Voir Dire (N.H.)

thirty-five

Niall sat at a coffee table in West Hollywood, tapping his fingers against the wooden structure . He told himself he was only doing that because he was impatient, but the truth was, he was a little nervous about being here. Krystal had asked to grab lunch with him today. He wasn't keen on the idea at first, especially considering he and Kelsey were still at a sort of impasse. But he'd thought about what Kelsey had said the other night, and he knew she was right. He needed to ask for the paternity test; to give him peace of mind once and for all.

Things with Kelsey, were well... at a standstill. She'd texted him the next day, apologizing for the way she'd acted. Saying that she knew he was just trying to do the right thing, but that she still wasn't quite sure where her place in all this was. She said she needed time; that maybe she'd rushed into things.

Niall had begun to wonder if maybe they'd both rushed into things. Was Niall rushing into this new record label? His departure from Capitol? Was this all too much too soon? It had seemed like the perfect solution weeks ago, but now, even Niall questioned whether being back with Kelsey was the right decision for anyone other than him.

But for now he was at lunch with Krystal. Who also happened to be the last person Kelsey would want him to be spending time with. Niall knew this lunch was a necessary evil. He needed to figure this out: the balancing of these two women in his life, because for the time being he was doing a real shit job at it, if he said so himself.

Krystal arrived looking flustered. Her usually well-groomed blonde hair, a mess on the top of her head. Her face tired, like she hadn't slept in days. Niall noticed that her baby bump was just beginning to peak out from her oversized grey t-shirt. Before long it would be impossible to hide. She greeted Niall with a hug and a somewhat forced smile.

"How are you?" Niall asked, as Krystal took a seat across from him, taking a sip of the water with lemon that Niall had ordered for each of them.

"I'm okay," she replied, and Niall sensed the fatigue in her voice. "Thanks for grabbing lunch with me, I know Kelsey probably doesn't like us being seen together." Krystal averted her eyes, like if she stared at Niall for too long, someone would come and tell her off. Had she forgotten that in the eyes of the press these too were still very much together?

"Actually, I was glad you asked. I had something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Niall I need to tell you something," Krystal blurted out, as if she hadn't even been listening to what Niall had been saying. Her voice strayed from its usual confident nature. Niall could tell whatever she had to say was bothering her, because she can't seem to sit still, fidgeting in her seat like a child in kindergarten.

"Is it the baby? Is everything okay?" Niall asked, his mind jumping to the worst possible scenario.

"Everything's okay Niall. The baby's fine." Krystal's hand reaches down to feel the small bump on her stomach that was growing daily.

"Then what is it?" Niall asked.

Krystal took a deep breath. "Please try to understand, I didn't want to lie to you Niall. I was just trying to do what I thought was best."

"Krystal..." Niall began, feeling his pulse quicken.

"I wanted it to be yours," Krystal spit out, her eyes growing glossy. "I wanted it to be yours SO bad. Because I knew that you, Niall Horan, would take responsibility. You wouldn't run the opposite direction, and you wouldn't leave me all alone. You would be the best dad that the world had ever seen," Krystal's words had turned into sobs now. "And he, he was just some dead-beat minor league baseball player that I slept with because I was lonely. And when he dropped me, and I found out, I didn't even let myself think twice about it. Because it could have been you. I needed it to be you." Tears run down Krystal's cheeks now, and Niall noticed that a few fellow restaurant patrons had turned their head to look in their direction.