Just Consider It

As much as I liked being Niall's friend, I sort of wished that everyone would stop acting so surprised. Every time we walked somewhere together we'd get the bug-eyed look at the whispers.

Niall, of course, paid no attention to it, either because he was used to it or because he just didn't even notice. He went about high-fiving people, winking at girls, shouting, "Hey, you little shit," at guys, and just generally being Niall.

Avery was thrilled, to say the least. "He was so good with Mace," she said happily. "You and him could be like a babysitting team for me, yeah?"

"Uh," I said uncomfortably, as Mason wrapped his hand around my pointer finger. "I dunno. Maybe."

"Seriously," she continued. Avery was in the kitchen, Googling how to cut up a pineapple. She was attempting to make fruit salad for a friend's birthday. "I don't know why you hated him in the first place. He's so cute."

"Okay." I refused to think of Niall as cute. He was funny and nice, but cute was where I drew the line.

Maggie was smug, flouncing around like she was the fucking Queen of England, saying she knew he and I would be friends eventually. Finally, I threatened to take a needle and reduce her C cups to A's, which got her to shut up.

But no one was more smug than Professor Keen. I dreaded going into psychology class because I didn't want to face her "I told you so" because if there was one thing I hated, it was those. On Monday, I took my seat as usual and slid out my laptop, trying not to attract any attention, hoping maybe she'd forget I existed.

Of course, though, right as I thought I was going make it, Niall fucking Horan strolled into class, and came to a sudden, whiplash stop. Shit. He looked at me for a second before bounding over and sitting next to me with a loud thud. "Hiya, Hero," he said brightly, poking me in the shoulder.

I glanced over at Professor Keen. Too late. She was watching Niall and me with interest. "Hi," I said, sighing.

"Ready to learn?" he practically bellowed. I winced. "Too early?"

"A little."

"Ready to learn?" he whispered, and then giggled because we all knew Niall Horan was just too darn funny. As much as I didn't want to, I cracked a smile before stealing a glance at Professor Keen. She had her eyebrows raised.

"Shit." That seemed to be the word of the day.

"What?" He followed my gaze before he grinned even more broadly. "You don't want her to know we're friends now, do you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Because then she'll have been correct in putting you and me together, and you'll be wrong, and Hero Bronwyn cannot be wrong or else the universe will implode."

"Something like that, yeah."

"You want me to pretend to hate you?"

"Would you?"

"Really? You would give up all those irreplacable hours of friendship just for your reputation?" Niall clutched at his heart.

"Yes."

"Good, so would I."

I laughed as a shadow suddenly loomed over us. "Hello, Hero. Hello, Niall. Did you have a nice weekend?"

Niall flashed a sunny smile. "Hello, Professor. My weekend was brilliant, how was yours?"

"Fine, thank you." Professor Keen pursed her lips against her slightly yellow teeth. "You two seem to be getting along quite well." Her eyes darted over to me.

I shrugged. Niall smiled again, a bright, dazzling one that made her step back a little, smile back, bewildered, and move on to torture some other poor soul before class started. Turning to Niall, I watched as he busied himself with fumbling through his bag. He finally looked back up at me. "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me. How did you do that?" I demanded.

"Whaddya mean?"

"You just smiled at her and she left. Whenever I smile she just takes it as the okay to keep talking!"

Niall thought carefully for a moment, staring down at his fingers and wrinkling his forehead in thought. "Well," he said at last, "you don't smile very much, so when you do, people often take it as a sign that you're enjoying yourself. I smile a lot, so people don't think anything of it."

"I smile," I said indignantly.

"Not much. You mostly just make a kinda face . . . kinda like this." Niall furrowed his eyebrows and made a sort of expression that made him look irritated and unimpressed. "Yeah. See this? This is what you look like."

I scowled, but then realized I was making that exact face, so I tried to just keep an about face. "Whatever."

He grinned again. "It makes you seem unapproachable, Hero."

"I'm approachable."

"No one else knows it, though. Except maybe for me. See? I serve a purpose for being your friend."

* * *

So, it seemed like the entire world was all for me and Niall becoming friends, except for my parents, of course. But for the first time, they actually weren't alone in their hatred of my friendship with Niall. Tyler was, too.

Maggie was at work and I was bored, so I called him and he came over. I was lying on my bed and he was sitting in my desk chair when he asked in a too-casual voice, "Did you and Niall make up or something?"

I glanced over at him. I was trying to do some work for my Business and Finance class and Tyler had not yet grasped that when I was working, I was not to be disturbed unless it was absolutely urgent. "What did you say?"

"Did you and Niall make up?" he repeated.

I raised my eyebrows. "When did we fight?"

"Bloody hell, Hero, you've only hated him ever since you met him . . ."

"Oh." I shrugged. "I don't know. We just kind of . . . became friends?"

He huffed. "How?"

"We just did." I didn't really want anyone to know the little incident that was the cause of our friendship. The fact that I had looked so weak in front of one person was cringe-worthy enough. I didn't need a bunch of people knowing. Niall seemed uncomfortable whenever it was brought up, so we both had agreed to just act like it never happened.

"Huh."

I finally put down my textbook and highlighter and looked at him. "What's with you?"

"Nothing," he snipped.

This was obviously a lie, but I wasn't in the mood for dealing with it, so I just shrugged and started to go back to my work. It was difficult, though, because I could hear Tyler making these annoyed sighs and grunts across the room. But what he didn't know was that I'd been living with Avery for most of my life, and she did the exact same thing whenever she was mad. So I just tuned it out.

The one thing I'd never been able to tune out, though, was direct confrontation. And this is what happened. Tyler snapped finally, "Do you and him like each other or something?"

"Me and who?"

"You and Niall!" He said it like it was obvious.

I shrugged. "He's cool, I guess. I like hanging out with him."

"Not like that," Tyler said, exasperated.

"What, you mean like like?" I asked, surprised. He nodded slowly, and I almost laughed. "Don't tell me you're jealous of Niall Horan. I mean, yeah he's all boyband-ish, but still. He's probably the world's biggest idiot."

"I just don't get why one day you hate his guts and then the next you're all buddy-buddy."

"What's there to get? We just decided to become friends. You of all people should be happy," I answered, annoyed. Was this discussion really necessary? Who gave a fuck as to why me and Niall were friends?

"Why should I be happy that my girlfriend hangs out with some other guy more than me?" Tyler had recently gotten a job at some big business corporation and spent almost every waking moment that he could over there working.

"Well, first of all, you're gone a lot, which is your choice. I get bored, so I go and hang out with Niall, who is my tutor by the way. Second, you're the one who wanted me to stop hating him in the first place, so the fact that you're complaining is a bit hyprocritical."

"Yeah, well, that was before I found out he liked you!"

I actually laughed a little. "You're funny."

"I'm not."

"Just because a guy is tutoring me and likes to hang out with me doesn't mean he's in love with me. And I like hanging out with him, too, because he doesn't question every damn thing I do, unlike you." With a huff, I pulled my book back into my lap, ready for this conversation to be over.

But then, Tyler snapped, "God, Hero, you can be so stupid sometimes."

I glared at him. That was the final straw. He and I both knew that I was probably one of the smartest people on the campus. Now he was just sinking low. I didn't even bother answering; I just got up and crossed over to the door.

"Where are you going? I'm sorry!" he called after me as I walked out.

"Somewhere," I shouted back, because I honestly didn't actually know where I was going. "Don't even think about following me." I was pissed. Why did he care if Niall was my friend or not? He was the one who wanted me to apologize to the kid in the first place.

I was so mad that I just sort of allowed my feet to carry me wherever they felt like going, and soon I ended up in front of Niall and Tyler's dorm, pounding on it with all my might. I could hear someone shuffling around and I instantly felt awkward. What if he had a girl over there and was in the middle of fucking her brains out? Maybe I should just go complain to Avery, or go to the coffee shop where Maggie worked.

Before I could run away, the door opened and to my relief, it was just Niall standing there, in a white t-shirt and a snapback, holding a guitar. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said, trying to keep my voice normal. He stood aside, so I came into his room and plunked down in his desk chair. I peered at the armrest, where it still said HERO NIALL in black marker. I scratched at it absently with a fingernail before giving up when it didn't chip. He sat down on his bed and studied me for a second. "What?"

"Okay," he answered kindly. "It's okay."

"What's okay?"

"Whatever is bothering you. You're probably not gonna tell me no matter how much I ask, so I'm just telling you that it's gonna be okay." He shrugged and plucked a string on his guitar.

I just looked at him. "You really wanna know?"

"If you wanna tell me."

The fact that he was willing to just let it drop made me want to tell him even more. "Tyler's being a jealous bastard."

"What else is new?" Niall asked.

"Not funny. I just don't understand why he was all gung-ho for me and you to be friends but now that we are he's all jealous and pissy. I thought that was what girls did, honestly. I don't get it. We're friends, right? Friends? You like me and I like you and that's it?" I was rambling now, but Niall was still looking at me and nodding slightly.

"I get you."

"You do?" Relieved, I sat back.

He shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. You want me to talk to him for you?"

"Would you? God, you're a -" I stopped and looked at him. His face was serious, but his eyes were smiling, if that's possible. Niall was the only person who could keep a straight face but be laughing at the same time. He was like an infinite ball of sunshine. "What are you going to say to him?" I asked slowly.

"Oh, you know . . . to grow a pair and stop being a jealous bastard. Your words, I believe."

"I'm being serious."

"As am I, my friend."

"Niall!"

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll just tell him that while I can understand why he's jealous of my perfect looks, there is no need to be, because you're cuffed to him for life and the two of you are bound to grow old together and make annoying little genius babies. How does that sound?" Niall strummed a cord.

"Good enough, I guess." I hoped that he would clean it up a little when he actually said it. "Although I don't plan on growing old with Tyler. At least, not if he keeps acting like this." I shuddered.

"Hmm." Niall continued to strum, which eventually sparked my interest. I had always liked the guitar. You could make it sound like it was laughing one minute and crying the next just by strumming some chords.

"Play me a song."

"What song?"

"Any song."

"Okay." He thought for a second before he started to hum as he played. I couldn't recognize the tune, but it was soft and nice and I liked it a lot.

"What song is that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Just made it up."

"I liked it. It was pretty."

"I'll call it "The Hero Song" and it'll be the next hit. Top of the charts, just you wait." He nodded at me seriously.

"I always wanted to play the guitar," I said wistfully, without really thinking.

"Well, why didn't you?"

"My parents thought it would distract me from my schoolwork," I answered. I'd never really told anyone that before, even though it was something that had bothered me for a long time.

"Oh. I could teach you sometime, if you want. It's not too difficult," Niall offered.

"Nah," I said, staring off into space. "It's kinda late to start now. But thanks."

"What are friends for?" he asked, offering me a goofy grin. I smiled back.

I stayed at Niall's for a little while longer before going back to my dorm. Tyler had left, thankfully, so I shut the door and stretched out on my bed, deciding to take a quick nap before Maggie got home and brought her loudness with her.

I dozed for a few minutes before my phone vibrating against my stomach caused me to open my eyes. I saw that I had two new messages, including one from Tyler. I opened it and read:

Just talked to Niall. You were right, I was a complete idiot for being jealous. Forgive me?xx

Sighing, I placed my phone back down and contemplated answering. My fingers were too tired to type, so I decided to just read the second message and go back to sleep. It was from Niall. There were only three words, but they made me laugh anyway.

You owe me.