Walking into school the following day, Taylor felt different. Although they weren’t quite dating yet, having Niall on her arm made her feel a lot safer and secure, like she could finally breathe again after being so on edge ever since she started here. Nobody messed with Niall, and nobody would mess with the girl on his arm.
Walking into her first class of the day, Niall hugged Taylor goodbye before she entered the room, the stares obvious as she found her desk in the corner. One set of eyes she noticed more than the others, coming from the back of the room. She looked back hesitantly as Harry looked away, paying his eyes moving back to his girlfriend sitting next to him. Taylor wasn’t sure why, but Harry seemed more on edge today. He was fidgeting with his hair and he was constantly moving in his seat. He was hardly paying attention to anything Cara was saying, which became more clear when she became frustrated with him. Taylor tried not to stare, but there was definitely something up with him and she felt as though it might have something to do with her and Niall.
Taylor managed to get through her first two classes smoothly, and when lunch came, she headed towards the oval where she was meeting Niall. She could already see his face light up and his wide smile when she walked towards him. She was pulled into a hug, and let herself wrap her arms around his body.
“How was your morning?” He asked as they found a spot to sit under a tree.
Taylor just shrugged. “It was okay. How was yours?”
“Well it wasn’t too bad, I erm… I actually spent a whole lesson planning a date for you…”
As her hand rested on the grass she felt Niall’s fingers graze over hers, and she found herself shivering from his touch. It had been so long since any guy had paid attention to her, so this was nice. And the fact that he had spent so long planning a date just confirmed for Taylor how much of a nice guy he was.
“So are you free tonight?” Taylor nodded, smiling at the thought of what Niall had planned. She had been hesitant about the relationship thing at first, and she still was a little, but now she was excited to see where this went.
“Pick me up at seven?” Taylor suggested and Niall agreed.
They chatted for about fifteen minutes until Niall decided to go and get some food for them. Taylor sat alone, and was about to pick up a book from her bag to read until she spotted Harry alone under the bleachers. She felt the urge to go over to him and check that everything was okay with him this morning. But after their kiss, she was still unsure as to what terms they were on. Were they friends? Still, she wanted to make sure he was alright, and before she could reconsider she found herself up on her feet and walking towards him. As she got closer, she noticed the cigarette hanging from his mouth. She should have been repulsed, but instead it just added to his bad boy image. She definitely wasn’t surprised. She also noticed that Harry was clearly rolling his eyes as he saw her approaching. But Taylor continued towards him anyway, smiling slightly when she was in front of him. The cigarette smoke was almost enough to make her cough but she held her breath as much as she could and avoided standing in the direction the smoke was going.
"Hi." Taylor watched Harry intently as he threw the cigarette to the ground, squashing it with his foot before looking back up at Taylor, his arms crossed and an unpleasant look on his face.
"So you and Niall are dating now, huh?" Taylor was a little annoyed that the first thing to come from his mouth was something that had absolutely nothing to do with him, but then again she wasn’t expecting a warm welcome from him or anything.
"That’s none of your business." Taylor now also had her arms crossed, clearly annoyed at Harry’s question.
"So you are dating."
"I never said that."
"You didn’t deny it, either. Do you really know Niall as much as you think you do?" Taylor was getting more frustrated by the second, who was he to tell her that she didn’t know Niall? She took a step forward, moving closer to Harry, enough to be able to smell the stench of cigarettes coming from his breath.
Taylor stomped her foot, trying to act like she was somewhat upset, but she after she did it she immediately knew she would have looked like a complete idiot. "Yet here we are, you telling me who I can and can’t date while we have had, what, maybe three conversations, four? I see Niall everyday and I don’t even know you…"
"So why’d you come over, then?"
Taylor was caught in an awkward silence as she tried to figure out how to explain this to Harry. She had been worried about him and had come over to see if everything was okay, but all they had done was argue. She couldn’t bring that up now. “I um… Just wanted to check if you wrote down the homework we had for Math. I’ve lost it.” Harry gave her an odd look.
"You’re asking me? Of all people?" Of course Harry wouldn’t have written down the homework. Taylor cursed in her head that she couldn’t come up with another explanation that would have made much more sense.
"You’re right. I’ll just ask someone else." She was about to walk away when she felt a hand intertwine with hers, followed by a familiar Irish accent.
"Everything okay?" Niall asked, looking at Taylor. She just nodded. "Just checking with Harry about something we had to do for Math. No big deal. You ready to eat?" Niall nodded, giving Harry a slight glare. He definitely knew something was going on, but didn’t give it a second thought. Harry started to light up another cigarette, and both Taylor and Niall took that as their cue to leave.
"Be careful." Taylor heard Harry’s voice behind her as they walked away, and she sure hoped Niall hadn’t heard Harry’s comment. She should have known it was a horrible idea to even try with Harry.
The rest of the day went quickly, and Taylor was relieved that Harry hadn’t been in any of her last classes. Niall took Taylor home and she immediately started on whatever homework she had so she could get ready for her date with Niall. She was finally starting to warm up to the idea of dating Niall. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to date him in the first place… it was just never something she had thought about until now. But she hadn’t dated anyone in so long and the thought of it gave her butterflies.
She chose a short, flowing dress to wear, along with some black flats and a simple sparkly headband in her curly but now tamed hair. She didn’t want to make it look like she tried too hard, but she also didn’t want to look the same as when she was at school. She was ready exactly ten minutes before seven, and couldn’t wait for Niall to arrive.
But seven o’clock came and went, and once it was eight Taylor knew Niall wasn’t coming. She sighed as she sat next to her window, looking out as she waited for his car. But every time she thought it was his car coming down the street, it would continue straight past her driveway and she would lose hope once again. Another hour of waiting and Taylor’s phone vibrated next to her. She picked it up, a slight wave of relief passing over her as she saw it was from Niall.
I’m so sorry Taylor but something urgent came up. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.
She threw her phone down, frustrated that he couldn’t even make the effort to call her and apologize. Maybe Harry was right all along. Maybe she didn’t really know Niall as much as she should have. Guys just weren’t worth it when they made you feel like you aren’t worth it.
