That Magical Summer

Chapter 6

          You watched him slam the innocent door behind him, as he walked quickly to the car. You sighed. What’s gotten into the boy? One minute he can’t wait to start painting, the next he can’t wait to just get it over with. You ran into your room and grabbed your silver macbook from your suitcase. You sat down on the kitchen table, resting your hands on your keyboard. Your first thought was to check Facebook. So you did. You had 49 new notifications, 2 inboxes, and 9 friend requests. You ignored all of them, except for the inbox from your friend Ellie. It said: Y/N! I miss you. I hope you’re doing okay and getting settled. I would have called you but I don’t want to disturb you. I just want you to have a fun summer remember? You sighed. “Fun? Yeah right,” you mumbled aloud. You didn’t miss anything about Rosemount, but you did miss one thing. Ellie. You’ve never gone this long without talking to her before, and you missed her like hell. So you did what any other best friend would do, and called her.

“Y/N!” she picked up after the first ring. Her voice was high and peppy as usual.

“Hey El,” you responded just as happy to hear the sound of her voice.

“Whatsup? Are you having fun? What’s it like? Tell me everything?” she spit out the questions one by one.

“Whoa slow down. Can you video chat now? I’ll tell you everything then,” you said holding the phone to your ear with only your shoulder as you logged into Skype.

“Skype session?!” she exclaimed.

“Yupp!” you cried.

“Kay kay. See ya in sec,” she said hanging up. Only seconds later did you see the small box appear on your screen. Incoming call from EllieDawg808. You laughed at her username clicking accept. You screamed when you saw the familiar, gleeful face pop up. She shrieked when she saw you too.

“ELLIE!”

“Y/N!”

“ELLIE!”

“Y/N!”

“OMG! Y/N you look amazing!” she cried. You looked down at your orange paint stained shirt and pajama pants. You totally forgot.

“Omg. I’m so sorry. I forgot to change. I’m repainting the house!” you covered up quickly. You heard her laugh.

“It’s fine. But orange doesn’t match your hair so well…” she laughed as her smile twitched to the side. Now it was your turn to laugh. 

“So I’ve been told,” you muttered under your breath.

“So whatcha been up to?” she asked. You saw that she was wearing a pair of sweats and the sweatshirt you had gotten her from Disneyland a few years ago.

“Well I’ve been uh swimming lots,” you told her.

“And…” she asked.

“Er that’s pretty much it,” you lied.

“Really? Have you gone to the market yet?” she asked.

“Yeah,” you said.

“Did you walk?” she asked.

“Not exactly…” you trailed.

“Then how-“ somebody cut her off.

“I’m back!” you heard from outside your door. You rolled your eyes. You were finally finding time to talk to your best friend, and he just had to come in and ruin it. You looked from the door to your computer screen. Ellie was sitting there with her mouth wide open, suppressing back any sounds.

“You never told me there was someone there!” she whisper shouted.

“I’m sorry-“ she cut you off again.

“And you didn’t tell me it was a boy!” she hushed herself.

“I-“ this time he cut you off.

“What are you doing?” he butted in coming into view.

“NIALL HORAN!” you looked back at the computer screen to see Ellie, falling out of her chair, her hand clinging to her mouth.

“You know him?!” you asked bewildered.

“How can you not? He’s-“

“I’m nothing!” Niall finished quickly.

“Wait what?!” you screamed frantically looking back and forth between Niall and Ellie.

“I’m nothing,” Niall confirmed.

“But-“ Ellie tried again, trying to normalize her breathing. The next thing you knew, Niall slammed your laptop cover down onto the table, ending the call.

“What the hell was that for?!” you cried.

“Nevermind,” he said quickly, “Let’s just get back to work.”

“No. Wait. You just hung up on her!” you screeched flipping your computer back up. It took a moment before the screen came up.  You called her back immediately.  

“What happened?!” she asked panicked.

“This stupid guy over here shut my laptop,” you said glaring over at him. He shrugged blamelessly.

“That guy?! You mean-“ she began with her speed talk.

“Me? Yeah I’m Niall,” he said looking straight into the webcam.

“Niall Horan!” she exclaimed giggling. Your eyebrows dipped in puzzled.

“H-how do you know his last name?” you asked turning to him.

“Because-“ Niall began.

“Because he’s Niall Horan from One Direction!” Ellie screamed out quickly before he could cut her off…again.

“One Direction?” you asked leaning forward. Niall looked at you with bug eyes, keeping his mouth shut tight.

“Ermmm…” he said giving El a funny look. Whatever it was, she got the message.

“Oh um sorry. I should leave you two alone…to erm talk. Text me later Y/N,” she said before shutting off the video chat.

“Okay. I am so confused,” you said closing your eyes and rubbing your throbbing head. All the yelling and glaring was giving you a headache.

“Okay look. I was going to tell you. But-“

“You didn’t,” you finished for him.

“Yeah. I just. I don’t know…” he said trailing off and walking over to your couch. You followed closely behind him.

“What’s One Direction?” you asked while making air quotes. At first he looked a little shocked, but then actually a little relieved. He leaned back against the tense cushions.

“It’s-I mean we’re a British-Irish boyband,” he began.

“You being the Irish I assume,” you said putting the pieces together. That explained the interesting, foreign accent that you’ve never heard before.

“Right. There’s five of us…” he trailed.

“And why didn’t you want me to know?” you asked gently.

“Because,” he took a deep breath, “It’s just, it’s just never the same after I tell people. Well usually people already know who I am…”

“Sorry. I’m not big into the whole music thing,” you replied shifting your feet side to side.

“Well anyways. I just don’t want you to label me ya know? I just want to be Niall. Not Niall Horan from One Direction. I want you to like me for me. And not for what band I’m in,” he said avoiding your eyes.

“Why would I do that?” you asked sitting down across from him as he shrugged.

“I don’t know. People can be really judgmental,” he said grabbing his left arm with his right.

“Well I don’t judge people.”