Her Deliverance (vol. 2) ON HOLD

Forty-four

"Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight"
-Ed Sheeran, Perfect

* * * * * * * *

E m m e l i n e

After grabbing a ziplock bag filled with ice, I made my way to the back door before slowly trudging down the deck. I could feel Liam's eyes on me as I passed him and I felt like a child who just got yelled at in front of the whole family. I was embarrassed about everyone witnessing what happened but I knew I brought it upon myself. I was the one who flirted with him. I was the one who didn't stop him, so I willingly took in the humiliation I felt. I could have easily avoided it to begin with if I had just told Niall from the very beginning that I didn't, and would never reciprocate his feelings for me. Letting him believe there was a chance I ever would was wrong, not just to him but to Harry. I don't know why I had kept my mouth shut to avoid hurting Niall's feelings when not telling him hurt Harry's. I couldn't do that anymore, I saw it now. Either way one of them would get hurt and I had to choose whether I'd let it be Harry or crush Niall's hope.

So that's why I walked straight towards Niall with my heart pounding, dread filling me the closer I got to him. I ignored the gazes of my friends as I passed them and moved to where Niall sat on his towel. His hand was still over his eye and he was staring at the ocean with a permanent glare on his face. Amanda was next to him, her face staring at him worriedly even though I could see she was clearly upset over what happened. More guilt weighed on my shoulders at the fact I had let him follow after me to the water instead of sending him back to Amanda. She probably felt so alone and sad watching him with me. I was fucking terrible.

"Hey," I said hesitantly once I approached them and Niall looked up at me with cautiousness. Like he knew I was only over here to deliver bad news. "Here." I thrusted the bag of ice in front of him and he stared at it for a long moment before tentatively taking it from my hand.

"Thanks." He mumbled and my gaze slid from him back to Amanda, who gave me a forced smile when our eyes met. God she was ridiculously nice to even bother smiling at me after I was such a bitch. Had our positions been reversed, I would of been sneering at her. I guess that just went to show who the better person was.

"I'm sorry." I said to her and her cheeks flushed a little. I decided not to say anything else for now, not wanting to embarrass her in front of Niall. Turning back to look down at him, I jutted my thumb behind me. "Can we talk?"

"You sure Harry won't come out and plow his fist into my face again?" He spat rather rudely.

"You had it coming." I, along with Niall was surprised to hear the words leave Amanda's mouth. Her tone was a little bitter and Niall turned his head to look at her with shocked wide eyes. She looked away immediately, biting down into her lip like she hadn't intentionally wanted those words to come out of her mouth but they had. "Go talk to her."

Niall stared at her for a long moment before turning back to me, blue eyes meeting mine. He sighed and forced himself up into his feet, following after me when I turned to lead him a good distance away from our group. I looked back to see Harry coming down the steps of the deck, walking towards our group but his eyes were set on us. His gaze slid to Niall and I caught the way his jaw clenched but he looked away right after, green eyes meeting mine. I sent him a reassuring smile and his expression softened but he didn't smile back. Turning away once Harry turned his head when Gemma called him, I stopped and plopped down onto the sand. It rubbed uncomfortably against my bum and thighs but I dealt with it. This wouldn't take long anyways.