Meant To Be? {editing} (A Niall Horan FanFiction)

Chapter 9

A/N: sorry for the short chapter, but thank you for all the reads! 25! Wow! Enjoy and please comment what you think!

-Katie

Chapter 9

I could feel Niall's stare crawling up my skin. I faced him, and smiled. Was he jealous? I dismissed the thought. He would never be jealous. I put my hand on top of his, and I could instantly feel him un-tense. Okay, maybe he could get jealous. Louis parked the car in front of a huge building. It was just about to open, so no one else was there. The six of us walked inside.

"Hey," the young lady at the front counter said, "Weren't you boys on the X-Factor? One Direction?"

"That's us," Zayn replied.

"Mmm. You guys were great. I voted for you to move on to the next round." She handed Louis the receipt.

"Any of you have girlfriends?" she asked. We stared at her, and left quickly. Louis dragged Harry along. In the room in front of the game area, we prepared to start. I pulled goggles over my eyes, and a white vest on top. I chose the gun with bright pink paint. I looked at it, turning it over in my hand. I had no clue how to use it. I sighed, and waited for the rest of the guys.

As we walked into the game area, we heard a voice say, "You have five minutes until start." We separated into our teams, and went in opposite directions. "Okay, Nicole," Liam said, "All you need to know if that this fires the gun," he pointed, "And you want to shoot their vests. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He lead the way. I caught up to him. Niall was lagging behind.

"I'm guessing that you've played a lot before?" I asked Liam. He smiled coyly. "I've been in paint ball tournaments before. They are pretty intense." I nodded, and slowed down so Niall could catch up.

"Have you ever played before?" I asked. He, too, nodded.

"With my friends a couple of times." Overhead, we heard,

"Five, four, three, two, one!" A buzzer went over. Niall grabbed my hand, and we set off in a sprint after Liam.

Every once in a while, we ducked behind something, or just stopped to listen to if we could hear anything. For the first ten minutes, nothing. We made our way into the middle of the field. There were no one hiding places, it was all open space. We looked around, and suddenly we heard a crunch from directly behind us. The three of us slowly turned around, and Harry, Zayn, and Louis were about fifteen feet away. No one made a move. Suddenly, Harry raised his paintball gun, and I raised mine. I clicked the trigger, but nothing happened. It was stuck! I looked at it, and kept pressing the trigger. Finally, it fired. "Hey!" Niall shouted. I look at him. There was a huge pink spot on his shirt. I shot Niall!

Liam looked at him at the same time I did, and he started to laugh. Really loudly. Then, I started to laugh too. Niall just stared at us, then raised his gun, and shot me. A green spot blossomed on my jacket. I laughed. Harry, Louis, and Zayn took the opportunity and fired. Suddenly, paint was flying everywhere. Harry was chasing me around in circle, and Niall was trying to hit Zayn. I couldn't stop laughing. I tried and fell, and Harry came up to me, towering above. He aimed the paintball gun right at my stomach, but I fired first. Paint dripped off his hair. "You," he said, "Should've have done that." He bent down, and did the one thing that I absolutely hated. He started to tickle me.

"Harrrryyyy!!!!" I screamed. "Stop iitttt!!!!!" I laughed and laughed and laughed. "Never," he darkly replied. My stomach hurt from laughing too much. I just kept screaming and screaming. Suddenly, Niall was behind Harry.

"No one," he said, "Does that to my girl." He shot Harry and pulled me into his arms.

"My knight in rainbow armor," I joked. He smiled his crooked smiled and kissed me.

"Come on," he said, "Let's go and finish winning." I ran off after him.

A few minutes later, the game ended. "And the winner is........." We all waited in suspense. "Zayn, Harry, and Louis." The guys fist pumped. I shot Harry and frowned. We left the stadium and picked up our score sheets. Liam won for the most number of shots, Niall for the most on one person (Harry), Zayn for the most on Liam, Louis for the most on Niall, and I won "most improved throughout the game," which made me laugh so hard I started to cry. Once I regained my breath, I went into the bathroom to change. I rinsed off in the shower and pulled on my clothes. I combed my hair and put it into a braid. By the time I was done, the guys were on the video games. I walked over to them. I looked at Liam. "I'm gonna challenge you to one of the racing games." Liam grinned.

"Challenge accepted." We climbed onto the chairs, and inserted the coins. "3-2-1 Go!!" I pressed on the gas, completely tuned into the game.

"First place!!!!!" I screamed. "Ha!" I said to Liam. He laughed.

"Next time."

"Liam, she totally showed you," Niall said. He pecked my cheek.

"As if," I replied to what Liam said as I hopped off the chair. We left to go back to the car. Louis drove to the X-Factor stage. Simon was waiting for us inside. He invited us in, in his cold way, and brought us to one of the recording studios.

"Okay, boys," Simon said, "And Nicole, why don't you sit in this chair so you can hear them sing," I nodded, "You're going to sing "My Life Would Suck Without You" at the next audition." They were smart enough to nod. Simon pushed them into the studio. I hoped that they knew all the lyrics.

After a few rough run throughs, they knew who would sing which parts, and the chorus they would sing together. Two hours later, they had their first successful attempt. And oh, gawd, was it beautiful. I was completely absorbed in the song. Simon looked at me, and I swear I saw him smile. I nodded and mouthed, they are amazing. He raised his eyebrows, which were saying, did you doubt me? I shook my head and laughed. They hit the last note, which was my cue to stand up and clap. Niall bowed. I smiled. They were gonna go so far.