When Boy Meets Girl

Chapter Two

Weeks passed and the air got colder. The only time I saw Niall was in my dreams. Often times, as I was just about to touch him, I would wake up. Nonetheless, things went on as usual.

It was in the middle of November when I recieved two unexpected surprises.

The first was the return of my roommate and best friend Lacey. I had just tried on my new winter coat when I heard someone unlocking the door. I was brimming with excitement, knowing that this could only mean one thing.

"Lacey!" I shouted as she stepped in. I let her shake off some of the light snow before giving her a tight hug.

"Chris! I've missed you so much!" We enjoyed a few moments of catching up before I knew I had to address what would be a touchy topic.

"But Lacey, I must ask. Why are you back so soon? I thought you and Will would be spending the holiday seasons together." Lacey tensed up a little and plopped onto the couch.

"Will and I broke up," she let out all at once. Lacey covered her eyes and sobbed. I put a comforting hand on one of her shaking shoulders.

"Lacey I'm so sorry," I told her, though I had to say I saw it coming. Will was sweet but he had a bad temper and Lacey was too weak to know how to handle it. I held her frail body and stroked her straight blond hair. Her and Niall shared the same eyes I thought to myself.

"Well, Charles and I broke up too," I admitted. At that she sat up.

"Good," Lacey laughed, "You were too pretty for him anyways." We broke into giggles that made my stomach cramp.

Lacey and I had been friends longer than we could remember. Our mothers, being childhood buddies, destined us to follow in their footsteps. And so we had. It was strange though, how opposite we were. Lacey with her model like body, blond hair and blue eyes. Me with a more athletic build-still lean though-with wild brown hair and brown eyes. I always cursed my mother and father for giving me brown eyes; they felt so boring and plain.

"Come on Lacey let's get out of here," I said. Without any resistance she picked herself off the couch and we headed down to the nearest park, where I encountered my second surprise.

Snow fell lightly all around us, creating a blanket over the ground. It looked like a fairytale. Out of all the seasons, winter was always my favorite. Every year, I drove to the countryside of England to admire the white barreness that I found beautiful in an odd way. And it was those evergreen trees that stood tall and strong that inspired me with their resistance to the fierce weather. I thought about all that as I spun in a circle, mouth open wide, snowflakes melting on my tongue. Lacey poked me hard on the arm.

"Ow that actually hurt. What?" I asked annoyed.

"Is that, is that...." She pointed an excited finger in the direction of two boys. Yes it was. It was without a doubt Niall Horan, but there was someone else. I recognized band mate Liam Paynes distinct face as they got closer.

"It is," I whispered in disbelief. Finally I had the chance to see him again. As if another force had taken over me, I waved to them confidently.

"Hey Chris!" Niall shouted, taking Liam by the arm and pulling him our way. Lacey whimpered in emotion overload beside me.

"Nice to see you!" There was that force again and I hugged both him and Liam. Lacey followed suit.

"What a coincidence that we keep running into each other. Not that I mind," Niall said. Instead of my heart beating faster, it felt it had stopped completely. Get a hold of yourself I demanded. I laughed like I was a schoolgirl who had just gotten her first kiss.

"I'm glad you don't mind. And Liam, its a pleasure to meet you."

"Same," Liam responded in his gentleman voice. Lacey remained speechless, which was a rare experience for the both of us. Since she didn't appear to want to speak, I did the speaking for her.

"This is my best friend Lacey." She cracked the weirdest of smiles.

"I'm Niall and this is Liam," Niall said completely out of courtesy. We all knew they didn't have to introduce themselves. If you didn't know who they were, you might as well be living in a cave.

The four of us were starting to attract a crowd. As teen girls snapped photos of the boys, me and Lacey did our best to try to stay out of the cameras way.

"Wanna get something to eat I'm starving," Niall said, also noticing all the people.

"Good idea," I agreed quickly.

As we walked to McDonalds-because it was closest-Liam took his turn at converstaion.

"Lacey and Niall look exactly the same don't you think?" he whispered. Lacey and Niall were in front of us, side by side.

"I was about to say the same thing," I said quietly.

McDonalds smelled like grease as it always did, but for some reason it made people want to eat even more. I picked hungrily at the hot fries, careful not to make myself look like a fatty. Niall didn't seem to care about his appearance as he gobbled up his food and was ordering another meal in a matter of minutes. Lacey stayed quiet for most of the lunch, inserting an opinion here and there.

"We should do this more," Niall said as we all got up.

"Yeah, definitely."

"Here." Niall handed me a slip of paper and I could feel my face turn pink when our fingers touched for a brief second. I noticed a number scribbled on it and I stuffed it in the back pocket of my jeans.

"It was good meeting you both," Liam added.

We exchanged awkward hugs and went our separate ways.