Loved You First

That night, Niall stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and ran his fingers through his wet hair while he waited for it to dry. After his and the guys’ “boy time” and after Mae and Doniya’s “girl time” they all decided to get together that night to go out to dinner, which was something Niall missed over the past year. He knew Sean was going to be there, but he hoped deep down that he would be able to have a few minutes of privacy with Mae so they could talk about everything that happened over the past year.

“Are you almost done in the bathroom, Niall? I need to shower,” Zayn asked as he walked into the bathroom, interrupting Niall’s thoughts. Niall looked over at Zayn and nodded, before he exited the bathroom. He shut the door behind him to give Zayn his privacy, before he walked over to his suitcase and started to rummage through it.

“Are you nervous to see how Mae and Sean interact in front of everyone?” Louis asked curiously as he looked down at his friend from where he sat on the bed.

“Very,” Niall sighed as he pulled out a black polo and a pair of blue jeans. He tossed a clean pair of socks on the bed and pushed his suitcase to the side before getting dressed. He looked over at his friend. “I’m going to see if she wants to talk about everything that happened.”

“Are you going to ask her to get back together with you?” Louis wondered with a small smile. “Think of the drama that would cause.”

Niall rolled his eyes. “You know it’s not that easy, Louis. I just want to talk to her and see if we can try and fix things. I would love more than anything to get back with her, but if all we can be is best friends right now, then that’s better than nothing I guess. I haven’t talked to her at all since we’ve been here.”

“Well, good luck,” Louis said as he patted Niall’s shoulder as he headed out the door, leaving Niall to himself.

Niall plopped down on his bed and pulled on his shoes as he wondered what this dinner was going to be like. He knew Sean was crazy about Mae, because it was obvious when Sean was talking about her earlier today. It took all Niall had to not try and 1UP him with his relationship with Mae. He didn’t like any part of Sean, but he needed to be civil for his sake, the guys’ sake, and Mae’s sake.

After he sprayed some cologne on himself, Niall let out a sigh and walked out of the bedroom, hoping that this dinner wouldn’t be as dreadful as he was expecting it to be.

+

Niall stabbed at his salad as he watched Sean and Mae sit next to each other at the table. He had barely been a part of the conversation amongst all of the guys, Mae, Sean, and Doniya, but he didn’t care. All he could care about was Sean’s arm around the girl he was in love with since last summer. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of Mae; her bouncy, brown curls and her tanned skin drove him crazy and he wanted more than anything to kiss her. He saw her glance down at him numerous times during the dinner, and when Niall would look at her she would immediately look away.

“I’m going to use the restroom,” Mae said as she stood up from the table. “I’ll be right back.”

As Mae scooted out of the booth and out of Sean’s grasp, Niall watched her carefully until she was out of sight. He knew it was going to be obvious, but it was the only opportunity he would have to get a private conversation in with Mae. He quickly stood up from the table.

“I’ll be back,” he said as he tossed his napkin down next to his plate. He didn’t even give any of the guys a chance to respond to his comment before he took off towards the bathroom after Mae.

Niall turned down the hallway where the bathrooms were located and just before Mae walked in the door he saw her.

“Mae,” he called quietly as he tried to avoid making a scene. Mae turned around at the sound of her name being called. She sighed quietly once she saw it was Niall, and she tried to ignore the butterflies that erupted in her gut and that familiar warm feeling she got whenever she was with Niall.

“What?” she asked as she backed away from the bathroom door and walked towards Niall. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem?” Niall asked as he pointed to himself. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t have a problem.”

“You’ve barely said anything all dinner,” she stated as she folded her arms over her chest. “Why? It’s so unlike you, Niall.”

“I have a question for you,” he said, ignoring Mae’s question. He sighed to himself and looked down at the ground, before looking back at Mae. His voice was soft and he was hoping that he didn’t sound like a complete wimp. “Did you…forget what we had last summer?”

“I’m not having this conversation right now,” Mae said as she shook her head. As much as Mae wanted to tell Niall that she didn’t forget, she knew that Sean was waiting for her at the table and that she was with him. She wasn’t with Niall this summer, she was with Sean, and she wanted to make sure that Niall knew it was his fault. She turned and headed back towards the bathroom door, but Niall grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Then talk to me some other time,” he pleaded. “Can we do something tomorrow? I want to talk about everything.”

“You broke up with me and we’re apparently friends, even though you haven’t made an effort since we broke up; there’s nothing to talk about,” Mae answered coldly, and Niall detected a hint of hurt in her tone. Even when she was mad at him, he couldn’t help but want to grab her in his arms and kiss her. Seeing her here and not being able to touch her or kiss her was one of the hardest things he had to deal with and he wasn’t sure if she understood that.

Niall’s face softened as he stared into Mae’s eyes. “Just give me a chance to explain everything, Mae. Can we do something tomorrow?”

Mae’s knees became weak at the soft tone of Niall’s voice and she was silent for a few seconds, and Niall continued.

“You don’t know how bad I wanted to talk to you about everything the first day I saw you, Mae,” Niall sighed, a small frown forming on his lips. “But when I saw that you brought someone along with you for the summer I got a little discouraged. How could you just do that to me and not even tell me?”

Mae stared up at Niall and she couldn’t control the frown that appeared on her face. She knew that she shouldn’t have felt bad because Niall was the one who broke up with her; he was the one who called it off. She thought that he got over her just like she tried to get over him, but deep down the thought of him still wanting her made her the happiest she had been in a long time. She had a different kind of relationship with Niall than she did with Sean, and she wasn’t sure why but she felt like she needed to spend some time to talk to Niall about everything. She had questions, and she wanted answers.

“Fine,” she mumbled as she looked down at the ground. She had no idea what she was going to tell Sean, but deep down she wanted to see Niall, alone. “We’ll hang out tomorrow.”

“Do you really not want to that bad?” Niall questioned. “Do you really not want to that bad that I have to force it out of you? Do you just not want me in your life anymore?”

“That’s the farthest thing from the truth, Niall,” Mae said quietly, before she turned around and walked into the women’s bathroom. And for the first time since Niall found about Mae’s new love interest, he felt that there was a slight possibility that this summer would be okay.