Eternity [Narry]

Chapter Five

"Hello?" Niall begins to sound impatient.

"If you don't tell me who's calling right now, I'm calling the cops." Niall says harshly and Gemma can't help but let out a small, quiet chuckle.

"This is Gemma speaking." She says politely.

There's a slight pause.

"Gemma?" Niall asks softly. "Who are you?" He almost sounds disappointed.

"My brother knows you." Gemma starts to explain and almost instantly, Niall's tone changes.

"Your brother?"

"Yeah. Look, I don't think we can have this conversation over the phone. Is there any chance we can meet up?"

"You live in New York?" Niall asks hopefully and Gemma snorts.

"No, that's pretty unfortunate and inconvenient. I live in Manchester. This is probably a long shot but is there any chance you could come here?"

"Um, it's kind of bad timing at the moment, Gemma. I mean, I'm graduating soon and I got a lot of things going on." Niall explains.

"Oh." Gemma replies, sounding defeated.

"But -" Niall adds quickly, "This is going to sound crazy to you but I have an engagement ring here and I think it belongs to your brother."

Gemma freezes, her her stopped and she stares, wide eyed at the door that Harry had just slammed previously. Gemma was wrong. Gemma was so wrong. Harry was fighting for Niall and still is, by the looks of it. Harry knew this would happen, some way along the lines. Harry knew that Niall would somehow find his way back to him and the engagement ring was just giving him a little push, that's all. Harry was waiting for Niall all this time.

"Gemma? You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," Gemma says hurriedly, realising that she'd been speechless for the past couple of minutes, "But Niall, aren't you at least a bit curious as to who the ring belongs too? Isn't there any chance that you can come here at all?" She encourages and Niall heaves a deep sigh at the other end of the line.

"I guess I can try and fix something...look, I'll get back to you soon, all right?" He offers.

"Promise?" Gemma tries.

"I promise."

Gemma could almost hear a smile in Niall's voice and that's when they bid goodbye and the line disconnects. Gemma lets out a shaky, shuddering breath. She couldn't believe this was really happening. She managed to keep Harry's phone in her sight that day and had sooner arranged to meet Niall that weekend, before giving Harry his phone back – remembering to delete the messages and exchanged phone calls. She didn't want Harry to know about any of this yet until she was absolutely certain. She couldn't stand the thought of Harry getting hurt again.

Gemma had agreed to meet Niall at the park at the weekend. It was a dry and warm day and surprisingly quiet at the park, a perfect setting to meet him. She waits eagerly, impatiently for him to appear. Her legs jitter nervously as she sits on the park bench and her hands are clasped tightly together. Eventually, she sees a small figure approaching her from the other side of the park. Niall is well built, with sun-kissed skin and a scruffy-looking beard with big blue eyes. His hair is ruffled, swept to the side and he's tired. There's a look of disappointment on his face though as he approaches.

"Hey...Niall, right?" Gemma asks hesitantly and Niall nods.

"It's nice to meet you." Niall says politely, holding out his hand for her to shake and automatically, she could see why Harry is attracted to him so much. He has this kind of friendly aura that makes him easy to talk to, open to conversation even if he does look a little shy and reserved. He's the kind of person Harry needed in his life. After they shake hands, there's a slight frown on Niall's face as he peers behind Gemma's shoulder, as if expecting something.