Harry’s POV
I woke up the next morning feeling on top of the world. I had the girl of my dreams asleep in my arms and I couldn’t ask for anything better to wake up to in the morning. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, the peaceful look on her face made me feel better.
The past few days, I’ve noticed that Isla isn’t her usual bubbly self. I would see her staring off into space with a blank expression. It worried me because I didn’t know what was going through her head.
I kind of had a feeling that it was Niall.
The day after they spent a day together, she’s seemed off. Whenever someone would bring up Niall, she would look away and stare at the ground with a sad expression.
I’ve noticed that Niall has been acting differently, too. He wouldn’t hang out with us as much as before and he’d always be making up excuses about not being able to hang out. After a while, Isla had begun to not talk or mention anything about Niall. I guess it just made her upset because she felt like Niall was avoiding her.
I know that something happened that night but I wanted her to come to me to talk about it. I didn’t want to seem nosey.
I could definitely talk to Niall about it but he’s been avoiding me. I should talk to him soon since we only have a week before we’re able to tell Isla about everything. I’ve been dreading for that day to come because these last three weeks have been amazing. I didn’t want to lose her again. I don’t know how I can handle it the second time around.
I love her more now that I ever have and nothing was gonna stop me from having her.
I know that I broke my promise with Niall but I couldn’t take it. I needed her and she needed me.
We need each other.
I know how selfish I’m being right now but love makes you do crazy things.
And making love to Isla last night was wonderful, amazing, perfect. But I didn’t know whether, once we tell Isla the truth, she’d still feel the same way. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
And I have one more week with Isla. I’m going to make sure that this last week will be the most perfect week that we have together. Once again, I realize that I lied to Niall. I said that I wouldn’t use these four short weeks to make Isla fall in love with me again hoping that she’d still want to be with me after we tell her the truth. But I couldn’t seem to do that. I need her in my life. I’m happier with her.
My thoughts were interrupted when I felt Isla stir in my arms. I looked down at her as she was waking up. She slowly opened her eyes and we just looked at each other with smiles on our faces.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I said.
“Morning, handsome.” She snuggled deeper into my arms and held me tighter.
“What are your plans for today?” she asked me.
“Well, we are going to have a little get together. Just us and the rest of the guys and their girlfriends and some other close friends. It’s been a while since we’ve all been together so I thought that I’d have them over to hang out.”
“Ooh, that sounds like fun,” she said, “I’ve been dying stuck here all day every day. It’ll be nice to see everyone.”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t know how you do it. I don’t think I would’ve survived.”
She laughed. “Well, as long as I have you here with me, I’ll be fine."
“Anyways, I’ll make us some breakfast while you freshen up.” I kissed the top of her head and got up.
“Okay,” she said, smiling up at me.
I went downstairs and got out some eggs to make an omelette. About 20 minutes later, Isla came down and sat at the counter.
“Smells delicious,” she said.
“Hope it tastes delicious,” I replied, grinning at her.
“It always does.” She smiled back at me.
When the food was done cooking, I put it on two plates along with a piece of toast and put it on the counter and then got a glass of orange juice for the both of us. We ate and talked about the party tonight. I texted everyone about it and they all replied saying that they could make it.
Everyone except Niall.
He said that he had plans with his brother but I knew that he was just trying to get out of coming to the party.
I told Isla and, once again, I saw a sad expression come over her face.
“Maybe you should call him and convince him to come,” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
“He’s been avoiding me lately,” she said, playing with her food.
I tensed up. “Why do you think that?” I asked. I was hoping that she’d tell me what, or if anything, happened that day they spent together.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Ever since the day I woke up from my coma he’s been different. And lately he’s been avoiding me. He won’t reply to my calls or texts. Do you have any idea why?”
She looked up at me. I just shrugged.
“Maybe I should call him. And I’ll talk to him tonight if I’m able to convince him to come,” she said. “Can I use your phone? He won't answer if I use mine.”
“Sure,” I said taking my phone out of my pocket and handing it to her.
“I’ll be back,” she said, standing up and heading out to the back and going outside.
I watched her as she closed the door, then sat on the lawn chair and then put the phone up to her ear.
I know it seems weird that I wanted her to call Niall to convince him to come tonight but I wanted things to be good between them again. She was happy with him, too. They were best friends. They needed each other, too. I wasn’t going to be too selfish with her and I needed to remind myself that she’s not completely mine right now.
We are going to tell her the truth in a week and I can’t risk messing things up even more. I needed to control my emotions and keep everything in perspective.
I can’t risk losing Isla and Niall as my friend, too.
**
Isla’s POV
I closed the doors behind me and sat down on the lawn chair outside. I scrolled down to Niall’s number on Harry’s phone and hovered my finger over top of it, shaking.
I finally closed my eyes and clicked his number. I put the phone up to my ear and listened to the ring, waiting for him to answer. Each ring making my heart beat harder and faster.
After three rings, he answered.
“Hey, mate, what’s up?” he sounded tired. He didn’t have the usual excitement in his voice.
My heart skipped a beat and I felt my stomach drop.
“Hi, Niall,” I said quietly.
It was complete silence for a while. All I could hear was his quiet breathing.
“Isla,” he finally said.
Silence again. I didn’t know what to say. This was the first time I’ve heard his voice in more than a week.
He cleared his throat. “Why’d you call, Isla?”
He had a hint of bitterness in his voice but I just let it go.
“I…um, I was just wondering why could can’t make it tonight.”
I started playing with a strand of my hair, trying to stay calm. I waited for his answer.
“I have plans with my brother today.” He didn’t elaborate any further.
“You can’t reschedule? It’s…it’s just…I haven’t seen you in a while,” I paused. “I miss you.”
And that right there, that’s what’s been bothering me lately. I miss Niall. Regardless of what happened that night, I miss him. I enjoyed being around him. He made me laugh. He made me happy. I missed my best friend.
He didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity.
I heard him take a deep breath. “I miss you too, Isla.”
A huge smile grew on my face. But then it went away when I remembered that Niall had been avoiding me lately.
“Are we okay though?” I asked, “it seems like you’ve been…avoiding me lately.”
He was silent again. Seconds passed until he finally said, “We can talk about it tonight.”
A part of me was worried about what it is we were going to talk about but most of me was happy that I’d be able to see him tonight.
“So you can come?” I asked, with a smile on my face.
“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” he said, sounding a little bit happier than before.
“Ok, great, see you later.”
“Bye.”
“Bye, Niall.”
Then the line went dead.
I stood up with a huge smile on my face and went back inside the house.
Harry glanced at me and smiled when he saw how happy I looked.
“I guessing you convinced him?” he said.
“Well, I am pretty charming,” I joked, batting my eyelashes. I walked over to Harry and sat on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and snuggled his face into the crook of my neck.
“You are very charming. I mean, you charmed the heck out of me the day we met.”
I giggled and rested my cheek on the top of his head.
“I asked him why he’s been avoiding me,” I said. I felt Harry tense. Hmm, I wonder why.
“Oh yeah? And what’d he say?” he asked. He didn’t look up, he just stayed the way he was.
“He said we’d talk about it tonight.”
He stayed silent.
“Well, that’s good…that you’re gonna talk about it. It’s weird not seeing you guys together. You guys were inseparable.”
“Yeah, I know. I miss him.”
Finally, Harry looked up at me. He gave me a sweet smile and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I bet he misses you too.”
How did I get this lucky?
I had the best boyfriend. I had my friends and I had Niall, my best friend.
I couldn’t wait for tonight. I was excited to see everyone, especially Niall. I hate that we haven’t hung out in a long time and I hate it even more knowing that he was avoiding me.
I needed to know why and tonight I’d find out why.
**
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