Lost in London

"That is the third time in the last twenty minutes that you managed to bring the conversation back around to the leprechaun and the fact that he hasn't contacted you since he and two of his friends stalked you out at school on Monday. You like him. You totally love him," Lexie said sleepily.

It was Thursday in the early afternoon. Reilly's class had let out early and she had called Lexie on Skype to help pass the time until her next class started. Lexie had only just woken up, as it was morning in Boston.

"I just think it's weird," Reilly said. "I've talked to Louis twice. Zayn called me and told me he was telling his girlfriend about me, and she wanted to meet me, and now I have plans to go out with him, Liam and their girlfriends. I had lunch with Liam yesterday. And Harry has been texting me for the last three days. But nothing from Niall. I mean, he's the one who gave me that whole speech Sunday night about how he wanted to be my friend, and then, radio silence. I don't get it."

"Maybe's he's just busy," Lexie suggested.

"I don't know. Harry said he was with Niall all day yesterday. They couldn't have been that busy, because Harry was texting me all day."

Lexie raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Ah, alright. You're checking up on him with his friends. You're in full crazy bitch girlfriend mode already," she said.

"Shut up, Lex," Reilly said, rolling her eyes so hard that her friend could hear them. "Harry volunteered that information. I didn't bring up his name once."

Lexie raised her hands defensively. "Excuse me," she said sarcastically. "Look, if you want to talk to him so badly, you could always just call him."

"No. He obviously doesn't want to talk me. So, whatever. It's fine," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Lex. I'll stop talking about this now. What are you up to today?" she asked.

Lexie shrugged. "I just got an email from my professor that my class today is cancelled, so I've got nothing going on. Except," she said, but then didn't continue.

"Except what?" Reilly asked.

"Well, okay, um, I didn't tell you before because I didn't think it was a big deal. I've been kind of hanging out with someone. Getting coffee, having lunch, you know, totally casual stuff. But, I don't know, it might be going somewhere. He asked me to dinner," she said.

"Lexie!" Reilly exclaimed. "That's great. I mean, that is great, right? Is it anyone I know?"

"It's, yeah, it's," she paused and let out a heavy sigh.

"Who?" Reilly asked. "Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me," she said.

The blonde girl on her computer screen sighed again. It was unusual for her to be so hesitant to tell Reilly anything.

"It's Zachary," she said finally.

The smile on Reilly's face fell away as her expression dropped to one of utter shock mixed with sadness. She felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her.

"Zachary Campbell?" she said quietly.

"Yeah," she said, and Reilly turned away from the computer screen so she couldn't see her face. "Rei, come on. Let's talk about this."

When Reilly turned back toward the webcam, her eyes were rimmed red, shiny with tears she was trying to hold back. Her face was pale. Suddenly the three thousand miles between them felt more like three hundred thousand, even though they were connected through computer screens.

"Um, you know what? I just remembered that there's this really important assignment I have to finish before my class starts, Lex. I really have to go," she said distantly.

"Reilly," Lexie started.

But the dark haired girl didn't wait for her to continue. Instead she shut her computer, disconnecting the call. If her friend wasn't in front of her, for a moment she wouldn't exist. She closed her eyes tightly and begged the tears not to fall.

When Reilly was thirteen, her mother was killed in a car accident. Her father remarried just before her fifteenth birthday, and his new wife came with an almost seventeen year old son. Zachary was the only person in the family who consistently showed kindness to Reilly. And then one day, out of the blue, he chose to go live with his father and cut Reilly out of his life completely, leaving her confused, and more alone than she thought possible.

She learned to accept the situation, and immersed herself in her schoolwork so she could avoid interaction with her family who resented her in a way she couldn't understand. She made the best grades she could in order to be able to go to any school she wanted. Her father would pay for anything if it meant she would be out of the picture.

And here she was, by herself in a new country. Her best friend was thousands of miles away dating a person she resented for leaving her in a horrible situation with no ally. And the one person she wanted to talk to most, even though she didn't understand why, was freezing her out. Her stomach hurt. She was suddenly the loneliest she had ever been.

Her next, and final class for the day, was a blur. She couldn't push away the thoughts and feelings coursing through her. She wanted to. She wanted so badly to focus on anything other than what was going on inside her, and back home.

She wanted answers from Zachary. He knew how her father and sister treated her. He knew that his mother ignored her. He knew that he was the only person who acted like he cared about her as a living, breathing, human being. But was that all it was? Just an act?

By the time she was unlocking the door to her small apartment, the tears she had been fighting had begun slowly creeping out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Her phone, which she had accidentally left home that morning, was ringing when she got inside. By the time she got to it, the call had been redirected to her voicemail. She waited a moment to see if the person would leave a message, and when she didn't get an alert, she checked the call log. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw whose call she had missed. She took a deep breath and wiped away at the moisture on her face before pressing the call button next to the name.

"Thought you were dodgin' my call," the accented voice said quietly, without giving a proper greeting first.

"I thought you were dodging me," she said just as quietly.

He let out a soft sigh. "I didn't know if you got the wrong idea after what Louis said the other day. And I didn't know how to talk to you about it," he said.

"What?" Reilly said. "The thing about you having a crush on me? No, come on. It's fine. I know he was just giving you a hard time."

"Right. Of course," he said quickly and then fell quiet.

Reilly was quiet on her end, too. She sat down and opened her computer. Almost immediately a Skype call from Lexie popped up on the screen. A sigh escaped her and she stared at the call until it disappeared.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She responded with silence, and just when he was about to repeat himself, she let out another sigh.

"Niall," she said quietly, "can you come over?" she asked him with a sniff, and then instantly gave herself a mental kick. "No, oh my God. I'm sorry. You're probably busy. Nevermind. Forget I asked," she said.

"Is somethin' wrong?" he asked, his voice dripping with concern.

She sighed yet again. "Kind of. No. Not really. I just, I don't know. I would ask Louis to come but I know he had a bunch of stuff going on today. It's been a long day, and I kind of just want to see a friendly face. But really, don't worry about me. I don't want you to feel like you have to come just because," she trailed off, leaving her thought hanging.

"I can come. I'm not doin' anything tonight. I was just going to stay in and maybe catch a game on the TV," he told her.

"Are you sure? Because you really don't-"

"I'm sure," he said, cutting her off.

She let out a breath. "Thanks, Niall. We can watch a game on TV here, if you want. I don't want to ruin your plans," she said.

"You like football?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do," she said.

"That's great. I'll see you in bit," he said.

Just as she was ending the phone call, another Skype call from Lexie popped up on her computer screen. This time she pressed the accept button, and her friend appeared.

"Listen, Lexie, I really don't want to talk about this right now," she said, feeling drained at the simple thought of discussing anything.

"I just don't want you to be mad at me. I'm not doing this to hurt you," she said.

Reilly's entire body suddenly felt like jello. Her shoulders slumped forward and she slouched down in the chair. "I know, Lex," she said quietly.

"Are you mad?" the blonde asked, looking like she might burst out crying if Reilly gave the wrong answer.

"I'm feeling a lot of different things right now," she said, avoiding the question. "I need some time to sort everything out. And I have a lot of homework, so I really need to go. Have fun tonight. We'll talk this weekend," she said.

"Promise?" Lexie asked.

Reilly nodded. "I promise."