Call Me Ella (ft. Niall Horan)

Chapter 24 - Confession

“But— but you were so happy looking for her and I thought you didn’t know so why? I didn’t see the point. You wanted her. And if you knew it was me, why did you do all that? Making girls try the mask on and all that?”

He laughs, that full of life and heart-warming laughter of his. “Because I wanted to see your reaction, I wanted to make sure it was you. You were so jealous,” Niall says and I pull back, offended.

“I was so not jealous!” I protest and he laughs even harder.

“Oh yeah you were. It was like you couldn’t roll your eyes more every time I mentioned Cinderella,” he pushes and I do that, I roll my eyes.

“Because it’s stupid saying that.” I fold my arms and he is still laughing.

“You know what gave me the last clue to be a hundred per cent sure it was you? Because I wanted her to be you with all my heart. I was even scared she wasn’t you,” he says, serious this time and when I look at him my heart skips a beat. “The letter you left in my room.” I frown and he chuckles softly. “Who else would leave that letter on my bed? And it was right after you cleaned it, so it had to be you.”

“It could’ve been another maid,” I protest and now he rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine. It was me.”

“I know,” he says, leaning closer. “And can I ask you for something?” He inquires, once again cupping my face.

“Depends,” I say and he chuckles again. I’m serious, though.

“You know what’s going on between us, I know you do. Please, don’t run away from me anymore.”

I look him in the eyes and I see the honesty in them, the intensity in his words and how much he means all what he is saying. But what’s going on between us? What exactly? I don’t even know how to feel with this new knowledge anymore. All this time I thought he didn’t know, that he wanted another girl, when he was just testing me, when he played me fool. But what now? Yes, I know I have feelings for him, strong feelings, but I really don’t know what all this means to him. A mystery solved? A chasing that finally got to its end? A summer fling?

What’s going on between us?

I don’t get to ask him that out loud when his lips are on mine, pressing softly, catching me off guard. My eyes widen in shock and one second later they close, willing to give in to the kiss. Again. My hand, the one that was on my lap, raises to his neck, holding on to him as I kiss him back.

He’s still a guest in the retreat centre, he’s still Niall Horan, mega popstar, but nothing of that matters when I kiss him, when I feel him wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me towards him, pressing his body against mine as he kisses me deeper, tilting his head to the right for a better angle. I wrap my two arms around his neck and react to his movements with the same intensity.

All the questions, all those thoughts vanish from my mind as he keeps kissing me because nothing else matters. That same connection I felt at the ball, that same magic that made the world stop around us is happening again and it makes no sense to me, but I can’t stop.

Niall pulls back for a second, just to take another breath and kisses me again. I don’t know where all this is going, I don’t know if all this is even a thing, but I guess I’ll have to care about it later.

After a while, we finally break the kiss and we both are breathing heavily, but he still keeps me close to him, his arms so tightly around me and I didn’t even notice when he brought me up to his lap.

“Do you… do you have an idea for how long I wanted to do this?” He asks and I shake my head before pressing my forehead against his. “Since that night at the stables.”