BURNS » Niam ✔

3 - Holding Back the Tears

The hostess led Niall to the back of the restaurant and over to the booth in the corner. There, he saw Sammie smiling brightly at him and tapping at a glass of beer with her nails.

"Hello." She said with a mysterious edge in her voice. "We meet again."

Niall chuckled as he sat down across from her and politely took the menu from the hostess. Then he removed his bag from his shoulder and placed it on the seat next to him. "How are you?"

"Well... I can't say that I'm not extremely happy that you took me up on my offer. I didn't think you ever would."

"You're my best friend, Sammie. Of course I trust that you won't tell me anything wrong or misleading and end up ruining our relationship beyond repair forever."

She scoffed at him. "Okay, that's not funny."

But he laughed anyway. "Just teasing."

Just then, their waitress came over to their table. "Hi, My name is Krysta and I'll be your server today. Can I get you anything to drink, sir?"

"Oh yes. I'll have what she's having please."

The waitress smiled and then off she went to make his beverage.

"I'm thinking appetizers. You?" Sammie asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. The quesadillas sound good. We should get those."

"Let's not forget the spinach dip either."

"Of course. So it's settled then." He sat his menu down at the end of the table with a smile. "So... about what I'm really here for now."

Sammie placed her menu on top of his and sat up straight. Her demeanor quickly changed from relaxed to very serious. "I want to remind you that I am only here to give you encouragement, Niall. Not to tell you what to do. That's something you should figure out on your own."

He sighed quietly. "But I still need advice on what it is I should do. That's why I'm here. I know that I want him to know. But I can't just come out and tell him."

Sammie was about to respond when Krysta came back to take their orders. They told her what they wanted and after she wrote it down, she collected their menus and went away again.

"I think the most important question is what is your biggest fear?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do you not want to tell him? What is the biggest reason that you have kept it a secret all this time?"

Niall paused, looked down and shook his head. He was holding back the tears. "The biggest reason? The house fire... I can't tell him the truth about it. I'm embarrassed."

Sammie reached across the table and put her hand on his hand. She was also doing everything in her power not to cry because she knew that if she cried, Niall definitely wouldn't be able to continue to hold it in any longer. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But I understand why you would be. You have every right to have those sort of feelings. It's not strange."

He met her eyes. "I have a confession to make though."

"Go on." She urged, although very skeptical.

He reached next to him and pulled his laptop from his bag. It was already powered on so all he had to do was wait for the screen to load up, then sign in.

"You did make sure this place had free Wi-Fi like I asked, right?" He questioned as he typed in his password.

She chuckled and then lifted her glass of beer to drink from it. "Yes. But I am pretty sure that wasn't your confession, right?"

"No. It was not." He half smiled. "My confession is what I'm about to pull up on the webpage."

She looked at him with mild anticipation. "Okay..."

Patiently she waited and finally Niall was turning the computer in her direction. She looked at it for a few seconds and then up at him. Then she looked at the webpage again and at him a second time. "What about this... What are you telling me?"

"I'm going there." He mumbled. "I think I need to go there."

"But isn't that..."

She didn't need to say the rest because Niall was already answering with a nod.

"What made you want to go there?"

"I don't know. After the second time I turned Liam down, I started looking on the internet for certain things. Like products and stuff. I honestly knew nothing was going to help this anymore than it has already been helped, so it was a waste of time. But for some reason, I thought about this and went to the website. I've been coming back from time to time, reading about it and what they do there. I think I should go, but also a part of me is confused and scared. That's why I need you to give me the best advice you can give me, Sam. Should I or should I not go?"

She smiled warmly. "Well, I certainly didn't expect for you to tell me this. I didn't even think you would consider this after everything. Wow. But I think that if you want confidence to tell Liam the truth, then this is exactly where you start. It will be a huge milestone for you. You'll be surprised how much confidence you gain afterward."

He twisted his mouth sideways because he certainly didn't think about being benefited in that way. Sammie actually had a point. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I should. But what about Liam?"

"What about him?"

"I don't want him to know that's where I'm going."

She chuckled. "Relax. He doesn't have to know. He'll be just fine. And if I have to, I'll cover for you. You have my word."

"Well, thanks." Slowly, he turned the laptop to face himself again and smiled droopily at the screen. "Okay... I trust your words and I've made up my mind." He paused for a short moment. "It's official. I'm going."