Soft Side

Chapter thirteen

Italy was beautiful. It had been two weeks since me and Harry had split because of the mystery girl and I couldn't shake the thought of them together out of my head. Niall had been nice enough to take me out for dinner, to try and take my mind off of him and have some fun. I laugh, watching Niall try to suck up a long piece of spaghetti but ending up hitting himself in the face with it, remembering how great of a best friend he was to me. Through everything that had happened he had remained by my side.

"I really did want to go home, but there's no way I can now that the airline has shut down. All of the planes are jam packed and there's no space left for the next two weeks" I sigh, playing with the food in front of me. Since the drama with Harry I had wanted nothing more than to lose every sight of him and head back to England, to nobody. "Now I'm stuck seeing him everyday and seeing more of this" I say sadly, pushing my phone towards Niall which showed more photos of Harry and the brunette girl. Her face was now showing to show her black rimmed glasses and a wide smile on her lips as she looks up at him.

Niall stared at the photos, completely ignoring me. "Niall did you hear me?" I groan, kicking his shin under the table as he hisses. "I said, it's been two weeks and he's already moving onto to somebody else"

"Damn girl you've got a kick" Niall grumbles, rubbing his shin, "but I know what you mean" he agrees. "How could he have done this?" He sighs, handing my phone back. His persona had changed, seeming a little more uptight but I shrugged it off, simply putting it down to the fact his best friend had turned to somebody else straight away after leaving his other best friend in the shit.

After having me sat glumly for the last half an hour of the meal, Niall stood up from paying. "Come on" he nudges, smiling softly as he holds out his bent elbow for me to take. "Let's go and get some ice cream" he smiles, my arm falling into his with a soft smile, anger still boiling in my veins from the hundreds of photos circulating the internet.

~~~~~~~

My eyes caught sight of a brunette stepping up the steps of the tour bus, their hand in the other persons. I heard their voice, "come on babe" he stated. Harry. That bastard was was taking that whore onto the bus. The bus we had made our mark on many times in the past. The blood began to boil again, my fingers gripping the phone in my hand tighter and tighter.

That bastard. That fucking bastard.

I was livid.

I took Niall's hand, pulling the poor unsuspecting Irish boy upstairs and to the room I was sharing with him. Apologising shortly after for almost pulling him over when I pulled his hand. He opened the door as I stormed inside, throwing my bag down and pacing up and down the room. "Why?" I snap, "why would he do that? Why would he think it's a good idea to take her to the bus when he knows I'm here? He's doing it to piss me off. He must be. He's doing it to show me that he can still get anybody even though we're not together anymore. How could he do this to me? This is all his fault. What is wrong in that boys mind" I snap, turning to face Niall as his eyes were wide, trying to take in the hundreds of words I was spewing out, shrugging softly.

That's when he took me by complete surprise. He stood up and quietly walked over to me. His body was close to mine as he looked into my eyes. He had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. They were like the ocean in the summer. His hand took a strand of hair that had fallen in my pacing moments, tucking it gently behind my ear, still not saying a word as he smiled softly. The air was thick with something and I was unsure what. His fingers ran down my cheek slightly as the door began to be unlocked, causing us both to jump and move away to act normal.

What had just happened?

Louis stepped into the room, raising his eyebrows at Niall who was stood behind a curtain. "What are you doing you weird ass leprechaun?" Louis laughs as my eyes panic. I could tell he could feel the tension, from the look in his eyes as he looked between the repair of us. Confusion evident as he crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the possibly the worst excuse ever for Niall's strange antics.

Well, he got an extremely lame one.

"We were uh- we were playing hide and seek" I nod, almost trying to convince myself.

"Children" Louis laughs. I laugh falsely, grabbing my bag before heading to the door. I wasn't staying in a room anymore, since I was supposed to be sharing with my boyfriend, but that wasn't about to happen any time soon. I couldn't even share with Niall because it was just going to be weird to have me sleep in the same bed as Niall when Louis was there also. So I had pitched up camp on the tour bus, Paul having given me a key to lock to the door so I was safe and nobody was able to break in and kidnap me.

"I'm going to head back to the tour bus and set up my camp for the night" I nod, my eyes looking at Niall with a smile for a brief moment, "have you seen Harry about?" I ask Louis nonchalantly, as if I didn't care. My eyes focused on him as I judge his reaction. I don't think he knew the full extent of what was happening between us two judging by the way he reacted.

"Yeah I saw him going into his room just now" he nods, "why?" He smirks, "thinking of hooking up again? You know, getting down with it?" He teases. Fat chance of that Tommo. Not if he was the last guy in hell right now.

"No reason, night guys" I smile, stepping out of the room and shivering as quickly as I could. It wasn't cold but my mind was elsewhere, not focused on anything in particular. I was all over the place currently, needing nothing but sleep and quite possibly a drink to get over this tension.

~~~~~~~

My feet carry me up the steps to the tour bus, plopping down on the sofa as I sigh, flicking on the television to the movie channel. Usually I would have opted for the music channel but right now it didn't seem like the best idea. I sigh gently, fed up of seeing romance films on the screen. That's the moment my phone lit up with a text from Niall; "sorry about Louis, I hope I wasn't overstepping the mark back there? Anyway, if you need anything just shout" he sends with a kiss face emoji.

I smile softly, choosing not to reply right now, but instead trying to find another film to waste some time since I was all by myself.

The evening passed and I was getting bored.  I had played multiple games on my phone, watched two and a half movies and I had calmed down considerably and now felt like I was ready to talk like an adult with Niall as opposed to just talking at him. I sent him a text, asking if he fancied popping by, not realising it was so late at night, but Niall being the best friend, complied and appeared in the door not long after receiving the message.

We sat talking about random topics, Niall's eyes focused on me pretty much the entire time as he laughed and smiled along with that I was saying.

~~~~~~~

Before we knew what was happening it was two in the morning and Niall was leaving the bus to go back to bed. I sighed softly, remembering this meant I was going to be completely in my own again with nobody to talk to.

He rubbed my head gently, saying goodbye and goodnight as he headed for the door. He opened it, knowing I had gone to curl up in one of the bunks to fall asleep for the night.

His feet stepped down the steps, lifting his head as he heard a second set of footsteps. There he saw the brunette girl. The girl he had had an argument meant with a long time ago and never resolved, the girl Niall was no longer friends with, leaving the hotel, and here Niall was leaving the bus where I was staying with messy hair and a smile on his lips.

This didn't look right.