Legitimately Us ||H.S||

Chapter 7

Despite my mind being numb for hours, the second Niall sat down and said one specific word to me, I was back to my senses. He added the word too, to the end of his sentence, meaning he not only knows about what happened at the party, but he also knows that something was going on with me and Harry, or at least thinks there was. I stare at him for a few moments trying to figure him out, except he has proven to me many times that's quite impossible. You never know what he's thinking or going to do next.

"Too?" I finally ask. "Me and Harry weren't—if that's what you think."

He lets out a breathy laugh and shakes his head. "I know more than you think I do."

I furrow my brows and squint at him. "Care to explain?"

"I've been best friends with Harry for four years," he says. "I know he likes his secrets. He must think I'm pretty stupid though, because he tried hiding so much from me. I respected him for it though. I made it seem like I didn't know he had a girlfriend, because he didn't want me to know."

"Girlfriend?" I ask, making it seem like I know nothing.

"He had a girlfriend for most of high school," he explains. "He liked to hide that fact by talking about other girls or flirting with them. None of which were you, by the way. Which is how I figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"That he liked you."

"Oh."

An awkward silence fills the air between us for a few moments. It's a strange feeling having Niall sit next to me and tell me about Harry, unexpectedly. It's another one of those random things in life you never could have foreseen and I'm having a hard time coming up with a reason as to why it's happening right now, of all moments. I'm on the fence with wanting to listen to what he has to say and wanting to tell him to shut up. I don't want to think about Harry anymore.

"I should probably apologize to you," he says, lifting the silence, making me look over at him again. "And explain a few things, I guess."

Once again, I'm furrowing my brows at him and squinting. What could it possibly be, now?

"I've done a few wrong things to you, that I need to make right," he says, flicking the lid on and off of his water bottle. "Made you think I like you, tried hooking up with Kate, took you out on that date, agreed to go to prom with you, ya know, just to name a few." I nod at the remembrance of all of this, unsure where he's going to take this. "I did it all to get a reaction out of Harry and I'm sorry if I hurt you in the process."

"What?" Well, I wasn't expecting that.

"I knew he liked you," he explains. "It was my way of telling him that I knew, without having to say it to him, because I knew he'd deny it and I wanted him to know it was okay to tell me. It's also why I got you that job with him. But I wasn't sure exactly what was going on with you guys until the night we got into a fight. He was so mad I'd do anything to hurt you."

"Funny how things change," I grumble, rolling my eyes.

"So, he did hurt you?" I know it's meant to be a question, but he makes it sound like it's more of an aha! moment than anything. "I knew that's why you were sitting here, looking like you wanted to kill someone."

"I do not!"

"Clearly you haven't looked in a mirror yet this morning," he laughs. I can only imagine how I look right now. After not getting any sleep and then crying for hours, I probably do look like a crazy ax murderer waiting to pounce. But my appearance is the last thing I'm worried about. I really couldn't care less what I look like at the moment.