Looking Through Stain Glass Hearts || Nial Horan Fic

Chapter 38

"Keigan?" I questioned lamely, but I was in such shock I didn't know how to react. Soon, I heard breathing and I couldn't quite figure what was happening on the other end except decipher some murmuring.

"Listen, Niall, now is just not a good time, I'm busy and-" she started but I needed to cut in.

"Well, when is a good time?" I half shouted, letting my anger get the best of me.

"Whenever I have time, I'm just busy right now," she hushed and I could tell she was trying so hard to get rid of me, but I wasn't going to take this lying down.

"Do you know how hard I have been trying to reach you?" I yell back in retaliation.

"Do you know how long I tried to reach you? I called who knows how many times and-"

"Two hundred eighty-nine," I recalled from Lila's discussion. Although, I also remember her saying that Keigan loved me enough to remember. If she didn't remember then...

"What?" she asked into the phone and that confirmed she wasn't just neutralizing it, she really didn't remember.

"You called me two hundred and eighty-nine times. You texted me three hundred and six," I answered into the phone and it was then followed with a death defying silence. I was afraid I had said the wrong thing, but couldn't form the words to mend the situation. Then my heart nearly broke in two.

"Keigan, darling, we've really must be going or we'll miss our reservation," a male uttered obviously close enough to her that I could make out everything he was saying. He sounded foreign, maybe French. I was suddenly a hot head but I luckily didn't blow.

"One sec, John. Listen, Niall, we'll talk later, okay?" she said into the phone quickly.

"Will you?" I answered back, but she was already gone. I sat there staring into space. I replayed her angelic voice that soon became mucked up by that man's French accent. I was hanging on each of her phrases and questioning everything I said, making sure none if it could ruin my chances of her calling back.

Then I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Louis. I smiled but he didn't return it, and I had a feeling the culprit was Sadie's new beau, Daniel. I gave him a sympathetic look that also invited him to sit with me on the floor. He gazed up at the ceiling and began deeply breathing. I almost thought he was asleep, until he quickly turned to me.

"What did I do?" he asked piteously before burying his head in his hands. I patted him on the back.

"You were a great friend, better than any one I could've asked for," I replied but he shook his head in disagreement.

"No, I invited Eleanor," Louis muttered and I looked at him with complete shock, although he wouldn't know because his head was buried deep within his hands.

"Why?" I tried be gentle becaus eye looked like a ticking time bomb. He wiped his head up and was smiling, which scared me more than when he was wallowing.

"Because I love her," he started and I'll admit I was slightly confused until he continued, "Sadie is everything and I can't stand seeing her with Daniel."

"So how does inviting Eleanor fix that?" I asked although by the look he gave me, I realized it was the same question he was asking himself.

"It was on pure impulse, I felt alone and I needed someone here to fix that, it just took one text and she was already halfway here," he answered and I rubbed his shoulder. Louis was in a mess, a true bind. I glanced up at the clock and noted that midnight was approaching so I coaxed Louis to his bed while I resided on the couch.

I was startled awake by a resounding knock by four girls with steel for knuckles. Oh shit, we slept in. Gathering enough motivation I ran around waking the boys up before throwing on a shirt and jeans, almost tripping over myself trying to get my legs through. Never buying drop crotch pants again. Finally, we were scrambling out the door to run straight into Bonnie, Lila, Samantha, and Sadie who was wrapped around Daniel.

We tried to cover up our rush by acting casual but when we saw Daniel there, conclusions were drawn and they weren't pretty. The way his hair was jostled, it practically screamed sex hair, but Sadie looked completely put together, although she was a girl so she was no help from the get-go. A glance was passed between the lads and I, although it ended up stuck on Louis. He didn't look sad, or enraged, in fact, he looked solemn.

We were all stuck staring at him because we were all gobsmacked that he was so calm. Knowing how expressive Lou is, we expected some sort of reaction to the calamity in front of us, instead he was sitting as cool as a cucumber. After the awkward showdown Bonnie broke the tension.

"Anywho, we best be going before we're all late," she announced and we watched as Harry broke from our pack and grasped her hand and followed suit. We exchanged looks and smiled at one another before continuing through the door towards the bar.

Liam and Sam were walking right after them and Lila kept pace with me while Zayn walked on her right and Louis flanked me on the left. Meanwhile Sadie had no trouble bringing up the rear with Daniel giggling away. Lou, on the other hand, trudged to work and I could feel his loathing that was going through me and directed at Daniel.

The bar looked untouched from the party last night, yet everyone began working as if there was something to do. I hesistnaly walked over to find every trashcan I encountered empty, so I jogged over to Zayn and Lou to help with the floors until I got bored and in fifteen minute intervals would send a text to Keigan. Always alternating between 'I'm sorry' and 'please call me' and occasionally adding an 'x' to spice it up.

Then I glanced over to where Liam and Harry were both supposed to be taking inventory, but Harry seemed to be AWOL. I excused myself and headed over to help Liam who brought me in for a playful headlock when I decided to join. He needs to find a new way to greet people. I looked over to see Bonnie and Harry snogging against the cardboard boxes. Liam freezes and sees what I am and lets me up and we both began snickering at the sight before us until I had to break my gaze because they was a vibrating disturbance in my pocket.

I pull out my phone and recognize Keigan's number right away and immediately flip my phone open to find an unfriendly message waiting for me.

"Stop texting my girl."