Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Five

Niall Horan

Standing in front of me is a beautiful girl I have never seen in my life. She's brunette, an inch or two shorter than me, and honestly she seems just as confused as I am. But wow is she gorgeous.

"Hello," I stated simply.

"Hi." She seemed at a loss for words.

"Your name is Liv, is it?"

"Yeah, it's short for Olivia. But I prefer Liv so I don't really know why I mentioned that." She laughed a little and so did I.

"I like it."

"Well thank you." We were both just smiling at each other for no reason at all. She was very pretty so I was nervous talking to her, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"So Liv, you're American. And that's a statement not a question."

"What gave it away, the accent? Or do I somehow just scream American?"

"Definitely the second one," I said, laughing. "With Americans you can just tell. Something about you, it's like you have an eagle tattooed on your forehead."

"Bicep," she said through laughter. "The stereotype would definitely be bicep."

I was of course being completely sarcastic but I like that she's making fun of herself.

"The jokes are funny, but I kind of love how it stands out so fast."

"So you're proud of where you're from?"

"Oh absolutely!" She smiled real sweetly. "Just my upbringing I mean. The belief in hard work and making for yourself the life you want." She paused, then rushed to add, "Not that I don't think Europeans are lovely people too." I think I'm picking up on a bit of flirting here.

"I can relate to that. I love where I'm from. The Irish are just good people." Then I pushed her with a bit of a test by saying, "Let's be honest, Ireland is the best country in the world. Hands down."

She gave a huge laugh so I knew she got the reference. Then I knew she was definitely a fan even though it wasn't obvious at first. First of all, she seemed older. "Absolutely not," she smiled knowingly. "But seriously, I would completely defend that America is the best," she said while she laughed, "but not tonight."

"Why not tonight? Liv, you don't want to go head to head right here, right now? Ireland vs. USA. Let's go."

"I try not to argue with a person the first time I meet them," she jokingly explained. I gave her a look as if to press the matter. "I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now," she said. She's funny. She had me really laughing, not that it was difficult to make me laugh, but still.

"Okay, you're hilarious," I told her.

"I didn't even come up with that one I'll admit. But thank you anyway." She smiled. It was such a perfect smile. Is it strange that I feel a connection with her after only talking for maybe five minutes?

"So what are ya doing here, anyway? Since you're American, I mean. And this is Harry's party and everything. Wow, that sounded rude. I didn't mean it like that. I just thought I knew most of his friends, ya know?"

"I actually came here with him because Harry and I went on a date earlier."

"Oh." I hope my disappointment wasn't so obvious. My heart kinda sunk into my stomach for a second. We had only talked for a little while, but I liked her. I guess I won't ever know if we had something because Harry is dating her. I would never do something to hurt him.