You & I (A Niall Horan / Harry Styles Fanfic)

Chapter 30 - Shocks Puzzles & Tears

I up to the sound of loud chattering, the voices somewhat recognisable. I sighed and got up out of bed, walking downstairs.

"Ellie!" I heard four voices say.

I looked up and saw Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn sitting on the couch, huge grins plastered on their faces.

"Hi, guys." I laughed. "When did you all come here? Harry, you should have told me you were inviting people over." I chuckled.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you from your sleep." He smiled at me. "The boys came half an hour ago. You don't mind right?"

"Course not." I plopped on the couch next to him.

"We were just playing a game of truth or dare." Louis spoke. "Sorry, we woke you up, it was a bit loud." Louis said cheekily.

"It's fine." I chuckled. "I'm a light sleeper anyway. I wake up when I find that Harry's not next to me because I can feel that the warmth has gone." I blushed deep red, just realising what I said.

"Ooh! So are you two, um-" Louis said, pointing at me and Harry.

"No." We both said instantly, and I could feel my cheeks going red. I felt as if my face was on fire. "I'm seeing someone at the moment though."

"Aw." Zayn said. "What's his name?"

"Jake." I smiled. "I like him, but certain people in my life disapprove." I said, glancing at Harry.

Louis chuckled. "Babe, he's probably just jealous, aren't you Harry-woo." He said, pinching his cheeks.

"Get off Louis!" Harry said, blushing.

"Boys look, he's gone as red as a tomato." Louis chuckled.

This made Harry go even redder, hiding his face.

Liam laughed, shaking his head. "So how are you?" He asked.

"I'm good. What about you guys?"

"We're all good. We're struggling a bit without Niall."

At that moment, I felt a pang in my heart. I hadn't even heard his name since he cheated on me. I erased it, blanked it out my mind but his name made my heart race and gave me a feeling of fear. Memories came flooding back and I couldn't stop them. Niall made my life hell, but I was missing him. Why? Why did he have to cheat on me? Why did he have to go away? Why did he have to break my heart?

"Ellie? Are you okay?" Harry asked concerned.

I sniffed, not even realising that I was crying. I wiped the tears with the end of my sleeve before speaking up. "I'm sorry." I ran upstairs to the bedroom, before shutting the door and letting the tears fall. He had caused me so much pain. He made me fall for him and he left, leaving my heart shattered.

A knock at the door cascaded my thoughts. I didn't want one of the boys to come in. I didn't want them to look in my eyes and find out that I was weak. I didn't want to be weak, I wanted to be strong but I was letting him into my head once again.

"It's me." I heard Harry's soft voice say. "I left the boys for a bit to talk to you. Liam didn't mean to make you cry."

"I know." I whispered. "I've blanked him out of my mind for so long, completely forgetting about him. But his name, e-even his name does something to me.

I looked into his eyes and saw pure concern. "Boys are dicks." He said, rubbing my back. "Trust me, I know that for a fact." I glanced over at him and he started to look angry, his breathing increasing.

"Harry? Tell me what's wrong." I firmly said.

"How do you know there's something wrong?" He asked, looking scared.

"Harry Edward Styles, I've known you for too long. I know there's something wrong." I sniffed, slightly laughing but even the laugh didn't make the atmosphere better.

He looked straight into my eyes, not looking away. "All I'm saying is that some guys in this world are pricks. They act all sweet at first, then they completely brainwash you and next thing you know, you're doing everything that they tell you to do. They take away your innocence, they don't care about hurting girls. I know you're strong, but I'll be here to save you."

"W-what are you talking about?" I stuttered.

"You'll see. I can't do anything to protect you and that hurts. But when it happens, the puzzle will start to fit together. Whenever you feel you're in danger, dial my number as fast as you can and I'll be there as fast as you can say 'lightning." I looked over at him, expecting to see that he had a smile on his face but I could see that he was serious.

"I-I don't under-"

"I know that this might not make any sense right now and you're probably thinking that I'm speaking a whole load of bullshit. But trust me, when it happens, you'll realise. Remember, the boy that you think is a saint may change at any time and you'll see a horrible side to them." He paused for a minute, staring into space before speaking up. "I don't want to talk about this anymore okay?"

I took a deep breath, trying to process everything. "Okay."

By now, the tears had gone and my mind was spinning. I was trying to work out everything that Harry had said.

"I'm ready to go back downstairs." I said to him.

"Okay." Harry held my hand before guiding me back downstairs. I looked up and saw that everyone had worried looks on their faces.

"I'm fine." I assured them. "I'm sorry for ruining the day." I said, looking down.

"You didn't ruin our day." Louis said softly. "We understand."

There was a silence around the whole room. Not the awkward kind, but the type when everyone is thinking about something. The only sound I could hear was the sound of everyone's breathing.

"How's the album going?" I asked.

"It's good." Liam said.

"Have you guys talked to Niall? You know, before what happened?"

"I talked to him only once." Zayn said.

"Saying what?" I asked.

"It was just some shit about proving himself. Don't worry though."

"I'm okay." I assured myself.

"Wanna play FIFA boys?" Harry shouted, trying to avert everyone from the thought of Niall. I heard some shouts of agreement and laughed, plopping on the sofa. Boys and football.

"Hey, um Ellie, can I speak to you for a minute?" Zayn said, walking up to me.

"Sure..?" I said, confused. What would Zayn want to speak to me alone about? I followed him to the balcony and looked at him.

He took a deep breath and looked at the sides of him to see if anyone was watching. "What I'm about to tell you, it's secret. The boys don't even know yet, you're the only one that I'm going to tell. I need you to not freak out and keep this a secret between this."

I nodded, wondering what was going on.

"H-he's here."

"Who's here Zayn?"

"I didn't want to tell you this but I thought that you should know."

He paused for a minute, breathing deeply. "Zayn, who's here?" I asked, intent on him telling me.
"Zayn, please." I begged.

He looked straight at me and took one last deep breath before speaking. "Niall."

"W-what?"

"He's coming back Ellie." He said firmly. "He's coming back."