Just One Step

Niall’s POV

I woke up the next morning with my arms wrapped around Dani. I smiled, and then remembered last night. My face fell remembering the cuts on her arm and the talk after the kiss. I really wanted to be there for her, but she wasn’t ready and I didn’t want to push her. I rolled over and got out of the bed. I walked toward my jeans, which were lying on the floor. When I picked them up I found my phone buzzing in the pocket.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hey!” I heard Louis shout at a volume way too loud for 9:17 on a Sunday morning.

“Vas’ happenin’?” I head Zayn say.

“Are you all on speaker phone,”

“Nahh,” said Liam. “Harry is still sleeping.”

“So,” said Zayn. “Where’d you go with Dani last night?”

“Just back to Tay’s,” I said, holding the phone in between my shoulder and my ear and struggling on put on my pants.

“Score!” shouted Louis.

“Shhhh…” I said. “She’s still sleeping, but guys it’s not like that,”

“Oh come on Niall,” Liam said. “We see the way you look at her,”

“And she obviously likes you,” said Zayn.

“I know she likes me, and she knows the same about me,” I said walking out of the bedroom and sitting down on the couches yesterday. “But it still isn’t like that, she can’t be involved with me, at least not right now,”

“Is it ‘cause she’s dating that James guy?” Louis asked.

“She’s not dating him,” I said. “But he is the problem,”

“What she likes him more then you?” Zayn said.

“No, he just really hurt her. She’s had a tough time besides and she’s not ready for a relationship yet,” I told them.

“Look just get over here and explain,” Liam said. “Harry is going to want to hear this too,”

“Fine,” I said and hung up. I turned to walk back into the room that Dani was sleeping in when Dev came walking out of the one across the hall.

“Hey,” I said. “Can you tell Dani when she wakes up that I’m really sorry but I had to leave?”

“Sorry bro,” he said. “I’m on my way out too,” He left and I stood there wondering if I should just wake her up and tell her or let her sleep and explain later. While I was standing there wondering Tay walked out. She walked out rubbing her eyes wearing only underwear. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me.

“You’re not Dev,” she said still rubbing her eyes and half asleep.

“No, I’m Niall,” I said.

“Niall?” she asked incredulously. “You spent the night?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Wow, she must really like you, she wouldn’t even do it with James and they were together for like forever,”

“Oh no,” I said clarifying. “We didn’t do anything,”

“You’re standing in my living room at 9:20 on a Sunday morning with no shirt and your pants still unbuttoned and you want me to believe nothing happened?” she said pretty loudly and laughed like the concept was hilarious.

“Nothing happened I swear,” feeling pretty awkward as she was just standing there in her underwear.

“Sure,” she said, still laughing. All of the laughing must have woken up Dani, because she came stumbling out of the other room with her head in her hands.

“God I have an awful headache,” Then she saw me. She looked down at her arm and saw the bandage. I winced at the memory of seeing her hurt herself.

“Shit,” she whispered. The looked up at me and inhaled deeply. “Was last night?”

“Yes,” I said.

“See,” Tay shouted and patted Dani on the back. “You two so did it!”

“No Tay,” she said. “That’s not what happened,”

“Explain then,” she said.

“I’d love to stay,” I said. “But the boys are expecting me back soon with the same explanation,”

“Well you better get going then,” she said. “But, don’t tell them everything,” she said glancing at her arm.

“I won’t,” I said and hugged her close. “I better get dressed first though,” Dani laughed.

“Okay,” Tay said. “Unless this explanation is really good, you two so did it last night,”

***

I opened the door to the hotel room we were staying in to find all the boys playing Call Of Duty on the Xbox.

“Hey guys,” I said. The all turned around abandoning the game, save for Louis who continued to shot anything and everything that came into his field of vision.

“I think an explanation is due,” said Harry.

“Alright, alright,” I said sitting down on the couch. “What do you want to know?”

“Did you two do anything last night?” asked Zayn.

“We kissed, but that was it and it was a mistake.”

“Why?” asked Liam.

“Because she’s not ready for a relationship,”

“Okay, okay,” Harry said, stopping the Q&A. “Just tell us the story from when I saw you two dancing,”

“Okay,” I said. “But I’ll have to censor some things because she asked me not to tell,”

“Ooooooo,” Louis said, finally coming out of the game.

“No, not like that, just personal things,”

“Sure,” He said.

“Just tell us already,” Harry complained, and so I began to tell them what happened.

“She was really drunk, so I took her over to the bar so she could sit down. I was about to sit down next to her, when she just stated crying. I asked her if she wanted to get out of there and she nodded. I helped her down from her chair but she was so upset and drunk that I had to give her a piggyback. We got outside and I borrowed her phone so I could text Tay, and ask her where Dani lived so I could take her back home.”

“Why’d you borrow her phone,” Louis said. “You have a perfectly good phone too, stupid.”

“Because he doesn’t have Tay’s number, stupid,” Niall said hitting Louis upside the head. We all laughed, except for Louis. Louis pouted.

“Well,” said Harry, after we had all stopped laughing. “Go on.”

“Well Tay told me not to take her back to her house, ‘cause her grandfather would be pissed if she came home drunk. So we went back to Tay’s. When we got back we both sat down on the bed in the guest room. I asked her if she needed to talk and she said yes, but she wanted to change first. She went into Tay’s room, and she was taking a while so I walked over to see if she was okay. The door was open but no one was in there, so I walked in. I looked around, and then heard crying coming from the bathroom, so I walked over. The door was wide open and she was standing there, still in her heels and she had,” I stopped remembering Dani had told me not to tell them. “Shit,” I whispered.

“She had what?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, come on Niall. You can’t just leave us hanging,” added Liam.

“She asked me not to tell anyone.” I said.

“Ok, well skip that part. She was crying in the bathroom, and?” Zayn said.

“We walked back into the other room and we just laid down next to each other, and I asked her what had happened and she told me. She lost her parents when she was eight and her grandmother has cancer. Then she met this James guy, and he started to help her. She was really depressed before they started dating and he helped her feel better, but then he went and cheated on her with her best friend.” At this point Liam interrupted me.

“Tay?” he asked incrediously.

“No, some girl named Jenna.” I told him.

“Keep going!” shouted Louis.

“Okay,” I said. “She told me she saw them that night. Apparently they were making out at the end of the bar. She said she didn’t even like him anymore it’s just the fact that it was with her best friend and he knew she was already hurt because of her parents and her grandmother. We talked for a little and then she started trying to take off her heels, but she couldn’t manage so I helped her, and then we were kissing. But she pulled away and said she really liked me but wasn’t ready yet. So I told her that was fine and I get it. I asked her if there was anything else she needed to talk about and she said no, so I told her I would help clean up her arm and then I would go.”

“Clean up her arm?” Liam asked. Shit.

“Yeah,” I said cautiously. “Did I not say that she fell on the side walk outside the venue?”

“No she didn’t,” Harry said. “You were carrying her.”

“Niall is this what she didn’t you to tell anyone about?” Zayn asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Did she do this to herself?” he asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“Okay, keep going, we won’t tell anyone that you slipped.” He looked round to the other boys. “Right guys?” They all stated that they wouldn’t.

“So I went into the bathroom to get some bandages and came back and helped her out with the cut and was about to leave, but she asked me to stay. So I did.”

“Is that it?” Harry asked.

“Yep,” I said.

“Seriously?”

“Yes,”

Dani’s POV

After Niall left I turned to Tay. She looked at me expectantly.

“I’m not talking to you till you’re fully clothed,” I said in a sleepy monotone.

“Fine.” I turned and walked towards the kitchen to get an advil. God, I haven’t been this hungover in so long…

After I swallowed the pill, Tay came running in. She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the couch and sat me down.

“Explain,” she said.

“Alright, alright,” I said. “I saw James last night. He was making out with Jenna at the end of the bar,”

“Oh fuck it Dani,” she said collapsing onto the couch. “You need to get over him.”

“No interruptions,” I said. “Or you won’t find out what happened last night.”

“If you don’t tell me I’m just going to assume you guys had sex.”

“Fine,” I said. “So I was upset, and I started crying. Niall gave me a piggyback out of the venue and once we got outside he asked for my phone. I assume to text one of the boys, his phone was probably dead.”

“No he texted me, wanted to know where to take you,” Tay told me. “He didn’t have my number on his so he borrowed yours.”

“Makes sense,” I said, nodding slightly. “So we came back here and we talked. I told him about James, and then we kissed. But I told him I wasn’t ready for a relationship and he said he was fine with that,” she scoffed at this. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said. I was about to start again when she said, “It’s just that, well he obviously isn’t fine with it. He really likes you Dani.”

“I like him to Tay,” I said quietly. “I like him too,”