Let's Pretend It's Love

The frat party was abuzz with people, making it difficult for Lola to maneuver her way around. She knew that Elise was somewhere at that party; she just had to find her, and that was proving to be much more difficult than she originally thought.

Even though Lola wasn’t much of a drinker, the more time she spent looking for Elise, the better that spiked punch was sounding. She knew that one little sip could help take her mind off of Niall, and there wasn’t really any harm in that, so when a handsome frat boy passed her a cup, she downed the drink as quickly as she could.

The coarse liquid burned her throat, causing her face to scrunch up and her eyes to water. She knew she must’ve looked a mess as she puckered her lips and shook her head back and forth.

As soon as the sour taste left her mouth, she began feeling it in her body, making her lips tingle. She was surprised how quickly the alcohol hit her and realized there must have been more vodka in the drink than she thought. That wasn’t a problem though, because like it was full of luck, her eyes fell on Elise the second she set the cup down.

“Elise!” Lola shouted over the loud music, causing her friend to turn around. Elise’s face looked blank, like she’d just seen a terrible car wreck, and Lola knew something was up. “Is everything alright?”
Elise nodded her head, making the look dissipate and replacing it with a smile, though it wasn’t very convincing. “Yeah, of course, everything’s fine. What are you doing here?”

“Ivy needs you back at the house,” Lola said quickly, leaning in so Elise could hear her. “Something about an emergency that only you could handle.”

A look of realization passed over Elise’s face, and Lola was glad she at least had an idea of what was going on, because Lola didn’t have a clue.

“I’ll head back now, then. Wanna come with?”

Lola thought about leaving with Elise, because that would probably be her safest way home, but for some reason she wanted to stay at the party, and the cup of poorly mixed vodka probably had something to do with that.

“That’s alright,” Lola said, smiling at Elise. “You go ahead and I’ll head back when Rhi goes.”
Elise shook her head, giving Lola a small hug before she left the party. It was obvious that Elise had her own problems she was dealing with, but it was just like Elise to make Ivy’s problem her priority instead of her own.

With Elise gone, Rhianne was the only other person at the party that Lola recognized, but she was far too preoccupied with dancing with Liam to want to deal with Lola, and she was almost positive that she should’ve just left with Elise.

Pushing through the crowds of people, Lola made her way to the kitchen, hoping to grab another swig of that punch to give her the confidence to start small talk with random strangers. When she walked into the kitchen, she stopped dead in her tracks the moment her eyes landed on Niall.

He was standing next to the fridge, talking to one of his frat buddies while they took drinks of their beers. He didn’t seem to notice Lola standing there and just kept talking to his friend, smiling and laughing, and all Lola could do was watch his perfect face.

She knew that she was still absolutely infatuated with him and it became more and more obvious the longer she looked at him. If she didn’t get away soon, she was certain she was going to drop into a puddle of mush on the floor.

Just as she was about to turn around and walk out of the kitchen, Niall’s eyes met hers, causing her body to shake. He simply looked at her, his expression blank, while his friend kept talking. His staring made it impossible for her to move and all she could do was stare back.

He turned to his friend, saying something that Lola couldn’t make out, before he began walking towards her.

“Lola,” he said once he was directly in front of her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I came to get Elise,” she said quickly, though it was only half true.

“Oh, um, are you staying?”

“For a bit,” she said, nodding her head. “Just until Rhianne leaves.”

“Would you – would you like to go outside and talk?”

The more she stood in front of Niall, the more she could feel the alcohol inside her body. It was slowly making her more and more tingly, and it made it easy for her to say yes when she probably should’ve said no.

It only took a nod of Lola’s head for Niall to begin walking outside with Lola following closely behind him. It amazed Lola how nice and breezy it could feel outside, and that feeling made her feel so much more alive.

She was breathing in the cool air when her and Niall’s eyes met, taking her away from that calm, serene feeling. Looking at him, she was suddenly more nervous than she was before and she could feel her blood beginning to pump more quickly.

“What is it that you wanted to talk about?” she asked, shuffling her feet as she looked at him.

He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “I just – Liam told me he talked to you.”

“He did?”

Niall nodded. “He said he told you about – um – about my past, and believe me, we had a not-so-friendly chat about him doing that, but – uh –”

Niall was stammering, clearly unable to form a clear sentence. Lola didn’t have a clue what he was trying to say, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to say it anytime soon, either. He looked terribly nervous, but even though Lola had every reason to absolutely hate Niall, she wanted to help take some of them pressure off of him.

“I’m sorry, Niall. I should’ve told him to stop.”

“No, Lola, it’s not your fault. I’m happy he told you, in a way. Now, I guess – well, now you know why we never would have worked,” he said, clicking his tongue to his teeth. “I’m sorry for leading you on, Lola. I never should have talked to you knowing that I was still hung up on – on my past.”

Though Liam had told Lola all about the girl who had broken Niall’s heart, it was different hearing it come from him. It made it seem more real to Lola, and from the way he spoke, it was obvious that he was still hung up on whoever that girl was. He had feelings for her that still hadn’t gone away, and Lola was sure of that.