How I Met Him

After PE, I had fairly easy classes, with only High Level Art, Standard Chemistry, and Business, lunch being in between Chemistry and Business. They went by pretty smoothly, and I had finally finished my art piece project, which was to be handed in next class. Once the day was over, however, I was hesitating about if I should go meet up with Niall or delay it until later. Much later.

Unfortunately, my wishes weren’t answered and Niall was right in front of the school’s parking lot, leaning on his car in his cute snow coat, sandy-beige chinos and white Supras. I sighed, wrote a quick text to my mum telling her that I was staying after school for a project, and walked over to him, giving him a small wave before being forced into his chest. A small pat on his back should do, I thought to myself.

“Hey Niall,” I tried to avoid his eyes as he opened the door for me. He swung around to the other side as I made myself comfortable, resting my bag on my lap and fixing my hair slightly.

“Hey, gorgeous. How are you today?” He asked me nicely, starting the car with a turn of his key. He impressively maneuvered his way out of the parking lot, making his way through the streets.

“I’m alright, a little hungry, though. How are you?” I guess we both attempted to not speak of the huge elephant between us. I slid off my coat as Niall replied with the same usual answer of ‘I’m alright’.

“So…” He started awkwardly.

“So…” I agreed.

“About last night…?” He tried again. I bit my lip harshly as I squeezed my eyes tightly. I really didn’t want to talk about last night, it was too awkward for the both of us, and I didn’t know if he wanted to kiss me or not.

I sucked in a deep breath as I tried to laugh naturally, but it came out forced and awkward.

“Uh, I didn’t know – actually, I still don’t know why I did that, and I’m sorry,” I bit my lip harsher as I stole a quick glance at him. He didn’t say anything, he just drove.
A couple minutes passed, and I was starting to regret everything. I fumbled with my fingers, and I messed with my hair. He seemed to avoid looking at me, and when I reached out to touch his elbow, he jerked it away and unsubtly pretended like he was turning the wheel. I reached back, trying to not mind.

After 10 minutes of silence, I felt sick, and I felt tired. My heart clenched, my mind hazed, and my lungs hurt.

I really didn’t know what was happening, and I didn’t like it at all. I looked at him from my peripheral vision and he looked like he was side-tracked, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Stop, stop the car.”

“What? Why? What?” He finally looked at me, alarmed. I zipped up my coat and held on to the door handle.

“Please just stop the car, Niall.” He still wasn’t slowing down and he panicked a little.

“Just stop the car right now!” I yelled, the tears pricking at my eyes.

He pulled over, put his car in park and the click of my seatbelt went as I opened the car door and began to walk to the gas station that was a couple meters ahead.

“Emma!” His voice sounded far away. I tried to rub the tears from my eyes hurriedly and sped up a little.

“Emma! What’s wrong?!” Did he seriously ask that? The snow sunk into my shoes and snow lightly started to drizzle. I had finally reached the gas station and made my way to the ladies room, hearing the bell ding again.

“Emma, stop. Stop, stop, stop,” he gripped my arm. I tried to yank it away from him, still refusing to look at him.

“What, Niall?” I asked harshly, averting my eyes to the different aisles. He moved to the front of me as he tried to capture my long stares.

“What’s wrong? What was that?” He asked, pointing outside, to his still idle car.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I don’t know why I kissed you last night, or why you came to pick me up, or why you came to follow me into the gas station. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, when all I want to do is hide,” I tried holding everything in, yet not meeting his eyes.

But once he hugged me again, I hugged back tighter and I had managed to calm myself so much as to not embarrass myself in front of him.

“Oh sweetie,” he cooed softly into my ear, “let’s go back to the car, the store clerk is starting to give me an odd look, and I don’t like it,” he breathed out, giving a light laugh at the end of it.

He held my hand as we walked out of the station and walked to the car. I pulled away, still feeling unwell about what had just happened. We got inside the heated car and he swiveled in his seat to get a look at me.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” He asked, seemingly oblivious to the complication.

“I think what’s wrong is that I kissed you.”

“Why would that be wrong?” He asked sweetly, adding a weak grin. This is getting harder and harder.

“Because it looked like you regretted it.”

“What makes you think that?” I bit my lip, and looked at his glittery deep blue eyes.

“You’ve been acting off and strange, and I don’t know,” I admitted to him. He leaned back in his seat and ran his hands through his messy hair. He let out a quiet sigh and turned back to me.
“It’s just that I’m nervous about everything too. I didn’t know how to feel after that kiss, because I wasn’t really expecting it, and right now I can’t stop shaking and talking and it would be great if you told me how you’re feeling too,” his eyes widened slightly at the end from the rambling, and I looked back at him. It’s true, his hands were jittering.

“I’m nervous too, and frankly I’ve got about a ton of butterflies flying ‘round in my stomach…” The corners of his mouth flew up; mine matched the speed of his.

“So, what’s this mean?” He asked quietly. What does this mean?

“D-do you wanna try this, possibly, maybe?” I stuttered. If possible, his grin grew wider and he leaned in once again. His lips met mine as innocently as ever, my forehead pressed to his, the tip of nose met the outside swirl of mine, my fingers flew to the gap between his ear and ear, his flew to under my chin, and if it was possible, I leaned in closer.

When it felt like years later, we pulled apart, both red in the face, eyes glazed, and wide smiles on our faces.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” I giggled, brushing a stray piece of hair back. He bit his lip, before chuckling himself and nodding.

“Of course, love. Are we gonna tell anyone? I’m fine with anything, bu-” I cut him off.

“I think it’s better if we don’t tell anyone just yet. No offense, but your fans can do anything including stalk and harass me. I don’t mind close family & friends knowing if you don’t mind either.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” he said as he leaned in to give me a small kiss.