Stole My Heart

I sprinted down the hallway, swearing frantically in my head. ‘I can’t be freaking late again! Megan will take my freaking head off! Why did the bus have to stop on the other side of the freaking mall?’ I worked in a cute little restaurant as a waitress. It wasn’t much of a job, but it was enough to give me what I needed and keep me going. If I didn’t get there soon, I wouldn’t even have that for much longer.

I took a sharp turn and ran smack into someone. He stumbled back, but steadied himself. I on the other hand fell back and landed on my butt. “I am so sorry. I didn’t see you there,” he said in an adorable Irish accent, offering a hand to help me up. “I’m Niall,” he said, his accent caused me to smile. “Melody,” I replied, taking his hand and allowing him to help me to me to my feet. He seemed familiar to me somehow, like I’d seen him before. He had blond hair, but the roots were brown. He had an adorable smile and these beautiful bright blue eyes. I could have sworn that I’d seen him somewhere, but at the same time, I didn’t know anyone with an Irish accent

“Are you in a hurry Melody?” he asked, reminding me of why I’d been running in the first place. “I’m going to be late for work. I work at the little restaurant here, but I won’t be for much longer if I’m late,” I said, apologetically. He understood that I needed to get going and said, “Okay, maybe we’ll see eachother again soon.” “Maybe,” I said, “Goodbye.” “Bye,” he said as I took off back towards the restaurant.

I managed to check in just in time. “It’s about time, Melody,” Megan, my manager growled. “You were almost late again.” I rolled my eyes at her, but stayed silent. It wasn’t my place and I desperately needed the job. Megan was searching for that one reason to fire me. She and I had never really gotten along. I let her finish her fit and ranting, and then went to the back room and cleaned up.

Megan was one of those really mean, tall, and blonde model type girls. She had the bitchiest attitude to match. Her nails were polished red and were sharp enough to claw someones eyes out. I was almost the exact opposite of Megan. I was a little short, but I seemed tiny compared to Megan and her giant heels. Megan had long short blond hair, and I had dark, long, brown hair. Her eyes were a light brown color, mine were a dark blue. We were opposites in more ways than just appearance. She was usually mean to everyone except for customers, I just tried to be nice in general.

I found my friend Alexa was already working. We were best friends and even shared an apartment together. She was an average height, and never missed an opportunity to point out my shortness. She had long, black, curly hair, and her personality changed often. It was almost scary how fast she went from happy and bubbly, to extremely angry, to depressed, then back to happy. At the moment, she was happy.

I told her all about my run-in with the boy named Niall. “Was he cute?” she asked. I nodded and said, “Yes, and Irish.” “Really? Cute and Irish? Did you get his number?” “No, I didn’t. I literally ran into the boy, and if I’d been a second later, Megan would’ve fired me. Alexa sighed and said, “That’s too bad. Oh well, there are many fish in the sea.” “None like that boy,” I told her. I couldn’t get him out of my head. “Maybe you’ll see him again.” “I wish, but something about him did seem familiar.” “Maybe he’s from around here,” Alexa offered. I shook my head and said, “No, I don’t think so.”

Alexa and I were then called to work. We waited on tables until it was time for our lunch break. After we ate, we used our spare time to go around the mall and pick up some things that we needed at home. Alexa was terrible when it came to managing money. She ended up going over budget on her shoes again and I had to “be a good friend” and pick up the extra few bucks, which I could barely afford.

On our way back to the restaurant, we passed by a store that was playing ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ by One Direction. Then I froze and blurted out, “That’s it!” as I figured out who the boy from the hall was and why he looked so familiar. . Alexa looked at me like I was crazy and asked, “What’s it?” “Niall!” “Niall as in Niall Horan from One Direction, or Niall as in the boy that you ran into?” “I think both,” I admitted with a guilty grin. It took Alexa a moment to realize what I meant, that it had been Niall Horan that I’d run into earlier this morning. “Melody, are you telling me that you ran into Niall freaking Horan, didn’t realize it, and ran away?” she demanded. My guilty grin widened as I nodded. “I can’t freaking believe it!” she exclaimed. “Neither can I,” I admitted.

We got back to work and the day slowly drifted away. It was almost time to close up for the night. I just had a few more tables to deal with, and then I could go home. Emily, one of the greeters, came and assigned me my last table for the night, but something was off. “Emily, what’s wrong?” I asked. The poor girl was whiter than a sheet. “It’s One Direction,” she squeaked. “What? Here? Are you sure?” I asked. She could only nod.

I took a deep breath and approached the table. Yes, it really was them. I forced myself to remain calm, even as I recognized Niall as the guy that I ran into. Emily had already brought them menus, so I asked them what they would like to drink and took their orders. Niall was looking at me and I wasn’t sure if he remembered me from before, or if I even wanted him to.

I noticed Alexa gawking at them as she waited on another table. She met me in the kitchen while we filled up the pops. “So, was it him? Did you really run into THE Niall Horan?” she asked. I nodded. “Does he remember who you are?” Alexa asked. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” I told her as I left the kitchen and brought the boys their drinks.

It wasn’t until I was about to bring their food orders to the kitchen when Niall stopped me and said, “You’re Melody, the girl I met earlier, right?” I smiled and said, “And you’re Niall, the boy that I nearly ran over.” He smiled and said, “Yep, that’s me.” “Oh, so this is that girl!” The one I recognized to be Louis said. “Hi, I’m Melody,” I said, shaking his hand. “Louis, and this is Harry, Zayn, and Liam.” “Hi, It’s nice to meet you,” I said, trying to conceal the fangirl inside me that died when Louis took my hand. Liam, Harry and Zayn all gave me warm, “hello”s in their cute British accents.

After I brought their order to the kitchen, I finished cleaning up after my other tables left. When I was done I went back to check on the One Direction boys, and they asked me to sit and chat with them.They were so cool to sit and talk with. We chatted about random things. “Do you like music, Melody?” Harry asked. “Yeah, actually, I used to be in a band called Raising The Dead,” I answered. “What did you do for the band?” Niall asked. “I was the lead guitarist,” I answered. “Have you ever played in front of an audience before?” Zayn asked. “Only small ones,” I admitted. “So Melody, are you coming to our concert Saturday night?” Niall asked curiously. “Yeah, my friend and I are both going,” I answered. The boys were so fun to be around and easily made me laugh.