First You Fall

Chapter 27

Maisie woke up with a splitting headache. It took her a moment to remember where she was until her eyes landed on a One Direction plaque hanging on the wall opposite the bed. She let her head drop back to the pillow with a deep sigh.

Niall.

She sat up slowly, glancing around the guest bedroom as she felt the sadness overtake her. The guest bedroom. Where friends stayed.

Hearing Niall say they were just friends had affected her more than she'd wanted it to. Friends was good. Friends was something when she wasn't sure she deserved anything. But the ache in her heart at the thought of never again getting to feel his arms around her overtook any hopefulness she felt that he was at least willing to be friends.

Maisie had friends. She wanted Niall and not in a friendly way.

She pushed the covers off of her legs and leaned over to grab her clothes on the chair next to her. It was time to get dressed and figure out what she was going to do with this information now that she had it.

Niall was already in the kitchen, humming along with the radio while he finished cooking eggs on the stove. He wasn't wearing a shirt yet. Just jeans, slung low held up by a belt. He looked up when Maisie entered through the doorway,

"Hey there. Cookin' some eggs. Ya want some?"
Maisie shook her head,

"I'm not hungry."

Niall shrugged,

"Alright, more for me then."

Maisie sat down at the kitchen table after pouring herself some coffee. She tried to keep her attention on her phone, but her eyes kept drifting back up to Niall's back. His muscles straining and moving each time he reached for something or moved made her thighs squeeze together.

Was this friendship? Standing in his kitchen in front of her half naked?

Her frustration was at an all time high.

"Maze?" She looked up when he said her name, obviously having missed it the first time, "Asked ya if you're feelin' alright."

Her frustration eased a bit as she nodded,

"Yeah. I'm ok."

"Sure?" He asked, turning around to look at her.

She wound her fingers around her coffee cup, blinked a few times and then nodded again,

"I'm ok, Niall."

He turned back to the stove, oblivious to the fact that one word he uttered in the midst of a moment where he was trying to make her feel better had made her feel worse than ever.

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It took Janina a moment to realize she wasn't in bed alone when she rolled over into Kyle's huge body beside her. In a split second her mind replayed last night like a movie montage. His lips on her body, his arms around her, his hands on her skin. She was achy and sore in all the right places.

She studied his face before her. His eyes gently closed while he slept. She giggled softly when she realized that even in sleep he had a smug smirk on his face.

She reached forward, tracing her fingertips down the edge of his face until she reached his lips where she stopped,

"Why'd you stop?" He asked suddenly, causing her to scream and slap her hand over her mouth.

She rolled onto her back trying to stifle the shocked laugh that shook out of her,

"Oh my God you scared the shit out of me."