state of grace // n.h a.u

part two

Madi is all sorts of excited as Friday evening rolls around. There is the obvious excitement about Haley's regular time slot in the evening as she usually is, but Madi is practically jumping around in excitement at the idea of Niall making another appearance.

"My goodness, will you calm down?" Haley all but rolls her eyes at her best friend. "He probably won't even show."

"I beg to differ," she replies, scrunching up her nose as she grabs Haley's guitar from her and passes it over. "If his night was even half as grand as yours was, I am certain he will be in the front row with bells on."

Haley sighs at the thought of Niall even being at the show in the first place, let alone excitedly front row like Madi seems to think he will be.

As the week progressed, Haley had come to the decision that her one night stand with Niall is supposed to be simply that: a one night stand. The more she thinks about it, the more she realises she isn't ready to dig further into it or see anyone else more than this one event with Niall. Her heart may not be hurting as much as it was a week ago, but it doesn't mean she's in the right headspace to even think about something further—one night stands included.

Amongst it all, though, Haley has decided she needs to focus on herself and her career. At the end of the day, she needs to put herself first—if she wants to actually make it somewhere in the world, then she needs to set herself sound boundaries and goals to achieve.

Number one: Writing her own songs.

Haley has dabbled in songwriting before, but it's never been her strongpoint—something about getting her feelings out on paper and not a jumbled mess in her mind is where she's stuck. Vocals, on the other hand, have always been her strength more than anything, as stated by her music teachers and vocal coaches in the past, but she really needs to expand her skill set if she wants music as an actual career. It's been known in the past that sometimes even having a nice voice won't get someone very far in the entertainment industry.

Madi is very much on board with this whole idea, being her number one supporter and all, but Haley knows she's only looking out for her and wants her to be happy. Just because Madi is happy and in love with her girlfriend doesn't mean Haley needs to be, especially since she's already been through all that jazz and is trying to actually use those memories to fuel her future songs. However, it's been pretty shitty work so far. Nothing seems to sound right, no matter how hard she tries. Given her recent breakup, Haley thought she would be in the right headspace for some pretty damn heartbreaking material, but alas, her head is just as confused as her heart.

Before Haley takes to the mini-stage in Oasis Lounge, she peers out into the seated area to see if anyone is actually paying attention—but, deep down, she knows exactly why she is really looking. Haley told Madi she doesn't care whether Niall is there or not, but in her heart she secretly hopes he is. Her head is a very confusing place to be in right now, to be fair. On one hand, her head tells her to avoid him if he is there and that she isn't ready for anything else just yet, but every other part of her body tells her otherwise. And, quite frankly, the heat between her legs any time she thinks about their eventful evening is proof maybe her head is wrong.

Upon quick inspection, however, she can't see Niall or the group of friends he was with the week before. Maybe they all decided they had had enough of Oasis Lounge—or maybe Niall actually had a terrible evening and has forbidden the rest of them to ever visit the lounge again on the sheer notion alone that Haley may be present. But the reality is, Niall probably just woke up to an empty bed and decided that the whole group didn't need to see her ever again—or at least this is how Haley tries to justify it, and it seems the most viable option in her mind. After all, she does have a lot to offer, and if the night they spent together is anything to go off, Niall has a whole lot of Haley to miss.