, you know how it's like a private college and is really big on reputation?" I nod. "Okay, so apparently, you can't punch someone and do serious damage to said person's jaw without it getting out in the media. And, um, the university's big policy is 'Zero-tolerance for violence.' So, if they didn't do anything about the fight, their reputation would be ruined. And I got kicked out." He fakes a small chuckle.

"You punched a guy?" My jaw drops.

"I said something about my old girlfriend back in New York and he said something rude about you. So, I punched him. Several times. In the face. With full force."

"You punched a guy...for me?"

He shrugs again. "Please don't be mad at me-"

I cut him off by forcefully placing my lips on his. "I'm in love with you."

He looks a little taken aback, but he smiles widely. "I'm in love with you, too."

"Hey," I whisper. "Do we really have ask each other out?"

He laughs. "No, I was just yanking your chain." He kisses my forehead. "Babe."

A light goes off in my head. "Hey! My neighbors just moved out last week. You can get an apartment right next to me."

"I don't have a stable enough job to get an apartment." Niall frowns.

"Oh, c'mon, they're cheap," I persuade. "You can get a roommate. Or four."

"Four?" Niall's eyebrows furrow.

"You know, the fab five." I make a 'rainbow' motion with my hands. "Niall, Liam, Harry, Louis, and Zayn embark on the journeys of everyday New York City life, living in a cramped apartment right next to the love of Niall's life."

Niall holds his stomach as he laughs. "You're so ridiculous."

"I know. I just made a complete fool of myself, didn't I?" I giggle. "I'm an idiot."

"Yes, yes you are. But you're my idiot." He kisses my forehead and I get butterflies in my stomach. A great feeling I haven't felt in a very, very long time.

~

yay Niall's back

Comment, vote, & take a mint on your way out :-))

-Anna xo