Altercations // l.t.

9.

"How was it? Did you have fun? Did you kiss her? Are her lips soft? What did she taste like? Was the kiss awkward?--" Niall interrogated me as soon as I walked through the front door of my flat. He continued to ask questions but I blocked him out and headed straight to the fridge, grabbing a beer from it. Niall followed me into the kitchen and watched me.

"Did it go bad?"

"No, it was wonderful."

His eyebrows were pulled together and he gave me a questioning look. "Then why do you look upset?"

"I just," I trailed off, leaning against the counter and laying my palms flat on it; setting my beer down in the process.

"You just what?"

"I don't know," I breathed out the words.

"C'mon man, you know you can talk to me. What's up?" Niall hopped up onto the counter in front of me. "Talk to Dr. Horan." He sat up straight, intertwined his fingers with each other, firmly placed his hands in his lap and put on the most serious face he could manage.

I snorted at that and took a sip of my beer. Staring at nothing in particular, I thought about what had happened. "I didn't kiss her."

"What?"

"I mean, I did kiss her," I began again before Niall finished speaking. "But not on the lips. I was going to but I was scared. So I just kissed her on the cheek. But it wasn't like, right on the cheek. I kissed her close to her lips but I missed them by less than half an inch." I avoided eye contact with him. My eyes stared at the wall but the wall is not what I saw. I couldn't focus on anything because of all the thoughts running through my mind.

"What'd she do?"

"She just said "See ya," and walked inside." I waited a moment. "Fuck I should've kissed her!" The frustration was getting to me and I slammed my hand against the counter. I let my head fall back and my eyelids fall shut.

"Hey," I heard a quiet thud on the floor and a few footsteps and Niall's hand was on my shoulder in a comforting way. "Don't stress yourself out about it. Maybe she didn't even want you to kiss her"

"Oh, wow, thanks Niall. That helps a lot." I pushed myself off the counter, grabbed my beer and walked to the living room.

Niall followed behind me again saying, "Louis, that's not what I meant."

A heavy breath left my lips as I plopped down onto the couch. "I know," I mumbled. "I know."

"Kiss her next time," He sat down beside.

"How do you know there's going to be a next time?"

"Because I'm going to make sure there will be a next time." I tried to protest but he cut me off. "I will literally drag her over to your flat whether either of you want that or not. Besides, aren't you going to see her tomorrow morning?"

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. She might decide to take a different route so she won't have to see me. She'll probably start avoiding me now." Bringing the bottle of beer to my lips, I took a sip.

"Why do you keep saying that? Did something bad happen tonight?"

"Yes. I didn't kiss her. And I kissed her cheek. What if she didn't like that? What if she doesn't even like me and she just agreed to go on this date because she felt bad for me? I don't want her to feel bad for me." My little rant clearly confused Niall. He was looking at me like I was an idiot.

"Why do you even care so much? So what if she doesn't like you? Which she does because I see it in her eyes every time she looks at you. But if she didn't, why does it matter? You never care anyway." He's right because I never care but Ansley's different. And don't just think that to seem romantic or anything. I genuinely think she's different than any other girl I've had any sort of relationship with.