Isla’s POV
“We’re here,” Niall said as he parked the car beside Louis’ car.
I got out of the car and went to meet up with El and Dani. Harry arrived right after and he got out of the car along with Zayn and Perrie. Perrie joined me and the other girls as the boys got together and started heading towards the building.
Harry still hadn’t talked to me or even looked at me as he walked beside Zayn. Once we got inside, we went up to the counter to pay and get our bowling shoes. Since there were a lot of us, we had to split up into two lanes. Me, Niall, Harry, Louis and El against Liam, Zayn, Dani and Perrie.
“Winning team gets to dare the other team to do anything!” Louis said with a grin.
“Ugh, not another dare,” Zayn whined.
They all laughed but I just sat there confused.
“What do you mean ‘not another dare’?” I asked.
They looked at me confusedly before realization dawned on their faces.
“Oh,” Niall said, looking at me nervously. “About a month before the accident, we had a chicken competition and the winning couple got to dare everyone to do anything.”
“Couple?” I asked.
Niall’s face instantly reddened as he looked down. “Um, yeah, you and me were together,” he mumbled.
“Oh,” was all I said. His face was still red and I quickly thought of something to make this less uncomfortable. “Who won?” I asked.
He shot his head up and looked towards me and I gave him a smile. A smile instantly grew on his face.
“Well, us, of course,” he said, grinning.
“Of course, what was I thinking? We were obviously the best,” I said. My smile grew as Niall laughed, instantly sending butterflies to my stomach at the beautiful sound.
“Did you want to see pictures?” he asked as he pulled out his phone.
“Sure!” I hopped off of my seat and sat down beside him. I leaned in as he scrolled through his photos. He stopped scrolling and clicked on one, opening it up full screen. I laughed out loud the second that I laid my eyes on the picture. The rest of the group was dressed in ridiculous outfits and they had crazy hairstyles and the girls had outrageous makeup.
I clutched my stomach, still laughing my head off at the picture. Niall was laughing with me but he was able to compose himself as he just looked at me amusedly.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” I said as I was finally able to stop laughing.
“Yeah, no one messes with Team Nisla,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Team Nisla, huh?”
He started blushing slightly. “Yeah, that was the name that I came up with that day.”
“Well, I think it’s cute,” I said, attempting to make him feel less embarrassed. It didn’t work though as the blush on his face grew but he gave me a small smile.
Once again, I found myself getting lost in his piercing blue eyes. I didn’t realize how close we were sitting until El cleared her throat. I jumped slightly as I broke my gaze from Niall and looked over at El.
“It’s your turn, Niall,” she said. She was looking between me and Niall warily before taking her seat beside Louis.
Niall got up and went to take his turn. The butterflies were starting to die down but my heart was still beating fast. I looked over at El and Louis and they were deep in conversation. I looked past them and set my eyes on Harry. He was playing with his phone but his face looked tense. His eyebrows were furrowed, his jaw was clenched and his shoulders were slumped.
I still needed to talk to him.
I decided that I could talk to him now so I got up and walked towards him.
“It’s your turn, Isla,” Niall said, stopping me in my tracks. I turned around and headed towards the bowling balls. I picked one up and stood there awkwardly.
“Need help there?"
I jumped, almost dropping the ball. I turned my head around and saw Niall standing behind me.
I looked in front of me again, hiding my smile from everyone.
“Um, y-yeah, this is my first time bowling and I have no idea how to do this,” I said, feeling embarrassed.
I was expecting him to just explain it to me but then I jumped a foot into the air as I felt his arm on my waist and his other hand on top of my hand that was holding onto the bowling ball.
“Let me show you,” he said, his breath against my ear, sending shivers throughout my body.
“Okay,” I said. I cleared my throat, realizing how squeaky it sounded.
“Okay, so you’re gonna walk up to the line while bringing the ball back and once you get to the line, you’re gonna swing the ball as hard as you can into the lane and then let go,” he explained. “Got it?”
All I could do was nod, I didn’t trust my voice right now.
“Okay, ready?”
“Mhm.”
I felt his hand on my waist and my wrist tighten as we walked up to the line. He pulled my hand back and then swung it forward when we reached the line before I let go of the ball. I watched as the ball rolled smoothly along the lane before reaching the pins, causing all of them to fall down.
I squealed and jump up and down before turning around and wrapping my arms around Niall.
“I got a strike!”
He laughed as he hugged me back.
“Good job, Isla,” he said as we pulled away.
“Well, I did have an amazing teacher,” I said, smiling up at him. His face instantly brightened as he smiled back at me.
“Okay, okay, my turn,” I heard Louis say from behind me. I turned around as I headed back to the chairs. Niall excused himself before heading over to Liam.
I looked towards our seats and saw El sitting there with a worried look on her face. I was wondering what she was worried about before I realized that she was sitting alone, the seat beside her that was previously vacated by Harry was empty.
“Where’s Harry?” I asked as I reached her.
She avoided looking at me and looked down nervously. “He said he needed some air.”
“Oh. Did he say why?”
She just shrugged and shook her head. She was definitely hiding something.
I sighed. “I’m going to go look for him.”
I walked away and headed towards the front doors. I pushed through the doors before stepping outside. I quickly looked around the front of the building, Harry nowhere in sight. I decided to look for him at his car so I headed to the parking lot.
I reached our cars and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Harry leaning against his car.
“Harry.”
He whipped his head towards me and just stared at me.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked, slowly walking towards him.
“I needed some air.” He looked away, not saying more.
I stopped a few feet in front of him, leaning against Niall’s car.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Just peachy.” His tone startled me, surprised by this unfamiliar attitude.
“Harry, what’s wrong?”
He just gave a humourless laugh while shaking his head.
“Why were you suddenly avoiding me before we left this morning?”
He stayed silent, looking deep in thought before he took a deep breath.
“Well, I had just told you that I wanted to keep the truth from you another day and look what it caused. Because of it, you had to find out the way you did, which was what caused you to leave. So yeah, I didn’t really feel like you wanted to be around me anymore.”
“Harry, you know that’s not true. I don’t care that you wanted to wait another day. It was just one more day added to the month that you guys had to keep the truth from me. And honestly, I don’t care about it anymore, it’s all in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it anymore. So stop feeling guilty about it.”
“You’re just saying that because…”
“Because what?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s obviously not nothing, Harry. Tell me.”
“Just leave it, okay?” he snapped. “Just…leave.”
I stood there in shock at his words.
“Why are you acting like this?”
He shot his face up at me and looked at me with ferocity in his eyes.
“Well, how do you think I’d react as I watched the girl that I love flirt with someone else after she said that she needed space, not wanting to be in a relationship?”
I froze, my eyes widening at his words.
So this was why he was acting this way. He saw me and Niall in there, when he was telling me about the chicken competition, how we were together, and then just a while ago when he was teaching me how to bowl. I never realized how Harry must’ve seen it. I was too lost in this world when I’m around Niall that I forget about Harry.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think…I didn’t realize…I-I don’t…I’m sorry, Harry.”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even think straight right now.
“You have to choose one of us, Isla. You can’t keep leading both of us on. You say that you need space but I can tell that that’s not what you really want. I see the way that you look at him. And correct me if I’m wrong but I know you feel the same thing I feel when we’re together. I don’t want you to feel pressured but you need to make a decision soon because it kills me to see you with him. And I’m sure he feels the same way, too. It probably isn’t helping me that I’m the one to tell you this but you need to choose one of us before all of us end up getting hurt.”
Silence filled the air around us as I let his words sink in.
I took a deep breath before I looked up at him. He was looking at me with so much intensity that it made my breath catch in my throat.
“I know I do but you need to know that this isn’t easy for me because I know that if I choose one of you, the other one is going to end up hurt.” I looked down as tears built up in my eyes. “And I don’t want to do that. I’ve hurt both of you enough already.”
I saw him walk closer to me before he placed his hand under my chin, forcing me to look back up at him.
“Isla, don’t think that me and Niall don’t know that. We do. We’ve talked about it and we agreed that we’d accept your decision. We know that you have to eventually choose one of us in the end and we promised each other that whoever you don’t choose, we can’t let it affect what we have right now with you. We’ll still love you no matter what. Of course, we’re going to get hurt but we’ll eventually get over it knowing that you chose the one that you want to be happy with, that you’re with the one that makes you happy.”
“If only it was that easy,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “But I know that it will affect what I have with each of you.” I paused, suddenly growing nervous at my next thoughts. “If I chose Niall, how would you feel?” I emphasized the ‘if’, letting him know this was a hypothetical question.
Pain shot through his eyes but he continued to look at me.
“Then I have to suck it up and be happy for you and Niall. It’s gonna suck that I have to go through it again but at least I know that I did everything I can to show you how much I still love you. I know that I’ll be mentally beating up Niall in my head,” he grinned, making me laugh through my tears. “But I know that Niall will make you happy and that he loves you. I can’t think of anyone else better for you. Except me, of course.”
I swatted his arm, earning a laugh from him. I smiled up at him and waited until his laughter died down before he looked back at me with a serious face.
“But if you chose me, I’d do anything to make you the happiest girl in the world. I will love you for every second of every day until the day I die. I will prove to you that we were meant for each other, that it was fate that brought us together and what brought us back together if you do choose me. I will love you with all my heart and nothing less.”
My heart fluttered at his words and the passion in his eyes. No more words were spoken between us as we looked into each other’s eyes.
I saw Harry’s eyes flicker to my lips and back to my eyes and before I knew it, he was starting to lean into me.
Our lips were now a few inches away from each other, my eyes closing, letting the moment take over me.
Our noses touched and I started to lean in before a ring from a phone interrupted us. We both stopped in our spot and we opened our eyes. We slowly pulled away before Harry reached into his pocket and got out his phone. He answered it and brought it up to his ear.
I could hear my heart thumping against my chest.
“Hello?” Harry said through the phone. “Yeah, we’re outside…We were just talking…Okay, we’ll be there in a sec…Yeah, we’re fine…Okay, see ya.” He hung up the phone before putting it back into his pocket.
“They’re looking for us,” he said.
All I did was nod, still recovering from our moment.
I guess he was waiting for me to say something because he finally broke the silence.
“Just remember what I said,” he said. “Whatever you decide, I’ll still be here for you, no matter what.”
I looked up at him, forcing a smile on my face. I felt the pressure build up as I remembered what Harry meant.
I had to make a decision and I had to make one soon.
I know that I’m going to dread the moment that I do but I know that I can’t keep dragging it on. I can’t keep doing this to them.
I let Harry have the chance to tell me how he feels about me and how he’d feel if I chose Niall.
Now I had to give Niall the same opportunity. I need to know exactly how he feels.
And, once I do, I’ll have to make a decision.
A decision that will make one of them happy and while the other one gets a broken heart, taking a piece of mine along with them.
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