When in London (One Direction Fan Fiction)

35

"Just talk to him, Alice," I sighed, handing her four copies of Gone Girl.

"I don't want to," she refused stubbornly, taking the books from my hands and placing them onto the top shelf, next to all the other authors starting with F.

A couple weeks ago, Alice had gotten me a job at the bookstore she worked at, called Bookworm. We always had the same shifts, and when we were working the floor together, like today, nothing could get us to shut up. It was currently a Friday night, and Alice was trying to convince herself why dating Tristan would be a bad idea.

She wasn't doing that great of a job at it.

"Tristan just enjoys the chase," she shook her head. "If I tell him I like him then he'll get what he wants and become bored within the next day."

"No he won't," I assured, passing her the next few copies of a book I've never heard of. "Tristan isn't like that. He cares about you."

"Not enough to keep me around," she grumbled, placing the books on the shelf next to Gone Girl.

"You won't know that unless you talk to him," I chastised, shaking my head.

It'd been a month since my birthday, and more importantly, a month since everything changed.

It was a month passed the day Niall had forgotten he'd sent me a birthday present, and also had forgotten my birthday in general. Not that I was still salty about it - although, if I was being honest with myself, I was - but it had struck a raw nerve with me. That was the day I decided I deserved better than to be ignored by someone I thought loved me, and I them.

Guess I was wrong on that account.

A month ago was also the day Dante and I decided to give us a go. Not without a little compatibility encouragement from our drunken escapades, and our hasty make-out session on the kitchen counter promptly thereafter. We'd been casually dating for the past few weeks, and albeit trying to convince myself otherwise, I was falling hard for the brunette.

I didn't expect to be falling for anyone this quickly following the fling I had with Niall, and yet, there I was. Although, it wasn't without caution.

I was still aware of the presence Niall had in my very recent past. Even though I wanted to convince myself I was one hundred per cent over it, I knew I wasn't.

The fact that I still got angry thinking about him told me that much.

Dante and I hung out a lot, more than I'd like to admit. Yes, most of the times it was because I was crushing on him, hard, but other times it was simply because he'd come to be one of my best friends.

I enjoyed his company, and he did mine, making it all the more difficult to stay away from each other.

We'd gone on a couple dates, too. Once to the movies, a few times to restaurants, and once we even went to a paint night, where he was shocked to find out I was a rather good artist. He suggested paint balling once, but I shut that idea down quickly.

I had too many memories I was trying to repress that were associated with the sport.

Alice, on the other hand, was having less luck than I when it came to dating.

It was on the night of my birthday that she and Tristan had hooked up, and contrary to my expectation, Alice wanted nothing to do with Tristan.

Tristan was a whole other story. He was absolutely smitten with Alice, and rarely found it possible to not pursue her. It's not like Alice didn't want Tristan, it was the complete opposite. She wanted him, probably more than he wanted her, and that's why she kept away.