Her Deliverance (vol. 2) ON HOLD

Nineteen

Emmeline

Three hours after eating at the diner we had all been sitting at the club near campus, beers for Liam and Andy while the rest of us sipped on waters. The six of us were talking loudly over the loud music to be heard, shouting across the small table in the corner. Spending time with them had been fun, and though I did manage to forget maybe for a little while, my thoughts kept drifting to Harry. I wondered what it was he was doing. Why he looked at me with disappointment when he left? And why he felt he had to lie to me about hanging out with Cameron?

The fake laughs, the forced smiles were becoming exhausting and I wanted nothing more than to go home now, to crawl into bed and disappear under the covers. It was becoming more appealing the more I thought about it that once I downed the rest of my water, I slowly pushed the chair I sat in back.

It drew the attention of our group, Liam's gaze moving to me as I stood up and hauled the strap of my bag over my shoulder. "Well, this was fun guys but I think I'm going to head home."

There were whines all around the table in protest and the amused grin on my lips faltered when I saw Niall standing up as well. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, blue eyes gazing at me. "I'm going to head out too. I can walk you?"

"You don't need to leave just because I am, stay if you want to."

He shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. I'm feeling kind of tired anyways."

"Oh, okay. Well in that case sure." He grinned and I returned it before turning to look down at Lila who sat on my other side, catching her eye as I raised my eyebrows at her."You coming or staying?"

"Um..." Her gaze slid to Anthony and I watched as the two of them held eye contact, silently communicating back and forth before she looked back up at me. "I think I'm going to head to Anthony's for a bit tonight after we leave here, so just go on without me."

I try to suppress the knowing smirk threatening to pull at my lips when I catch her cheeks flush but decide to simply nod. I would tease her about it another time when we were alone. "Okay, let me know if you decide to come home so I don't think someone's breaking in."

"Got it. Text me when you get home."

"I will." She threw a quick 'love you' to me as I walked around the table to hug Liam, kissing the top of his head before I waved bye to the rest of the group. I headed towards the exit with Niall following close behind, my hands dug into the pockets of my jean jacket. We fell into step beside each other once reaching the sidewalk, the passing cars and the life of the city being the only thing we heard. My boots clicked against the pavement and Niall cleared his throat, pulling my attention to him. He was already looking at me, his expression curious as he pursed his lips.

"What's up with you and Harry?"

I almost reeled back at the mention of his name but I managed to contain myself, faking dumb instead. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why was he with that girl when he's with you?"

I frowned at this, anxiously moving to cross my arms as I shook my head and laughed humorlessly. "Um, him and I aren't together. He's not mine so he can do whatever he wants."

He shook his head, blonde strands of hair standing up on his head flattening themselves. "Well he seemed pretty upset to see me there with you so, I'd say otherwise."

"Harry's never said he had a problem with you so, I don't know. But even if he did he'd have to deal with it. Harry doesn't get to tell me who I can and can't be friends with."

Niall smiles so widely I was sure it was hurting him, cheeks tinged a light pink with the chill of the night. "That's good to know."

I laughed quietly shaking my head as we neared the steps of the subway. We were fairly quiet as we waited, a few words exchanged between the both of us but I think we were both too tired to keep a conversation going. He lightly pressed the palm of his hand to my lower back when the subway came to a halt in front of us, pushing me towards the opened doors. All the seats were taken and we moved to the pole in the middle, holding onto it as the subway lurched into motion again. There were a group of young boys sitting a few feet away, being loud and rowdy with girls as the topic of conversation. Niall and I shared a look of amusement when one of them teased his friend for getting a boner when the girl he had a crush on had simply touched his thigh. His face was red in embarrassment and he was quick to punch the shoulder of his friend, snickers leaving our mouths when he hissed and shut his mouth abruptly.