Over Again

❝i can make all this pain go❞

❝i can make all this pain go❞

c h a p t e r    s e v e n

      Niall was re-learning Summer Love.

      It was the last song he had to learn, the last song on the Take Me Home album. And it hurt a little to watch, since I had always thought of it as our song. Just a little because it had been the song that had kind of gotten us together.

      "Sarah?" My dad called out as I passed his office.

      I backed up and poked my head in. "Yeah?"

      "Can you bring this to the suite beside your room?" he asked, pointing to a tray on his desk.

      What? I know this sounded snobby, but wasn't that what maids did? I mean, it'd be weird if a teenage girl walked in with your room service order. "Why-"

      "They asked for you," he said, grinning. He looked amused, like he knew something I didn't. He probably did. It wasn't exactly every day that he asked me to bring food up to someone, no matter how special of a guest they were.

      "But I'm not-" Before I could finish, Dad handed me the tray and ushered me out of his office. I blinked at the closed door and slowly turned around. Okay Dad, if I get kicked out and whoever this is going to insults your hotel in pubic, you can't blame me.

      I stepped onto the empty elevator and pushed the button for the top floor with my elbow. As I rode up to the fifteenth floor, I studied the tray, trying to figure out who would ask for me to bring up their order. Most people didn't even know who I was. It was a simple enough order. A plate of cookies, two pictchers, one filled with milk, the other with iced water and two glasses. There were also two of the hotel pads of paper. That was a little strange. usually people didn't even so much as to touch the paper, much less ask for more of it.

      The elevator rolled to a stop on the top floor and chimed, pulling me out of my thoughts. One of the maids, who had just finished cleaning, judging from the cart she was pushing, shot me a weird look when I walked out holding the tray. I shrugged in response and made my way to the room beside mine.

      There was a privacy sign hanging from the door. Okay, I don't know how this is supposed to go. I mean, I know if there's a privacy sign, the person doesn't want the maids to go in and clean, but did that also apply for room service? I mean, they ordered it, so they'd have to know it was coming and want it... Ah, what the hell, if I get screamed at and kicked out, I can blame Dad, I thought, balancing the tray in one hand and lifting the other to knock.

      "Room service," I called after a couple moments passed without a response. I heard the sound of muffled footsteps approaching the door. Then it opened to reveal a familiar, but definitely unexpected face.

      Niall Horan.

      "Holy shit," I blurted out.

      He laughed. "Surprised?"

      I nodded slowly. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in England?" I asked as he took the tray and pulled me inside. He kicked the door shut and set the food down on one of the tables before turning to face me again.

      "I'm feeling the love," he joked.

      "Sorry. It's nice to see you?" I wasn't quite sure what to say. I hadn't seen him, in person since the day -or, well, night- on the roof. We had talked over text and the occasional phone call, so I guess you could say we were friends- but just over phone. I don't know how much of that translated into, you know, real, non-technology life. He was still Niall Horan.

      He shot me an amused look. "Nice to see you too." Jeez, I feel like everyone's laughing at me today.

      "Where's the rest of your band?" I asked, changing the subject. The room was pretty empty. There was a guitar on the couch, a couple crumpled up pieces of paper on the floor, an unpacked suitcase in the corner and a red hoodie slung over one of the kitchen chairs.

      "Liam's in Wolverhampton, Zayn's in Bradford, Harry's in Cheshire and Louis's in Doncaster," he replied.

      "Why aren't you in...England? Mullingar?" I tried to remember what my friends had said about where Niall was from.

      He grinned. "Hey, you did your research!" He paused. "That's actually a little creepy."

      I rolled my eyes. "Please, I don't even know a fraction of what most of your fan girls do," I said.

      "True."

      "Hey you never answered. Why are you here?" I asked. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to see him again, it was nice, but wouldn't he want to be with his family or friends? He probably hadn't seen them for a while since he had been on tour, right? I don't think he was here for a concert or something; the band would have to be here too. Was he visiting someone who lived here?

      Niall raised an eyebrow. "You know, I'm starting to think you're trying to get rid of me." I fought the urge to blush and returned his raised eyebrow with one of my own. "Okay, I wanted to see you."

      I froze and stared at him. He was here to see me? What? My heart did a funny thing as what he had said sunk in. He’s probably messing with you, Sarah, I told myself. We weren’t that close, were we? I meant, I considered him one of my friends, yeah, but flying to where I lived was a little much. “Are you joking?” I asked.

      He shrugged. “I don’t know, am I?”

      “Niall,” I half-whined, rolling my eyes.

      “Sarah,” he mimicked. I shot him a flat look. “Okay, fine, I got you something and since I’ll be with my family for Christmas, I wanted to give it to you now.”

      Oh my god. He- holy shit. He got me something for Christmas. Which was still almost a month away. I was in a sort of dazed shock as he pulled me to sit beside him on the couch. He lifted the guitar and shifted it to one hand, grabbing something that had been resting under or behind it. He gave me a small black box.

      “What is it?” I asked, lifting the box to my ear and shaking it gently. It looked like a jewelry box, or at least like it held something delicate.

      He rolled his eyes. I’m not going to tell you.”

      I pulled on one end of the light blue ribbon that was around the box, taking it off. “I’m kind of scared to open it,” I admitted, tracing a finger along the edge of the box.

      Niall rolled his eyes again. “I promise I didn’t get you something that’ll attack you. What kind of person do you think I am?” he asked, pretending to be offended. His words were slightly rushed though and he looked… Nervous? What exactly was in this box?

      “You know I’m getting you something for Christmas too, right?” I said. “I’ll have it shipped to you.”

      He looked taken a back for a second, but quickly recovered. “You don’t know my address.

      “I’m sure it’s on the internet somewhere,” I replied. I lifted the box lid slightly with the finger that had been tracing the edge of it, distracting him from answering. I glanced at him one more time before opening the box.

      It was something shiny. That was the first thing I noticed. Nestled in the pale blue tissue paper was a silver guitar pick. No, it was too small to be a guitar pick. It twinkled in the light from the window as I gently pulled the charm from the tissue. It was beautiful.

      “I remember you talking about your charm bracelet and how you put on a charm to represent each of your friends. You don’t have to use it-” Niall started when he noticed me staring at his gift.

      “I love it,” I said, cutting him off.

      “Really?” he asked.

      I nodded. I was surprised he even remembered the charm bracelet. It wasn’t something I wore a lot. It stayed on my night side table, sort of as a good luck charm with a sentimental value. He had asked about it in our only Skype session. I had told him about how I had a charm for each person that mattered the most to me in my life. Which was true, but I hadn’t mentioned that I was really picky about who made it on since my friends kept changing.

      I only had five charms on it. A book and a pair of dance shoes for my best friends. A camera for my dad. A tree for my mom. And an infinity sign, which had came with the bracelet. The bracelet had came with two charms, the infinity sign and a heart. But I had taken off the heart. Maybe it was stupid, but I had told myself I would only put it back on if I fell in love. There had been an awkward empty spot on the side of the bracelet when the heart had been since I hadn’t really grown close to anyone else. Now I had something I could put there.

      “Thank you,” I said, twisting around to give Niall a hug. Except it didn’t really work, since he was still holding his guitar. I ended up brushing against the strings, causing a soft sort of twang to come from it.

      Niall froze. “Do that again?”

      What? Uncertainly, I mimicked what I had done before. He leaned back, then played a chord that sounded similar to the noise I had accidentally produced when I brushed the strings. He played a short melody, grinning.

      “Thanks,” he said, looking up.

      I blinked. “You’re welcome?”

      “I’ve been trying to come up with an opening for Summer Love all morning,” he explained. He was song writing? Well, duh, did you think he was redecorating with paper balls? He reached over and grabbed a pad of paper off the tray. “And it is officially done,” he muttered, scribbling something down. Somehow, when he moved back beside me, our faces ended up really close together. We stared at each other for a moment.

      His eyes are a really pretty blue, a voice chirped in my head. It sounded suspiciously like my Directioner best friend.

      This is not what friends do. I told myself. But I didn’t want to move. We were close enough that I could count every one of his eyelashes. His cool breath fanned across my skin as he exhaled. The scene of his light, warm cologne was the only thing I could smell. Just as I was about to pull away, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

      I laughed quietly as I played with the guitar pick charm handing from my wrist. It had been pretty awkward after that. But it had only lasted about a week. He had asked me out after that.

      “You’re not bored?” Niall asked. I glanced up to see him step out of the recording studio. He grabbed his water bottle and took a drink.

      I shrugged and gestured to the six phones on the ground beside me. “Phone sitting.”

      He swallowed and set down the water, then opened his mouth to speak. ‘Do-” Before he could finish, the door opened and Harry poked his head out.

      “Niall, they want you back,” he said. “Hey Sarah.” I smiled and waved slightly.

      “Ashleigh’s supposed to FaceTime me soon. If she does, can you pick up and keep her on until I come out?” Niall asked. Evidently he hadn’t picked up on the tension between Ashleigh and I.

      “Yeah, sure,” I replied. Harry shot me a sympathetic look over he should as they walked back into the recording studio. I watched Niall’s blonde head disappear from sight before leaning back with a sigh. “Even if it kills me,” I muttered to myself. I turned to look at Niall’s phone. All the guys had left their phone out so there would be no distractions. I stared at his phone for a moment, as if it would attack me, then looked away. It rang five minutes later. I reached over and picked it up. It was Ashleigh. I sighed and slid a finger across the screen to answer.

      “Why do you have Niall’s phone?” Was the first thing she asked when she saw me.

      “He’s in the recording studio,” I replied, keeping my tone flat. I stared at the wall across from me, careful to keep my expression as blank as my tone. Ashleigh didn’t reply. I hope Niall doesn’t expect me to talk to her, I thought.

      “You lied to Niall,” she said, causing me to look back at the screen.

      I nodded.

      “For me.”

      I hesitated. I didn’t do it for Ashleigh. Not at all. I did it partly for Niall, but also because I was scared. But I wouldn’t tell Ashleigh that, not way.

      “Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

      I shrugged.

      “It would’ve been believable.”

      I wasn’t so sure about that. “I know.” But I lied anyway.

      “So why didn’t you?” she asked again. I had a feeling she wouldn’t let this go.

      I told her part of the truth. “All of it would’ve confused him,” I replied, still keeping my face blank so I didn’t end up giving away that Niall wasn’t the only reason.

      Ashleigh blinked at my response. After a long silence, she said, “You really care about him, don’t you?” What? But I didn’t voice the question, just nodded instead. “Why don’t you hate me?

      What was up with all these questions? “I never said I don’t hate you,” I said in a way to stall for time.

      “Do you hate me?”

      I hesitated, then shook my head.

      “Why don’t you?”

      “I don’t know.” I actually did know, sort of. I guess I could understand where she was coming from. She loved Niall and did what she had to to be with him. I’d give anything to have the Niall I knew back. But there wasn’t really anything I could do, short of building a time machine and un-doing the accident. I could only hope that he would remember soon, and even then it wouldn’t be the same. I couldn’t tell Ashleigh this, though. I hadn’t told anyone.

      “You should.”

      “I know.”

      She fell silent again, so I turned to stare at the recording studio door, wondering when Niall would come out again, so I could just hand the phone to him and be done with this. “I have to go,” Ashleigh said. I glanced back down at the screen.

      “But Nial-” I started.

      She shook her head, cutting me off. “Don’t tell him I called.” Before I could ask why, or even so much as to open my mouth to reply, she ended the FaceTime.

      And right at that moment, Niall walked out of the recording studio. He noticed his phone in my hand and grinned. “Did Ashleigh call?”

      I shook my head, turning away from his eager eyes. “No, she didn’t.”

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QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Who do you ship Sarah with? Comment below.