Simply Falling

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ana Maria's POV

Niall gets the key, or rather the card, from Harry and I hear him ask Niall something. Niall's response was to wait until lunch. Did Harry want to meet me? Well, who wouldn't want to meet the girl your friend met at a pet store? It's 1:40 and I only have until 2 to get back to work. We should hurry.

"Harry said that Liam says lunch is ready so let's go to his room because I am starving!" Niall tells me, breaking me from my thoughts. I giggle at what he said about the "Harry said Liam says..."

"Well that's good," I start to tell him as we walk towards another room, "because I only have about 15 minutes left for lunch."

"Really?! Well come on!" He grabs my wrist and almost drags me to the room. I always did say I want a guy to sweep me off my feet! We get to a room and Niall knocks.

"Give me a second!"

"Eep!" I squeak with excitement as I hear Liam's voice!

"What?"

"It's Liam!!" He rolls his eyes in a playful way and I laugh. "Get used to it!" I warn him.

The door opens and I see Liam in a white cotton shirt, blue jeans, and white Converse, with his hair the usual way. In my mind, I go "eep" again.

He looks at Niall, then at me, then down. I honestly did not realize that Niall was holding my hand... When I see that Liam raises an eyebrow at this, I quickly let go of Niall's hand. Again, I care about opinions. Ugh...

"So who's this?" Liam asks.

"This is Ana Maria." I love how Niall says my name. There's just something about that accent that drives me crazy! Oh, the Irish charm...

"Hello!" He says with a nice smile. He extends his hand and I shake it. I look up at him and see the birthmark on his neck. I've always loved that mark! I smile at him and realize I'm still shaking his hand. I let go and can't help but smile, obviously embarrassed. Great Ana Maria. Just great.

"Sorry," was all I could say. I could feel myself getting red. That's perfect.

"It's cool. So everyone else is inside and Harry will join us shortly. Come in." He says with a smile.

Niall and I walk inside and I see Louis and Zayn on the couch watching TV. They turn around at the same time as they hear us enter. Louis is the first to jump up and almost run towards me.

"Hi! I'm Louis!" He yells. I giggled at him and his child-like ways. You have to love this boy!

"I know! I'm a huge fan!"

"Really?" You going to the concert tomorrow night?"

"Oh, um... No... Something came up."

"Well then, you're extremely lucky to meet us here!"

"I know I am." I say, and turn to look at Niall who's leaning on the wall. AGH!! THIS BOY!! I smile at him and he smiles back. I melted on the inside...

Then Zayn stands and walks to me, looking at me as he's inspecting me.

"So you're the girl Niall met?"

"Yes..." He sounded like he expected something better... Here we go again with the self-consciousness...

"Hm... No wonder he wouldn't shut up about you!" he said, almost yelling it in my face. His expression changed so fast from concerned to excited! I laugh at how he had me fooled, thinking I wasn't appealing to his eyes. Which I really shouldn't. I know I'm a mess!

"Since you're a fan, I believe I don't have to introduce myself?"

"No you don't. Hi, Zayn! I'm Ana Maria."

"Hm... Too long. Can I call you something else?"

"Nope. Nobody does." I tell him. It's true. I like my name as it is and I don't want people to shorten it or call me by some nickname. I love my name.

"Oookay..." he says. That probably sounded really sassy. Maybe that's why Louis smiled.

I hear the door open and I turn to see the sexy curly haired one.

"I'm here! Where's the gal?" Harry asks. I raise my hand.

"That would be me!" I say. "I'm Ana Maria, nice to meet you." He looks up and down at me.

"Hi! I'm Harry."

"Hello." I say, imitating his accent and smiling.

"Oh, did she just do that?" He asks, playing around, obviously. ... Hopefully... I laugh either way and luckily he joins in. "That was pretty good. Say something else!"

"I'm good actually..." Don't want to embarrass myself too much.

"So I think the food's ready!!" Niall interrupts.

"Whoo! But I think I'll take that to go." I said, checking the clock on the wall. 1:52. I'm going to be late if I stay to eat here.

"But you just got here!" he exclaims.

"I know but rules are rules and I could get in huge trouble with my dad if the manager tells him I got late to work."

"The manager knows your dad?" he asks. I nod and he frowns. "That sucks. But you're right. I don't want you getting in trouble. When do you get out of work?"

"At 7. Why?"

"If you want we can continue where we left off?" He says while grabbing the keys to the car.

"Sounds good. But I'll have to ask my mom for permission." Liam hands me a plate with a slice of pizza. One...? I won't say anything though. Don't want to be rude or anything.

"One slice, Liam? Really? At least give her two or something!" Niall spoke my mind. I'll thank him later. "You know what? Here take my plate and I'll have yours. I'm coming back later anyway."

I gasped. Everyone stared. Eyes wide and mouths with a perfect "o" shape.

"What?" I ask. Did Niall Horan just offer me his plate?!

"Yes, here, take it." He hands it to me, but I'm not sure if I should take it. I look at it... Three slices... I'm hungry... I take the plate and give him mine. What just happened here?!

"Thank you... Niall..." He takes the slice of pizza from the plate and takes a huge bite.

"So let's go." He says, with his mouth full. Crazy attractive!

"Right. Yes. Let's go. Thanks for the food guys. It was really nice to finally meet you! I'm bursting on the inside of excitement!! ... Did I just say that out loud? I'm sorry! I just totally embarrassed myself in front of my idols! Damn it, Ana Maria! Why do you always-"

"Ana Maria! Calm down! It's ok!" Niall almost yells at me.

"Sorry..."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sorry. I mean... um..." He laughs and I can feel myself turning red. Great job, Ana Maria. You never fail to embarrass yourself.

"Come on, let's go. Don't want you being late."

"Bye guys!!" I wave at them and start walking out.

"Bye! See you Later!" is what most of them say as I walk out the door. As I enter the hallway, I see Niall leaning on the wall. Oh gosh... I feel my cheeks and they're getting warm. You know how when you're around that one guy, something always happens like sweaty hands or something like that? Well my cheeks get warm when I'm around that guy.

He turns around to face me and the first thing I see are his beautiful blue eyes. We kinda stare at each other for a few seconds and in the back of my mind there's a small alarm that says "WORK, WORK, WORK!!", so I know I have to go, but I don't want to! He reaches his hand out and I take it. I start walking and he follows. I look down at our hands and I just feel like taking a picture of them and printing it into a huge poster so I would never forget this beautiful moment! But I can't so I just hold it in.

We get to the elevator and I press the button. The door instantly opens and we go in.

"Weren't you going to tell me something?" He asks.

"Oh yeah. Well it was about the girls from the elevator. When they saw that I waited for you, and I'm guessing they realized I came with you, they both gave me this really ugly stare. If looks could kill, I'd be dead. That kind of stare. And, me being me, I felt bad and like crap. I have always cared about what people think of me and their opinions, so you can say I'm super self-conscious." As soon as I finish talking, the elevator doors open and we walk out.

"Well you shouldn't be. They were just jealous that you gave me advice on cat toys and they didn't." He says, obviously trying to make me laugh. (It worked)

"Thanks, Niall. I needed a good laugh. After completely embarrassing myself in front of the other guys-"

"Ehh, they won't care. Trust me." He opens the car door for me and I didn't realize we were even at the car until he did that.

"Oh wow. Thanks Niall. You're so kind." I say and smile at him. I get inside and check the time. 1:54. I should be fine on time.

Niall gets in the car and turns the ignition.

"So how's work?" He asks trying to make conversation. Too bad he turns around when I'm taking a bite from the pizza, and the cheese comes off... Of course... Never. Freaking. Fails. Niall bursts into laughter and I just drop the slice on the plate.

"Damn it..." Is all I can say.

He keeps on laughing, but driving too.

"Niall, you're gonna crash and we're gonna die! Stop laughing! It wasn't that funny..."

"Right, right. Sorry, but yes it was," he says as he's wiping a tear from his cheek. Was it really that funny that I made him cry?! I must've looked stupid...

"I'm sorry. But, hey! Now we have something to look back to! Oh, and we're here by the way."

"Already? That was fast."

"Time flies when you're having fun."

"Yeah maybe you were having fun..."

"Aww... Chill out, Ana Maria. I'm sorry."

"I'm just kidding, Niall! It was pretty funny."

"You see?! Well you should probably get going. Wait! Stay here."

"What for?" Too late. He gets down from the car and I see that he runs behind the car. He comes to my side and opens the door.

"Aww! Thank you, Niall! You're a great guy, you know that right?"

"Thanks, Ana Maria." He says, blushing. I made him blush!!

I get out and do the unbelievable. I kiss him in the cheek, which makes him blush even more.

"I'll see you later." I tell him.

"I'll be waiting."