Resembling Love

Chapter 3 - Victoria

I was reluctant to give him the pride of winning. Plus, I had some dignity, right? All thoughts of dignity passed when I felt a shiver run through my whole body. Who knew how long it would take to find the hidden clothes? I needed to warm up. And quick. So I gave in and let him hug me. It was actually a nice hug. He burrowed his head into my neck and rubbed my back. I was starting to warm up. Until I realized why I liked this hug so much. My ex-boyfriend used to hug me in the exact same way. A chill ran down my back, and I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't! It felt so good to be feeling Ryan's hugs again.

I know, I had broken up with him. So why was I acting as if he had broken it off and I was all heartbroken? I didn't want to break it off with him. I really didn't. I loved him so much, but I had caughten him cheating one time too many. I probably should've broken up with him after the first time, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So this was the second time, right? That's probably what you're thinking. Nope. Third? Nope. It was the fourth time. He begged for me to take him back, and it took everything I had for me not to say yes.

The next thing I knew, Niall's lips were planted on mine. At first, I kissed him back, but I quickly pulled away. And he pulled away at the same time. Hm, his hugs were the same, but he definitely kissed differently than Ryan. I wasn't sure if he was better, or worse, or just different. I turned around to see Josh and Ben coming back. Was that why he pulled away? Because he was kissing me with his eyes open, and he saw them coming?

"Niall?" Josh was definitely annoyed. I felt something like sympathy in the pit of my stomach. Josh used to be super protective of me. I didn't want to imagine what he would do now that he actually had the ability to beat someone up.

"Yes?" Niall squeaked. Wow, it must've taken a lot of courage to plant that kiss on me. He had seemed so confident about it.

"Are you going to tell me what just happened? Or am I going to have to assume?" They had seemed like best friends earlier. Had I guessed wrong? Or was Josh just very upset about what he had just seen?

I didn't want to see Niall get hurt, even if he had just given me what I thought was an unwanted kiss, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to like it, so I said, "Um, he was just warming me up with a hug, and it reminded me so much of my ex-boyfriend, Ryan," I started with a nod at my ex's name, "I kissed him without thinking."

Niall gave me a horrified look, and as we walked back to the house, the two of us walked a few meters behind my cousins so he was able to ask me, "Is that true? That I reminded you of your ex?"

Oh, no. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. I could feel my cheeks burning as I answered him, "A little. Just the way you hugged me. The way you nestled your head into my neck."

"Oh. Could you explain the "ex" part of it to me?"

"We broke up?" He obviously wanted to know who did it and why, but I felt like giving him a hard time.

"Obviously. But who broke it off? And why?"

I hope he realized we had only known each other for a day, so that was a little personal, but I had never told anybody about what happened, and I felt like getting it off my chest. "I did. I caught him cheating on me. For the fourth time." I felt a tear rolling down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away before he could notice it. Why did this make me cry? I broke up with him months ago. And this wasn't a stupid, little sob story.

"Oh." I nodded, not expecting him to continue, "I'm gonna regret saying this, but you reminded me of my ex-girlfriend, too. That's why I kissed you. I'm sorry."

What about me reminded him of his ex? "What about me reminded you of your ex?"

"Just the way you look. You look just like her. Your hair, your eyes, your body." My body? I brushed that one off. "By the way, thanks for taking the blame," he smiled, and I could've melted right then and there at the sight of it.

"No problem. He's really overprotective of me, and I know he would've beaten you up if he felt he needed to."

"Oh. He was really angry, wasn't he?" I knew he wasn't expecting an answer, considering the answer was obviously yes, and he continued, "We were on tour together for three months. Plus, rehearsals for several months before that, and I never saw him beat anyone up."

"Yeah, he usually doesn't. It takes a lot to make him do it. He probably wouldn't have, but I didn't wanna take the chance."

"Thanks."

"You know, I've never heard of your band. What's it called? One Direction?"

"Really? It's nice to finally meet someone who hasn't!" He laughed and continued, "There's five of us. We each auditioned for X Factor as solo acts, but we didn't make it through, and then Simon Cowell put us into a group. We didn't win, but we still became famous around the world. We went on the X Factor tour, and then we had a U.K. tour as the band, then we opened for Big Time Rush, then we had a North American tour that just ended, and we have another North American tour next summer." He gave me a quick briefing of the band, and I was surprised I hadn't heard of them. Seeing as I was the same age as three of the members (including Niall), I should've been, like, a die-hard fan or something like that.

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