I Wish (Niall Horan)

Chapter Twenty Seven

Twenty Seven

The first thing I did when I woke up the next morning was go straight to Sophia’s.  I needed to tell her the news before we shot the announcement footage; I didn’t want her to find out without being directly told so.  It wouldn’t have been fair to her.

She gave me a quick kiss when I came in, but noticed right away that I was anxious. I decided to just get it over with and tell her.  Sophia was incredibly calm about it the whole way through.  Almost too calm.  “Good for you,” she said in a monotonous voice.

“…Did I do something wrong?”  I asked, confused by her reaction.

Her arms were crossed in across her chest and she avoided eye contact.  “No, I said good job,”  she replied, more irritated this time.

I didn’t know how to respond to her abrupt and confusing reaction to the news.  I either thought she would be really happy or really upset by it, but she seemed to be somewhere in between the two.  “Are you sure?  You’re acting really strange.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,”  she muttered, her arms crossed around her chest.  I gave her a disapproving look.  “This will be good for you,” she assured me.

“What do you mean ‘good for me’?”  I asked.  Sophia shrugged, and I was annoyed.  I turned and made my way for the door, not wanting to put up with a fight today.  My anger got the best of me, though, and I swiveled around to face her again.  Sophia flinched at my sudden action and I felt the slightest twinge of regret inside me.  The regret was quickly recovered with anger, and I said,  “Sophia, what the hell is going on here?”

Sophia crossed her arms across her chest, eyes downcast.  “What do you mean?”  she asked in a small voice.

“What the hell are we doing?!”  I yelled, overcome with anger.  “One minute we’re kissing and the next you’re telling me that I should leave you for two months because that will be ‘good for me’?!  That’s bullshit, Sophia, and you know it!”

Sophia still wouldn’t look at me.  “We’re not…”  she trailed off, knowing I would be able to finish her sentence for myself.

“Don’t you dare say that we’re not together, Sophia.  Because if we aren’t together, we sure as hell aren’t friends either,”  I said in a low voice.

Sophia’s head snapped up at that, her eyes wide and just as angry as mine probably were.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”  she tried to say, but it came out in barely a whisper.

“It means that people who are just friends don’t hold hands and spend the night together and kiss eachother!  If we’re not together, then what are we?!”  Sophia must have thought my question was rhetorical, because she didn’t answer.  That, or she really didn’t know.  “What are we doing, Sophia?”  I tried again.

She hesitated, seeming to curl into herself in hiding.  “I don’t know if I’m ready for that…”  she trailed off again, biting her lip.  My heart caved in inside my chest, leaving an empty, dizzying feeling inside me.  The words rang out in my head as I grasped their meaning.

I sighed and seemed to deflate in defeat.  “Alright, Sophia,”  I said slowly, angry.  I turned to go to the door again.

My hand stopped on the doorknob when she said,  “Niall…”  My head rested on the door, waiting for her to say what she had to say before I left.  She seemed at a loss for words.  “I’m sorry,”  was all she could get out.

I just stood back up, shaking my head to myself.  “I have to go to work now,”  I opened the door.  “You can come let me know when you’re ready for me, I’ll be waiting.”  I stepped outside her flat.  I finally turned and faced her.  Her eyes were as big as the moon as she waited for me to say what I was about to say.  “I’ve waited for you before, I can do it again.”