***This will be skipping around, so stay alert :) ***
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Three weeks have passed by since Niall's announcement of his 'break up.' So far, the media has been responding as planned.
Niall has been stuck in Berlin for the past two weeks, writing for different artists. So the media hasn't had the chance to properly 'pap' him.
Ella has been back home, working day and night. She recently picked up a second job as a hotel receptionist to pay her bills and to save money for a car. She works Mon-Wed at the flower shop, Fri-Sun at the hotel. She only has Thursdays off....
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"Hello, welcome to Garden Inn." She greets the customers as they enter. It's a beautiful day in early November.
She sighs as she sees the clock tick by. It's a slow Saturday morning. She works from 8am-8pm to get 36 hours a week at least.
"Hello, when does the pool open?" Asks the customer.
"It opens at 10am until 10pm. So in about 30 minutes." She smiles at the older man.
He nods, "Thank you ma'am." He turns around and walks away.
Ella sits on the chair and looks at her phone. She sees a text from her co-worker at the flower shop.
"Hey! We should so get drinks tonight! My treat ;) " read Leah's text message.
Ella shakes her head. Leah is her new co-worker at the shop. She's the same age as her, except a bit more scandalous.
"Why? I have to work tomorrow :/" Ella texts back.
*bing*
"Cuz my friend is bar tending tonight at The Egotism and offered me free drinks! Cmon, they're free! U can't pass that up!!" Leah responds.
Ella rolls her eyes. Leah loves going out and drinking from what it sounds like in her stories that she talks about.
But, Ella has been wanting to get drinks, but she just hasn't got the money for it. Maybe two or three won't hurt her...
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Niall is finally home. He opens his front door and walks inside.
"Home Sweet Home," He breathes and drops his luggage in the hallway. He walks toward the kitchen.
He pulls his phone out and sees that it's 9:30pm. He also notices that he has a couple of text messages. Most of them from clients, friends, and Louis.
He looks through his contacts and presses Ella's number. It goes to voicemail.
He texts her quickly, "hey, I'm back home. Finally. Where are you? Do you want to catch up? Call me later when you can."
He sets his phone down and rushes upstairs to shower.
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Niall comes back downstairs after he gets dressed from his shower. He picks up his phone and sees no response from Ella. It's almost 11pm.
"Should I go drive to her place? Make sure she's okay? She usually responds back within an hour..." He thinks out loud and taps his fingers on the counter.
"Yeah, might as well. Better safe than sorry."
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He pulls up in front of Ella's little apartment. He sees a light flashing through her window, which means she is home.
He gets out of the car and fixes his shower hair.
He knocks on the front door and tugs at his tshirt.
Within a few seconds, the door opens and Ella is standing there.
"Niall?" She asks, confused, blocking the entrance.
"Hey! I came home early and decided to stop by. I texted and called you but i didn't know if you were home." He smiles. "May I come inside?"
She hesitates. "Ummm," she looks behind her quickly. "Sure."
She moves over, allowing him to walk inside. Immediately Niall sees someone unfamiliar.
"Oh? I didn't know you had guests over." He says at Ella.
There is this dirty blonde headed, hispter looking guy sitting on the couch.
"Yeah, uh...." She hesitates. "Niall meet James. James meet Niall."
James stood up and walked over to them. He's tall, freakishly tall. "Hello Niall." He says, holding his hand out.
"Hey," Niall responds, eyeing James. "Nice to meet you. Sorry if I interrupted something-"
Ella stares at the both of them. "No, it's fine. We just met today at the pub. My co-worker made me go with her." She rolls her eyes. "Come, come sit with us!"
Niall looks over at James. He's definitely giving Niall the "come on mate, let me have a chance" Look.
Niall eyes James again. He's very much not Ella's type, so he thinks. Hmmmm....neither was he.
"Um," Niall Starts. "I just remembered I left my uh, oven on. I'm making a roast."
"At this hour??" Ella raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, remember? Jet lag." Niall sighs deeply. "Sucks ass. But anyway, I'll leave you two. Nice to meet you again James."
James nods and breathes a sigh of relief.
Ella gives Niall a questionable stare. "Um, okay, I'll text you then? Yeah?"
Niall smiles and reaches out for her. "Yeah, I'm sure I'll be awake all night." He pulls her into a quick hug. "Later."
He opens the door and quickly walks to his vehicle. He hops inside and puts his seat on.
"Holy shit." He breathes and closes his eyes. "James wants Ella."
Before letting his mind wander, he pulls out of the small drive way and returns home.
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*Morning*
Ella wakes up to the sound of her shower being used.
"What the fuck..." She groans and rubs her eyes. "What the-"
She sees the clothes that are laying on the ground. Oh fuck... Did they...??
She grabs her cellphone from the nightstand and sees she has missed calls and texts from Niall. Oh? OHHHH....
"Oh god, Niall came by..." She rubs her forehead and closes her eyes. Everything is coming back to her...
Suddenly the bathroom door opens, out comes a fit looking man. Towel wrapped around his waist only. Damn.
"Good morning Ella." He says, drying his hair off with a towel. What's his name?
"Oh, heeeyy..." She smiles weakly at him. "Um, can I ask you something?"
"And yeah, we got more drunk last night after your friend left and..." James look down at the clothes. "We had sex."
"OHHH shiitttt," she groans and lays back. "I can't believe it."
"Hey, you were a good lay!" James laugh and grabs his clothes. "Not complaining here."
Ella can't believe she actually gave it up. She fucking gave it up to James. Fuck.
"But that's not the point," James pulls on his jeans, no boxers, and climbs the bed. He crawls over her and stares into her eyes. "I find you very interesting. We had some good conversation when we weren't drunk. Which I think is pretty damn awesome."
Ella stares up at him. "But I gave it up on the first meeting. Of course you'll find me interesting!"
He shakes his head, water dripping onto Ella. "No, I knew before we had sex I wanted to keep in touch with you."
Ella blinks. Is he saying he wants to...get to know her properly?
"So, what I'm trying to say is..." He leans forward, inches away from her face. He has green eyes. Oh lord. "Is the feeling mutual? Do you want to keep talking after today?"
Ella looks at him. He seems pretty nice and apparently they can hold a proper conversation. He's a bit...mysterious, which oddly she finds interesting. Hmm...
"Yeah," she breathes out, not realizing she was even holding her breath. "Yeah I would."
He smiles and grabs her hands. "Great." He kisses her cheek. "Wait, don't you have work today Ella???"
Ella's eyes goes wide. "Oh fuck!! I do!!"
"But it's already 10am," he kisses her jaw. "Why dontcha skip out today? Call in sick?"
"James, I really can't-" he starts kissing down the front of her neck to her. "I need to go-" he starts sucking on the side as his hand wanders down her stomach. She tries her best to ignore the desire building up inside, but....it won.
She doesn't have any commitments, so why is this idea bothering her?
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Niall paces around his bedroom. Ella hasn't texted back nor called. What is happening...or happened?! It's 1:00pm!
Although he sort of knows what most likely went down, but he doubts Ella would give it all up for a stranger. Took them months to finally do that!
As he starts biting his nails, his phone finally rings. A text message. From Louis.
"Hey man, idk if you heard but Ella has a new guy?" Louis' text reads. Niall clicked on the link and it sent him directly to an article.
"JAMIE BOWER DATING NIALL'S EX GIRLFRIEND?"
"What the fuck," Niall whispers to himself. James is actually...Jamie Bower, the actor? Holy shit. He continues to read the article.
"Today, we saw Jamie and new, re-defined Ella out and about getting Starbucks! Yes, the same Ella that dated party boy, Niall Horan. Ella has been out of the scene since the break up last winter. However, sources claim that Jamie and Ella have known each other for quite some time now. Jamie is completely enamored with Ella. The pair were spotted in London getting Starbucks and were obviously enjoying each other's company. New girl in Jamie's life? Stay tuned!"
How does Ella know Jamie? Does she even know it's him?
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Ella sits down on the park bench. Oh lord, she just slept with Jamie...Bower! The same Jamie that used to be her crush back in university!
"Ella?" Jamie asks, worried as Ella is still speechless. "I understand why you're mad but-"
"You're Jamie! Jamie, why didn't you tell me last night?!"
"I'm amazed you didn't recognize me," he laughs, throwing his head back.
"You had brown hair. And braces. And you didn't have tattoos." She snaps. "You're...different! And we had sex?!"
"I, actually, we didn't. " He sips his coffee. "I was going to tell you last night but we got off track."
"WHAT??," she screams. "I can't believe this. I used to have a crush on you. But you were too preoccupied with your life. But you LIED about us having sex?! What else is there?!"
"Yeah. It never happened. We got drunk and I took you to bed and go you comfortable. I slept on the ground." He shrugs. "And I knew you liked me. But I never had the chance to ask you out. I was about to graduate when you entered the program. I was focused getting this acting job, I just never had the chance."
"That still doesn't help that you didn't tell me. I was so confused as to why those people were taking pictures of you! I mean, obviously this isn't my first rodeo." Ella rolls her eyes.
"I know your Niall's ex, I think everyone knows now," he chuckles, but she doesn't find it funny. None of this. Shit. "I knew it was him last night but didn't want to bring it up."
"I'm still angry at you," she furrows her brows together. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."
"I'm sorry," he frowns. "I know I should have but I was too worried you would turn me down. "
She is angry. Beyond angry. How dare he do this to her?! Not only did he lie, he assumed she wouldn't be interested.
"Jamie, don't assume I would turn you down. Good lord, the truth would've been awesome." She scolds. "I'm not that heartless."
He fixes his beanie. "I understand if you wouldn't want to speak with me after today. My plan completely failed."
She has every damn right to not speak to him. Ugh. But, like she said, she isn't that heartless.
"It's fine." She sighs deeply and rubs her forehead. "Can we just start clean?"
He looks up at her and smiles. "Oh? I'm Jamie, what's your name?"
Ella sighs. Everything about this is so fucked up. He lied about who he was, lied about the sex, god knows what else! But, something took over her, and she held her hand out. "I'm Ella. Have we met?"
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Niall sips his coffee. Ugh, coffee. Typically he would prefer a tea during stressful times but his cupboard is empty. Fuck.
He finally got a reply from Ella. Her text was short and to the point. "Yes, I'm okay. I'll tell you about it. Can I come over?"
Ella should be here any second now. He sits on the couch and runs his hand through his hair. Would Ella actually date Jamie? Is he even her type? Does she-
Suddenly he hears a knock on his front door. He sets his coffee down on the table and walks over. "Coming!"
He fixes his hoodie and wipes his mouth. He grabs the knob and turns it open.
"Hey Niall." Ella says, smiling softly at him. Hugging her coat tightly to her.
"Hey Ella. Come inside." He replies, moving to the side so she can enter. "A bit chilly huh?"
"Yes! My lord, it was a pretty day but then got super cold all of a sudden." She steps inside and removes her gloves.
"Late October I'm telling you," he closes the door and looks at her for any signs of bruises. None. Woo.
"So," she removes her coat and hangs it on the hanger. She looks at him and sighs deeply. "I have to tell you something really important."
Is she nervous? Does she know he knows?
"Cmon, let's talk on the couch." He grabs her hand and leads her to the living room. "I got coffee."
"Coffee? I thought you didn't like coffee unless you were really stressed out." She looks at him, raising an eyebrow. "But no thanks."
"Exactly." He sits her down on the couch and sits opposite of her. "So, what's up?"
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"And that's what happened. I'm still shocked it's the same Jamie from university. I had no idea." She rubs her forehead. "I'm sorry you had to walk in on that last night."
"It's okay, I'm just pissed he lied to you all to just get home with you." He furrows his brows. "That's a dick move. I would know."
Ella rolls her eyes at the last sentence. "I know, anyway..." She leans back. "I just...can't believe these past 24 hours."
"What are you going to do now? He lied a shit ton to you Ella. Like what else is he lying about?"
Ella shrugs. "I have no idea. He gave me the option to keep in touch or leave it. But I don't know..."
"Why would you want to keep in touch? He lied! He lied to you that y'all had sex! What the hell?!" Niall raises his voice. "He's a bastard!"
"Niall!" Ella says. "Don't get angry. It's my decision."
"But he lied Ella!"
"So? It's not my first time someone has lied to me." She mumbles and crosses her arms across her chest. "We started clean already. He already told me everything. He explained himself."
"Yeah? Okay, you have him a chance to explain, but you didn't give me a chance when you left." He points out. "You fucking left me as soon as you THOUGHT I cheated."
Ella's eyes go wide. Fuck.
"Niall," she says in between clenched teeth. "Don't fucking compare that to this. Don't you even dare. These are completely different situations. Dammit, me and Jamie aren't even dating yet."
"Yet?!" He screams and stands up. "Yet?! Ella please, you can't be serious?! You can't date this guy!"
"Why the fuck not?!" She stands up and takes a step towards him. "Why not?! I'm sure i can handle it. It's not my first rodeo with a celebrity. I can handle it."
"Because he already lied, he's going to keep lying to you." Niall breathes heavy. "He doesn't deserve you."
Ella clenches her fist. "Since when do you know what I deserve?!"
He doesn't say anything. He blinks at her and remains quiet. Why is he being THIS way?
Ella is angry, which is probably an understatement. So angry that she grabs her things and leaves his place.
Niall doesn't even try to stop her.
He knows why...
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