Gotta Be You [Complete]

Chapter 22

Niall’s POV

I sat in my car at Harry’s driveway, absentmindedly tapping my foot and biting my nails. Why did I agree to come tonight? What would I tell Isla? I can’t tell her the truth about why I’ve been avoiding her. She knows that I have been since I said that we’d talk about it tonight.

Stupid, Niall.

The truth was that I’ve been avoiding her because I couldn’t stand being around her anymore. Not because I didn’t want to but because every time I’m around her, I just want to tell her the truth. I want her to know that we’re together. 

And every second that I spend with her, I want to hold her, touch her, hug her, kiss her.

So I’ve been avoiding her as much as possible or I’ll do something I’ll regret.

But here I am now, in her driveway, and I can’t back out now.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. And then I jumped when I heard someone knock on my car window.

I opened my eyes and I saw Zayn and Perrie outside my car. 

I gave them a forced smile and opened the door and got out. 

“Hey, mate,” Zayn said, “you okay?” 

“Yeah, just a bit of a headache,” I lied, “I’ll be fine. Hey, Perrie.” I gave her a hug.

“Hey, Niall.”

“Let’s go,” I said, heading towards the front door.

We went inside and headed out to the backyard. I swept the place for Isla, my heart beating faster. And finally I saw her, with her back facing me, talking to Louis and El. Louis spotted me and nudged Isla and then pointed towards me.

I saw Isla spin her head around, looking for me, when we finally met gazes. She gave a big smile and started walking towards me after she excused herself from Louis and El. 

She finally reached me and hesitantly gave me a hug but the second that she was in my arms, I hugged her tight. She wrapped her arms around my neck tightly and snuggled her face into the crook of my neck, her breath on my neck sending shivers down my back.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Ni,” she said. We still didn’t let go and I never wanted to.

“Same here,” I said. After a few seconds, she leaned her head back to look at me with her arms still around my neck. We just stared at each other with small smiles on our faces.

I didn’t know whether to bring up what we came here to talk about or not and I was about to when Isla interrupted my thoughts. 

“You want a drink?”

I relaxed a bit and nodded. “Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

I watched her as she went inside and into the kitchen, out of sight.

Now I was more confused about whether I should tell her the truth tonight. That hug sent millions of memories of us together and I was craving more. I never wanted to let go.

I wanted her back.

But I know that I can’t tell her the truth. I can’t risk losing her again if she goes back into a coma. I guess I’ll just have to come up with another lie. But I didn’t want to worry about it right now. I’ll just have to deal with it once we start talking about it. 

I looked up and saw Harry walking towards me.

“Hey, Niall, glad you could make it, Isla was really hoping to see you tonight,” he said.