Loved You First

Two days later, Mae stood in the airport with Sean and her parents. Sean’s parents agreed to pick him up if he flew in early, and even though they agreed to that Mae knew they had to have been pissed. Mae was embarrassed that she was sending Sean home because she knew that it made her look bad, and she didn’t want Sean’s parents to hate her for making him go home. But Sean was going to do what he wanted to do, and that was to go home and let Mae enjoy her summer.

“I better go,” Sean mumbled as he looked at the time on his cell phone. He looked at Mae’s parents and smiled. “Thank you for everything. It was fun.”

“You’re welcome, Sean,” LeeAnn smiled as she gave Sean a tight hug. “We enjoyed having you.”

Mae looked up at Sean and waited for him to give her a hug, to give her something, but he just looked down at her and nodded. “Bye, Mae. Enjoy your summer. We’ll keep in touch, I hope.”

Mae nodded her head and smiled slightly. “Yes, we will.”

And with that, Sean turned on his heel after waving goodbye and headed through security, while Mae and her parents watched him go. Mae stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and knew her parents weren’t happy with her either. She already got chewed out for ruining Sean’s summer and for upsetting his parents, but she felt that this was right. She felt that sending Sean home would be a good thing for her. She didn’t have to divide her time with Doniya, the guys, and Sean, and she didn’t have to worry about drama with Niall. But that also didn’t mean she wasn’t upset about Sean leaving and breaking up with her.

+

“So, is everyone okay with this movie?” Zayn asked as he held up Despicable Me. Everyone mumbled a ‘yeah’ or ‘sure’ before Zayn put the movie in the DVD player and sat down on the floor next to Harry. Mae sighed as she sat on the couch in between Niall and Doniya. She was happy for everything to be like it was last summer, but she knew that Sean was on a plane somewhere feeling rejected and betrayed. She rested her head on her hand and saw Niall turn and look at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, even though the guys and Doniya would hear him anyway since they all were in the same room and less than a foot from each other.

Mae shrugged her shoulders and heaved another sigh. “I guess.”

“Do you want to go outside and talk?” he wondered. “You haven’t said much since you got back from the airport earlier.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled as she looked down at her hands.

Niall stood up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go outside and talk.”

None of the guys or Doniya said a word as Mae got off the couch and followed Niall to the backdoor. They walked outside and Niall walked across the deck and sat in one of the chairs that were against the railing. He patted the chair next to him and motioned for Mae to come sit down next to him. And without hesitation she joined him at his side in a matter of seconds.

“Why aren’t you acting like yourself tonight?” Niall asked her. “You’ve barely said a word, you didn’t eat any pizza when you got back, and you haven’t shown much emotion.”

“I’m just still upset about sending Sean home,” she said as she put her head in her hands. “I just feel terrible.”

“Mae, this isn’t The Bachelor; you didn’t not give him a rose and force him to leave,” Niall commented, which caused Mae to smile slightly. “He chose to go home himself because you hid something from him.”

“Does it bother you that I didn’t tell him about us?” she wondered as she looked over at Niall.

“A little bit, but it’s not something I’m going to get mad over,” he said with a slight shrug. “Then again you didn’t think we would possibly get back together this summer so why would you need to tell him?”

Mae cocked her head to the side. “Are you implying that you thought we were going to get back together this summer?”

“Well, yeah,” he said with a slight nod. “I didn’t think you would come here this summer with a boyfriend and I was going to apologize to you about how much I hurt you and I was hoping you would forgive me and we could get back to how we were last summer.”

“Well, I still have feelings for you, but now just isn’t a good time,” she commented. “I have to gain your trust back, Niall.”

“You lost my trust?” he asked breathlessly, like he couldn’t believe what Mae just told him.

“You crushed me when you ended it out of nowhere, you know this,” Mae explained. “It really hurt, Niall, and it’s going to be something that I have to get over. By telling me how much you wanted to be with me and then dumping me after three weeks of not seeing me really made me lose trust in you.”

“I’m sorry, Mae,” he whispered as he looked down at his hands. “I don’t want to hurt you like that again, and I wouldn’t do the same thing at the end of this summer.”

“I mean, I still want to have alone time with you and everything so we can see where this goes,” she said as she looked up at the night sky. “It just may take some time and I don’t really want to just jump right back into it.”

“I understand,” Niall said, and as if on cue, the backdoor opened and Liam came outside. He sighed to himself and walked over to Mae and Niall and stood in front of them.

“Niall, can I talk to Mae, please?” he asked as he looked over at his friend.

Niall just silently nodded his head and stood up from the chair he had been planted in. He looked over at Mae and gave her a small smile before walking back into the house and shutting the backdoor behind him. Liam sat down where Niall was just seated and he looked over at Mae.

“Mae, I’m so sorry,” Liam said with a frown as he let out a sigh. “I had no idea that Sean didn’t know about you and Niall. I didn’t mean to ruin everything for you two, and I really liked Sean.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Liam,” Mae said with a tiny smile as she looked up at Liam. “Everything happens for a reason. I probably should have told him from the beginning just so something like this wouldn’t happen.”

“But I had to open my mouth and say something, so I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “And now you have to go back to college after the summer and see him now, and it’s going to be awkward because of me.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” she chuckled as she nudged his arm gently. “If it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine.”

“Don’t hate me” he whined as his frown grew deeper, like he was a small child begging to get out of trouble.

“I don’t hate you, Liam! Stop,” Mae said as a laugh escaped her lips. “We’re still best friends.”

“Good,” he grinned as he extended his arms out for a hug. “Promise?”

Mae mirrored Liam’s grin and gave him a hug. “Promise.”