Call Me Ella (ft. Niall Horan)

Chapter 18 - Get The Prince

Chapter 18 - Get The Prince

After a while we get back to the stables because it’s late and I don’t know about him, but I’m knackered. It’s been a long day and I need my sleep if I want to work tomorrow. Not that I want to but I have to. Once we’re at the stables we remove the tacks to then lead the horses to their stalls so they can have rest.

“Thank you, Ella,” Niall tells me as we make our way out of the stables. “It really helped and it was nice.”

“No problem,” I reply with a smile but I lose it as we get closer to the main building. “I guess I see you around and good luck with Zoe.”

“Wait,” he stops me when I try to leave him behind. “Won’t I see you tomorrow? At the stables?”

I blink in surprise although a part of me was secretly waiting for this, but still. I don’t really know what will happen between him and Zoe, what his decision will be, but I don’t think spending time with him, alone, at night, is a good idea.

“Please,” he adds when I haven’t said anything yet.

“Maybe,” I reply and I know he’s not pleased because his smile is not honest, but that’s all I can promise for now. “Goodnight, Niall.”

“Goodnight, Ella,” he says and I turn around and run. It’s not like I’m running out of time or anything, but it feels right to run when I have my heart beating this way, when I have a funny feeling in the pit of my guts and when I know he’s still standing where I left him, watching me disappear.

I honestly don’t know what’s happening with me but I certainly never felt like this before. It’s like the fact he’s a mega celebrity doesn’t matter anymore. I mean, yeah, I still have that voice in my head and Rhonda’s face smiling at me, but it’s not as present as it is when I’m near any other celebrity. Even Harry, who’s probably the only celebrity I actually like in the whole world. The problem with Niall is that he’s Niall, he still has this thing going on with Zoe.

I believe him when he says he doesn’t love her anymore and I know I don’t know the full story, how it was before and how it started to break, but I know I helped to get to that state. He came here, to this retreat centre to fix his relationship but instead he is trying to find Mystery Girl, AKA me, and spending time with me, AKA Mystery Girl, at the stables when he should spend that time with Zoe. I know it’s self-centred to feel responsible, but I can’t help it, and I want to make amends for this mess I’ve made. That’s why I keep pushing him to try with Zoe, but at the same time I don’t want him to.

Ugh!

And it’s so easy to be around him once I forget he’s a guest and lift the barrier I put between any celebrity and myself. It’s so easy to talk to him and to listen to him. I don’t know why he trusted me so easily as to tell me all these things and I don’t know why I care, I actually care. I’m not pretending and I really wish I could do something to fix all his problems because there’s something about his smile I can’t describe.

In what kind of mess did I get in?

By when I’m in the employees’ wing, I’m not running anymore but my heart is still beating like crazy in my ribcage; but that’s probably because I ran so fast and not only for overthinking. I’m heading to my room when I run into Charlie.

“Ella! I just went to your room ‘cos I— you okay?” He asks me and only then I look at him. “You have that lost face again. Did something happen?” My lost face, as Charlie calls it, is the expression of complete absenteeism when my head is a mess and I’m trying to make sense out of everything that is happening. Probably, the very expression I have plastered on my face right now.