Redemption [h.s]

forty-three

Niall

I looked at the guy in front of me. His green eyes kept looking around, never really stopping on something for longer than a few seconds. His chiseled features seemed tense, as if he wasn't comfortable in the situation he was in.

"What about you?" I asked all of sudden, breaking the silence.

His gaze fell on me at the sound of my words. "What?" He asked confusedly.

"Tell me something about you. You've been around for months but I know nothing about you, man" I replied obviously.

"I'm a... Quite private person, actually."

Did Grace really have to make the most boring man out there her boyfriend?

"Doesn't seem fun."

"Not everything is meant to be fun" was his reply. He glanced at the restroom door at the other side of the room.

"Relax, Grace will come back soon" I snickered.

When she wasn't around, he looked like a lost puppy. As if he would've never put himself in a similar situation, if he were to decide.

"Here I am" Grace said coming up behind him, putting one of her hands on his shoulder, before sitting down next to him.

He flinched, but then he realised it was her.

"I need to go to the restroom, if you'll excuse me" he said getting up and making his way to the other side of the room.

I felt a light kick hit my shin, and I glared at Grace.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Your boyfriend is acting weird" I replied, shrugging.

She rolled her eyes. "You really don't like him, do you?"

"He's the one that looks like he'd prefer to be anywhere else. And I meant it. He's acting weirder than usual."

She bit her lower lip, staring at the table. "Can you check on him?" She asked, knowing that she couldn't have got into the men's restroom.

"Sure" I said, before standing up and walking towards the door.

I opened the door slowly, looking around.

He was standing right in front of one of the sinks, letting the cold water run over his hands, staring at himself on the mirror.

"Hey man, are you okay?" I asked him awkwardly.

His eyes met mine through the reflecting surface, and he nodded.

"Grace asked me to check on you" I said.

"You can go back now, I'll be there in a few minutes" he replied.

I shrugged, closing the door and going back to our table, feeling Grace's look on me as I walked towards it.

"He's fine" I said, sitting down.

"Are you sure?" Grace asked worriedly.

"Yes" I replied, "Oh look, there he is" I added, seeing him come back.

As soon as he sat down, Grace's attention was on him.

"Harry" I heard her whisper to him, and he turned his head to look at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked him quietly.

He nodded, looking down for a second, before whispering something back, so lightly that I couldn't catch a word.

I looked away from the private conversation, glancing around the restaurant. My eyes fell on a guy, sitting not that far away from us. He seemed to be looking in Grace's direction, but after a few seconds he noticed that he was being observed, and looked at me. He was fairly attractive. His irises were of a deep shade of blue, so intense that I could easily see it from where I was sitting. He seemed to be a bit older than me.

He looked at me curiously, frowning slightly, and I kept staring at him, not understanding why he was looking at us. Maybe he thought Grace was attractive. But then again, he wouldn't glance away from me. Maybe he thought I was attractive. Maybe I should've given him my phone number. I rejected the idea right away. I had a boyfriend. And also a husband, but that's just details.

The guy looked away from me, and went back to staring at Grace. I looked in front of me, just to realise that she no longer was sitting there.

"Where is Grace?" I asked Harry.

"She had to take a phone call, she'll be back soon" he replied.

I glanced at the weird man again. He wasn't staring outside of the big window, where I could see Grace talking to someone on the phone. That's when it hit me. He wasn't looking at Grace - he was looking at Harry.

Grace came back, and sat next to Harry once again, squeezing his forearm in the process. He gave her a little smile.

I looked around the restaurant, the man was now glaring at him.

"Hey man, did you kill someone or something? This dude has been glaring at you for the past ten minutes."

Both Harry and Grace looked at me. Harry's eyes were widened in surprise.

"What?" Grace asked, a hint of something I couldn't recognise in her voice.

"That guy" I replied, "There." I pointed at the table where he was sitting, just to find out that nobody was there.

"What did he look like?" Grace asked.

"Blue eyes? Quite attractive. Brown hair."

She whispered something to Harry, and she stood up, taking her coat. "We really need to go, can you pay? I'll leave the money here" she said, leaving enough money on the table to pay for the both of them. "We'll talk later. I'm sorry to be leaving like this, we just have stuff to do."

"It's okay, bye" I replied, and they went away. I paid for our meal, and went out as well.

It was a windy day, and the rain had just started falling.

I didn't have an umbrella, so I rushed to my car, getting in fast. I didn't want to go back home to soon, it was a Sunday afternoon, and I knew Liam was already at home. I wasn't looking forward being stuck in a room with him. It was always somewhat embarrassing. I decided to go to Zayn's instead. We hadn't seen each other for the past two days, since that he was really busy because of work. He would've liked the surprise.

It didn't take long to get there, as he lived not far away from the restaurant I had met Grace and Harry at. I parked a bit far away from his house, I didn't want to risk.

I reached the house, and hopped over the fence. Thankfully, Zayn didn't live in a flat. Less neighbours, less problems. I reached the door but, instead of knocking, I decided to just get in instead. Usually Zayn spent his afternoons drawing, and he didn't like to be interrupted by the doorbell. That's why he had left a copy of the key to his house under the doormat. Not exactly safe, but he didn't seem to care that much.

I lifted the doormat and retrieved the key. I glanced around, making sure that nobody was looking, before putting the key into the lock, and turning it to the left, until I heard it click.

"Hey babe, I'm Niall. Decided to surprise you" I said out loud getting into the house, closing the door behind me. "Zayn? Babe?" I called, when nobody replied.

I saw a light coming from the kitchen door. "Babe?" I called again, opening the half closed door.

Zayn was there, sitting at the table, one of his sketches in front of him. But he wasn't alone.

At the sound of my voice, the other man, who was sitting next to him, his back to me, turned around, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Liam?"

Here it is! Hope you liked it. x