Niall's Girl

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

I dressed in skinny black jeans and a t-shirt with my green military coat for my outing with Ben.

"Ems ! Got wifi for the next few hours before the show, so you've got me till then !'

I cursed the bad timing, Niall was so busy the past few weeks our conversations were short and honestly, I missed him.

'Argh bad timing Horan! I'm going out in ten minutes!'

'Whaaat? :( got a hot date? ;)'

'Er kind of, I'm going out with Benjamin'

It felt weird typing that, wrong even. Niall didn't reply for the next few minutes so I let my hair out of its ponytail to hang in its loose natural waves.

'What? I thought you didn't like him'

'We're just going to the cinema, no big deal. And I don't know if I like him, I've never given it a serious thought'

I was acting defensive, I know. But something made me feel like he was accusing me of doing wrong and I didn't like it.

'You shouldn't go Emma'  This reply came straight away. Who was he to tell me I couldn't go to the cinema with my best friend? (If you haven't realised, I hate hate hate being told what I can and can't do, it's one of my pet peeves.) Also, what was with using my full name? He almost never did that, so I could tell he was pissed off for reasons unknown to me.

'And why is that Niall?'

'Bcause you're toying with his emotions ! It's not fair !'

His answer stunned me. Why was he so het up about this? Why did he even care?

'Piss off Ni, I'm not doing anything wrong! We're not going to get married; we're just going to see a movie.'

'Its a stupid idea Emma'

I scowled at his message before locking my phone. I would deal with this later. And now he had put me in a crappy mood, as if tonight wasn't going to be weird enough without me worrying why Niall was so mad at me.

***

The night actually went pretty well. It wasnt weird - Ben and I seemed to be back to normal; talking about random school stuff or funny things that had happened when the other wasnt around. We saw a comedy, which was so hilarious I choked on some popcorn. When Benjamin slapped me on the back, it flew out of my mouth and hit an old man's bald head a few rows in front. Saying we were hysterical was an understatement.

However, when the credits rolled up, we didn't rush to get out like usual. Ben remained seated so so did I.

"Emma?" Ben said and I turned my head to face him.

"Yeah?" I said with a smile.

And that's when he crushed his lips against mine. I froze before realising my lips were moving against his. We only kissed for about three seconds before we both pulled away simultaneously. We stared at each other in shock. And then -

"Ew," we both said at the same time and then started laughing.

"I'm sorry," Ben said between chuckles. "I've been so weird the past month and it's because someone said it was weird how close me and you are and then I got confused and nervous and started thinking it was because I must like you but then... That kiss..."

"God, that was weird," I giggled and Ben laughed in agreement.

We skipped out the cinema, arm in arm, happy to have things back to normal.

***

It wasnt until I got home that I remembered Niall and our semi-argument. We never fell out, and if we did it was in a jokey way and we'd make up five minutes later with a 'I'm sorry babe, best friends again?' And that's how I thought it would go tonight. Turns out I was really, really wrong.

'Ni, you there?'

'Yeah how was your night?'

I began typing out what happened, including the kiss and the popcorn incident but I deleted it without sending when his next message came through before waiting for me to reply.

'I still can't believe you went when I told you not to'

I stared, enraged, at the screen. What the hell was his problem?!

'Niall seriously, what is up with you? Why are you acting like such a dick? You're never normally like this!'

'Normally ?! Maybe I'm always like this ! You just don't know because we don't even know each other ! We've never even met !'

A second message came straight through.

'I can't do this anymore Emma, we can't be friends.'

Tears glittered in my eyes before I even got to the end of the messages. But the last four words pushed then over the edge, and water droplets streamed down my face like there was no tomorrow. I started typing frantically. He couldn't have meant that.

'Niall take it back. Please please take it back. I can't believe you just said that, of course we know each other. I know you and you know me better than anyone else in the entire world. We are friends. Of course we're friends please please tell me we're still friends.'

I typed out the paragraph with shaky hands and fumbling fingers.

And yet, he didn't reply.

I waited another few minutes before it became unbearable.

'Niall, please!'

'Don't go'

'Ni you're one of my closest friends please talk to me'

'I don't know what to do without you Niall, talk to me I'm begging you'

But it was futile. He didn't respond all night and my chest was getting tight so I closed my phone and clutched a fist to my chest, concentrating on breathing.

I think that was the worst night of my life. I was stressed and tired and crying and panicking. He said we couldn't be friends - did he really mean it? He said he couldn't do this anymore - did that mean he was never going to talk to me again? I choked and hiccuped as the last thought flew through my brain, and grabbed my chest again, this time was both hands, knowing that I was going to pass it if I didn't get enough oxygen.

The tears didn't stop till way after three am, and when they did my head was pounding hideously as a reminder. My face was red and blotchy and tear stains ran tracks down my cheeks. I didn't bother wiping them away, I just crawled back under my duvet and willed for unconsciousness. Sleep eventually did take me, although it was only at about five when I managed to sleep and then I had to get up for school at seven.

_______________________________________________________________________________-

I'm sick at the moment, I literally feel like the personification of death.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next few aren't going to be very jolly :(