Niall Horan Imagines 2

Mixed Up (Request)

I hadn't expected anything much to happen that night. It was the second soccer game of the season, the first having a much bigger turnout. I only went because Mel thought it would be fun, and it was. The first game, for homecoming, was basically the whole school together on a Friday night. I'd almost gotten trampled, though, with the amount of people there. 

So the second game was much better, in terms of population control. A lot less people, a lot less noise. I could sit with Mel and the rest of my friends and talking instead of struggling through a crowd. And that's why I figured that nothing would happen, nothing much, at least. 

We had just sat down in the bleachers and begun talking when the game started, our team facing another town's from afar off. I wasn't as interested in the game as I was enjoying the last few weeks of warm weather with my friends. 

But as I soon as I saw him walking up the steps, as soon as I saw him smile at his friends, as soon as I watched his blue eyes, I knew that even though I'd not expected anything to happen, I wanted something to. 

Niall had teased me ever since we had biology together in tenth grade, but it was only for the last quarter of the school year that we were sat together. He'd seemed friendly enough, and he teased me, but I could tell it was good-hearted and just for fun.

In junior year, we somehow got assigned seats next to each other again in science. Mel was sat at table in front of us, so we all became good friends throughout the year. Eventually, I started to realize that Niall's teasing could have had a different reason behind it. He started to get excited to see me in the hallways, and his teasing turned much more persistent. I pushed back the thoughts that he could like me, knowing he was much more interested in other girls. 

Internally, I fought with myself, occasionally saying something to try to give him the hint that I liked him to see what he would do. He either never got the hint or denied it on purpose, but either way, I gave up after a while. The wires were all mixed up in my brain. 

As that year came to a close, we continued on like normal, but I ended up convincing myself that I didn't like him and he didn't like me. It was easier that way.

Summer had just come to a close, and I hadn't seen him in a long time. I'd thought about him, yes, but my heart sighed a little too happily as I saw him standing there for the first time in three months. 

His wonderful, always playful eyes caught onto mine, and I responded quickly, waving at him with a small smile. He hadn't noticed me at all for those first few weeks of the new school year. We didn't have any classes together at all, unfortunately enough. 

I expected him to look away with a small smile, but he looked even more excited and pleasantly surprised than I felt. I flinched a little as he grabbed the railing and began to walk up towards me.

I didn't think in that moment, so I sat there and watched him, only remembering to look up and smile right as he looked up at me again from his feet. 

My breath caught in my throat, and I swallowed my cough just as he was finally, finally in front of me again. 

"Hey!" he breathed out. slightly breathless, making me the same way. "How've you been?" he wondered, stepping even closer and then sitting behind me. 

"Good!" I grinned, about to turn towards him as I asked, "How was your sum--" I got interrupted quickly, more by myself than him. I felt his hands on my shoulders, making me stop out of confusion. Many mixed signals started coming from my brain and heart all at the same time, making my mouth stop working.

At the same time that he began massaging my already-tense shoulders is when I really started freaking out. Niall had always been a touchy-feely guy, but my friends began to stare and the silence grew louder with every rotation of his thumbs on my shoulder blades. Panicking to a certain degree, I let my malfunctioning mouth say what it wanted to.