Heartbreak Weather

New Angel

It was right after New Year's Eve and I was standing in front of a Hotel window, overlooking Dublin.

I've spent Christmas with my family, helped my mum cook the Christmas dinner and annoyed the shit out of Greg by spoiling Theo with a ton of presents. It had been a few lovely, quiet days in Mullingar and it had been exactly what I needed after this turbulent year.

But right after Christmas I packed my bags once again and drove down to Dublin with some friends. We planned to properly celebrate the start of a new decade and obviously there was no better place to do so than Dublin. We celebrated in a huge club, got way too drunk and walked around the streets of the city for ages, trying to find our hotel. The day after we've spent mostly in bed, only getting up to go grab some food. But today was our last day in Dublin before I had to fly back to London tomorrow, so we decided to at least go out to a pub and grab some pints before having to say goodbye for a few months again.

Even though it's been over a year since my breakup with Hailee, it still was a taboo topic for me. I got better over time, writing songs did help a lot, but I still missed her from time to time. I knew that I needed to let go, that it was more a kind of missing the memories I had with her than missing her herself. I was getting there, step by step and at some point I would be able to find someone new and let them into my life.

But that's not what today's night was about. Tonight was about having a great time with my lads before going back to work. I was eager to go out, and wanted to have a great time. I'd spent way too much time over the past year in my flat, sulking about a girl I couldn't get back anyways.

I realised that I started to space out so I quickly turned around and went through my suitcase, trying to decide what shirt I wanted to wear tonight. Tonight was going to be great, I didn't need to start it with thinking about a certain ex-girlfriend.

-

The music was loud and the bar was packed with people. Obviously we hadn't been the only ones who had the idea. Tom stood up from our table and looked across the room. "I'm gonna try to order something at the bar. Tequila-Shots fine?" Everyone nodded in agreement, but I hesitated.

"Maybe just Vodka-Shots?" I suggested and Tom frowned.

"Since when do you not like Tequila?"

"Since-" I started, but then stopped. This was stupid. Sure, I used to drink Tequila with Hailee, but I really shouldn't give her the power to ruin a liquor for me. So instead I said: "Forget it. Tequila sounds awesome."

Two hours and eight shots later and definitely felt a bit tipsy as I was staring at the third pint in front of me. It was already almost empty and I was just waiting for Tom to come back with the next round.

"Scoot over" Tom said when he came back. Next to him were three girls. "I met those lovely ladies at the bar," Tom announced. "They kindly kept me company while I was waiting for all your drinks, so I invited them over. May I introduce Sarah, Grace and Jessica?" He pointed at each one of them. They all waved politely before sitting down at our table. Grace and Jessica sat down across from me while Sarah slipped onto the bench next to me.

"Hi, I'm Sarah" she introduced herself once again and smiled at me.

"So I've heard" I grinned while she started to blush. "I'm Niall," I added. "Nice to meet you."

Sarah was really nice. She obviously didn't know who I was, because she asked me a tone of questions about what exactly I did for living ('I work as a car mechanic'), where I was living ('close to Manchester') and about what I did in my free time ('just the usual, hanging out with friends, playing football. Sometimes I like to sing, but I'm not really good'). While she was talking, she was playing with her long, brown hair and the looks from her round, brown eyes made it pretty obvious that she was flirting with me.

"I'm gonna go to the toilet real quick" she said and disappeared into the crowd. I turned around to Henry, who was grinning at me.

"What?" I asked confused and he nodded into the direction where Sarah just had disappeared. "She seems nice."

"Yeah, and?" I asked and rolled my eyes. I knew where this was going.

"Nothing" he replied, still grinning. "I mean, I get why you'd like her."

"Everyone would like her," I replied. "She's really pretty. I'm not denying that fact."

"Yeah but-" Henry started and stared at me with careful eyes. "She looks just like Hailee."

"No she doesn't" I objected.

"Yes, she does."

Before I was able to reply, Sarah came back. And now I saw it too. Her hair was chocolate brown, wavy and long, just like Hailee's was and her eyes had this sparkle I used to love about Hailee's eyes. She was almost as tall as I was, had long legs and a round face.

"You see it now?" Henry whispered next to me and I winced.

"That doesn't mean anything," I replied and grabbed my now fifth pint.

"Yeah it does" Henry disagreed. "It means that you'd never sleep with her."

I started to get angry. "Of course I would!" I really would and I could if I wanted to. I just didn't want to. I was here to have a great time with my friends, not to hook up with some random girl, no matter how nice she was.

"No you wouldn't. You're still sulking after Hailee and you wouldn't dare touching any other girl."

I smashed my glass down on the table and stood up. "Come on," I said to Sarah without looking at Henry. "Let's dance." She looked surprised, but grabbed my hand nonetheless.

I walked through the crowd until we reached the middle of the dancefloor, then I turned around to Sarah and pulled her closer to my chest. She wrapped her hands around my neck and started to move her hips to the beat.

It's been over a year since I felt touches like these and my skin felt hot under her fingers. My hands were on her waist as I pulled her a bit closer and placed one of my legs between hers. It was really hot in here.

She looked at me with her big brown eyes and I wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol or if she was just a secret cousin of Hailee, but her eyes looked just like Hailee's. The same shape, the same colour, the same spark. I leaned down and kissed her.

We danced for a few songs, making out shamelessly on the dancefloor until I leaned down and whispered into her ear: "Let's go to my hotel room." She nodded and I grabbed her hand, walking over to the exit. When we walked past our friend's table and I saw Henry's grinning face, I just raised my hand, gave him the finger and left the bar without any further comment.

-

"Nice hotel room" Sarah whispered into my ear while I was kissing her neck. Her hands went down to my belt, trying to open it up. "Yeah, the trip was a Christmas gift" I replied, remembering that to her I was Niall the car mechanic and not Niall Horan, singer and former boy band member. I pulled her over to my bed, sat down and pulled her onto my lap, my lips still connected with her neck. "But do you want to keep talking about our Christmas presents or do you want to help me get you out of this dress?"

She grinned and raised her arms.