Possibility

Chapter 4 - Over again

“Pay-son.” I said slightly dumbfounded. The unexpectedness of the whole situation caused me to stutter slightly, but it was barely noticeable. “…my name is Payson.”

I pulled the door with me as I took a couple of steps towards him. He seemed to get the point and took a few steps backwards, allowing me to close the door behind me. I didn’t want to bother Kira whilst she was studying, and I kind of didn’t want her to hear the conversation either. God only knew what he was doing there and what he could say.

I nipped the wire to the earplug that was still in my ear so it fell out, and then I put the headphones along with the iPod in my pocket to get it out of the way before I returned my attention to him again. Something he seemed to take as a cue to start talking.

“Right, I don’t think you provided me with that information the last time.”  Niall told me, leaning against the wall beside him. His blue eyes focused on me, and I wrapped my fleece jacket tighter around me as to protect myself from his inquisitive gaze.

“You kind of blew me off before I got to that part.” I replied, trying to keep my voice as normal as possible, despite the fact that just thinking about how he left me the other day displeased me, more or less.

When I said that, he stood up straighter as a more humble expressions settled upon his face. “About that…” He trailed off, looking somewhat guilty. My instincts told me to be careful, because the way he was acting right then was a bit of the opposite of what I had got an impression of after the last time. He had, in fact, lied to me then, so who knew how good of a liar or an actor he actually was. Then again his lie wasn’t very believable the last time, so maybe his actions were genuine this time.

“That’s actually why I’m here.” Niall informed me. Then, he studied me carefully. I tensed as a result of his gaze on me, something about him made me uncomfortable. Especially the fact that I had no idea what his intentions were. “You’re not a big fan of me, are you?”

I glanced up at him hesitantly. It wasn’t exactly true that I didn’t like him; I just didn’t like the person he had been when he left me in the hallway. The person he had shown me before that, the one who had helped me pick up my things and then waited until my lesson was over, only to return my notebook; I liked him. I had been too caught up in the first one, that I had forgotten the latter one. Maybe, he wasn’t as bad as I though. Maybe, he wasn’t some stuck-up celebrity. Maybe.

“I don’t know.” I admitted honestly in something close to a whisper when it dawned on me. I cursed myself inwardly for letting the words leave me so insecurely, as I brought my eyes away from him and to something behind him, hoping he didn’t notice what I was doing. My uncertainty wasn’t something I was too fond of showing him, so I cleared my throat and met his eyes once again, this time with a harder gaze, as I spoke up; more confident than before. “Should I?”

Niall let out a sound, appearing a bit put out by my actions, and then he shook his head slowly. “I guess not.” He eventually answered, and then one of his hands went to the back of his neck, scratching it as his eyebrows pulled down so they sloped inwards; he was concentrating.

“I misjudged you Payson; I’m not going to lie about that.” Niall confessed. “I was scared you were one of those crazed fangirls; so I lied to get away from you. Eleanor told me she was sure you weren’t, and that was pretty much all the confirmation I needed to know that I had come to a false conclusion about you.”

Silence filled the room after the words were spoken. If what he said was true, then my impression of him wasn’t exactly correct either, but how could I know if it was? He had lied to me before; he had just confirmed that. So he could do it again. Sure, he was a lot more convincing this time in that case, but that didn’t matter much.