Overnight Sensation

William was boring.

Bryan meant that in the nicest way, of course. He was boring, and safe, and she had been through too many heartbreaks to want anything else. William was the image of white-picket fence, and a lovely medium sized dog. He was the image of being home right in time for supper, the image of playing with their children and cutting the grass. He screamed security, and at the time they had started dating, he was exactly what Bryan had been looking for.

She thought, she was sick of being hurt, being lied to and going along only to end things. She was sick of relationships not going anywhere. She hated the thought of wasting time on it. So when she had met William, it took him forever to even secure a date with her. He was perfectly polite. He was a gentleman - he would pull out the chair for her, open car doors and always hold doors open for her.

But the man was a bore.

A lot of the times, when Bryan made a clever joke (or a silly one), he would just shake his head with a condescending smile. She was left to laugh at herself, but fell embarrassed quickly at his lack of amusement. He made jokes too, of course. He was only human. But most of his jokes were ones no one else except for his work friends (and mother) found funny. Even then, Bryan thought they must have been laughing from pity.

He wasn’t adventurous. He had only left London for business and she didn't expect he did much sight seeing. He wore suits most of the time. Even when he was angry, he was polite.

The most adventurous, spontaneous thing he had done through their relationship was the proposal.

But he was safe and handsome and nice.

That was what she had wanted at the time. She certainly never expected him to be down on one knee after spending only a year with her. Sure they lived together, and since being with him, she had more little black dresses than she’d ever owned before, but never did she think he was going to propose.

Imagine her surprise when he dropped to his knee in the middle of a fancy restaurant surrounded by star lights and dim lighting. She gasped in surprise and almost hoped that he wasn’t going to do what she had thought. Of all the times he chose to step out of his zone of comfort, it was for this? Even so, she could tell he had been planning this for a while and she wouldn’t have been surprised if he had paid the waiters to stand in specific areas. He had a need for control that she couldn’t fully understand, but then she had always been one for a little spontaneity. No matter how much that gesture seemed like one, she knew he had probably mapped it out a thousand times over.

So now she was sat with him, his family and hers at a small dinner, with little bouts of chattering happening around her. While she was there physically, her mind was on her second instance of unfaithfulness. She had been sober when she and Niall shared that kiss a few days back and was torn. She had taken it even a step farther and exchanged numbers with him, and was sick with the feeling of waiting for a text from him. It had only been two days and he was busy, she knew that. It’s just that he was everything William wasn’t and while she understood she couldn’t have the best of both worlds, she couldn’t help the feeling of not wanting to give either of the two up.

In between spoonfuls of soup, she found herself comparing each boy. Niall was funny, he was really funny, and his laugh was even more amusement than any of Williams jokes had been. Niall traveled, he liked to be out as much as he liked being in Ireland (which was a place she had always wanted to visit), he was kind and gentle. William was kind too, of course. But in the ‘I’m going to bring this up if I ever need a favour’, way. William absolutely hated traveling, arguing that he had everything he ever needed and wanted right there in London. He didn’t really enjoy hiking or camping, while one of Nialls favourite childhood memories was an over night trip in a forest.

William was a constant.

And she knew in her heart, Niall was just a moving part.

She knew full well that if she had entered in a relationship with Niall, it would be difficult. There was his world-wide fame, of course, of epic proportions that could take a toll on any relationship. There were gossip magazines who pinned each of the boys to a different model or singer every month and she wasn’t sure she could handle things like that. Honestly, Niall sounded like a heartbreak waiting to happen.

So why was it so hard to convince herself to stop all contact with him?

“Sweetheart, you’re slurping,” William leaned over and whispered. His voice held a certain strictness to it that she rolled her eyes at and his lips held a tight smile, so as not to disturb the people around them.

“Sorry,” She mumbled. Suddenly the ring on her finger seemed to grow by ten sizes - and she found this happened rather often. Sometimes she would completely forget she was wearing it, but every now and again, it would be the only thing she could feel on her body and it made her nauseous. It had only reminded her of how awful she was, of how uncomfortable it felt wrapped around her finger. So she thought to herself, ’William has the right to speak to me however he wants’. Though she normally might have said something sarcastic following her apology, she swallowed the words down quietly with her soup.

Couldn’t he have just taken her to Italy or something? That would’ve been enough.

***

William may have been a bore but he was smart. Although he wasn’t exactly sure of what was going on with his soon-to-be wife, he knew something was wrong with her. Ever the blunt man, he didn’t hesitate in questioning it, setting it up so that it was something like: ’You alright, love? You don’t seem quite yourself’.

Bryan froze for only a moment, in the middle of tying her hair into a knot at the top of her head. For a startling moment she thought, he knows, he knows, oh my god!, but she was quick to ignore her frantic thoughts and turned to face him as she completed her bed-time hair do. She feigned a curious look, dipping her head to the right side.

“What do you mean?” She hoped he didn’t hear her gulp. “I’m absolutely fine.” She made her way over to their bed, dressed only in a loose fitting Black Sabbath shirt (a band William never appreciated). She hopped into the bed next to him, the entire time feeling like a fraud. And she was. She swore to herself she would figure something out soon, but it was like she found a new reason not to as the days went on. Honestly, she had planned on coming clean to him, but was scared of the result. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder if her pending relationship failure would lead her directly into Nialls arms.

A girl can dream, right?

“Okay,” he nodded, slightly distracted by her bare legs. She let out an inaudible breath, her pounding heart slowing down to an acceptable rhythm. When he leaned over to kiss her good night and tell her he loved her, she barely managed to get the words out of her mouth. The two drifted off to sleep, William wrapping her up in his arms.

At half passed one in the morning, she had received a text to her phone for her to wake up to a few hours later.

Thinkin’ of ya xx - Niall