× Horan
It had been agonizingly hard to keep my distance from Lynn.
There always seemed to be that invisible pull between us; like a molecular bond. And first learning about chemical bonds in secondary school, I know that once two covalent bonding atoms attach, there's no hope of breaking the molecules apart. Which is why I had managed all week to keep my distance from her.
When I saw her fall on the field by the opposing team player twice her size, it took everything in me to stay away and let someone else go to her. And then when that same player was trying to push the punishment to Lynn instead of himself, I wanted nothing more than to stand up for her, but I knew better than to do that.
Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have it under control.
"Yellow to Bangor player number twenty three!" the referee shouted and held up a yellow card toward the player. "And a yellow to Roehampton player number thirteen!"
"What!?" I shouted, walking up to the referee. "That's not fair! That tosser had it coming!"
"Listen, kid," he said as he started writing down the caution in his notebook. "I agree with you, but she is guilty of misconduct just as much as he is. I have to play fair."
I looked back at the bench to see Lynn's reaction, but she wasn't paying any attention. She was looking down at the ground with her water bottle in her hands. Her furrowed brow, however, was enough of an indicator that she was pissed.
"Horan," Coach said, grabbing my attention. "Leave before you get carded as well."
There I was defending Lynn when not only three minutes ago I told myself I wouldn't.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I followed Coach as he steered the team back to the field to continue the game.
The opposing team managed to score a goal by the time Lynn joined us back onto the field, making it 5-4. I knew we had it in the bag. As much as I hated losing my limelight by her, Lynn was good and we were unstoppable together.
There was a minute left when I managed to get the ball from under the opponent's feet. I spun around to go back the other direction toward our goal when I was quickly swarmed by navy blue and black. I kicked the ball up and struck it through the air right in front of Lynn who didn't hesitate to get to it. I tried to find an opening again as I watched Lynn spin around a player and dodge a defender.
The mental clock in my head was ticking down, and even though we were still ahead by one, I've learned that anything can happen in a span of sixty seconds. I found myself holding my breath as I watched Lynn. She stopped the ball and rounded back again, looking around to see if anyone was open to take a better shot. When she saw no one was, she took the chance and kicked it, the ball gliding right past the goalies fingertips and into the net just as the timer ticked down to zero.
The crowd erupted in cheers and I couldn't help but smile by the sound.
Lynn's hands went into the air and she shouted with victory. Jace was the first one to reach her and picked her up, flinging her body over his shoulder and spun her around as the rest of the team joined her.
It was her first game with us, and she took the final shot.
"That was a damn good game," Coach was telling us once the excitement died down and the team gathered around him on the sidelines.
People had started to leave the arena and I saw Lynn's friends start down the steps to the pitch.
"There was a little difficulty there, but I assumed something like that would happen. But I'm pretty sure Mercury got her point across," he continued, smiling down at Lynn who was drinking out of her water bottle. "Alright, no practice this weekend, but there is one on Monday. And don't forget about the annual dinner next week, too. You're required to go. Now get out of here."
The team broke apart to go into the building to get changed and shower. I followed after them until Coach called me back.
"Yeah?"
"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked me, a smile playing on his lips.
When I looked at him confused, he almost looked disappointed that I didn't understand what he was talking about.
"You and Lynn. You worked well together; you push each other to do better. This banter you two do with each other - the yelling and the sly remarks - it works out in the end because it's like you're feeding off each other's actions. If one does a little better, then the other pushes just a little bit harder," he paused and looked at me, the disappointment still visible on his face. "Are you telling me you don't see that? Because everyone else on the team does."
I shook my head. I honest to God had no idea what he was talking about. I was just trying to win the game. Over Coach's shoulder, I saw Lynn talking to her friends.
Did she know what Coach was talking about?
"Let me put it in a way that you can understand," Coach continued. "You and Lynn are like water and potassium. Do you know what you get when you mix the two?"
"An explosive reaction," I answered automatically.
Coach grinned. "Exactly. Now you may leave."
Before I could move, he grabbed the clipboard and his drink in one swift motion before going over to Coach Sharp. I blinked and continued on my way into the building to shower and change.
My cleats were echoing off the walls of the silent hallway as I made my way down to the locker room when Lynn shouted after me. I stopped in my tracks but didn't turn to look at her.
"Good game today, Ireland," she said nonchalantly. I could hear her cleats tapping on the floor as she made her way over to me.
I looked over my shoulder at her but didn't bother to respond or even give her a small smile. I just glanced at her before turning back around and continued on my way.
"How long are you going to keep this up?" she pressed as she kept up with my pace behind me. "This... avoiding me - only looking at me if you have to and speaking to me in short sentences. Is this your way at pretending the kiss didn't happen, to act as though I'm not really here?"
I kept making my way to the locker room, but when the sound of her feet continued behind me, I spun on her.
"I told you this was going to happen," I snapped, my voice short. "I told you I was going to avoid you. I can't even look at you without thinking about what happened right there," I yelled, pointing to a spot on the wall just a few feet away from us. "And it's going to stay like that."
I didn't bother to give her a second glance before I went into the locker room.
× × ×
"So what are you going to do about Lynn and what happened last Saturday? Was it Saturday? I think it was Saturday..." Jace trailed off as he calculated the days in his drunken mind, only to end up shrugging and taking another sip of his beer. "I'm talking about the kiss."
"I'm going to hook up with the first girl I see," I told him honestly as I leaned on the railing, looking down at the dancing bodies that were in sync with the booming music.
I was standing on the stairs in a house that some lads owned from UNI. There was a party, and everyone seemed to be there; the big football win gathering a large crowd knowing the new star was going to make an appearance.
Jace cocked an eyebrow at me suspiciously. "You really think that's going to work? To sleep with some girl?"
"It'll work for an hour or two."
He looked at me for a long time before shaking his head and leaning against the wall next to him. "You can't just sleep your way out of difficulties, man. Beer and women are not the answers and you know that. Get drunk and sleep around, I don't care, but by the end of the night, you're no happier or even feel a little bit better."
I sighed, utterly flustered with the whole situation. "She's just so... exasperating."
"It's because you feel like you're being replaced."
"What?"
"Yeah," he said, standing up straighter against the wall. "You're Mr. Big Shot at UNI now, but she'll be taking over your limelight soon enough."
"That's bloody ridiculous."
"Is it? She's a girl and she's playing on the boy's team. This is 2016, people thrive for feminism. Not to mention she's really good at what she does and she's attractive. Your big ego can't take it so you lash out on her to make yourself feel better."
He was right. I always knew that, of course, but I didn't want to admit that I might actually be overshadowed by someone with boobs and nice legs.
"Don't give her the satisfaction. Keep her on her toes, but don't be mean about it," Jace continued. "She doesn't deserve the shit you give her."
"No promises," I retorted, a small grin on my lips. "But that still doesn't explain anything. Why the bloody fuck did I kiss her?"
He thought for a moment and then took another sip of his beer. He was working on his third one already. When he moved away from the railing he stumbled a little and caught himself on the wall with a giggle.
"Your 'hatred' toward her is creating sexual tension so excessive that it just has to be released somehow. Its science, you should know that," Jace said. "Or has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe you just like her? I mean, from what you told me, that's what it seems like. You have these urges to kiss her and you're worried about her when something even a little bit bad happens... You probably attack her because you have to keep reminding yourself that Niall James Horan doesn't have feelings like that toward a female and it's only pure hot sex only."
"You're smashed," I observed as he leaned over the railing to get a better look at the party goers down below, or trying to spot that Jamie girl in the crowd, was probably more accurate.
"What did you feel when you kissed her?" Jace asked without looking at me.
I glared at him, knowing I wasn't just going to tell him shit like that. I never kiss and tell.
He gave me a look that was almost threatening, and I rolled my eyes and caved into his demand.
"It was... I wanted more," I confessed. "It felt good. Electrifying even, feeling her hands tug on my hair. I didn't know how much I wanted it until I pulled away. I don't do that, I don't just kiss girls like that without... finishing."
Jace was watching me intently, like he was trying to solve a puzzle, which, let me tell you, was a lot harder to do when you're drunk.
"I'm leaving you," I said a little bitterly and tipped back my head and finished the last of my beer before walking away from Jace down the stairs. "You're too drunk to even talk."
He laughed in agreement from behind me. "Wasted."
I found myself in the kitchen where I saw a girl lying on her back on the island counter, her shirt up to expose her flat stomach. There were some guys and girls around her, and even more people leaning against the walls in their own conversations. I saw a lad with his head in the fridge that looked like he could barely stand up straight, probably looking for some more beer and a girl sitting at the little table in the corner trying to keep her eyes open.
"Horan!" the girl on the island called when she saw me enter the kitchen. I recognized her from my maths class; I think her name was Rebecca. She sat up on her elbows and looked at me with hooded eyes. "Body shot for the victor?"
I smiled teasingly at her. "Only if the shots are on you."
Rebecca was wearing a maroon crop top that exposed her stomach nicely and black shorts that were riding up her thighs. There was some kind of face paint on her cheeks with the school colors, but it was smeared from sweat, making it unidentifiable.
I grabbed a shot glass and noticed there was already salt on her stomach. That was when I saw someone leaning against the doorframe, a red solo cup in hand. They were watching the exchange with deliberating eyes and an amused smile.
For some reason, the sight of Lynn made me not want to get involved with the view on the counter in front of me.
"Excuse me," I said, my eyes not leaving Lynn's.
I put the shot glass down on the counter and walked away, leaving Rebecca on the island watching me without an explanation. I walked over to Lynn and mimicked her stance, leaning against the other side of the doorframe.
"Enjoying yourself?" I asked her.
She moved her hand over her heart in mocked surprise. "You're speaking to me?"
"I'm kind of drunk," I informed her. I was going to use that as my excuse, anyways.
"You're also kind of a chicken," she informed with a rise of her brows. "I was interested in the body shots. I haven't done one before."
This time I raised my brows at her. "You're interested?"
She shrugged. "Figured Reese wouldn't refuse my offer to try it with me."
"I don't think anyone on the team would refuse an offer like that with you."
Lynn looked at me, her deep blue eyes searching mine. "Except for you."
I looked down to avoid her hot gaze and saw the solo cup in her hand and observed that there was brown caffeinated liquid inside. "For someone who's fascinated in body shots is sure lacking in the alcohol at the moment."
"I don't drink," she said, making her earlier statement in being interested a lie. "I don't like whom I become when I do."
That took me off guard. I thought maybe she didn't drink because she had an alcoholic relative or knew someone who died by a drunk driver... never would have occurred to me that she wouldn't like the character she was when drunk.
"I saw you dancing on some lads a while ago," I found myself saying, recalling the last time I saw Lynn in the living room, two guys right beside her with their hands roaming. "I thought you had a boyfriend back home?"
"That didn't seem to stop you from kissing me, did it?" she accused stonily. "And not like it's any of your business, but he was never really my boyfriend."
"Lynn," the black haired girl with the sleeve tattoo said as she came up behind her friend. I think her name was Emily. "Some guy is looking for you. Blonde, brown eyes, always looks like he's sad... He said you two talked earlier. He's sitting on the sofa."
Lynn seemed confused by the girl's vague description, but nodded anyways and turned to leave. She looked at me one more time before she disappeared around the corner.
I was about to leave when the black haired girl spoke up again. "Leaving so soon? I was just about to poison the beer."
Spinning to face her, I saw the shrewdest smile on her lips that I had ever seen. She easily gave the Joker a run for his money.
"You must be Niall," she added.
"Ah, it's always great to meet a fan," I smiled at her.
The girl smiled back cynically. "I'd shake your hand, but I don't know where it's been."
"As much as I would love to stay and chat with yet another American, I don't," I told her, my smile disappearing as I started to walk away.
"Before you leave," she said, stopping me yet again to look at her. "I just have to warn you. Don't- don't hurt her." I knitted my eyebrows at her. When she saw my confusion, she explained. "I heard a lot of talk about you at this party, and I just have to say: don't hurt her."
"Hurt who?"
"Lynn!" she nearly shouted. "I know your games. I have a brother who's just like you and I didn't much appreciate how he treated the girls he was with. But I have to warn you, if you hurt her, you best believe I will come hunt you done and make you hurt."
"Trust me, I don't want anything to do with Lynn," I defended. Deep down I knew that was an outright lie, but at the moment, I was too drunk to really know the difference.
Besides, this girl seriously looked like she could take me down in five seconds and I didn't want to find out if I was right.
Emily nodded at me, crossing her arms over her chest, her nose piercing catching in the florescent lights above. "Good, then we shouldn't have a problem," she said callously.