Overnight Sensation

A hand snuck through the tiniest crack of the bathroom door. Although Niall had seen her naked before, he wasn’t in the habit of invading a personal moment such as this. Bryan had finished now, but was still sitting on the bathroom tile, nearly shivering from the chill of it. She hardly even noticed his hand floating at the door with her clothing in it until he waved them around.

“Oh, thanks, Niall,” she sighed and stood up to retrieve the items. Although the last thing she had ever wanted to wear was the outfit that had been pried off of her body the night before by someone who wasn’t her fiancé. 

“No problem at all.”

Niall felt awkward now, to say the least. He almost didn’t understand how they had went from joking like they were friends to all the awkwardness that usually follows the morning after. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself, so he had settled for leaning on the wall next to the bathroom door if only to make sure she was okay.

On the other side of that wall, Bryan was staring herself down in the mirror, now fully dressed. As she brought up a hand to finger comb her hair, the diamond on her ring shone greatly. She frowned at it, and slipped it off of her finger to put on the counter so that it wouldn’t become tangled in her birds nest she called hair. Bryan had only half heartedly combed through her hair before she placed both hands on the counter, and closed her eyes. She kept trying to tell herself that she wasn’t a bad person, that mistakes happened but it never made her feel any better. And how could it, anyways? This was so out of character that she felt as though she was in a wicked nightmare - well, dream if she was considering the fact that it had been Niall Horan.

She shook her head at that thought, displeased with how her thoughts were running. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she wished she would have remembered more about what happened. I mean, it’s not every day you pull Niall bloody Horan - and to not even remember it fully? That was an absolute travesty.

Thankfully, three knocks eradicated the thoughts from her head and she opened her eyes. She tried to look in the mirror again but she couldn’t bring herself to come eye to eye with her reflection.

“Everything okay in there?” The way he had said ‘there’ came out as more of a ‘dere’, which Bryan couldn’t help but giggle at. Bryan admitted that no matter how guilty she had felt, she completely understood how she had allowed herself to be sucked in by him. Forgetting the fact that he was part of the biggest music group in the world, he was funny (she always had a thing for funny people) and charming and his obnoxious laugh had to easily be one of the best sounds she heard in her life. Not that he was hard on the eyes, either. So she really understood how it came to this. What she was questioning was herself for letting it get this far.

“Yeah,” she said softly, “yeah. I’m coming out now.” She finally stood up straight and tugged at the hem of her dress (not that it was too short), and made a mental note to give it away. She bit her lip as she opened the door and was met with Nialls sympathetic smile.

“I’ve ordered room service - I’m sure you’re hungry,” he told her, “And I can order you a ride home right after that.”

Bryan laughed, shaking her head, “Thank you, but I can find a way home on my own. You’ve - we’ve - done enough, don’t you think?”

Niall awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “I suppose so. But, I’m not sure you understand…there’ll probably be a crowd of people and…”

“Oh, right,” Bryan grinned, waving her hands to gesture toward him, “the Niall Horan.” He smiled, but she could tell it was fake as he nodded.

“Yeah, thats me.” His smile was tight, an incredible contrast to his usual one, making Bryan frown.



“I’m sorry,” she said, furrowing her brows. There was only a second of silence before Niall started to speak but was interrupted by room service. Bryan trailed behind him, the smell of the food making her stomach roar with a hunger she hadn’t felt until now. She nearly drooled as a very dressed up, nervous looking man wheeled in whatever Niall had ordered. Bryan slowly made her way over to sit by the dishes as Niall thanked the man and ushered him out of the door.

“Wow,” Bryan whistled, looking at Niall wide-eyed. “If you’ve ordered any amount of waffles, we may be going for round two,” she joked. Niall sputtered out a shocked laugh, shaking his head.

“I guess we should get to it then,” he grinned, lifting the lid from the tray. Of course, it was to reveal a stack of waffles sprinkled with powdered sugar and various fruits.

Breakfast had always been Bryans favourite meal of the day, and waffles were by far on the top ten breakfast foods. She moaned just at the sight of them.

As Niall took a seat next to her, he gave her a playful nudge, “a familiar sound, I reckon.”

She threw her head back in laughter, clutching her stomach. He was proving to be a much better person than she had prepared for. Not that she had ever discounted him as being an awful guy. But, god, she couldn’t help the loops her stomach was beginning to do at the sound of his voice. She had even began to like his laughter and she had only known him for a couple of sober hours. She just wasn’t mentally armed enough for his amount of…well, him. She hated that.

When her laughter died down, she reached for a waffle and the two sat in silence for a while as they ate. With William in the back of her mind, she began thinking about how crazy it was that she had ended up here. I mean, of all the girls in London, it had been her. It was such a strange thing to try to process. Niall could have literally been anywhere else in the world but he was there. He was there, that night, laughing right in front of her. And soon Bryan found herself beginning to believe in fate, but she quickly dismissed the thought and changed the subject. This was a one time thing. It would only ever be a one time thing.

“So, shouldn’t you be busy being, you know… being you?” She questioned, leaning back in her seat with her stomach fully satisfied. Between the two of them, they had cleared the dish. Niall was quite shocked because none of his other one night stands (he hated the term) had eaten much of anything, never mind matched him in his habits. He wanted to stare at her in awe, but he kept himself from doing so. He simply couldn’t help but to feel there was something about her. God, it was driving him absolutely mad because there shouldn’t be - he couldn’t even begin to explain what it was. Niall quickly dismissed his thoughts and cleared his throat to answer her. This was a one time thing. It would only ever be a one time thing.

“Nah, day off today.” A well deserved day off, too. Niall was absolutely knackered and was convinced he might have needed to sleep for a full day before he felt recharged.

“Wow, how rare is that for you guys?” Bryan should have been up and gone as soon as she ate her last bite of waffle and fruit, but she was too comfortable where she was right now: sat with Niall on this lovely white sofa. This hotel room had began to feel like her own safe haven. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she was sure that feeling actually had a lot more to do with Niall than she would have liked.

“Pretty rare. Its nice, but after a while you kind of don’t know what to do if you’re not constantly on the move, you know?” Bryan quirked a brow as she picked up a grape from the fruit bowl, and shook her head slowly.

“No, I can’t say that I can empathize,” She grinned, popping the grape in her mouth.

She, much like Niall, could never be serious for too long before trying to make light of something. She was fully aware that he had provided her with personal information, that he seemed to be opening up to her, and she had to stop it at all costs. Not only for her sake, of course, but for his too.

Niall laughed lightly as he watched Bryan go for another grape. She took a half bite of it before it slipped from her fingers and dribbled to the ground. Bryan flushed, slightly embarrassed by the goof.

“How did you convince me into bringing you back to mine last night?” Niall scrunched up his face as he asked the question, and Bryan was thankful he had turned it into a joke. As she bent to pick the grape up off of the floor, she glared at him.

“I practice witchcraft, obviously.”

Niall grinned, “yeah?”

“Yeah. You can tell by my poise and grace, can’t you?” She smiled, resuming her natural position on the sofa, “basically before I left for the night I held a seance with a lock of your hair I had gotten off of eBay, right? -”

Niall began to laugh his loud, unforgettable laugh. Bryan continued.

“ - And, like, I said: let me cheat on my fiance with an international pop star, as you do, you know? The dead deliver, Niall. So, here we are. Everything I’ve always dreamed of. We’re an overnight sensation, Horan.”

She gave him a small, lopsided smile and as he caught her eye, his laughter died down. You know, like the moment the main character of the movie realizes that there could be something about this one girl? It was that moment completely, and Niall could have sworn everything else had stilled. As he looked at her, he wondered why it was her. Why had he picked her last night? Why had she been engaged? He felt absolutely positive had she been free they could have really gotten on. It was something Niall hadn’t felt in a couple of years, but it hit him now. Of course it had to be her.

This would have been a hell of a lot easier had she not been engaged - a boyfriend he could deal with (he wasn’t proud of the thought), but a finance? Not a chance was he about to get himself into that kind of situation. Well, any farther.

“What?” She furrowed her brows, “Something on my face?” Her hands reached up to inspect the area near her mouth for any dripping syrup or hanging food particles.

“No,” he said quickly, taking his gaze away from her, “Nothing. Its nothing.”

But she was right. They were an overnight sensation.

And it was nothing.