The next week, Edie arrived at the meeting feeling somewhat different. She said goodbye to her brother and got out of the car. No argument. No holding on to the door frame. No protests whatsoever. She saw Niall getting out of his car, as well. No protest from him either. Interesting.
She walked inside and sat down in the dark corner. By the time Niall had gotten there, the only seat that remained was the one to her left. She gave him a half smile as he sat down. He nodded at her.
The overly enthused girl from the week before was beaming with some good news so Edie tuned her out and took a look around her, landing on her partner. She had spent the week going back and forth between her own story and his. So much of what had happened to her, at the exact same time, something was happening to him. She tried to take a good look at him without him noticing; watching as his chest moved in and out as he breathed. She wondered if it was true that a lung had collapsed or that the bullets were still inside of him or that he had coded in the ambulance and ER and OR. Some stories had said he had been in surgery for twelve hours. She knew they probably weren't entirely accurate but now she wanted to know. But she also knew that if he shared with her, she would need to do the same. She glanced away when he glanced over at her.
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Niall kept feeling eyes on him as he sat there half listening to this girl. She was like a fucking robot in her mannerisms and enthusiasm. It freaked him out. He glanced over at Edie. Her eyes darted away as he did so. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes as she fiddled with her fingers and then her scarf. He looked at her face and thought that she was actually quite pretty, despite the scars which were still hidden under makeup.
The entire week he had thought about the trust exercise they had done; how scared she looked when she held onto him after being left to catch him on her own and how peaceful she looked in the brief moments he had held onto her before he told her about her scarf falling down. He didn't know what had happened to her but the more he thought about it, the more he really wanted to know.
At the break, they all went outside, as they all usually did. He stood on the curb inhaling the cool air, turning around he saw her standing in the darkest corner of the building, away from the lights. He watched as she stood there. He could see her breath as she breathed out. Something in the way she looked so alone in that moment made him want to tell her she wasn't and yet how could he? He knew nothing about her and she knew nothing about him. How could he tell her she wasn't alone when he knew she was because he was. They were both completely alone in this and it suddenly dawned on him that they didn't have to be.
When the break ended, he slowly followed everyone back inside. Throughout the rest of the meeting, he watched her. As they exited at the end, he was ahead of her and stopped, turning around, "Edie?"
She looked up at him, surprised, "Uh, yeah?"
He looked at her, looked down at his feet, looked at the walls and then shook his head, "Uhh, nevermind." He turned back around, walked out the building, and hurried to the car waiting for him. He saw her exiting the building as Liam drove away.
When he got into the safety of his own home, Niall took a shower, made himself a hard drink and spent the rest of the night cursing himself for almost actually trying.
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Mirrors
Fanfiction"You know that Alessia Cara song "Scars to Your Beautiful"?" "Mmhmm." "I used to think she was saying 'we're scars and we're beautiful' instead of 'we're stars and we're beautiful'. I kind of wish that was what she was saying, ya know. I mean, we'...
