i know the feeling || n.h. au

part two

"You look happy for someone who just got stood up," was the first thing Liam said to Niall as he approached his friends at their table and took a seat at the only empty chair. That's a brave thing to say considering that he's the one who set Niall up with Anna, the girl from his office, whom he thought was the great match for his friend. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Niall replied. He didn't think he'd say that an hour ago, but things changed when he started talking to Nina. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole when he saw Anna walking into a pub after telling him that she wasn't feeling well. He was mortified, even more so because it happened in front of Nina and her friend.

"Told you, mate," Louis piped in, nudging Liam in the rib, "You should've set him up with Jess not Anna. Jess is the right one."

"No," Niall shook his head as he put down his beer. He needed to put a stop to this. His friends had been trying to set him up with girls from their office for months and he'd grown tired of it. He knew his friends meant well – they wanted him to live a little, that's what they always said, but he didn't need that right now. What he needed was for the time to stop so he could catch a breath and not feel like he's behind on everything. "No more setting me up with anyone. I don't have time for it."

"Oh here we fucking go again," Louis grumbled as he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Taking a sip of his beer, he pointed a finger at Niall. "All you talk about is how you don't have time for fucking anything. Make time, then!"

Niall let out a scoff. He'd lost count on how many times he's told to make time for something other than school. "Easy for you to say," he said to his friend.

Liam, noticing the tension in the air, interjected. "Hey, let's talk about something else." Turning to Niall, he asked, "You mentioned you're with someone at the coffee shop. Who was it?"

"Nina."

"Nina as in the girl you used to have a crush on?" Liam asked.

Niall's cheeks reddened at the reminder. He did have a crush on her back then. He thought she was cool, incredibly smart and annoyingly beautiful. Annoyingly, he thought, because he had a hard time taking his eyes off of her – read: the back of her head – in class and she didn't realise how beautiful she really was.

Louis' ears perked up at the mention of the word 'crush', his annoyance from earlier dissipated into thin air. "Niall had a crush on someone? Niall 'I don't have time for anything' Horan actually had time for crush back then?"

"Fuck off," Niall gave his friend the bird.

"Who's this Nina girl, anyway?" Louis asked, curiosity lilting his voice.

"Niall partnered up with her for a project in– what class was it?"

"World History," Niall mumbled, unwilling to share that piece of information because he knew Liam was going to embarrass him so why help him, right?

"Yeah, that's it." Liam grinned. "They worked together quite a lot and he had a huuuuge crush on her–"

"You're exaggerating," Niall interrupted. Maybe it's a bad idea to mention Nina in front of his friends who'd take any chance they could get to embarrass him.

"Am I?" Liam kinked an eyebrow at him. Niall simply rolled his eyes. "But true to Niall Horan's fashion, he never told her that he liked her."

Louis let out a loud groan as he slapped Niall on the back.

"Wha-What the fuck was that for?"

"You're a fucking idiot, do you know that?"

Turning to Liam, he frowned, "And what do you mean true to Niall Horan's fashion?"