Let's Pretend It's Love

Lola sighed as she walked across campus, the wind blowing through her hair as it bounded off the large buildings. It seemed like all Lola could do was go to class and go back to her sorority house – anything else made her mind go mad.

She tried her best to forget about Niall, what Liam had said about him, and how he rejected her, and it appeared that he was doing the same. She hadn’t heard from him in over a week, even though they had a few mutual friends, and deep down she knew it was for the best. The less she talked to him the easier it would be to get over his rejection.

Her friends continuously reminded her that he wasn’t worth it and that there were better guys for her, but it was hard to listen to what they were saying. Lola knew there were millions of fish in the sea, but she’d already become hook on Niall. He had those sweet eyes, perfect smile, charming accent, and a personality that matched hers like they were made for each other.

Letting out a deep breath, Lola put all her concentration on making it safely back home. It didn’t take much thought because she’d made the trip a thousand times before, but she needed to focus on something and she decided that was better than thinking about Niall.

Lola became so focused on each single step that she took. She watched her feet move up and down, stepping over cracks in the sidewalk. She was so distracted by her feet that she wasn’t paying attention to the world in front of her.

Her body slammed against another, causing both of them to go crashing to the ground. Lola lifted herself up immediately, apologizing profusely while she rubbed her finger against the scrape on her knee.

“I’m so sorry,” Lola said, as she shook her head. “I really need to pay more attention to where I’m going.”

She looked over and her eyes were met with Niall’s unmistakable, bright blonde hair. Of all the people for her to run into, of course, it had to be Niall – the very person she was trying to avoid.

“Oh, that’s alright,” he said quickly when his eyes met hers. He pulled his attention away from her as fast as he could, brushing his dirtied hands against his pants. “I’ve got to get going.

Lola simply nodded, biting her lip as she watched Niall take off in the direction opposite her. He was walking much more quickly than he should have been, and it became even more painfully obvious how much he was trying to avoid her.

Letting out a deep sigh, Lola brushed her fingers against her scrape once more before readying herself for the rest of the short walk back home, and hoped that it wouldn’t be spent thinking about Niall.

“Hey, Lola, wait a second.”

With shock written all over her face, Lola turned around to find Niall standing directly behind her, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. His gaze was focused on the ground, while his feet kicked back and forth. Lola knew that look, and she knew that it was usually accompanied with very bad news.

“What is it?” Lola asked, her innocent voice sounding much less confident than she had hoped.

“I, um.” Niall paused, rubbing his hand against the back of his head. He refused to meet her gaze and looked at everything but her. “I just wanted to apologize again.”

“For what?”

“What happened between us,” he said, shuffling his feet even more. “You’re a very sweet girl, and I never meant to hurt you –”

“You didn’t hurt me,” Lola interrupted, shaking her head.

That was an absolute lie, but she didn’t want Niall to think that he’d gotten the better of her. She knew that the easiest way to get over a boy was to be the one in control, and if Niall thought he hadn’t hurt, she had the control back. She didn’t care what Liam had said about Niall’s broken past; she was going to let herself fall victim to him the way he’d fallen victim to the girl before her. It wasn’t fair.

“I didn’t?”

“You didn’t” Lola said, shaking her head again.

“Well, alright then,” Niall stammered, as he bit his lip. His eyes looked curious and for the first time they met hers again. It made her stomach flutter, and she hated that he still had that effect on her. She wanted to get rid of all her feelings for him, but it was obvious that hadn’t happened yet.

“I’m still sorry, Lola,” he continued, his eyes letting out the emotion that his voice didn’t. “I really am.”

Lola simply nodded. She wanted to hate him for being so nice after he’d been so cruel to her. He’d led her on – whether he meant to or not – then left her in the dust at the café. It wasn’t right what he had done to her, but for some reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to hate him for it.

She wanted to leave him be, so he could deal with his trust issues on his own, but that felt impossible.

Every time she looked into his perfect blue eyes, she never wanted to look away, but she had to because he’d rejected her. No matter what Liam had said, Niall had told her that he didn’t want to date her. He didn’t see her as anything more than a friend, and now they weren’t even that.

“I’ll see you later then,” Niall said with a sad smile on his face. He turned around just as quickly as he had before, and Lola wondered if telling him the truth would have made any difference.

She wondered if admitting that he had hurt her would have stopped him from walking away.