I Wish I Could Say It Was a Mistake

Chapter 34: Better swim before you drown

"Are you sure this is a good idea?",  I ask Emma, as we walk down the venue's corridor. We got in thanks to Lloyd, a guy we worked with on the last event and that is working on this one too.

"Sure. You surprise him at his concert, he tells you he canceled because of Niall but he's happy you came and you fall in love and have four beautiful children."

"Ok, that's way too fast."

"We probably won't even see him until after the concert anyway.", she continues, as I follow her into a room. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Just as the words come out of her mouth, we find ourselves face to face with a group of people, among them, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and, of course, Niall Horan.

Great. Just great.

As Niall sees me walk in, he opens his mouth in surprise. I smile shyly and wave at him. Then, I turn towards Emma and whisper, "We need to go. Now."

I take her arm and pull her out of the room again.

"What are you doing?", she asks, once we're outside.

"We are going home right now."

"Are you serious?"

She lifts her eyebrows and sighs. I shake my head and sign with my hand towards the room, "I don't know if you noticed, but Niall Horan was in there."

"Ok, just relax.", she tries, but I bounce.

"How can I relax? Harry made me promise to stay away from him, and that's what I'm going to do."

"We're already here, Layla. We can't go back now."

"Yes, we can. We just have to walk out the same way we got in."

 "Yes, but think it through, please. Plus, if Niall tells Harry you were here but didn't say anything to him, what do you think his reaction will be?"

I think for a few seconds. F*ck, why do I always get myself into these dramas?

"I don't care, but I'm not staying for two hours in the same room as Niall."

"Just be cool around him, alright? Just ignore him. He definitely won't even think about doing anything that might upset Harry.", she tries to comfort me by putting her arm on my shoulder, "Relax, ok? Just enjoy the concert.", I take a deep breath and she hugs me, "Remember why you came here."

Harry. That's right. I'm here to win Harry back.

I nod and sigh, "Alright. Let's try this. But if Niall..."

"We'll leave immediately. Don't worry. Now go do your thing and f*ck all these stupid men. You're better than this. You're stronger than this. "

I nod again, and Emma waits patiently until I gather the strength to open the door and walk in the room again.

This time, I don't look at Niall. I just walk straight towards the sofas on the opposite side of the room of where he's at and sit on the only one that's free.

Emma sits next to me and puts her hand on my knee, "It's not that bad, is it?"

I shake my head. I watch the screen in front of us, where I can appreciate what the fans are doing while waiting for Harry to go on stage.

"That's a lot of people.", I point out.

"I didn't expect less.", Emma answers, and laughs.

"When's Harry on anyway?"

"He should be out in 10 minutes.", answers a man sitting on the other sofa. As I look at him, I find his face extremely familiar.

"Thanks.", I say and smile politely.

"I'm Liam."

That's right. He's Liam from One Direction. He was on the selfie Emma showed me last night.

"I'm Emma.", she introduces herself and shakes his hand, "And this is Layla.", she continues, noticing that I wasn't going to speak. I smile at Liam and he offers me his hand so I shake it.

"Nice to meet you. Do you know Harry at all?"

"We're friends.", answers Emma.

I lean back and let them continue with the small talk. I've had enough with these One Direction boys, so I really don't want to talk to one of them right now.

Emma laughs loudly, and I roll my eyes. Come on Harry, go on stage already.

"Layla?"

Sh*t.

I sit up again as I recognise Niall's voice. He's walked across the room and is now standing right next to the sofa, looking at me as if I was an alien.

"Hi, Niall. How's it going?", I say trying not to sound rude, and I stand up.

Emma looks at us but I shake my head to let her know that it's alright, so she turns back to Liam and they continue talking.

"I didn't know you were coming.", Niall adds.

"Yeah, me neither.", I mumble

"What?"

"It's a long story."

Niall laughs and shakes his head.

"Does Harry know you're here?"

"See, that's the thing...". I start, and Niall lets out a loud laugh.

Suddenly, the whole room starts buzzing nervously and I look around to see what's going on. Has Harry gone on stage?

No. He's definitely not on stage, because he just walked into the room.