Talk Is Cheap

It had been three days since Nicole went to dinner with Niall, and she was completely relieved it was finally the weekend. He had been sending her a couple texts a day, and had called her quite a few times, but never left a voicemail. She didn’t reply to him, after reading his first text ‘I hope you’re okay. Can we talk?’ she started deleting them immediately after receiving them. It hurt her too much to read his desperate pleads to talk to her and figure things out. She and Niall got on exceptionally well, but seeing Harry had potentially ruined anything from happening between them.

Seeing Harry was like seeing a ghost. When they broke up, it was literally like he died. They didn’t talk at all and she never saw him if she could help it. Unfortunately for her, he and his stupid band were always on T.V. and the covers of magazines, but she avoided them as much as possible.

He looked slightly different than she remembered. His hair was longer and his curls were looser. He looked more mature, and he seemed to be in better shape. His eyes were still the same though, emerald green and they lit up whenever he talked about something he was passionate about, and she found herself contemplating over whether he was truly happy with his new life and the fame. He still bit his tongue when he smiled, and Nicole wondered how many girls he’d swapped spit with since they broke up. Also, he still ate with his hands, picking food off the people’s plates around him, and she found herself remembering the food fight they’d had one night over dinner in one of Cheshire’s fanciest restaurants; he’d swung a clump of mash potatoes off his finger, accidently hitting Nicole in the face, she reacted by flicking pees at him with her fork and the rest was history.

Nicole missed Harry. It wasn’t a secret. No one understood why she still clung to the memories she had with him, especially not Sage. Harry and Nicole had met before she even knew Sage. Every horrible thing that happened with her family when she was 15 was before she knew Sage as well. For a while, Nicole only had Harry, so it was hard for her to forget him. Sure, she hated him. When he broke up with her so suddenly and harshly she’d felt like dying, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss him. She missed the good times they had together, the laughs and kisses they shared, and the exciting things they’d experienced together. He was her first everything; first real boyfriend, first love, and first time. A whole year of her life had been surrounded around him, and she found it hard to remember any good memories without him being in them.

Being around him at dinner Tuesday night only made her miss him more. She felt completely rotten for feeling that way, especially because she had a wonderful boy as her date, but she couldn’t help it. His smile, laugh, the way we walked, the way he ate, everything he did drove her absolutely mental. Just when she finally felt like she had a grip on her feelings for him, had the whole situation under control, and he wasn’t showing up in her dreams anymore, he had to show up again, making her world spin.

Angrily, Nicole decided to try and stop thinking about him. He’d literally been all she thought about for the past three days when she wasn’t trying to evaluate her feelings for Niall. It completely sucked the life out of her.

She stumbled into the kitchen, grabbing a granola bar and water bottle before walking into the living room and turning on her lap top. She still hadn’t finished her Sociology paper, and the final draft was due Monday. Nicole sat in the middle of the floor, her legs crossed and her back arched as her fingers lingered over the keyboard—she was struggling to create complete, coherent sentences. She tapped her fingers against her chin, trying to push the image of Harry Styles from her head in order to focus on the interesting topic of nature verse nurture. She reached for her granola bar, tugging the paper half-way down the peanut butter and dark chocolate flavored treat. After taking a bite, she chewed slowly, staring blankly at the second page of her Word document. She washed down the food with a swig of her water, before opening up iTunes and pressing ‘shuffle’. The first song that came on was a sappy love song by ‘Frank Sinatra’, and Nicole literally felt like throwing her lap top across the room.

Her phone vibrated against the ground suddenly, the screen lighting up and gaining her attention through her peripheral vision. Her olive eyes brushed over it quickly, reading the first few letter and knowing exactly who was calling her. She let the call go to voicemail before picking up her phone and tossing it against the wall. She’d hoped Niall had finally given up, but it seemed he’d be blowing up her phone again all day today.

Nicole really did fancy Niall. He was adorable, and perhaps the sweetest boy she’d ever met. He was charming and treated her like a lady. He made her smile and giggle constantly, and just being with him made her heart flutter. Nicole wanted more than anything to make things work with the Irish lad, and hoped more than anything there wasn’t a cheeky, green-eyed git standing in their way. Nicole wished she was able to push past the fact that her ex was best mates the new lad in her life, but it was easier said than done. Also, she was scared. She was scared of getting her heart broken, scared of becoming close to someone and getting hurt again. Nicole wanted to push past her insecurities, but was harder than she thought, and until she had the courage to talk to Niall, she was sure it would never happen.

Nicole avoided her paper longer, deciding to surf the web instead. She stayed away from Twitter since she’d disabled her account the day after going to dinner. ‘One Direction’s’ crazy fans had been harassing her ever since the paparazzi snapped photos of her and Niall going to and leaving the restaurant together. Some of their more stalker-like fans had even dug up photos of her and Harry going to a dance together during year 11, so now the entire ‘One Direction’ fandom had dubbed her a slag. A few even had the nerve to refer to her as ‘Yoko Ono’. Apparently she wanted to break-up the band, but in reality she wanted nothing to do with them. Nicole did not want to be that girl who everyone thinks is obsessed with the world’s most popular boy band and is willing to do whatever to shag them all.

A knocked echoed throughout the apartment, causing Nicole to jump in surprise. She turned quickly towards the front door and glared at it with knitted eyebrows. Eventually she mustered up enough energy to stand up and stumble towards the door, expecting it to be Sage forgetting her key again. She opened the door quickly, turning immediately to go back to her spot on the floor before catching a head of blonde hair in her peripheral vision. She stopped immediately, no sure if she should turn around or not. She hadn’t been expecting him, and she didn’t have any clue what she wanted say to him.

“Nicole?” his Irish voice warmed her ears. She bit her lip before turning around quickly, her brown hair falling into her face. She swiped the pieces away, letting her olive eyes meet his. His lips were twisted in a frown, and the whites of his eyes were red; it looked like he hadn’t been sleeping well.

“Hi, Niall. I’m sorry about not answering your texts or calls.”

“It’s all me fault, I should have told you about me band and the lads-”

“I’m not mad at you!” Nicole exclaimed, hoping he’d stop blaming himself for the disastrous dinner. No one could have really prevented it. “You didn’t know about Harry and me, there is nothing you could’ve done.”

Niall sighed deeply, running a hand through his blonde hair before shoving his hands in his pockets. He gave her a sheepish grin, shifting his weight from his heels to the balls of his feet. His eyes darted from Nicole to the floor and back again, he was at a loss for words. If Nicole didn’t blame him for what happened the other night, he didn’t understand why she was dodging his calls and texts.

“Nicole,” he began, focusing more on her forehead than her eyes. There was something he’d wanted to say for a couple days now, and this seemed like as good of time as any.

She watched him, rubbing her tongue between her teeth as she waited for him to finish his thought. The longer he paused, the more nervous she felt, her mind wandering through the different possibilities of things he could say.

“I know we haven’t known each other long, but I think you’re a great girl. I fancy you quite a lot actually.”

Nicole took several quick breaths through her nose, taking in every word Niall had said. He’d definitely surprised her, she didn’t know many lads that could express their feelings so easily. She decided that was just another thing she fancied about him; his ability to not only have but communicate his emotions. He was different than any boy she’d met before. He was a typical lad, cheeky and immature most of the time, but he was also so carefree, and sweet. He was literally perfect for her, especially at this point in her life.

“I feel the same way.” Nicole said, surprising herself a little. She hadn’t felt so strongly about anyone since Harry, it was exciting to have constant butterflies again just looking into someone’s eyes.

Niall took a step forward and caressed her cheek with his hand. He ran his thumb over her lips while staring down at her. She giggled quietly, looking up at him through her eyelashes before resting her hands on his waist and pressing her stomach against his. He adored her laugh and the way her eyes lit up whenever she smiled. A few low chuckles left his lips as she wrinkled her nose, a fit of giggles escaping her mouth. He ran his rough hand through her hair, pushing the strands of wavy, half straightened hair out of her face before leaning closer to her. Niall rested his forehead against hers, his thin, pink lips lingering above her full, red ones. Nicole squirmed a little beneath him, a tad too eager to see what happened next. After a heavy sigh, his hot breath warming her face, he closed the space between them with a blissful kiss. Her hands roamed over his back before her fingers became knotted in his hair. He wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her in the air slightly, and the her tip toes brushed against the ground. After a half minute, Niall released her, letting her feet meet the floor again before their lips pulled apart. Nicole locked eyes with him as goose bumps appeared all over her body, she’d never had a kiss like that before.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked sheepishly, reaching to grab his hand and intertwining their fingers together.

“That would be lovely.” He replied, following after her with a gigantic smile across his lips. He couldn’t help but wish he’d met her first, before Harry. She was such an amazing girl; it boggled him that anyone would treat her less than perfect.