Collide, Ignite

Reilly gripped the counter in the master bathroom at Louis Tomlinson's house hard and tried to catch her breath. Only moments after she'd stepped through the front door for his 26th birthday party, butterflies took flight inside her stomach. It was a feeling she had once been accustomed to that now caught her off guard and nearly knocked the wind out of her.

She drew in a long, slow breath and immediately let it out just as slowly. Her friend's words from just the day before echoed inside her head. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Lexie had asked just before she left to go home for the holidays. Reilly had assured her that everything would be fine as she said goodbye to the blonde, who had recently made the move to London and was living with Reilly in the house she's bought two years ago.

But it wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. She hadn't spoken a single word to anyone yet but was already toying with the idea of leaving. It wasn't a real option, though. She looked into the mirror and took another long breath in. This time she held it for a moment before letting it out.

"You can do this," she said out loud to her reflection, absentmindedly fiddling with the ring she wore on her finger. There was a part of her that wished Lexie was there for moral support. With one more deep breath, she ran a hand through her long, dark hair and calmly exited the bathroom.

The moment she stepped out of Louis' bedroom, however, the butterflies erupted in her stomach once again and her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She swallowed hard and reminded herself to breathe as she made her way through the house to where a majority of the guests were.

Louis' parties had shrunk in size and extravagance over the past couple years, though there was quite a few people there. Still, she found him easily. A smile stretched across his face the moment he laid eyes on her. "Reilly Quinn Payne, the light of my life," he greeted her, pulling her into a warm hug. "You look smashing, Love."

Blush tinted her cheeks. "Thank you. Happy birthday," she said, smiling at him as she pulled out of his embrace. They had stayed close, just as she had with Liam, Harry, and Zayn, but no matter how much she grew up, the compliments always took her a little by surprise.

"Thank you," he said, looking at her adoringly as his hands slid down her arms to her hands. An expression of surprise crossed his face when he gave them a squeeze, and he lifted them to see what had jutted into his hand. "What's this?" he asked, examining the rock that graced her finger.

She drew in a breath. "I have something to tell you," she breathed out.

"I bet I can guess," he said, still looking at the ring. "This is big," he commented.

"The ring, or the news?" she asked.

Louis chuckled and dropped her hand. "Both, I suppose," he said, finally making eye contact with her. "Congratulations, Love," he said, though something in his tone didn't quite mirror his words.

Reilly's eyebrows pulled together. "I thought you liked Owen," she said.

"I do," he said. "Doesn't come 'round much, but he's a nice enough bloke. I just worry that," he paused and let out a soft sigh. "Are you happy?" he asked, not finishing his previous thought.

"I'm good, Louis," she told him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "That's not what I asked. You know, you've been evading that question for quite awhile now," he said.

Reilly's stomach dropped and the corners of her mouth pulled downward for a fleeting moment, but she wasn't about to let his words bother her. "Evading, huh? Someone swallowed a dictionary," she joked, attempting to steer the subject in a new direction. She didn't want to get into a discussion about her feelings at that very moment, or ever really. "Where's your lovely girlfriend? I want to tell her the news next," she said.

"Have you told Liam?" he asked

She rolled her eyes at him. "Have I told Liam? Of course I've told Liam. He was the second person I told. Lexie was first. Harry knows, too, obviously," she said. Obvious because Lexie and Harry had finally started officially dating since she'd moved to London, after nearly five years of unofficially not-dating. Because of that he was around even more than he had been previously. "I wanted to tell you in person."

Louis nodded. "Cara is around here somewhere. But you should probably know that she's not my girlfriend anymore," he said plainly. Reilly had started to turn away, but quickly spun back to him, her stomach jumping at his words.

"What?" she exclaimed. "What do you mean she's not your girlfriend? I just talked to her the other day and she didn't mention anything about any problems. You two were together for so long. What happened?" she asked.

He just shrugged. "Just go talk to her about it," he said dismissively. His lack of emotion concerned Reilly a little, but she didn't press the matter. She did, however, feel pretty awful for rubbing her engagement in his face.

She weaved through the people who filled the house until she finally found who she was looking for. Cara squealed when she saw Reilly and catapulted herself excitedly at the shorter girl, hugging her tightly. They hadn't seen each other in about a month since Cara had been traveling with the boys for a little while and then had gone to spend some time with her family.

Before Reilly could even open her mouth to speak, Cara had let go of her and was holding her hand out flat between them. Sitting on her ring finger was a beautiful diamond ring. The platinum band was shaped like a vine with leaves all around it. Inside each leaf was a small diamond. At the top of the band were two flowers with small diamonds in the center on either side of a larger round diamond. It was the perfect balance of whimsy and elegance, just as Louis and Cara were. Reilly let out a squeak and held out her left hand to show off her own engagement ring. It was much more simple than Cara's. A plain yellow gold band with tiny diamonds leading up to a large emerald cut diamond.

"I'm going to murder Louis," Reilly said as Cara grabbed her hand to inspect the ring. "He made me think you two broke up."

"This is massive, Reilly," she commented. "Seriously might be biggest diamond I've ever seen. It's a bit-" her face scrunched and she shook her head, letting her thought trail off.

"Gaudy?" Reilly asked. Cara's eyes snapped up to hers and she nodded cautiously. "I know," Reilly agreed. "Trust me. But what am I going to do? Tell Owen to take it back?"

"Well," Cara began, her shoulders giving a slight shrug. "You're the one who's going to be wearing it for the rest of your life. Plus, he should know you well enough to get a ring that suits you," she commented.

Reilly groaned. The reactions from her friends had not yet been quite what she'd expected. "Not you too," she said with a sigh. "Why can't anyone just be happy for me?"

"I am happy for you. But to be honest, I guess I always thought you wouldn't stay with him forever," Cara admitted. "All that matters is that this is what you want, and that you're happy. If you're happy, I'm happy for you."

"I'm good," she said, repeating what she'd said only minutes before to Louis.

Cara only hummed in response, but what she was thinking was pretty obvious. A lot had changed over the years but one thing had remained the same. Everyone seemed to feel the need to protect Reilly. And though they had accepted Owen and were always friendly and welcoming with him, everyone worried about the eight year age difference between them.

Instead of make a big deal about it, Reilly let her friend's silence roll off her shoulders and headed for the kitchen where she grabbed a beer and popped the cap off. The cold liquid washed though her, calming her nerves that had begun to stir again. She was trying to ignore the pounding in her chest that had sped up, but she couldn't. Footsteps sounded lightly behind her and without turning around she knew exactly who it was.

"Reilly Quinn," a voice spoke, shattering any sense of calm she had managed to achieve. Judging by how prominent the Irish accent was, he had been spending more time in Ireland than he had previously.

She turned around slowly, trying to hide the deep breath she sucked in. "Payne," she added. "Reilly Quinn Payne."

It wasn't like they hadn't seen in each other in the nearly five years since that night she told him that he wasn't welcome in her daily life. London was rather small when it came down to it, and since they had the same friends, their paths had crossed occasionally. But Reilly had steered clear of a lot of social gatherings, including some birthdays because it could get a little awkward. They were always civil when they would see each other, though, and had even exchanged the rare text message here and there.

The last time she'd spend any amount of time in his presence was earlier that year at Liam's wedding. Since then he'd gotten rid of the blond, leaving only dark hair on top of his head. His eyes stood out even more brightly against it than they had before and a smile stretched across his face when she looked fully at him.

"Right," he said. "Keep forgettin'. How've ya been, Darlin'?" he asked.

She wanted it to bother her that after all that time he still called her that, but it didn't. In fact, a rush of warmth ran through her veins when he said it. The massive rock on her finger suddenly felt heavy. She had to consciously remind herself not to mess with it so as not to draw attention to it, though truthfully, it drew attention to itself.

"I've been well," she told him as she unconsciously took a step toward him. She reached out and ruffled his hair a little. "I like it dark. Looks good," she said.

The smile on his face only stretched wider. "Thank you very much. Been tired of the blond for a long time. Finally just said enough," he said, reaching up and running his hand through his hair.

The corners of her mouth turned upward slightly, his smile just as contagious as it had always been. Her eyes found his and locked on them. A familiar feeling tugged at her insides. Suddenly she was eighteen again, standing in his kitchen a little more drunk that she'd thought, wanting nothing more than to be close to him. To feel his skin on hers. Fighting the urge to kiss him.

He blinked and the memory she'd been been sucked into shattered. Her eyes darted quickly around Louis' kitchen and then landed on Niall again. "You've been spending a lot of time in Ireland," she commented and he let out a soft laugh.

"It's that obvious?" he asked and she nodded. "I like London. Love it, actually. But it's been nice to have the time to go home more," he said. "What about you? What've you been up to?" he asked.

She gave a little shrug and talked about finally finishing school, and also mentioned the graduation ceremony coming up in the new year. Then she went on about what she wanted to do next. The words flowed easily, just as they always had with Niall. He listened to everything she said, intent as always to hear whatever she had to say.

The topic of conversation changed often. People were in and out of the kitchen, and they would pause to greet the ones they knew, and some they didn't, and chat with them for a moment. It wasn't until Harry wandered in that either of them realized how long they'd been in there.

"Don't think I've seen you all night," Harry commented, wrapping a long arm around Reilly and giving her a squeeze. "When did you get here?" he asked.

"Not long ago," she said and glanced at her watch. "Or, almost two hours ago," she corrected. "I guess I just got caught up in conversation with this guy."

Harry gave a slight nod. "Happens sometimes. So are you two going to join the party or what?" he asked.

Reilly glanced over at Niall and caught his eye momentarily. "Yeah, of course," they both said at the same time.

Hard as she tried, Reilly couldn't contain the fit of giggles she dissolved into. It had been a long time since she'd done that with anyone other than Lexie. And her giggles caused Niall to start laughing, just a little at first, but the longer she went on, the harder he started to laugh. She grabbed onto the counter for balance as she doubled over.

When she finally managed to compose herself, it was just her and Niall in the kitchen again. He had calmed down too, and she knew if she looked at him, they would both erupt into another fit of laughter. She squeezed her eyes shut for and drew in a long breath. It was then she realized her heart was still pounding, and the butterflies in stomach were fluttering like crazy.

"I love this song," Niall commented, bringing her out of her thoughts. She listened for a moment before she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Any chance you'd wanna dance with me?" he asked, meeting her gaze.

"You would have to cut off one of my legs to keep me off the dance floor," she said.

He led the way out of the kitchen and into the mess of people dancing. From what she could remember, she had only ever slow danced with Niall, so dancing to the upbeat song with him was a new experience. He had a decent sense of rhythm, but his movement was not fluid. It didn't matter though, because they were surrounded by people who danced in a similar fashion, and some who had no rhythm whatsoever.

When the music slowed, Niall didn't even hesitate to pull Reilly toward him. A shock of electricity shot through her fingers and up her arm when he took her hand, and she had to consciously stop herself from jerking away from him. As his other hand rested against her hip, she reached up to push her hair away from her face.

"What's that?" Niall asked, something catching his eye as she did so. He caught Reilly's hand as she was reaching up to place it on his shoulder and glanced at the ring. The color drained from his face. "Are you engaged?"