Remember Me ~A Niall Horan Fanfiction~

The Acquaintance Level

Was he walking towards me? No he couldn't be; he was walking passed me--he had to be. I could feel my face slowly turning pink and I knew it would eventually become red. I dug my head even further into my sketch. I thought to myself, squares, more squares, rectangles. This would be blue and this would be... He stopped. I paused, waiting for my face to return to its slightly-tan shade it usually was. He was directly in front of me. And then he was beside me; on my bench. My bench that was supposed to bring me peace, not nerves. He stuck his hand out,
"Hi, I'm Niall". I could hear the smile in his voice and I let his arm stay right where it was. My face was returning to its original color so I looked up at him. I couldn't show what I was feeling. I've never had so many butterflies all at once. When I didn't take his hand he slowly put it down, not embarrassed, more like sad. Like this was important to him, new to him. I didn't know what to say. Giving him my name would probably be the response most people had, but if I did we would be on the acquaintance level. The level when you see someone and you contemplate whether you should wave or pull out your phone as if you're texting someone like you didn't see them. He spoke again with his English, no Irish accent,

"Well, uhh, I just wanted to say sorry again. It's just, I'm with me family and friends I don't normally get to see."

I couldn't help but smile, he said "me" not "my". He was definitely Irish. I let him continue his terrible excuse. "I'm not normally like this. I'm normally very friendly." He sped up his words, "actually I'm always friendly, I don't know what came o'er me". I still didn't speak but my face relaxed. I didn't mean to be rude, I just didn't know what to say and I needed my heart to stop racing so he couldn't see the distress he was causing me. As he spoke I saw the sadness kicking in so I finally manned up and said,

"It's fine. I shouldn't have snapped. I'm just really excited about this project and it's been extremely hard to concentrate for the past two days".

"Too many screaming girls, eh?"

"Ya think?" I said with a slight smile but quickly went back to a straight face. You will not give in to him Ansley, I said to myself sternly.

"Well what if it was a bunch of lads after ya?" I looked at him shocked,

"Why the hell would I want a group of 'lads'," emphasizing lads, "chasing me around like a piece of meat?" He laughed, a quiet one, the cutest I'd ever witnessed. He chose not to answer that question and just gave me a nod saying, I guess that's true.

"So what are ya drawing?" He came closer to me, trying to see but I quickly pulled it away. He smelled amazing. Maybe a little strong, but amazing nonetheless. I looked at him, debating whether I should show him or not. I wanted him to leave. I knew if he didn't soon I'd fall for him. I'd fall for him hard; and then he'd leave with no explanation why. I closed my sketch pad and threw my pencils in my bag. "I have to go. It's about time for the girls to come out. I wouldn't want to get trampled". I picked up my bag and strapped it around my shoulder. He stood up quickly as I turned away. "Wait!" He said, smiling. I knew I should have kept walking but I turned around. "I didn't catch your name". Don't give him your name Ansley. Don't you dare give him your--
"Ansley. I'm Ansley". I closed my eyes and turned around. Why did I do that. We were officially acquainted.