[rewritten]
Here is the next chapter!
Enjoy!
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Caitlin's P.O.V
I sat on the steps of the pool, waiting for Liz to think of a question to ask us. Everyone seemed to like my suggestion of playing Toothpaste, however they didn't know what that game was. After explaining the game, everyone seemed even more excited to play the game than I thought they would be.
I was sitting in between Liam and Harry, on the top step. I was beginning to grow cold in the air conditioned pool room, being that the majority of my body was outside of the water. "Come on Liz, ask a question." I yelled, laughing a little bit.
"Okay, okay. Um... oh! Favorite member from a band." She said, smiling widely.
"Dammit Lizzie, you always do this." Julie said. I laughed and told everyone to gather around, so we could all say ours quietly, so Liz couldn't hear.
"You know what, I'm going to pick you Liam." Louis said.
"And I'll pick you Louis." Liam smiled.
"I think that I'm going to pick meself." Niall said, making us all laugh.
"I'm going to pick Liz, I think she'll find that funny. Zayn, Julie, and Harry?" I asked.
"I'm going to pick Paul McCartney." Harry said.
"And I'm going to pick... Perrie Edwards." Zayn said. I smiled, admiring how he adored his girlfriend.
"And I'm going to pick you Cait." Julie said.
"Aw thanks. Okay Liz, you can listen." I yelled the last part. Liz unplugged her ears and waited for me to start speaking. "Okay so the choices are Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Liz Johnston, Paul McCartney, Perrie Edwards, and Caitlin West." I said.
Liz laughed loudly, "I wonder who picked me. I'm sorry but I gotta stay true to my main man, Niall." She said. As soon as the words left her mouth they both took off, racing to the other end of the pool. I knew that Niall would have no chance of winning. Liz grew up in the ocean and she was on the swim team in high school. There was no way she's lose.
Like I predicted, Liz won. She wiped her eyes and started walking back towards the deep end, while Niall was swimming towards us.
"I let you win." Niall said as he passed Liz.
"Yeah right, you don't even know the definition of winning. Need I remind you of my foosball victory." Liz said. Niall shook his head before grabbing Liz and spinning her around. She laughed before Niall dunked her in the water, but brought her up way too quickly.
"Is it just me," I leaned down to whisper in Harry's ear, "Or is he really flirty with her today?" I asked.
"Oh he's definitely flirting with her. She just hasn't noticed yet." Harry replied.
"Knew it. They'd make a cuter couple than Liz and Evan." I said.
"Evan Peterson?" Harry looked up at me. I nodded and he continued. "I didn't know that they were friends."
"She likes him. Well, kinda. She gets nervous around the entire male population, so it's hard to tell. But he likes her so I want them to get together." I said.
As I was saying that I heard the door open behind me. I turned around and smiled when I saw Marty. But my smile dropped and I climbed out of the pool as I remembered that we had a date tonight. Marty crossed his arms as I walked up to him, trying to take one of his hands.
I completely forget that we had a date tonight. We were planning on going out to get dinner and then come back here to hang out. I guess with the meeting and the swimming I lost track of time and just forgot. I gave Marty a sheepish smile before his tough exterior broke down and he took my hands.
"I'm so sorry babe. I completely forgot. I promise, it won't happen again." I said.
Marty let out a quiet laugh before leaning down and kissing my forehead. "It's fine Red, but if you still want to go get dinner than you should probably go start drying up." Marty said.
"Right, let me just grab my stuff."
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I laughed as I intertwined our fingers together, leaning into Marty's shoulder. The elevator door opened and we walked out into the hallway. We've just come from dinner at a small diner and I was having an amazing time. I don't think that Marty and I have ever laughed as much as we have in the past hour. I don't know what it was, but I loved it.
"Here we are. Are you going to be busy tomorrow?" Marty asked me as we stopped at my hotel door. I heard music playing from inside the hotel room, but I ignored it and looked up at Marty.
"I'm not sure. We're supposed to be hanging out with the boys from One Direction, so I'm not sure. I'll text you though. Maybe we can slip away." I said. Marty smiled and leaned down, kissing my lips. I smiled through the kiss and brought my arms around his neck, pushing myself into him.
"We shouldn't take this further since we know that we can't do anything." Marty said.
"You didn't say that the other night." I teased.
"Yeah well it was only us in the hotel room, but there's people in there. Besides, I've got to go. I promised Josh that I would play video games with him when I got back. But I'll text you tomorrow." Marty said.
"Yup. Bye babe." I said, leaning up and kissing him again.
We shared another kiss after that before I opened the hotel room door and walked in, closing the door behind me. When I looked up, I raised an eyebrow at how full my hotel room was. All of the boys from One Direction were scattered around the room, Julie and Liz were sitting on a bed, and there were pizza boxes all over the room.
I walked further into the room and dropped my purse on the desk, kicking off my heels as I looked around the room. Our once semi neat room was totally trashed and I couldn't help but shake my head. "What the hell is going on in here?" I asked.
"Ooh, Cait, you're back. We had dinner and then just kind of did nothing. There's some extra pizza if you're hungry." Julie said. I walked over to the bed and sat down, kneeling next to Liz. "How was your date?" Julie asked.
"It was good. A lot of fun actually." I said, smiling as I thought about the past two hours.
"Aw, that's great. I'm so jealous. I want a boyfriend." Liz said, laughing a bit. I opened my mouth to say that she could if she talked to Evan, but she cut me off. "Don't even say Evan. He doesn't like me and neither does Beck." She said.
"Yeah, but Niall does." I said.
"Where the hell do you get these ide-" She was cut off by the devil himself, calling her over to him. I have Liz a pointed look and she only rolled her eyes before getting up and walking over to where Niall was sitting. I watched as she sat down next to him and he immediately moved closer to her, talking to her about something I couldn't hear.
"Yup, he likes her." Julie said.
"Oh, I know."
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Niall's P.O.V
The following morning, we met the girls in the lounge again. Both Saturday and Sunday were meant to spend time together and sadly it was our last day. Tomorrow we have to start preparing for the show. I've got to admit, I'm excited to be working on the X Factor again. It's been a while and I miss being on the show. Those months were the best of my life and I'd go back if I could. Though I will admit, I'm liking right now a lot.
I've known Liz for less than seventy two hours and I can honestly say that I've got a massive crush on her. I should've have seen it coming. She was just the perfect girl for me and I was willing to do anything to make her realize that. Of course, I'm a wuss and won't have the balls to ask her out. I wish I did. I wish that I could talk to her with more confidence and not feel jealous when anyone is near her, but I can't help it.
Even though boys noticed how quickly I was flirting with her. I couldn't help that. It was easy to flirt with her and to touch her, because that's all that I wanted to do. I don't think she even realizes how much I like her, but I'm glad that she doesn't.
I let out a quiet sigh as I looked over at Liz, watching distastefully as she was laughing with Beck. I didn't understand why she was so fascinated by him. The idea of her liking him made it hard to breathe. I hated the way that she laughed at what he said. I know it's childish but I want her to be laughing at the things that I say.
"You okay there mate?" Harry asked from his seat next to me.
" 'm fine. Just don't like him talking to me girl." I said, flipping my phone around in my hand like I've been doing for the past few minutes.
"She's not your girl left. Do you plan on telling her you like her? She's a fan, a huge one at that and she's going to say yes if you ask her out." Harry said.
"I know, I know. But I want her to say yes to me, not the celebrity me. She barely knows me as meself and I don't want to date another girl like Hannah." I said.
"Niall, Liz is nothing lie Hannah. She was a complete bitch, and I'm sorry for saying that, but she flirted with all of us when you weren't around. Liz is like... I don't even know. She's just a shy little thing that has the voice of- well I don't know but she's got an amazing vocal range. And the best part about her? She's the sweetest thing in the world. Just talk to her." Harry said.
"What if she likes Beck? Or Evan?" I asked.
"At least you'll know."
Harry was right. I would never know if I don't talk to her about it. I'm sure that things will work out. Maybe if we dated, she'll get to know the real me. I'd like to know the real her. I really hope that if we did go out, it would go great between us. I don't want us to date and then breakup because of the distance. I don't want to never talk to her. She means to much to me and she doesn't even know it.
"Yeah, you're right." I finally said. "I'll tell her how I feel and see if she wants to go out to dinner or something." I said. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulder at the idea of asking her out. It was like I didn't have to worry about anything. I'll see what she says and if it's a no, I'll probably cry and want to throw myself off a cliff, but I'll try and move on and just be friends with her. It'll suck, but having her in my life would be better than not.
"Go talk to them. It would be good to meet Beck. Maybe you could get some pointers from him on how to get Liz." Harry told me.
I nodded, slowly standing up. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go talk to them." I said, slipping my phone into my back pocket. Harry smiled at me as I walked away from him, walking towards Liz and Beck. They were standing by the few arcade games, including a claw machine with stuffed toys in it.
As soon as Liz saw me, she immediately smiled before blushing and looking away from me. I liked the fact that she blushed a lot around me. I looked over at Beck, whose attention was still on the claw machine. I finally got to them and smiled at Liz, but saying hi to the both of them.
"Hi Niall, Beck this is Niall by the way." Liz said.
"Ah, so you're the famous Niall. I have heard so much about you from Liz. I swear to God, especially before she met you." Beck said.
"Beck." Liz said.
I couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the blushing blonde as I looked over at Beck. "It's nice to meet you though." He said, sticking his hand out to me. I awkwardly shook his hand before shoving my hands in my back pocket and turning to look at Liz.
"So, talk about me often?" I asked.
Her cheeks lit up as she nervously play with the hole in her jeans. "N-no, I-I just.... Beck's just an idiot." She said.
"Right." I couldn't help but laugh. "What what are you guys up to?" I asked.
"Trying to free Horsey. But I can't do it, I ran out of singles and Beck doesn't want to waste his money on a lost cause." She said.
"Horsey? Liz, please tell me you didn't name it." Beck said.
"It's not an it." Liz said before looking at me. "Here, look. Do you see that purple unicorn next to the tiger? The one with the pink collar.?" Liz asked, pointing towards it. It took a few seconds to find the stuffed animal but I did find it.
"Yeah? Is that Horsey?" I asked.
"Yup. And I've been trying to win her for the past few weeks but I keep wasting my money. It's such a shame, I want her to bad. Unicorns are my favorite animals." Liz said. Before I could offer to try and get it for her, Julie called Liz over to her. The blonde looked at both Beck and I before saying that she'd be right back.
It was quiet for a second before Beck sighed and started pulling a dollar from his pocket. I watched in silence as he put it in the machine and tried to win the stuffed animal. I couldn't help the amount of hope I had that he did not win it for Liz. To me, it was like he would win her heart and that is something that I need to do.
Luckily for me, he wasn't able to grab the unicorn. He sighed again and looked at me, shaking his head like there was no hope. I shrugged, acting like there was no plan that I was coming up with to get that stuffed animal for Liz. Beck leaned against the machine and looked over at Liz before looking at me.
"So..." He said.
"So..." I repeated, us both laughing a bit in the awkward situation. "You're good friends with Liz, yeah? When did you two meet?" I asked.
Beck laughed, "Kneed me in the balls."
"Really?"
"Yup," He nodded, popping the 'p'. "It was at boot camp and she was going to the bathroom, I was coming back from there. She tripped over these ridicules British flag shoes and fell, knocking me over and kneeing me down under. Hurt like a bitch but to be honest, we laugh about it now."
"You two are pretty close then, yeah?" I asked. I don't know why I was fueling my jealousy like this but I couldn't stop.
"Yeah, I guess so. We're just a lot alike I suppose, why? Is someone jealous?" He asked, laughing about it at the end. When I didn't answer and instead looked away, his laughter died down and he looked at me. "Holy shit, you are. What, do you like her or something?" Beck asked.
I knew I was in trouble when he asked that. How could I get out of this one? It's not like I could just walk away. That'll answer the question. And I'm a pretty decent liar but I doubt he'll believe me. Besides, I don't want to be ashamed of liking Liz. I know that she's only known me for two days but I've known her a lot longer. Then again, she's been a fan of mine since I was only on the X Factor.
"You do, don't you?" Beck said when I didn't answer. "Damn , you've known her for two days. I do not understand the power Liz Johnston holds over men. Aside from me, I see her for the bitch she is." Beck said.
"She's not a bitch," I defended her, "And what do you mean by her 'power over men'?" I asked.
Beck laughed, "You really don't see it? Well I guess you wouldn't. I thought you would've noticed at breakfast. Evan likes her. Like, a lot. They were partners in boot camp and he started then. Even I knew. It's disgusting and the fact that she likes him makes it even worse." Beck said.
"She... she likes him?" I asked Beck, feeling like someone punched me in the gut.
Beck looked over at me and opened a mouth before closing it. "Shit. Uh... I think so?" He said.
"I think... I'm going to go back up to my room." I said. I wanted to disappear right now. I wanted to go away and never come back. I wish that I never came here. I wish that I never came to sing and I never saw that damn tweet about Liz. If I hadn't I wouldn't be going through this pain right now. I thought that maybe, she liked me back. She smiled and blushed around me but maybe that's just because I'm Niall Horan. God, I was stupid to come here. So damn, fucking stupid.
"Wait Niall," Beck said as I started to walk away, "She might not. She hasn't told me but... I'm sorry." He said.
I turned around and kept walking, passing everyone else that was in the room and walking towards the door. I blinked a few times, telling myself that I couldn't cry over a girl that I've only known for two days. It felt like longer though, I've been watching the X Factor for eight weeks. That's two months of my life dedicated to Liz Johnston and it was all for nothing. I was so fucking stupid.
Closing the door behind me, I started walking towards the lifts. I heard the door opening again and then closing, footsteps behind me. I ignored whoever it was and continued my way to the lifts. It wasn't until I heard that one voice that caused me to freeze in my spot.
"Niall, where are you going?" Liz asked. I turned around, watching as she walked up to me.
"I have to call me mum." I lied, "I promised her that I would call her, haven't spoken to her in a while." I finished.
"Oh... well will you be back?" She asked, her face falling a little.
"Uh," I said, her pouting face was enough to make me want to do anything that she says I will. "I could call her later? Is there something that you wanted to do?" I asked her.
"Oh no, you can call go ahead and call her. I'll wait in the lounge for you." She said before closing her eyes and blushing. "I mean like, I'll be in there and you'll come back and... ugh." She said, covering her blushing cheeks. When she does things like this, it makes me think that she could possibly like me. But she likes Evan.
"I'll come back as soon as I can, but I'm Skype calling her so I don't know how long it'll take. I'll see you at lunch though." I said, suddenly feeling like I needed to get out of the room. She was staring at me with those big blue eyes that could get me to do anything.
Liz's face fell and she nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Okay, yeah. I'll see you later then." Liz said. I felt bad for hurting her this way, but if she really liked Evan than I couldn't invest my feelings in her. It'll only leave me hurt and I couldn't feel like that again. I'm just starting to be happy.
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Poor Niall
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~ Amanda xx
--Gif above is of Niall because he's adorable and this is what he looked like in the chapter