That Magical Summer

Chapter 13

            Far, far away. He’s getting married, and you two broke up months ago. It was truly time to move on.

            Minutes later you arrived. The parking lot was packed and crazy as you looked for a parking space. Before you knew what was happening, you were getting out of the car to a million white flashes burning your eyes.

“One Direction One Direction!”

“Harry over here!”

“Who’s the girls?”

“Is she one of your girlfriends?”

            You felt a warm hand grip onto yours, as somebody whispered into your ear gruffly, “Keep your head down.” Flustered, you clenched onto the hand a bit tighter, biting your lip, and keeping your head low. You burst through the open doors of the restaurant, heaving heavily.

“What—was—that,” you managed between edgy breaths still a bit traumatized.

“Paparazzi,” Zayn mumbled. And that’s when you looked down at your hand closely intertwined with Niall’s. You looked up meeting his gaze, before he could speak you pulled your hand from his in a hurry. You saw him turn a shade of light pink before you looked away.

“Table for 7,” Liam said stepping forward. He was the one that always take initiative, the gentlemen…

“Right this way. And I’ll give you the private room too,” you rolled your eyes as you saw the lady flash him a flirty wink. You saw Niall looking at you, but you looked away. After an hour of random talk and a much silence meal, you were ready to go.

“Okay. They’re still probably gonna be outside. So just hang your head down and don’t answer any of their questions,” Liam ordered as you saw Ellie and each of the boys nod.

“Y/N?” You looked up at Liam who was staring at you.

“Oh yeah. Got it,” you muttered walking ahead of them out the door.

“There they are!” you heard one man shout. The flash of a camera.

“Niall over here!” Another bright flash.

“Louis Louis!” A blinding flash.

“What’s your name?” you heard being spat towards you. You wanted to answer, but then you remembered what Liam had said. But since when did you listen to what Liam had to say?

“Y/N,” you said proudly as you felt someone yank you back into the car.

“Y/N! What the hell was that?” it was Liam.

“The truth…”

“Did you not listen to one word I said back there? I said not to answer any of the damn questions!”

“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal…”

“It is!”

“Hey cut her some slack Liam. It was her first time with the paps,” you heard Niall butt in. You watched as Liam turned back to stare out his window.

“Whatever,” you murmured just loud enough so that you could hear.

*Back at the house*

“Y/N come here!” you heard from the living room. You ran in to see what the trouble was. 

“What is it?”

“Look,” Niall pointed to the frame of his laptop. On the screen, was a picture of you and him hand in hand. You looked as if you had just seen an alien, and Niall’s head was low enough to the point where you couldn’t see his face. The title to the article written in bright blue, bold letters was “Niall’s Secret Affair?”

“I-“ you began.

“See Y/N! This is exactly why I told you not to do this! I don’t know why you didn’t just listen to me and keep your head down!” Liam exploded waving his arms madly in the air.

“Come on man. It’s not her fault. We just gotta confirm that we’re not together,” Niall resolved calmly as he stared at the picture of the two of you.

“Then how are you going to explain this?!” Liam asked as he gestured to the picture.

“I don’t know. There’s pictures of Harry holding hands with tons of girls all the time. Can’t we just say we’re friends?”

“Hey!” Harry chimed in defending himself at the sound of his name.

“Sorry lad. But it’s true…”

“Maybe we should just leave it alone. Let everything cool down. They’ll forget about it soon enough,” Liam said steering back to the original topic. You all nodded your head in agreement.

“Who wants to go to the beach?” Louis asked walking in with just a pair of board shorts on, suntan lotion spread messily across his face, and a bright yellow beach towel in his hand. You laughed and you heard a chorus of yes’s.

“You guys go on ahead. I’m just gonna stay here,” you said.

“Are you sure?” Ellie asked worried.

“Yeah. I’m fine. You go on ahead,” you said smiling. She gave you a small smile back making sure you’re alright, “Seriously El. Just go!”

           Minutes later you were left alone in your house with Zayn. You sat on the couch and watched as the others ran towards the ocean at full speed.

“Why didn’t you want to go in?”

“Can’t swim,” he pointed his toes towards each other embarrassed.

“Oh. I see,” you said, “Well…wanna watch something?” You grabbed the remote from the coffee table flipping on the tv.

“Niall Horan with a secret new girlfriend, Ellie? Hear the latest scoops here. Right after the break,” you heard a lady with far too much makeup on say, as you groaned. You pushed down hard on the red button silencing the tv.

“Isn’t it annoying to have all these rumors all the time?” you asked turning to him.

“Yeah I guess. But this one isn’t a rumor is it?”

“What?! Of course it is!”

“But I mean it seems like you and Niall really get along quite well, if you know what I mean.”

“Far from it,” you mumbled under your breath.

“Well it seems like somebody fancies you,” he said.

“No way,” you said shaking your head.

“Or is it the other way around?” he raised an eyebrow.

“NO!”

“Come on, I’m one of his best friends remember?”

“I remember. But that still doesn’t mean you know if he likes me or not,” you giggled slightly as you looked out the back door. You watched as the four boys ran around Ellie like lunatics diving in and out of the ocean. As Niall dipped under every bellowing wave, surfacing back up he slowly shook out his hair. His blonde tips flailing in the wind, throwing speckles of ocean water right back into the ocean. You liked the way the golden sun only made his hair sparkle even more, just like yours.

        You made small talk with Zayn before he fell asleep on you. You got up to the kitchen when you were about to pour yourself a glass of water, when the rest came pounding loudly through the door.

“That was fast.”

“Yeah. It was getting hot, and Niall over here was getting hungry…again,” Harry laughed pointing a finger to Niall. That same rosy pink blush, tickled his cheekbones.

“I think I have some food at my house,” Niall said kicking off his slippers, his hair and body still wet from the ocean, “Might have some s’mores too.”

“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Louis exclaimed waking Zayn up from his little nap.

“Bonfire!” the five screamed in unison.