Heartbreak Weather | Niall Horan

34

This time, I bought my own plane ticket and paid for my own hotel room. On a Friday night in May, I found myself standing outside of Shawn's Los Angeles home, preparing myself for what I was going to walk into.

Not only will I be in the presence of A-list celebrities, but I've also already been informed that I'll be seeing Niall for the first time in six months.

I mean, that's more nerve-wracking than the A-list celebrities.

When I spoke to Shawn earlier today, he told me just to come in when I arrived. My Uber dropped me off at least five minutes ago, I just wasn't prepared to go inside then.

After deciding that I may never be fully prepared, I made my way inside the front door.

Instantly, I'm greeted by a giant hug from Shawn, who had no doubt been watching me give myself a pep talk from the window.

"Béa!" Shawn shouts, his tall figure engulfing mine in a hug. His arms wrap around my body tightly, practically restricting my airways. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

I rest my head against the front of his shoulder for a moment, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

He releases me from the hug and I take a step back.

"Now, I do have a suggestion on how to make your next album even better." I begin, a playful smile creeping its way onto my face.

"Oh? And how's that?" He asks, playing along.

"Well, you could write a song about me." I joke, "Since I am your best friend after all?"

He lets out a small laugh before his glowing smile appears.

"Someday, someone will write an entire album about you." He tells me, and there's not an ounce of playfulness to his voice.

"Is that her?" I hear a feminine voice ask and there's no question who it belongs to. Her stiletto heels clack against the tile flooring of Shawn's entryway.

I've been told enough about Camila Cabello to know exactly how important she is to Shawn and I know how eager he's been to introduce us since my birthday.

I turn around as the female singer approaches behind me. Just as Shawn had, she hugged me before I could even get any words out.

"Hi! I'm Camila!" She says, still holding me in an embrace.

"I'm Béa." I manage to say before Camila lets go of me.

Camila smiles as she looks from Shawn to me. "It's so nice to finally meet you!" She tells me.

The only response I am able to form at this moment is "You too!"

"Come on!" Camila smiles, tugging at my wrist, "Let's go introduce you to everyone."

Lightly, she pulls me forward into the room where all the different voices seem to be coming from. I turn around to Shawn, who is laughing while following behind us.

She stops to show me something and I survey the room. I don't see too many people I recognize, most of them are probably part of Shawn's team until I see him.

His eyes are already burning into mine, and probably have been since I walked into the room. I need to look away but I can't. My eyes are locked directly into his and there's no key in sight. Camila continues on talking to me but I cannot hear any of what she's saying. It feels as if all 5 of my senses are focused on Niall.

He has yet to look away and so do I. A million thoughts are running through my head, but my focus is stuck on my ex-boyfriend sitting less than 10 feet away from me. I refuse to look away first, mainly because of my own stubbornness, but also because part of this doesn't seem real to me.

Finally, Lewis says something, capturing Niall's attention. His head turns in the direction of Lewis' voice.

Hm. I win.

"Béa?" Camila asks, "Béa, are you listening?"

"Oh! I'm sorry." I began apologizing profusely for coming off as rude. She seems to be very understanding, which makes me wonder how much of my situation Shawn has filled her in on.

***

I eventually slip away from Camila and Shawn and some of the other guests to use the restroom. Shawn had shown me around, but of course, I had something else on my mind and wasn't paying attention as well as I should have been.

I round the corner to the hallway that I believe has the guest bathroom in it and I slam into someone's chest.

"Ouch!" A familiar voice calls.

"Oh my gosh! I am so..." My voice fades once I realize who exactly is standing in front of me.

The silence overtakes and I find myself just looking at him.

He shifts uncomfortably before muttering a quiet "Hi."

"Hi," I responded almost as quietly as he had spoken.

"So, uh..." Niall mutters, "You and Shawn seem close."

I don't know how he did it, but there's a feeling of tension lingering around us now.

"He's one of my best friends," I state.

"You sure that's all?" He sneers.

I raise my eyebrows at him, not feeding into whatever he is trying to accomplish. "Why are you trying to be rude to me?"

"Wait, I didn't-" He begins, but I cut him off.

"You of all people should know how I feel about Shawn! And even then, I'm sure you know that he absolutely adores Camila, regardless of whether she knows it or not!" It takes everything in me not to shout at him. "I can't believe you would even insinuate that I-"

"I didn't mean to." He states.

I scoff, "Then what did you mean to do?"

"Béa, you broke my heart!" He shouts.

So we're playing this game?

"Well, I guess it must be heartbreak weather then because my heart got broken too!" I shout back at him.

I feel the tears start to well up in my eyes and I turn to walk away. Niall reaches out and grabs my arms.

"Wait." He says, "Please."

I turned back to him, "What, Niall?

"Do you think that maybe we could go get coffee before you leave town?" He bashfully asks.

The momentarily feeling of rage dissipates and I find myself instantly wanting to say yes. "Sure."

I didn't feel like proofreading so ignore any mistakes.

Besties, there are only like 5ish chapters left and then the 2 epilogues so buckle up.

Thank you for 30k reads! I love you all so much and thank you for your endless support! Until the next one! MWAH!