Cigarettes and Hickies [n.h]

un

It was mid-January. The stars were distant and ice-bright in the cloudless sky. The darkness meant the temperature had dropped abrubtly, and the wind was rising. Each gust sent whispers through the empty and hollow street. Against a wall, was a girl, whose eyes were puffy and red as tears were streaming down her face.

The icy wind whipped her hair back and stung her face, tearing at her light cardigan. The trees lashed their branches together in a frenzy. Her hands were cold, her lips and cheeks numb and wet, but she stood immobile only sound apart from the billowing wind, was the sound of her crying.

The pub door squeaked open, and the roaring sound of voices spilled onto the street adjacent to the one the girl was crying on. A boy with blonde hair like sunshine, came out with a laugh ringing down the road, as he lifted a hand back at the crowd and waved to them goodbye.

Niall Horan, was enjoying the last moments of his break before he and his bandmates had to kick off their sold out stadium tour around the world. So, as he walked down to the end of the road and saw a quiet and isolated street to his left, he took every chance to go down it knowing those last few moments of silence would be cherished.

He closed his eyes as he put his hands in his pockets, focusing merely on the whirling whispers of the wind. The wind lashed across his neck, stinging his skin but he didn't mind it. He rather enjoyed the icy cold weather, remembering the crispy winters of his childhood in Ireland. However, as he looked up at the clouds and focused on the twinkling stars above him, he caught a different sound swirling in the wind.

The sound travelled down the street, magnifying the broken chords along with the screaming wind. Niall, squinted down the street following the source of the sound. The girl was almost camouflaged against the wall, but Niall noticed her.

"You okay there?" He asked, gently approaching the weeping girl.

The girl snapped her head up, briefly ceasing her cries, as she took in the boy's prescense. She gave Niall a repelling look, before answering.

"Clearly not,"

"Of course not. That was a stupid question," Niall composed himself, slightly embarrassed by his attempt to comfort the girl. The night was solid black, yet despite the darkness he could still read her unwelcoming expression.

Her cries continued to flow though her attempts to stifle the sound were unsuccessful, and Niall was intruigued to know what could have possibly made the girl cry.

"I know it's none of my buisness but, do you want to talk about it?" He knew the question had been a stupid one too, but maybe it was the cold weather that was making him so intruigued by the girl in such state.

"What the hell?!" She fired at him, puzzled by his remark. One of her hands ran over her hair in frustration, watching as the familiar boy made no attempt to leave her.

Awkwardly, Niall brought his bottom lip between his teeth and rose both of his hands in surrender.

"Look, I was just tryin' to help..."

"I don't need your help," She replied rudely as she leaned back against the wall and folded her arms.

As Niall put his hands back in his jean pockets he took out a packet of tissues he had in one of them.

"Here," He stretched a hand out and offered the girl his packet of tissues.

A forced laugh radiated from the girl before she added, "Do I look like a charity case to you, or something?"

Niall felt a stinging pain in his chest as he realised he had offended the girl. He began to shake his head, trying to make her see that, that wasn't his intention.

"Mate, leave me alone alright?" The girl began to get impatient. Why would he take interest in her? "You don't fucking know me, so piss off!"

But Niall refused to let go that easily. He was already too involved and he couldn't leave her alone in such state, without having done anything to help her.

"I know you're angry, but you were crying before I even got here so it's not my fault yeah?"

Another forced laugh left the girl's numb lips, as she couldn't believe what he was saying. Niall, too, couldn't believe his words were coming out that way. He was just digging himself a hole, and was making matters worse, but he couldn't help himself.

"Fuck off!" She fired violently, throwing her hands in the air in anger as her eyes burned onto the figure in front of her.

"Fine," Niall muttered silently, finally giving up. He looked sadly at the distraught and broken girl in front of him, and was angry that he had to leave her like that. However, he leaned down and placed the packet of tissues beside the girl's feet in one last attempt to help her somehow. He then looked at her one final time and without adding a word, he left her.

The girl didn't bother looking at him or saying anything else. Niall walked at a slow pace, wondering about what had made the girl cry. Perhaps something awful had happened to her? The weather was getting worse by the minute, and his conscience wasn't going to let him rest if he left her entirely alone. So, he stopped in his tracks and looked back - the girl was again crying hysterically in the distance, completely unaware of Niall.

The Irish singer then decided to lean against a tree in no clear view for her to notice him. He hoped she would stop crying soon, as the wind became more powerful and roared more dangerously.

The minutes dragged on, and the icy wind began to pierce his skin. Blood was pounding hotly under his skin, yet his fingers and legs were starting to feel numb. His eyes began to droop as the stinging wind made it unable to keep his eyes fully open. Drops of rain were beginning to land on his nose and forehead and he knew a storm was coming.

As Niall tried to draw his mind away from the weather he noticed that the girl's cries had vanished. He tried to focus on the whailing sounds of her weeping, but they were no longer there.

"Are you fucking stalking me?!" The girl's voice snapped in front of him. It threw Niall aback to see her standing so close.

Her raging voice rang in his eardrums, and it was very clear that she was not happy at all.

"I just-" Niall began, but the girl interrupted him, her fuming words were bouncing against the walls and echoing down the street.

"What the actual fuck?! I told you to leave me alone!"

"Look, I'm sorry okay?" He tried to step back, but his back was already flat against the tree trunk. "It's getting late, okay, and you're clearly not in the right state of mind..."

And as soon as the words were out, he was soon regretting them. The girl looked at him in complete horrified disbelief. She shook her head several times and ran her hands over her hair in frustration, and Niall decided not to say anything else.

They both stayed silent. Niall didn't know what to do; the girl suddenly stopped and looked up at him. He really wanted to make out her features but the darkness was making it impossible.

Suddenly, the girl reached her hand out. Niall looked down at her hand and saw his packet of tissus in her grasp.

"Here," She mumbled without emotion. Niall was puzzled but he didn't protest; he took the packet and then looked up at her. He squinted trying to catch the colour of her eyes, but the wind was still making it hard for him to open his eyes.

He then felt that the packet in his hand was very light, and it was clear there was only one tissue left in the small plastic bag.

"You can just keep it," Niall began but he was soon cut off as the girl replied with a much harsher tone.

"No, I think you'll need it more than I do,"

And with that, she curled her fingers into a fist and raised it in front of her.

Then, with the highest force she could muster, she lashed her hand forward and punched Niall Horan in the nose, before walking off and leaving him alone, in pain.