Rewinding Time (Narry)

Chapter Twenty-One

"There's nothing for you to explain," he shot back, glaring up at me. His teeth were gritted and his bottom lip jutted out slightly as he flashed me a spiteful look. There was nothing about Niall that was even remotely inviting; from the expression on his face to the aura that surrounded him. It was obvious that Niall would give the world to get the hell away from me.

My hands released his shoulders and shamefully returned to its place by my sides. "Sorry," I softly apologized for the second time, unsure if he had even heard me or not. After another brief silence, Niall stepped back and ushered me to leave the room.

"How am I going to cover this up," I asked, pointing at the bruise on my neck.

"Sir, you are going to be late for breakfast," he replied. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to the dresser, digging through the deepest crevices to find a scarf of some sort. My persistent soon paid off when I spotted a ruby red scarf hidden underneath the drawer where I kept all of my socks.

Breakfast was the usual—mostly silent with the occasional conversations about Taylor. Gemma continuously glanced over towards me to make sure that I was comfortable with the topic; it was nice to know that she was worried about my opinions when it came to Taylor and perhaps even understood what I was going through.

She must have noticed how upset I had been over the past couple of days because today, she decided to accompany me during my horseback riding lesson. Of course, half of me felt as though she was mocking me because she was such an astounding rider while I had trouble controlling my steed as it was.

What bothered me the most about this particular lesson was the fact that whenever Gemma rode past Niall, she would smile and wave at him; unlike me, Niall was willing to interact with Gemma, smiling just as sickeningly wide whenever their eyes met.

"How do you apologize to somebody when they don't even want to look at you?" I suddenly asked Gemma, directing her attention away from Niall. She turned back towards me and quirked her eyebrows, slowing down her horse to match my pace.

"What did you do?"

"Hypothetically speaking," I clarified. She laughed lightly and tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"Depends on the person, really," she replied. "Whenever I'm upset or angry, receiving a bundle of flowers usually cheers me up—well, it distracts me and helps me think more rationally.      

"What if it were a boy?" I asked, discreetly glancing over at Niall from the corner of my eyes. I sighed and ruffled my hair lightly; I honestly had no idea how I was going to make up with Niall.

I understood why he was angry at me, and if I were him, I probably wouldn't forgive me either. The sad thing was, I really could not recall exactly what had happened on the night of the ball; the last thing I remembered doing was dragging myself over to my bedroom and passing out on the bed. No matter how much I drank, I was always conscious of what I did and had control over my body. That night, I clearly had no such control over my thoughts or my actions.

Gemma's eyes flickered between Niall and I, clearly intelligent enough to piece one and two together. "What the hell did you do?" she asked accusingly, visibly frowning at my stupidity.

"I obviously screwed up big time," I frowned. "He refuses to even look at me and keeps things strictly business. I tried talking to him this morning, but he completely ignored me and continued with his duties, almost as if I didn't even say anything."

"God, Harry. You really must have done something truly senseless for Niall to treat you like that," she said, crinkling her nose. "I don't really know what to tell you. From the sound of it, Niall doesn't want to hear a verbal apology from you because they sound like empty promises."