Outside in the corridor he let my hand go, drawing his fingers through his hair instead. I stood and watched.
“Can I go now?”, I croaked, looking at him pacing back and froth in the empty corridor.
“No!”, he shouted, throwing his hands down, making me flinch. He realized how harsh it had sounded. “No”, he repeated, brealy loud enough to hear this time.
“Can you at least tell me what’s going on?”, I asked, sounding a tad bit hopeful. Niall Horan took a deep breath and took my hand again, pulling me down the corridor. We found a bench, still left to ourselves, and he sat me down on it.
“I didn’t exactly mean for this to happen”, he said. I chewed my lip, listening. “See I kind of need you to work with me on this one”.
“Isn’t that what I’ve just done?”, I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion. “What more do you want me to do? I don’t understand anything!”.
“Well, you see...”, Niall reached out his hands and tried to tell me something, but he couldn’t find the words at all. “It’s just that... argh!”, he swirled around in frustration. “You’re never going to understand!”.
“You were the one that took my books and told them I was your...”, I couldn’t even finish, it was too nuts.
“I know”, he sighed, still as flushed and frustrated like before. “See, I didn’t have a choice, and I got kind of desperate, and then I saw you and I just...”, again he reached his hands out like it would explain anything better. “I just messed up”.
“I don’t get it”, I mumbled.
“Exactly!”, he cried, his blue red with exhaustion.
“Look, Niall...”, I stood up, brushed off my shirt and held out my hand. “This has been nice and all, but I think I’m going to go and find my friend now and then I’ll leave”. He looked down at the hand I reached him, but didn’t react. I shrugged, lowering it and walked away. That’s when he grabbed it.
“No, see you can’t leave now!”, he said, and desperate was really the right term for what he seemed like.
“Why not?”.
“Didn’t you hear what Don said? And didn’t you see that picture in the paper?”.
“Yes, and so?”.
“So we need to stick together now”, he said, and to him it was obvious. To me it was crazy, and never going to happen.
“What makes you think I can do that?”.
“You have to do that”, he said. Again... to him the most natural thing in the world would be for me to throw myself at his knees and thank him for this opportunity. What opportunity even?! What did stick together mean?
“So you’re saying...”, I loosened myself from his hand and put it to my chin instead, pretending to think this through thoroughly. “People will think I’m your girlfriend now, and we’re just going to let them think so?”. Niall nodded. “Or else?”.
“Or else I’ll get my butt kicked and everything will be even worse than it already is”, he said, his words just rolling off his tongue in at a mind-blowing speed. I couldn’t even keep track.
“For you or for me?”, I asked. Niall’s shoulders dropped, and I think he finally got my point.
“Look, you...”, his face went soft.
“See!", I growled at him. "You don’t even know my name!”, I cried, and now it was me throwing my hands around. “You drag me out of your line, and actually, I was pretty amazed because I’ve actually had posters of you in my room, literally! And then you just drag me along into a cab, and you take my books and now you take me here and I don’t know where my friend is and you want me to pretend that I’m something I’m not to the whole world and my parents will kill me and my exam is in just in one day, and you don’t even know my name!”. My knees went weak along with my breath. There were no words left at all in my mouth. Niall stared at me, and seemed just as speechless as me for a second. Nice to see I had at least made some kind of impression on him.
“I know your name”, he said, even more softly this time. “It’s Sair”. He was right, and it put me off for a second. “It’s short for something, right?”.
“Saoirse”, I mumbled. Niall nodded, and a different kind of smile tugged at his lips. A soft one.
“It’s an irish name”, he said. “Did you know that?”. I shook my head. “Means liberty or something. It's a pretty name”. We stayed quiet for a while, and I felt too tired to stand up. Therefore, I sank down onto the bench again. Niall did too, leaning his back against the wall. “I really need your help for this one, Saoirse”, he mumbled, not giving up at all. I guess he was just as desperate as he seemed. “I really messed up and this is my chance to make it right”. I wasn’t looking at him, but heard how he sounded different when he wasn’t annoyed. I liked him a lot better when he wasn’t annoyed. “See this business is crazy, and I did some things I shouldn't have, and I thought finding a girl would get Don off my back”.
“So you need me to stick around for a bit?”, I sighed, finally catching on just a little at least. Niall smiled at me, nodding. His cheeks were still flushed, and his hair was still messy, but he wasn’t annoyed or worked up. Yes, I liked him a lot better like this. “And pretend the picture in the paper is real?”. Niall nodded again, hopeful this time. I laughed, shaking my head. “I can’t do this! My exams are tomorrow, if a fail there is no way my life has any chance of going anywhere!”. I leant my head into my hands and was about to start crying. Of course, that’s not what I did. I would never cry.
“Well, I’ll help you, if you help me”.
“How can you help me?”, I snorted, peeking up at him. Niall shrugged.
“However you like”, he said. “You go to school, I could pay, I could get you into places”.
“What do you mean?”. Niall smiled, and I think I knew what he meant. But was he serious?
“I’m serious”, he said. “Where are you going next year?”.
“Darwin Academy, but that’s only if I get through this exam, there is no way I can afford a place there..”, I mumbled, sounding very questioning to my own plan But now I understood, at least I think I i did looking at Niall's face.
“I’ll pay for it, everything”, he said.
“You’ll get me into Darwin?!”.
“Sure, done, 100%”, he nodded. “No problem at all”. He was serious! This was huge, this was revolutionary. This was... I jumped up squealing, and Niall Horan laughed at me from where he was sitting on the bench.
“This is too crazy!”, I laughed, jumping up and down in front of him.
“Only...”, he said, and my jumping came to a stop. “Only if you’re in on my plan”.
“Sure, I mean, how hard can it be, pose for a few pictures and tell people I know you”, I snorted, thinking how stupid I was for not agreeing to this before. I mean, Niall Horan is... Niall Horan, he’s not exactly unattractive.
“And we’ll break up in a month’s time, so no one will know anything, we’ll go our separate ways”, he said, and stood up too, the grin growing on his face. “You go to Dawson and I’ll go on with my life”.
“Right, no one will know”.
“Deal”, he held out his hand.
“Deal”, I grinned, and shook his head, not even caring if it was sweaty or not.
--
Louis:
I stood with the guys trying to talk through what we were going to do next.
“I say we go grab something to eat”, Zayn suggested. “Without Niall”, he added, raising his brows.
“Isn’t that kind of mean?”, Harry said, and we all knew it was kind of mean, and breaking a strict band policy. If one of us went out to eat, then everyone should be informed about it.
“I think he’s busy”, I said. I cast a glance over where Niall stood talking to his supposed girlfriend. Just two days ago he sat in his little den, feet up, watching football with a beer in his hand. And he was in heaven. That’s not the kind of guy who suddenly comes up and presents us to his girlfriend. Besides, those eight other girls a few months ago hadn’t been anywhere close to serious. Looking at Niall stand there at the bottom of the corridor, I just didn’t get it. Having a girlfriend had seemed like the last thing on his mind for so long.
“Louis!”, Liam snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I realized I hadn’t been at all payed attention to what they were saying.
“Sorry, what?”, I looked at the other three. Harry repeated it for me since the others just rolled their eyes.
“We were saying that Niall broke a band rule too, so we should go out and eat without him”, Harry explained.
“Right”, I nodded, knowing I was hungry and not in the mood to wait for Niall and his girlfriend. And it was true, girlfriends were never kept a secret between the five of us. Ever. It wasn’t just a rule, it was impossible to hide it. Zayn had done a pretty good attempt a while ago, but there was no use. “Should we go then”.
“Hey...”, Harry nudged my shoulder, and got everyone’s attention. “Look over there”, he whispered, and nodded down to where Niall had been standing just a few minutes ago. Now he was gone, and his girlfriend too, but another girl was standing there. Beaming with a huge smile on her face. She waved when she saw us.
“Who’s that?”, Liam whispered, still staring at the girl. Harry waved enthusiastically back at the girl.
“Stop that”, I hissed, slapping Harry's hand down.
“She came with Niall’s girl”, Zayn mumbled. We didn’t get to make a plan before the ray of sunshine made her way up to us all by herself.
“Hi”, she greeted us, and threw herself around my neck with a hug. All the boys got one too, taken with surprise like me. “I’m Dawn”, she said.
“Hello Dawn”, I chuckled. I couldn’t help it, she was amusing.
“I’m Sair’s friend, and I am a huge fan of yours, just had to put that out there”, she laughed. I exchanged glances with Liam standing next to me, and I think we both had the same thought.
“Really?”, I said. “You’re... Sair’s friend?”.
“That’s right”, Dawn nodded. “Do you kno...”, she was about to go on but I swung my arm around her shoulder before she got there.
“You know Dawn, this is going to sound really strange”, I said, peeking down at her, and then at the guys. Liam knew exactly what I was doing. Harry was a little more lost. Dawn waited for me to go on. “But did you know...”, I chuckled a little to myself. “Did you know Siar was in a relationship with Niall?”. Dawn shook her head firmly.
“No, not until this morning”. Dammnit, maybe she would have known something. “Did you?”, she asked me, firing my own plan back at myself. She wasn’t dumb this girl. My arm slipped away from her shoulders.
“No”, Liam answered her question. “We didn’t, we just thought you knew more than us, that’s all”, he added with that polite smile he always put on. Dawn didn’t seem disappointed at all, she just grinned widely back at us. Zayn caught my eye, and mouthed the word ‘eat’. He was right, I was starving as well. I looked at Harry, who’d understood the situation. He shrugged at me.
“Look Dawn...”, Harry said. “We’re going out to eat, would like joining us?”. He had asked before anyone had the chance to stop him. Dawn’s smile grew (if it was possible) even more, and of course she did anything but say no.
“I’d love to!”, she exclaimed. “We could talk through this together, since I have no idea of what’s going on”, she laughed. Liam shrugged, and I guess it was settled. I held my arm out for Dawn and she gladly linked hers to mine.
“I suggest we get going then”, I said.