Backfire (Niall Horan)

Chapter 12 ~ Stop avoiding!

Chapter 12 ― Stop avoiding!

  In the van I sat between Belle and Zayn and I kept talking about comic books with the dark-haired boy. The rest of the lads looked at us like we were crazy, but I was happy with the geeky topic. Normally I could only talk to my brother about this kind of things and as I didn’t see him as much as I wanted, it was good to know another person who also liked collecting and reading comic books. At the end we settled that once we got back home I was going to lend him a few volumes of my collection.

“So I assume you had a great morning,” Phebs asked smiling sweetly and we both nodded.

“I finally met the Gold Saints and now I just want to see her cats,” Zayn replied smiling wildly and hugging me. I felt someone’s glance in my back, but I didn’t want to turn around because I knew I was going to meet Niall’s eyes, and I rather avoid him. “I keep saying Shura is the best,” he added and I punched him softly in the arm.

“Wanna fight again? Don’t mess with me and my Aioros, mate,” I warned him and we both laughed. Our friends seemed worried, which only made us laugh harder. “You don’t know what you’re missing,” I said shaking my head sympathetically. “Thanks to this now we are best mates! Right, Zayn?” I asked him looking up so I met his eyes. He nodded proudly and I smiled at the rest of the party. “See?”

Harry and Liam, who where with Phebs next to us, rolled their eyes but kept smiling. According to what they told us, they had a good time as well, shopping and sightseeing.

We got to the venue and we were led by some security guards. Soon we were all in a big dressing room with mirrors all over the place and many outfits for the lads, chairs, bottles with water and a table packed with food. That was the best part, I had to admit it. Phebs and Belle wanted to explore the territory –their words, not mine– so they went out with several warnings that they should be careful if they didn’t want to get lost. I remained in there with the boys, eating chocolate like there was no tomorrow. Zayn was next to me all the time and I kept avoiding Niall. He tried to talk to me a few times but I always came out with an excuse and ran into Zayn’s arms, who was being not only my cuddle buddy that day, but also my shield. I didn’t want to be near Niall that day because I was emotionally unstable, because I was just making my mind about keeping distance between us and I feared my heart and body would betray me. I wanted to spend time with him, but if I did, it was going to hurt even more at the end and I had already enough.

The boys were called to sound-check and they invited me to go with them, but I preferred to stay in the dressing room, playing some video games. The door closed leaving me behind, but soon it opened again and a blond boy stormed in scaring the hell out of me. I jumped on the comfy sofa and looked at him surprised. I couldn’t pull myself together before he spoke: “Why are you avoiding me?” he asked and my heart stopped.

“I’m–I’m not avoiding you,” I lied trying to avoid his gaze, but I couldn’t. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, I don’t know, the fact that every time I tried to talk to you, you practically run away like I had some kind of disease!” He exclaimed angrily and I didn’t miss the sarcasm there.

“It’s not that,” I whispered because I didn’t know what else to say. I was indeed avoiding him and just having him there made my heart race. I wanted to blurt everything out, tell him about how confusing it was for me, how much I wanted to hug him, to let his warm arms wrap around me, how much I wanted to kiss him for real this time. I wanted to tell him how I was feeling but I couldn’t, I shouldn’t. “It’s just–” I tried again but the words couldn’t come out of my mouth.