Blind date (n.s)

11

"So", I said, feeling suddenly tired and old. "Let's get on with it."

I had to begun believe that I was meeting Harry so much that I felt very hurt and sad.

"In a minute", Louis said. He looked at Julia and then at Shawn. "Now listen, you know this man. You haven't seen him for a long time. For a really, really long  time. "

"Get to a point, Lou", I whined. "Apart of that, you shouldn't be here after what happened last night"

Louis just rolled his eyes and without giving this statement of mine any more attention he began to continue speaking.

"Anyway I saw this bloke the other day on the bus. His car had broken down. When he asked after you I thought it must be like fate, right? It must be meant to be. He said he wanted to see you again. And I want you to know that I thought about it for a long time, Niall. Me, Shawn and Julia talked about it. We thought you should meet. I thought you should meet."

"Meet who?" I was starting to lose my temper.

Louis put his hand on my shoulder and guided me round the bar to where I could see a man in a suit, his dark head bent over his mobile phone as he sent a text.

"Luke Goddard!", Louis said.

I felt as if the breath had been sucked out of my lungs. I felt like fifteen again with my heart thundering in my chest as I looked at him sitting on the swings waiting for me.

I should have seen this coming. It was obvious really. But I hadn't thought of it, so I hadn't Stopp it.

All I knew was that I didn't want to see Luke Goddard, because the moment I realised that that man was him, all I could feel was the cold hard slap of those insults and lies hitting me in the face again.

"Get out of my way" I said, and pushed Louis to one side as I headed towards the pub doors.

"What?" Louis stepped in front of me again. "Why? Where are you going?"

I shook my head as I looked at him. I couldn't believe that he didn't know why I was so angry.

"Luke Goddard!" I shook my head in disbelief. "Lou, you of all people should know what he did to me! He made my life hell."

I pushed past Louis again and got two steps further before he stopped me.

"Niall, wait!" he held the top of my arm.

"Please, listen to him for a second!" Julia said begging.

I pulled Louis fingers loose and waited.

"Ok", he said. "We were stupid. We should have told you from the start who you were meeting. But we didn't think you'd come if you knew!"

"Actually that part was Louis' idea", Julia said.

"Julia!", Shawn exclaimed. "You're not helping!"

Julia shrugged.

"Too bloody right I wouldn't have come", I hissed at them both, trying hard not to attract attention. "And now I'm going home. Get out of my way."

But Louis didn't move. He lowered his voice as a few people looked over our way. Even the greatest hits playlist that Harry had turned up to full volume couldn't disguise the fact that something was going on with us.

"Niall- if you could just talk to him, then..."

"I can't believe you'd think...", I began, hearing my voice roll like low thunder.

"Just hear me out" Louis held up the palm of his hand. "You never knew, right? You never knew if he really liked you, or if he'd meant the whole thing as a sick wind up right from the start. Well, now you can ask him." Louis' voice softened. "Look, he seemed to me like he really wanted to see you. To set things straight. Don't you want that too? To finally move on..."

"That's what I've been trying to do!" I said.

"I just thought", Louis kept talking. "Well, if you talk to Luke, you could tell him how he made you feel. You could make him see what he did and how it's affected you since. I think he really regrets it. I think if you talk to him you'll feel better. You'll see he's not better than you."

"I know that", I said sharply.

"Do yo?" Julia asked me. "Do you really?"

At the moment I hated all three of them but there was some truth in what Louis said. Since that afternoon in the park there had been a lot of times when I'd wondered if all the things I'd felt had been in my imagination alone, if I had really been that stupid. I did want to know.

"I'll talk to him", I said.

"You won't regret it!" Shawn said, smiling in relief.

"No", I said, shooting them an angry look. "But you will."

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"Luke" I said.

I sat down and made myself look at him. The first thing I noticed about him was that he was losing his hair.

"Niall!" He smiled, and looked nervous. "You look exactly the same. Well, apart of the hair. It looks good on you. Being a brunette suits you. Can I get you anything, a drink or anything?"

I shook my head and watched Luke's mouth open and close twice before any more words came out.

"I'm glad you've come" he said.

"Why are we here, Luke?" I asked him I didn't want to make small talk.

"I thought Louis told you..." he began, looking anxious.

"Louis told me I was going on a date" I said.

Luke said nothing for a second and then he said, "I've been thinking about you a lot, Niall", he said.

For a second my eyes drifted over his head and I could see Harry behind the bar flirting with a group of girls just a few years older than Alice. I made myself look at Luke again.

"Have you?" I said.

Every moment that I was near him I could feel a cold ball of anger growing and tightening in my chest, making it harder to breathe. I wanted to reach for my inhaler but I was worried it would make me look weak.

"The way I treated you... I'm really sorry."

I bit my lip hard until it hurt.

"You're sorry?" I asked him.

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