Loved You First

The next day, day two of Niall’s summer, Niall was sitting on the pier with his four best friends and Sean. Yesterday when Doniya and the guys met Sean, Mae’s parents, Doniya, and Mae all decided that it would be a great idea if Sean hung out with Niall and his friends while Mae had girl time with Doniya. And Niall thought it was the worst idea known to man.

It wasn’t that Sean was a mean guy; he was friendly, talkative, and unfortunately (well, for Niall) he was funny. If one of the guys had a personal question for Sean, he was more than happy to answer it and was never defensive or seemed to be holding anything back. He seemed surprisingly genuine despite his tall, dark, and handsome appearance and Niall knew why Mae had invested her feelings in Sean. But he still couldn’t understand how she got over him so easily and never told him about Sean.

“I’m going to get something to drink over by where they sell the worms and rent out the fishing poles,” Zayn commented as he sprang up from where he was sitting on the pier. He handed Louis his fishing pole before turning to Niall. “Wanna come with me so we can grab drinks for everyone?”

“Sure,” Niall said with a sigh. He looked over at Sean who was sitting next to him.

Sean looked back over at him and smiled. He reached out his hand. “I can hold your pole for you, Niall.”

“Thanks,” Niall replied, trying to sound casual and not like he wanted to punch Sean in the face. He handed Sean his pole and stood up before heading back up the pier with Zayn at his side. It was quiet between the two friends for a brief moment, until Niall spoke up.

“I hate that guy,” Niall mumbled as he jammed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “I just can’t believe anything that’s happening right now.”

“He’s a cool guy, Niall. Give him a chance,” Zayn shrugged as he put his arm around his friend. “I know you still have feelings for Mae; it’s obvious. But you gotta realize that she’s happy right now with Sean, and he lives right by her. Don’t you want her to be happy?”

“I want her to be happy,” he nodded, before sighing to himself. “But I want her to be happy with me.”

“Awe, Nialler,” chuckled Zayn. “Everything happens for a reason, I know Louis has told you that thousands of times. If you two are meant to be, it’ll be. But for right now I think you just need to go with the flow. The summer just started… what if Mae and Sean get into some huge fight? And who knows, maybe you’ll meet a new girl this summer.”

“If that was a possibility then Mae wouldn’t have invited him,” Niall commented. “Obviously they have enough faith in their relationship to spend the whole summer together. And I will never find a girl I want to be with more than Mae,” he sighed obnoxiously. “It just blows, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” Zayn said as he shook his head. “This has never happened to me, and I don’t want it to. I know it’s hard for you, though, and you just have to be patient,” he smiled at his friend. “You’re doing a bloody good job of making it seem like you like him, though.”

Niall rolled his eyes and laughed to himself as he and Zayn approached the drink stand. After they got everyone a drink and paid for it, they carried the soda cans back down to the pier to continue with their afternoon.

+

“So, tell me about Sean,” Doniya giggled as she turned her head towards Mae. Since the boys left to go fishing, Mae and Doniya hadn’t moved from their spots on the sand as the sun beat down on them. It was just like last summer (with Sean added), and Mae was so excited to have many more days with her boyfriend and best friends.

“Well,” Mae sighed as she propped herself up on her elbows, a smile coming to her face as she thought about the boy she had been with for seven months and counting. “He’s our age and he obviously goes to OSU with me. His major is business, he played baseball all throughout high school, and he lives 20 minutes from my parent’s house in Columbus.”

“So he’s close even when you aren’t at school,” she nodded. “That’s awesome, Mae. He’s really cute.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled as she looked over at Doniya. “I’m surprised I attracted such a cute guy at school. There are so many other girls there that he could choose from, you know?”

“He seems like a genuine person, though,” Doniya commented. “And you’re a genuine person as well, so it doesn’t surprise me that he was smart enough to go with you. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Mae.”

“Stop. You’re just saying that,” Mae mumbled with a soft chuckle. “Thanks, though.”

“If I was just saying that then why did Niall constantly talk about you even after summer ended?” Doniya wondered. “Even when you guys weren’t dating anymore.”

Mae choked on her own breath as her eyes widened and her heart started to race, just from hearing Niall’s name. “What?”

“He never stopped talking about you, Mae. Ever,” Doniya stated. She sat up on her towel and looked over at Mae. “He wanted you to talk to him so bad after he broke up with you, but you never got in contact with him after that and I guess that discouraged him. He never had another girlfriend or interest in anyone after you guys broke up.”

“He broke up with me, so why would I want to keep chasing him?” Mae asked quietly as her heart started to sink. She looked at Doniya. “And he just told you all of this?”

Doniya shook her head, a small smile creeping onto her lips. “He would never. Louis told me in confidence that I’d never tell anyone… But I had to tell you, Mae. You need to know.”

“But I have Sean,” Mae sighed. “Knowing that now doesn’t do me any good.”

“Answer me this,” Doniya said in with a quizzical tone. “If distance was not a factor in the relationship, would you still be with Niall?”

Mae nodded. “Yes.”

Doniya nodded and pushed further. “If you still met Sean at school while you were with Niall, would you consider dating him?”

“Never.”

“Okay, okay,” Doniya said with a small smile. “So, what if Niall wanted to get back together with you right now? Would you accept?”

Mae was silent for a few seconds before she shook her head. “No, I couldn’t do that to Sean. Not after everything we’ve been through. It’s been seven months, Doniya.”

“It’s not for Sean’s happiness though; it’s for yours,” Doniya shrugged. “You can’t just be with him because it’s not fair for him if you dump him. You have to make it fair to you.”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Mae said as she shook her head. She knew deep down that she would never get over Niall, and every time she was with Sean he did cross her mind. Nothing Sean did reminded her of Niall, and she secretly hated it. They were almost nothing alike besides the fact that they were both nice and funny guys, but she also knew Niall was different from every single guy in the whole entire world.

Sean always reacted so much differently than Niall would have in certain situations. Sean tended to get embarrassed if something bad happened to him, like if he tripped or if he felt like he said too much. Niall never cared and he never felt embarrassed when he was around Mae, and she loved it. Whenever he tripped when they were together he would laugh, and whenever he would say too much he would never apologize. He always seemed to be an open book to Mae after they started dating, except when he broke up with her because she never saw that coming.

And she knew no matter who she married, there would always be a tiny part in her heart that was for Niall, and Niall only.