Night Air

Chapter 58

*Niall's POV*

She has to like them, I thought to myself as I stepped into the empty elevator. She HAS to. I chuckled and shook my head to myself. I was so stupid. Here I was, buying flowers for a girl that I knew I would never be able to keep, just because I was hanging on to a small amount of hope that she might still talk to me. I had a feeling that she wasn't going to willingly start talking to me so I had to get her something to sweeten the pot a little bit. I felt stupid for even trying such a thing like buying a girl flowers because somewhere I felt that she was going to reject me anyways.

I don't know what it was, but something in me wanted to at least try and make it up to Alyssa. I just wanted to make the most out of these next two weeks with her. They had to be good.

The doors to the elevator opened when it reached the floor that Alyssa's room was on, and right when I was about to step out into the hallway, I froze. Right in front of me, was Alyssa talking on her phone. She didn't seem to really notice me, but I surely noticed her. Feet frozen and eyes glued, I stood there... and watched. I noticed the way that her jaw moved as she spoke to someone on the phone. I noticed her freshly done nails as they gripped the cellular device. I even noticed the smile that slid across her face as she spoke to the person on the other end. However, the thing I noticed the most, were her words.

"Friday at six works great!" She smiled while clicking the bottom floor button on the wall. I didn't get off on her floor, and instead just stood there like an idiot across from her while I listened in on her conversation. Friday at six? Who was she talking to and what about?
"It's a date!" She said into the phone's receiver and I felt my heart drop. No. She was going on another date? "You too, Ryan. Bye." With Ryan? No. I thought to myself, No, no, no, no, no. I can't handle this again.
I couldn't take the feeling I had felt before. I felt my taped-together heart slowly breaking off again as her father's voice rang through my head from the night before.

"You know who I brought with me?" Her father asked me. I stayed quiet, waiting on his answer. I didn't really realize just how hard I was breathing into the phone while I worked myself up. I already knew who he was going to say. "Ryan, that's who. Our plan is still going to go exactly how we want it to. They had a date tonight, in fact, and according to Ryan it went great!"

I couldn't do it again.

"It went great!"

No.

I wasn't going to break down, now. Come on, Niall! Get it together! You don't break down! It's just some girl!

My thoughts weren't enough to keep me from trying to break down. Hearing from her father that her and Ryan were dating was one thing. It hurt like hell, but it was nothing compared to the way I felt hearing Alyssa herself setting up a date with Ryan. I wanted to break down, cry, scream, punch somebody, just die, run away, something... but I couldn't. I was trapped for the time being in a small box-like room with the one girl on this whole planet that could either make or break me. Unfortunately for me, at that moment, she broke me- snapped me in two. She grabbed hold my already cracked and fragile heart and then smashed it within her tiny- but oh so large- grip.

All I did was drop the bouquet of pretty, pink roses I was holding and let them scatter all over the floor. The sound was just enough for Alyssa to notice, and when she looked over and caught sight of me, she turned pale and looked as if she had just seen a ghost. I stood there on one side, and she stood across from me on the other. Neither one of us had a thing to say- well, actually, I take that back. We both had a lot we wanted to say, but no idea where to start. So instead of talking, we just made direct, but not awkward, eye contact for the next five seconds until the doors finally opened again.