Flicker -NH

49

Niall scrolls through his notifications, seeing Lexi has liked almost fourteen months worth of his pictures in one go. A weird feeling rises across his chest. He hasn't heard from her since they say goodbye in the closed field near his house months ago. What does this even mean? Did she hear that he's coming to Sydney? Is this a subtle way of saying she wants him to reach out to her?
He clicks open her page. She's started being active on Instagram a month after she left L.A, and he had always been following her ever since. It feels so weird seeing her all these time, happy, never really sure if she ever missed him.
But she clearly does, right? Why would she spam him like that otherwise? He clicks on her recent picture, showing her sitting near a beach restaurant glowing as vibrantly as ever. He can't help but smile.
He taps on the direct message button, watching the text cursor blinking excitedly for him. His fingers moves for itself, ignoring his fear and ego.
'Hi,'
'Haven't heard from you in a while.'
'How are you?'
Pride quickly comes flooding back in his brain after a few minutes. He frantically unsend all three messages. He's been doing so well living his life without her, and from the looks of it so is she. Why would he connect the bridge again? What hurt would he open back up to?
"Uhm," He hears Chris' voice, quickly hiding his phone under his pillow.
Chris looks at him from the doorway raising his eyebrows. "I just want to tell you that I think your fish died. What's going on?" He asks.
Niall stands up from the bed. "Again? This is the third time!" He groans.
"Seriously, man. Stop getting fishes. You can't keep them alive even if ur life depends on it." Chris laughs. "For real, though. I saw what you did there and I'm not gonna let it go until you tell me." He says.
"What are we? 12?" Niall rolls his eyes.
Chris tilts his head and Niall sighs showing Chris his phone. He scrunches his eyebrows looking at the notifications.
"She wants to hook up with you-"
Niall cuts him off by walking out of the room, hearing Chris' laugh.
"Seriously, man." He says. "Missed opportunity back then. You wanna miss it again?" He asks.
Niall shakes his head. "I don't even know what this means."
Chris tosses his phone back to him. "Find out."