Beneath Your Beautiful (H.S. AU)

Chapter 26

The way he looked at me made my heart skip a beat, and I felt like I had a never-ending swarm of butterflies living inside my stomach. I could stare into his beautiful green eyes and listen to his sweet, hoarse voice all day without questioning it. He gave me a smile and pecked my cheek and I was sure I looked like a tomato, but it didn't really matter. I was happy.

"It's late," he stated. "You're going to be late for class." He already knew me too well. I didn't like being late for class, but somehow he seemed more important right now. Or at least until I saw what time it was. I looked at my watch and mentally smacked myself for getting so distracted that I forgot about school. "I need to talk to you later," I said, remembering that I needed to ask him something.

"Okay," he gave me another smile and kissed my cheek again. "See you later then." He bit his lip, and I had to use all energy to not kiss him there and then, but I was late and I really didn't want to get in trouble. I smiled at him and quickly scurried down the corridor heading for my classroom. For once I was lucky because the teacher hadn't showed up yet, and I quickly headed for the last empty seat in the room, but as I did my eyes met with a pair of fairly blue ones - Niall's. He looked at me with a lowered head, and I got curious as to what was on his mind. He seemed upset, sad even and I couldn't help but wonder why. I gave him smile which he returned, and I felt slightly better as my mind wandered back to what I was going to talk to Harry about. As I faced the board, my smile stayed in place. Although it was still November, people had started planning this year's winter ball that would take place next month, and I was excited to say the least. I really loved those kinds of things. It was always magical with the decorations and everybody was dressed so nicely. I really hoped Harry would want to go, but I wondered if it was a bad idea to bring it up. If he said no, I would definitely be crushed.

After class, I walked out totally forgetting about Niall until I saw him waiting for me outside the classroom. "Hi," I said and walked over to him. He was still wearing the same look he had in class, and I had to admit it made me feel uneasy.

"Hey. I wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry about your friend. I would have come to you sooner, but it seems like you've been busy," he explained, while placing his hands in his jean pockets, and I began to feel uncomfortable. The mentioning of Maya made shivers run down my spine in cold sweat and if a smile had been on my lips it was definitely gone now. Harry had been a good distraction from her, but there was no way I could hide from it all completely.

"Thanks Niall," I said and all of a sudden he wrapped his arms around me relaxing me. I had known Niall all my life and in that moment I realized how empty I had felt without him. He had been such a huge part of my life, and I didn't understand how I had been able to just cut him out of my life like I had.

"You know, I'm always here if you need anything," he said brushing a strain of hair out of my face. I gave him a smile nodding in thanks. He truly was the best, and he deserved so much better than me. He had always been there for me and unfortunately, I had taken that for granted most of the time.

"I didn't only want to give you my condolence," he explained, and I narrowed my eyes at him. I had no idea what he was going to say, but I realized he hadn't approached me to talk about Maya.

"I have noticed you've been hanging out with Harry quite a lot, you two seem to have gotten awfully- close," he said with a scrunched nose, and I knew he didn't like the thought of the two of us together. I couldn't blame him though, I would feel horrible too if he found someone else. I felt bad for having this conversation with him. Clearly Niall still felt something for me, and the fact that I had gotten a new boyfriend surely couldn't be easy on him.

"We are," I spoke truthfully. Harry and I had grown really close in a short amount of time, and I believed he understood me better than anyone as he had lost someone as well.