we met at a party

Chapter four

y/n is your name

y/b/f is your best friend (both are female) 

Once Louis leaves, it's just you, Niall, and a lot of silence.

"Well, that was..." He trails off.

"Awkward?"

"Yeah," he laughs again, and just like thatー the tension is gone. A slower song comes on, and as if you're in a movie, he extends his arm to you, "Shall we?"

You take his arm and he leads you to the edge of the dancefloor. As it turns out, you're equally awkward dancers. You hold hands and swing them back and forth to the music, occasionally spinning the other around. It's slow, and shy, and a little unsure, but it's perfectー in its own little way. After a few songs, you and Niall find y/b/f and Tom, then the four of you sneak out into the garden to sit in the grass. Tom has an arm resting comfortably around y/b/f's hip and she leans into him. Niall's hand sneaks toward yours, his pinky just brushing against your finger, asking silent permission which you quickly give. You link pinkies, just like in the movies.

"So, Niall," Y/b/f asks innocently, "How did you and y/n meet?"

Tom nudges her, "Like you don't know."

She shrugs, "Just making conversation."

"That's a terrible conversation starter."

"Is it? We're conversing. Check mate."

"You don't even play chess."

"Shut up, you jerk," she says, but she's smiling and kisses his cheek.

Niall takes advantage of their momentary distraction to slip his hand in yours, his fingers weaving through yours. You feel your face heat up and notice even his pale cheeks have a faint dusting of pink.

"Y/n welcomed us when me and the boys got here earlier. Then we bumped into each other by the cheese."

"So you have a meet-cute!"

Tom snickers and tried to imitate Niall, "Yes, the best meet-cute: 'then we bumped into each other by the cheese.'"

Everyone laughs at thatー especially because of how terrible Tom's Irish accent was.

"Please," You say, "Like it's any better than yours and y/b/f's."

"How dare you, ours is adorable," Y/b/f argues.

"You had no idea who he wasー for all we knew he could've been a serial killer or something."

"But he wasn't, I asked."

"What happened," Niall asks, understandably intrigued. You shift to face him more and your feet bump into each other. "Tom dialed the wrong number when he needed a clean shirt after spilling in a restaurant. He meant to call his brother but ended up dialing y/b/f's number."

"Wait, Tom, why didn't you just call your brother?" Niall shoots the other boy a confused look. "Who still dials numbers?"

"It was a new phone!" Tom looks indignant.

"Anyways," You continue, "We're sitting in the kitchen and y/b/f's phone ringsー but it's attached to the kitchen speakerー so suddenly there's this British voice asking for a new shirt," You're trying to contain your laughter. "Because he was on a date and got red sauce all over his white shirt." Y/b/f is laughing now too; Tom's face has gone a little pink. "Y/b/f asked where he was, then if he was secretly a serial killer trying to lure her to a restaurant, and then she actually brought him a shirt. It was ridiculous."