My Addiction

My Addiction: Chapter Nine

But there was only one problem. He wasn't Ed.

Even though I knew what I was doing wasn't what I wanted, I let it happen. I kissed him back. I smiled into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I didn't care that I had just met him, I didn't care that there was a possibility I had feelings about Ed, the only thing I cared about was this moment, and only this moment.

"I should go." I said reluctantly.  Niall nodded, his arms still wrapped around my waist. He leaned in so his forehead was resting against mine and he mumble a quiet "Sorry."

I raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

"Kissing you." he replied in a voice so quiet I almost missed it.

"I did sort of kiss you back."

"Still."

I backed out of his protective hold and looked at him with an apologetic smile. I walked towards the door quickly and said "I have to go." I opened the door and looked back at Niall right before I closed the door and saw one thing very evident on his features. Pain. I felt a pang of guilt wash over me.

I pushed those feelings into the back of my head and ran back over to the elevator where Ed was still waiting.

"What took you so long." Ed said with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"My jacket was hiding from me, sorry." I said nervously. Wait, why was I nervous?

"Yeah, sure. It was 'hiding' from you." Ed said sarcastically putting air quotes around hiding.

"Shut-up." I said jokingly.

Ed laughed and we heard the ding of the elevator signaling that we were on the main floor. We both got out of the elevator, and once agin, I was stunned by the decor of the hotel.

"You might want to close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Ed joked.

I ignored his remark.

We walked outside, and we were met with a gust of freezing cold wind. It had to be at least fifty degrees right now. I shivered involunterely and quickly put on my jacket..Well, tried to at least.

I had gotten my right arm through the sleeve but was having some severe technical difficulties with my left arm.

Ed chuckled, "Would you like some help Analee?"

"No." I replied.

I reached my left arm behind my back, searching for the sleeve and I was still unable to find it. So, out of frustration, I jumped. It just so happens that that's how I located the sleeve I was searching for.

"Ha!" I said looking at Ed in triumph.

I wiggled my arm through the sleeve and flung my arm to the front of my body, successfully bitch slapping myself in the face. I heard Ed erupt into laughter and I shot him a glare.

As much as I tried to keep a poker face while looking at Ed, it was nearly impossible. I felt my face stretching into a smile, and I began to laugh. What can I say, Ed had a very contagious laugh....Well, that and I sort of imagined what I must have looked like while putting on my jacket.

I was laughing so hard I felt abs coming on. I looked at Ed who was bent over, clutching his stomach with tears rushing down his face. After a few minutes of nearly dying from laughing so hard, we finally calmed down enough to properly breathe.

"Now that, takes some serious talent Analee."

I bowed and said "I'll be here all week."

Ed laughed and rolled his eyes. "Let's go." I nodded and we both walked to the car and got in the back.

We were driving for a while and Ed looked to me with a crooked smile and he said, "Let's go out to eat."

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go eat somewhere. Just you and I."

I smiled but then realized that I had no money. Which reminded me that I had no job, which reminded me that I was probably going to be getting kicked out of my apartment, and so forth and so on.

"Analee? Uh, earth to Analee." Ed said waving his hand in front of my face.

I realized that due to all of my thinking, I hadn't even answered Ed.

"I don't have any money." I replied very quietly.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, it's not like I would let you pay anyway. So, we're going to Nando's."

I laughed and asked, "Is there any point in fighting you on this?"

"Nope." Ed said triumphantly with a smug smile on his face.

We began the drive to Nando's when I remembered something and turned to Ed.

"So why didn't you want to play some of your music for me before today?"

"Correction; I didn't even want to play for you today." Ed replied.

"Well don't you know how to make the ladies feel good." I said sarcastically. His remark was slightly offensive, now that I thought about it.

"I didn't mean it like that." Ed said apologetically.

"So how did you mean it then?"

Ed sighed and looked at his hands. I could tell that this was a pretty touchy subject for him. I could also tell that Ed needed a friend. Not someone who was going to push him and demand answers.

I put my hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at me with his eyes filled with sadness. His eyes looked about as sad as mine right now. "We don't have to talk about it." I said softly.

Ed shook his head and swallowed, "I want to."

I nodded my head encouragingly and gave him a small smile.

"When I has sixteen, I met this girl. Her name was Tonya. I fell for her, pretty hard to say the least. She was the world to me. I'd do anything and everything for her. At this time, I was on my own, living in my shit excuse for an aprtment. The only thing I wanted, other than a meal every now and then, was to be with her. I finally worked up the nerve and told her that, we'd been sort of together for a year now. One day she came over and asked me to play a song for her. So of course, I did. I poured my heart out to her, and sang to her everything I couldn't say. She told me she loved me then kissed me, and left. The next morning, her mum knocked on my door and told me she killed herself the night before."

I was speechless. That would certainly explain why he didn't want to sing for me.

I didn't say anything. I just pulled him into a hug and squeezed the shit out of him. "Thank-you." he said into the crook of my neck.

I just nodded, even though I had no clue what he was thanking me for.

We pulled up to Nando's and Ed smiled and said, "Let's go eat before I starve to death."

I nodded and got out of the car. We walked into the restraunt and took our seats and everything when Ed got a text.

He looked at me with something in his eyes, pain.

"You kissed Niall." His voice cracked on the last word.