Tongue-Tied

I was so at home.

Sturdy arms around me, my head resting on a firm chest as it rose and fell with every breath... I smelled his cologne all around me, entrancing me. It took me moment to realize that this was a different cologne- not Harry's regular. The body I was entangled in wasn't the same, either.

I opened my eyes and was greeted with a sleeping Niall underneath me. His jaw was slack, his long eye lashes cast spider leg shadows on his pale cheeks, and his torso was bare. It hadn't been very long since Harry had been in that exact place. I knew it should have felt weird, uncomfortable... but it didn't. Niall was my rock. Though I'd never exactly fallen asleep with him before, it didn't feel out of the ordinary.

Niall was the first thing I noticed. The next, was the sunlight pouring in through the window. It was late morning if not early afternoon. I quickly started shoving Niall awake. "Nialler, hey, wake up."

His eyes fell open, and he groggily rubbed them. It took him a while to get back down to Earth, but when he did, he smiled at me. "Good mornin'..."

"Hey there, sleepy head."

I could tell then that there was something bothering him. He had something on his mind that he didn't want to tell me. It was in the way that he furrowed his brow, and chewed his bottom lip. He sat up, and I got up off of him, taming my bed-head with my fingers.

"Sorry about my nakedness," he said, gesturing down to his pale chest. "I sleep without a shirt."

I'd already figured out that he had every intention of spending the night with me- it wasn't some accidental "oops we fell asleep on the couch, oh how cute" thing. He meant to, and I couldn't care less.

"It's alright. Hey, have you seen my phone?"

A look of guilt took over his usually calm expression. As I stared at him, waiting for an answer, he merely nodded.

"Where is it?"

"Your room... I didn't want the ringing to wake you up..." Niall wouldn't meet my eyes, and that's how I could really tell something was wrong. He usually never broke our gaze, now he wasn't even starting it.

"Someone was calling me?"

"Well, someone did, yeah... Once."

I frowned, trying to look him in the eyes so he couldn't lie to me. No such luck. "Who called, Niall?"

He let out a low groan, shaking his head slightly. He was making me nervous, but I didn't know how exactly to press the answer out of him. Finally, he glanced up, admitting defeat. "Harry called."

My heart dropped. It took everything in me in that moment not to run to my room, grab the phone and call Harry back then and there. I could feel the blood rush to my face as I nodded at Niall. "Did he leave a message?"

There was the look of guilt again. "Uh, no... I, uh, I answered it."

Oh god. Harry would freak out if Niall answered the phone for me. He always had a weird jealousy complex with him and I, which I never understood. He was probably furious. "What did he say?"

"Nothing. He just hung up."

I felt sick. Harry could have been calling to reconcile, and Niall answered, totally scaring him away. That time, I really did start scrambling to my bedroom.

"Penny, stop," Niall said sternly, halting me in my tracks with a firm grip on my shoulders. Something about him was pained, but I couldn't really figure it out. "Don't call him back."

"Niall, I have to... What if it was important?"

He sighed, gritting his teeth. "It wasn't important. He was wasted, probably trying to get you back."

Subconsciously, I smiled at the idea of him wanting me back. The whole "him being wasted" factor completely went over my head. "How do you know?"

"All the lads except him were texting me all night trying to get me to the pub to cheer Harry up. Seeing as he was the one that ruined things, I figured you may need a bit more cheering up than he would."

I was still a bit preoccupied with the idea of having Harry back, but I simply nodded at Niall. He was absolutely seething under his calm facade, I could tell right away. I wasn't exactly sure why, but it was very unlike him. "I want him back, though. I would have taken him back if I'd answered."

"Just like that? Really, Penny?" He snapped, letting go of my shoulders and taking a step back. I'd never seen Niall angry before, and it frightened me. "You're not going to make him pay for it?"

"He made a mistake... I still love him."

"You're letting him walk all over you, Penny."

"No, I'm not!"

He took a few more steps backwards, his cheeks blushing a bright, angry red. "You deserve better than that..."

With that, he turned on his heel and stalked right out of my house.



Everything fucking hurt.

I felt like I was going to be sick at any moment, my head was pounding mercilessly, and my whole body was sore. I hated being hung over possibly more than anything, especially with my current mental state.

I had been incoherently drunk the night before, but there was one thing I did remember out of the tipsy haze.

Niall Fucking Horan.

I had it all figured out. He always wanted my Penny, I knew it from the first moment they met. As soon as she was single, he just jumped right on it. He didn't care about me, the band, our friendship hanging in the balance. He wanted my girlfriend.

She was weak, she was upset about the break up and on the rebound. She invited Niall over. God knows what they did.

My knuckles were still sore from my previous outburst when I first broke up with Penny, otherwise I would have been punching the walls. I was so frustrated, I didn't even know what to do. I didn't even want to call Penny anymore, I couldn't stand hearing the coldness in her voice that would evidently be there. She hated me, I knew it. I bet she'd told Niall all about it...

Niall. How could he do that to me? He knew how much I loved that girl. All I wanted in this world was her. When he looked at her, I could tell that he wanted her. When she looked at him, I could tell that maybe she could want him to.

I grabbed my phone off my dresser, scrolling through my contacts without even thinking, and pressed the call button when I reached Niall. After the first ring, I debated hanging up, but the rage boiling in my stomach kept me from doing so.

Finally, he answered. "Hello?"

"What were you doing at Penny's?" I didn't bother greeting him. Why would I? I wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. I wanted to get right into how he betrayed me.

"I was cheering her up," he scoffed. He seemed to think this was a joke, like he'd done nothing wrong. Yeah, right.

"Yeah, right. You fancy her, I know you do."

"If I did, what would it even matter? She's not your girlfriend, anymore. You fucked that right up, and frankly I don't feel bad. Penny's a lovely girl, you broke her heart," Niall nearly growled out. He was angry, as if he had a right to be.

"I'm going to get her back," was all I could think of to say. It was true, I broke my baby's heart... but I didn't mean to.

"You don't deserve her."

"And I suppose you do?"

"I wasn't saying that, but maybe. She deserves someone far better than you, Harry. You fucked up, get over it."

I guess it was then I realized that maybe it was true. Maybe, Penny was truly better off without me. As much as I loved her, maybe she'd be better off... alone.

Maybe, I had to let her go.