lovefool // niall horan spy au

x. it's all okay, 'cause love will find a way to be what love is

Sameera's succeeded in ignoring Niall for a full week. But she's not so lucky today.

Hodges called in for a mandatory meeting, which included both Niall and her. She spends the hours leading up to it in a panic.

"Sameera, you're being annoying about this," Harry tells her over lunch. He is not at all supportive of her decisions on her relationship with Niall. He lectured her for hours at her apartment once he'd found out what she'd done. "Niall is dying to talk to you. Literally. He won't stop asking me after you." He shuts her down after she starts to give her Julia excuses again. "He almost lost his mind when you stepped in front of him as O'Connor was about to pull that trigger. If that's not love then what is?"

Sameera ignores Harry for the rest of the day too.

She shows up early just to get a seat away from Niall, but he ends up sitting across from her anyway. It feels like her heart is stuck in her throat throughout this meeting, and she downs an entire glass of water within the first ten minutes.

It doesn't help that he doesn't stop looking at her. She's really trying to pay attention to what Hodges is saying but he's distracting her with all the staring.

By the time the meeting is over, she's completely ready to rush out of there. Just as she's about to near the door, though, someone's crashing into her, all of her papers scattering across the floor as a result. "Oh, love, I'm so sorry, I'm a bit in a rush right now. Sorry, sorry." It's only as the person is leaving that she realizes it's Liam.

She sighs, rushing to pick up her papers and get the hell out of here. But as she stands up, the room is already emptied out and Niall is closing the door, locking it for good measure. She huffs as she realizes she's just been played.

Niall doesn't say anything for a long moment. He just looks at her with those sad eyes, lips turned downwards into a frown. She looks away. It hurts to look at him now because of how much she misses him, something she's been denying for days.

Finally, after what seems like ages, he speaks. "You can't ignore me forever, y'know." He's watching her carefully and she just rolls her eyes, walking back to the head of the table to drop her papers on top of it before turning around to lean on it. She just stares at him, and after a while, he just sighs exasperatedly. "Petal," he says, voice hushed and raw. "Can you please, please, just tell me what I did? It's killing me not talking to you."

It's the crack in his voice that breaks her and she has to cover her face with her hands to keep from getting too emotional. Niall is onto her in a heartbeat, hands on her wrists as he tries to pry them off her face.

"You didn't even show up that night," he mumbles when he gets her hands away. He sounds so hurt which kills her. She never wanted it to be this way.

She just looks away from him. "I did, Niall." He watches her with wide eyes, a confused look on his face. "I saw you," she gets out, sniffling, "with Julia."

He takes a deep breath, coaxing her face towards him and searching her eyes for something, anything. "That was—nothing happened with Julia," he explains, blue eyes wild and desperate for her to believe him. "She was just there, and she came over to say hi. Sameera, she's not even a part of my life anymore."

Sameera sighs in frustration, pushing his hands away from her. "Niall, you said it yourself. You're always going to love her." It hurts saying it out loud because she wants it to be a lie so badly. "I don't want to be second place."

Niall stares at her, stunned. It's a long moment before he reaches out slowly, carefully, his hands cupping her face to bring her eyes to him again. "That's not you saying this," he says, shaking his head. "Wherever this insecurity is coming from, it's not you." And the thing is, she knows this too. His eyes are wide and honest, and she knows he would never lie to her. So what, really, is stopping her? "You're the one that I want," he says quietly, gulping. "I can't stop thinking about you. I can't sleep at night knowing that I can't talk to you."

It's only as he says that when she realizes how red rimmed his eyes are. And the truth is that she feels the exact same way.

"Please don't push me away." It's the pleading that gets her, and she wraps her arms around his neck. He immediately hugs her back, pulling her closer until there's no space between them.

And this, this feels right. It feels like it's meant to be. But there's still one thing bothering her at the back of her mind. "Ni, we still can't be together." He pulls back, a question in his panicked eyes, and she frowns. "Company policy," she reminds him. It takes him a moment to understand what she means but when he does, he sighs in what looks like relief.

"Oh god, you scared me for a second there." He presses his hands to her waist, leaning forward until their foreheads rest together. "I mean, if we could make being fake married work then I guess we can make fake...not dating work."

She can't help but laugh at that. It sounds completely ridiculous but it's not entirely something she'd throw out the window. "Seriously?"

He nods, smiling against her lips now. "I want to be with you. No matter what."

With that, she kisses him. It hasn't been that long but it feels like she's been starved of him. "God, I really like you," she murmurs against his lips, having no intent of letting him go any time soon.

When Niall smiles, she's filled with hope.

She knows they can make this work.