Talk Is Cheap

Nicole slept most of the day away. By the time she woke up, the lads were getting ready to eat dinner. She rolled out of bed before searching through her suitcases for something to wear. She decided on a pair of cropped sweat pants and a loose tank top for now, figuring she could change later after she was told their plans for the night.

The lads were kicking a ball up and down the corridor as they nibbled on the pizza Paul had delivered. Nicole lingered in the doorway of her room, watching them silently until someone noticed her.

“You’re awake!” Liam exclaimed, brushing pizza crumbs off his hands before crossing the corridor to hug Nicole. “Thought you were going to sleep all day.”

She grinned sheepishly. “I don’t know how you lads do it. Traveling all day is exhausting.”

“You get used to it,” Zayn added, he was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the wall. His lap top was sitting open in front of him, and Nicole could have sworn she saw him looking at Sage’s twitter page.

“What’re you talking about,” Niall said, appearing suddenly at Nicole’s side. “We’ve been touring for over a year now, and you still complain every time we travel to a new country. ‘I’m so tired’ you say 100 times a day.”

“I do not!”

Nicole smiled as Niall wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug. He rested his forehead against hers, and her olive eyes lit up as a smile formed on her lips. He kissed her eagerly, his guitar-calloused hands reaching to grab her face, pulling her onto her tip toes.

“Hi,” he said quietly, letting her feet find the ground. A fit of giggles escaped her lips before she knotted her fingers with his hair, pulling his mouth back to hers.

“Oi, love birds, some of us are trying to eat!” Louis yelled and Niall flipped him off before pulling apart from Nicole and lacing his fingers with hers. Louis was juggling the football with his knees while taking occasional bites of the pizza in his left hand. Harry was standing further down the corridor, his lips pursed as he waited for his mate to pass him the ball. Nicole did her best to focus all her attention on Niall, and keep her thoughts away from the conversation she’d had with Harry the previous night. Her stomach was still uneasy from the whole experience.

“Honestly though.” Harry muttered, but Nicole felt like she was the only one who heard. She knew it must have been weird for him, seeing her with his good mate, kissing and being affectionate, but she tried not to worry much about it. His feelings weren’t her problem anymore.

“What are the plans for tonight?” Nicole asked, walking towards the almost empty pizza box lying in the middle of the floor. She scooped up the last piece, taking a large bite to satisfy the grumbling in her stomach; it had been over 24 hours since she’d last eaten.

“We’re going out,” Liam replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

“And hopefully getting drunk.” Louis added.

“And defiantly getting laid.” Harry insisted, reaching to high-five Zayn. Nicole watched Niall from the corner of her eye, his face lit up with excitement. She wondered if he expected her to shag him during their trip together. Obviously, she’d thought about it more than a few times, but the idea made her nervous. She’d never been with another lad before, and it seemed extremely ironic that her first time having sex since her breakup with Harry would be in the same hotel, on the same floor, and just a few doors down from him.

“Can’t wait,” she mumbled low enough for no one to hear.



“Drinks all around!” Niall yelled as a bartender brought Nicole and each of the lads a pint. She sniffed the dark, brown drink in front of her, cringing slightly from the smell. Beer was her least favorite alcoholic drink. For starters, it tasted disgusting. Also, you have to drink a lot to get drunk and it made you bloated. When Nicole drank, which was definitely a rarity, she liked fruity drinks that hindered the taste of the alcohol or five or six shots to get her feeling good painlessly and quickly.

All the lads downed their drinks in a matter of minutes, instantly ordering more. The only one that seemed less interested in drinking than her was Liam; he even quietly ordered a soda to drink instead when the boys weren’t paying attention.

Nicole watched amusingly as the lads drank beer after beer, growing absolutely drunk as the night went on. She’d decided to remain sober for the night, not feeling any necessary need to get pissed. If her parents had taught her anything, it was that she had some serious addictive-quality genes, and the last thing she wanted was to end up like them, unable to live without getting her fix of something every day.

“Come dance,” Niall whispered in her ear, already jumping to his feet and reaching his hand towards her. She laced their fingers together before he pulled her to her feet and she followed him to the dance floor.

The club they were at was a lot more low-key than the usual clubs she attended in London. Sage would have definitely hated it. The music was more slow-paced and the people weren’t dressed in flashy outfits. Australia in general was a lot more toned down than England. Everyone seemed so mellow, moving their hips slowly to the beat, waving their drinks around as they got lost in whatever song the dj played. Nicole liked the change. She liked being able to relax without a single worry.

The dance floor was half inside and half outside. The cool, salty ocean breeze immediately soaked in Nicole’s skin as she followed Niall outside, the only light coming from the moon and stars. The music was much quieter outside and there weren’t a lot of people, giving the pair enough room to move around freely and bask in each other’s’ company.

Niall rested his hands on her waist, and she looped her arms around his neck, their bodies swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the music. Nicole struggled to keep up with the tempo, she’d always been known to dance slightly out of time, but Niall didn’t mind. He found it quite amusing watching her stare intently at her feet, willing them to meet the pace of the music, but it was no use, she didn’t have a rhythmic bone in her body.

“I have a lot planned for your birthday.” Nicole quickly looked up from her feet, her olive eyes meeting his gaze.

“Really?”

“Yes. Luckily we already had the day off, and I made sure Paul didn’t schedule me for any interviews.”

A wide smile spread across Nicole’s lips; she liked that he’d thought everything through, made special time for her. “You’re the best.”

“No, love. That would be you.”

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s a surprise!” he said loudly, making her jump. A toothy smile appeared on his face, revealing his braces. She rolled her eyes, his childlike personality was something to get used to. “I can say it’ll be just you and meself all day—if you don’t mind that is.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“Brilliant.”

She rested her head against his chest as he sang the words to the song playing in the distance. His voice was different than the other lads in One Direction. When he sang, he didn’t lose his accent, and Nicole liked that very much.

“Nick,” he said finally, and she pulled away from him a bit, just enough to peer up at him through her eyelashes.

“Hmm?”

“I fancy you a lot.”

She looked at him blankly, unable to understand his need for randomness. “O-kay…”

“I want to be proper about things, I’d fancy you being me girlfriend.”

Nicole’s eye grew wide. That was the last thing she’d been expecting. She fancied Niall a lot, truly she did, but things were so much easier without labels. If he was her boyfriend, things became permanent. Not that she didn’t think things with Niall were permanent, they were, at least for now. She just hadn’t called someone her boyfriend in so long. For her, labels lead to expectations and expectations lead to disappointment, or at least that’s how things had gone for her in the past.

“Oh, Niall—I dunno.”

His lips formed a frown. She hated upsetting him, and for such a stupid reason. It was mad to upset someone else because she was scared shitless of commitment.

“I understand-” he started to pull away, but Nicole grabbed onto him quickly, cupping his face in her hands.

“Listen, I fancy you a lot too. I promise. You’re wonderful, and we get on so well. You make me happy, and I could never ask for a guy more perfect than you.”

“But-”

“No buts. That’s it. You know where I stand and I know where you stand, why does it matter if we’re official? I fancy you, you fancy me. That’s all that matters.”

He pressed his lips together in a tight line, taking in everything she was saying. Technically , she was right, but he still felt uneasy. He wanted her to be his and no one else’s, but she seemed petrified of the idea of being his girlfriend. He wanted commitment, he wanted it to be official, but he also didn’t want to lose her. So, for now it seemed he’d have to play by her rules, but he wasn’t just going to give up. He wanted her more than any girl before.

“Labels are for soup cans, anyway.” She giggled loudly before pressing her lips to his for a long, passionate kiss. She wanted him to know he meant a lot to her. She wanted him to know there was hope for her commitment phobia, but it was going to take time. Time that could be spent snogging at clubs in Australia.

“This is my jam.” Niall exclaimed, pulling away from her as he attempted to do some form of drunken, Irish jig as he slurred the words to Justin Bieber’s new single ‘Boyfriend’. Nicole rolled her eyes, finding his behavior to be slightly embarrassing. For starters, Bieber was far from her favorite music artist, and his new song was a complete joke because really, who says ‘swaggy’? Secondly, people were staring, and Nicole hated being the center of attention.

Eventually the song ended, and the pair found their way back to the group. Liam and Louis were the only ones still there; apparently Zayn and Harry had left to pull women. Nicole tried to pretend it didn’t sting a little that Harry was probably charming some female into having sex with him or at least giving him a blow job that night. It was weird for her to think about him with other girls. Especially because she knew without a fact he’d started shagging other girls the second they’d broke up, and she was just now trying to talk herself into finally having sex with a new lad.

After another few minutes, everyone decided they were pretty knackered and they started back to the hotel. Since Niall had to wake up early in the morning for interviews and rehearsal, the pair decided to sleep separately. He kissed her goodbye outside her room before promising to send her a cute goodnight text before she went to sleep. Also, he told her to call him when she woke up in the morning, so he could find some way to open up his busy schedule in order to spend some time with her before their show.

After stepping into her room, she flicked the lights on, jumping back slightly as her eyes landed on the lad sitting on her bed. His eyes were blood shot, and his brown curls were flat on his head, assumingly drenched in sweat. He watched her closely, taking in her whole being.

“What’re you doing here,” she finally demanded, gaining her composure after nearly being scared to death. She hadn’t expected him to be there, sitting on her bed, waiting for her.

He sucked in a sharp breath before stumbling to his feet. Without saying a word, he walked towards her, closing the space between them until her nose was centimeters away from his chest. He reeked of alcohol, and it quickly became quite obvious he was utterly pissed.

“Tell me what you’re doing here.” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. He ran his teeth over his bottom lip as he tapped his fingers against his legs nervously.

“I can’t stop thinking about you.”

She let his words sink in, her eyelids fluttering closed as she processed the information, taking several deep breaths through her nostrils.

“That seems like a personal problem.”

He shook his head in frustration. She didn’t understand. She was literally all he thought about. Ever since he kissed her the night before he left for America, he was always on her mind. He knew it was wrong. She was dating his mate, and he’d hurt her far more than he’d ever know. He knew he didn’t deserve her, but he needed her. He needed to hold her, taste her, be with her again.

“I miss you so much it hurts.” His hands found her waist and she swallowed hard, unable to think straight. She could hear her heart beat getting louder, and the room started to spin.

“H-harry, s-st-stop-” his lips crashed against hers, his sweaty palms gripping her hands, lacing their fingers together. For a moment, she felt numb, her knees buckling beneath her. Eventually she gained back control of her movements and pushed him away, stumbling backwards as she wiped his taste off her mouth with the back of her hand. She furrowed her brows, glaring at him as her body filled with anger.

“Don’t fight it.” He stepped towards her again, scooping her up in his arms and placing a hard kiss to her lips before she had the chance to stop him. She tensed beneath his touch, wiggling free of his grasp before taking a step backwards, her eyes narrowed into slits. She lifted her hand and slapped him across the face as hard as possible. His eye grew wide, the expression on his face priceless as he reached to caresses the bright red hand print etched in his cheek.

“Fuck you,” she seethed, balling her hands into fists. Her breathing was heavy as she glared at him feeling nothing but distaste. “You can’t fucking do that.”

“Kiss you?” he muttered quietly, he didn’t want to upset her further. He definitely wanted to avoid getting slapped again. For a small girl, she hit pretty hard.

She shook her head; every ounce of her was full of rage, making it hard to think straight. “You can’t pretend like it’s okay to kiss me. Pretend like you didn’t tear my heart apart. Pretend like you still care about me after all this time.”

“I’m not pretending. I do still care about you. I love-”

“Don’t you dare. You never loved me. You broke up with me over a 30 second phone call.”

He’d never seen her so angry before. She looked about ready to explode. Her eyes were dark and her expression was hard; she looked like a completely different person, someone he didn’t know.

“I-I made a mistake.”

She laughed coldly, his words sounded like complete bull shit to her. “Really? It took me being happy with another guy for you to realize that? You’re a selfish person, Harry. I think you want me to be miserable. I think you enjoying fucking with my head, and I’m so over it.”

“You’ll never be completely satisfied with Niall.” He said, not denying any of her accusations. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was right, maybe this was all truly just a game to him.

“Why would you say that?”

“You hate sports.”

“What?” she snapped utterly confused. He had a way of making her head spin.

“You love watching the same romantic comedies over and over again, saying your favorite lines before the characters do.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“You hate Justin Bieber. You think Grease is overrated. You hate the taste of beer. The c-word makes you cringe. You love to read, all day, without taking a break to eat or sleep. Nandos gave you food poisoning when you were six. Horror movies scare you to tears. Farting is your biggest pet-hate.”

Nicole pursed her lips. She hated that he knew her so well. “Are you finished?”

“No.” His eyes locked with hers, the tension building between them as she waited anxiously for him to finish his thought. “He’s not me.”

For a second, she couldn’t breathe. Who did he think he was, trying to get her to change her feelings about Niall? Yes, they didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but no relationship was perfect. She could see past their differences. She wanted to see past their differences. She wanted to be happy with Niall because he made her feel good about herself. He was charming, funny, and utterly carefree. He was good for her. She felt comfortable with him.

“And that makes him perfect.”