The Bet // Niall Horan

23 - Worth It

"The pan's in the kitchen, I'll be right back," I excused myself quickly. Not even bothering to put on shoes or a jacket, as it was only a mere sixty degrees outside from all the cold rain, I slipped out onto the back deck. I didn't know what I was doing but I knew I had to do something. Letting someone walk away from an argument without it being resolved is never a good thing. I had no idea where Niall had gone. He might have went down to the beach or even back to the bus, but I knew I wouldn't stop looking until I found him.

Luckily, I didn't have to look far before finding a blonde tuft of hair sitting near the shore. As I started walking towards him, I realized he was trying to skip rocks into the waves. I chuckled to myself because I knew from experience that it's quite hard to skip rocks in a wavy sea. "You have to angle them more upwards than you normally would," I noted as I approached behind him. Wordlessly he took my advice as the rock skidded a few times before sinking to the bottom. "Thanks for tuning into wise words with Carter." I was hoping to get a chuckle or even a slight smile from that, but he gave me nothing. Not even a grunt of disapproval. "Alright, look, I'm sorry for bothering you with my presence for the past week and a half, but I didn't know you hated me. You could've said something," I sighed as I sat down a few feet away from him, allowing him some personal space. As soon as the words left my mouth his head wasted no time in turning to face me. "Is that what you think this is about? That I hate you?" His voice was soft but had a tinge of hurt.

"I don't know. The way you reacted to people knowing we were spending time together made it a possibility." I was looking down at my hands playing with the sand in front of my criss-crossed legs. Purposely avoiding all eye contact with the blue ones to my left. He let out a loud sigh, one that tells me the gears in his head were turning. "Carter-"

"No, Niall, it's okay. Worse things have happened, believe me. I'll be on my way so no more photos can be taken." I was about to stand up to leave him be until a warm hand touched my knee. I finally met his eyes with mine. "No. Don't go," he whispered. He retreated his hand and we both turned away from each other, looking out into the vast ocean.

I don't know how much time passed before someone spoke again. "I don't hate you." My head snapped up to look over at him at his sudden outburst. Slowly, his did the same. "I don't think I could ever hate you even if I tried," he continued. I wanted so badly to look away from him, afraid of what his gaze would lead me to do..to say. But I couldn't. It was like Niall's eyes held the power to keep me in whatever trance I was in. Corny, I know, but I'm not kidding. Since I didn't speak, he took it as a sign to continue talking. "it has nothing to do with you as a person. I love the fact that people can see us together." There's that word again. Together. This time, though, it left me with a giddy feeling inside of me. Like my heart was pulling itself back together from the last time he said it.

"Then why did you get so mad?" I had finally found my will to speak. Niall let out another loud sigh, breaking our eye contact along with it. "I was afraid of it from the very beginning." He looked down at the sand that was in front of his legs, which were in the same position as mine.

"Afraid of what? That fans would find out who I am?" I offered.

"Yeah, but not only that," he paused for a brief moment before going on, "as soon as I left this beach that first night I met you only one thing was going through my mind. You can't hurt her like the others. Every time one of us has gotten a girlfriend, or even just seen with a girl, the fans blow it completely out of proportion." Niall stopped and met my eyes yet again. I gave him a slight nod to tell him to continue. "Eleanor got major hate as well as Danielle way back when. Each time it ended up in one big mess. The boys and I swore to each other that we'd never get involved with a girl if we knew it wouldn't be worth it. So when you said that fans already knew about us even though we're not together I felt like I had broken a promise to myself. I couldn't help but think that at some point I'd the reason you'd start to believe the words they say." I was at disbelief at what he was telling me. He was all worked up because he thought I'd break at harsh words of some fans. "Niall-" I tried to cut in but he cut me off. "Carter, I just-I don't want you to take anything they say to heart. They're just jealous and are trying anything they can to get you out of the picture. I know I haven't known you for months and years, but I do know you're stronger than anyone I've ever met. I don't know how and I don't know why, but somehow you are. I'm not saying that you're weak and will break at any moment because someone behind a screen said you're ugly or should kill yourself. I'm saying that I don't want to be the reason those kinds of words are brought onto you." Our eye contact hadn't broke once throughout the second round of his speech. Now it was my turn to speak.

"Niall, listen to me and listen to me carefully. I couldn't give two shits about what they say. Whether it's that I'm fat or don't deserve to be near you. Nothing they say will bother me. Like I said before, I've been through much worse, trust me. I've been called worse, been in situations worse. The last thing I would do is blame you for what they tweet." He looked away from me and I moved closer to him so that our shoulders were barely touching. "You said that you wouldn't put a girl in this situation if she wasn't worth it, in this case you didn't have much of a choice whether I was trending on Twitter or not. But if you did, would you put me in this situation. Because if you wouldn't, I'll walk away right now. I won't make you tear yourself down because you think this is your fault. I don't want you to leave here tonight and say 'damn it, she's in the exact position I didn't want her to be in'. I want you to leave here and say 'she's worth it. I don't care if she gets hate because of me because she's worth it. She's worth being with'." I was looking at the side of his head the whole time I spoke. Studying every brown strand that had grown in and every small freckle on his profile. I could've done it fifty more times before he replied a while later.

"You're worth it, Carter. I want you so badly to be worth it," Niall's blue eyes met mine yet again. This time, however, there was a spark in them. A silent plead as he waited for my answer.

"Then let me. Let me be worth it." His lips twitched up slightly, giving me a half grin I had been waiting for throughout this entire conversation. I couldn't process the feeling that grin gave me because two seconds later his lips were on mine. Only one thought flashed through my mind.

Hurry up and kiss him the hell back.

---

A/N-

I WAS SO CLOSE TO MAKING MY GOAL OF UPDATING EVERY OTHER WEEK, I'M ONLY LIKE 10 MINUTES OFF DEPENDING OF WHERE YOU LIVE!

The gif at the top is when Carter is telling Niall she wants her to be worth it. It give me chest pains bc a sad Niall means a sad me. Plus he's looking hella fine so that's a plus.

*cries while fangirling*