June 2016
I arrived home and left my suitcase on the floor. I looked around. Everything was still the same. It had been months since I was last here, and it felt weird. I was used to being on the road for months, surrounded by people, noise and screams. Then I'd come home and everything felt bizarre: the silence, the lack of people and the musty smell. I was alone, and I was a completely different person. Only a few people could see me inside those for walls, and they were the ones who didn't care about my money or my fame, I wasn't in the spotlight, and that made me happy. Don't get me wrong, I love the attention from the fans and the media, but at the end of the day, for me, it's more about the music and the fun I have on stage.
I loved going to pubs, having a couple of pints while watching football and just being myself. I loved not having to pretend I had this perfect life full of girls, money and parties. Beause no one's life was like that. I had met a girl though, her name was Francesca and she was a model. There wasn't anything serious going on, but we had been spending a couple of nights together and we were just starting to get to know each other. I liked that. There was no commitment, we were keeping it casual. We'd have sex, then we'd talk for a while and then one of us would leave. We actually talked a lot and she made me feel good about everything I was feeling and everything that was going on my life. I guess both of us needed someone to have fun with. Someone to escape with.
It had been a few years since any of us had been commited to someone. I had been with Maddie, and for me she was more than just a fling from the beginning. But I guess age does something to do with it. What I was looking for when I was nineteen wasn't the same thing I am searching for now that I'm 22. I guess Maddie was different than Francesca, too. Maddie wanted, but rather needed someone to be with her at her worst, someone who appreciated her and told her he did. And I was willing to do that, because she was so worth it and I knew she deserved to know that. She was probably everything that Francesca wasn't. Francesca lived in the present, she didn't care about stuff that had no solution, and she was completely aware of how strong she was. She knew what she had to say in every situation, she knew how to keep everything simple. They were so different, and what I felt for one of them had nothing to do with how I felt about the other one. After Maddie, I was aware I needed someone like Francesca. I wanted to be careless, to have fun. That was it.
Francesca was in New York the day I arrived home, but I was going to go out for a few pints with the lads, and I was probably going get a little to drunk that night, to be honest. I hadn't been in London for ages and I wanted to make the most out of my time there. I went to the kitchen but found nothing on the fridge, so I sighed and went back to the living room. I had nothing to do, and sometimes that new house felt too big for myself. I left the old house because I didn't want to be reminded of Maddie once we broke up so when I saw this enourmous house I decided to buy it. I thought this house could fill the gap Maddie had left in me. It had only been six moths, that felt more of a roaller coaster than anything else. We had been on tour and my mood always depended on where we were, or what I thought I was feeling, and it might sound stupid, but seeing what Maddie or her friends would post on Instagram or Twitter had a lot to do with it. I didn't recognize myself. I still missed her sometimes, but I just learnt to live without her; and Francesca helped me moving on.
I finally decided to take a long shower and spent the whole afternoon playing FIFA until my friends, Darren and Steve, picked me up.
We went to a couple of bars until I convinced them to go to my favourite Irish pub in London. It was full of people, we managed to get to the barcounter. I ordered a pint and someone knocked on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a girl who told me about how she had met me two years ago in some kind of event which I couldn't even remember. I kept smiling and nodding until my eyes were directed toward the corner of the bar. The pint I had in my hand almost fell to the floor. It wasn't posible. Suddenly, our eyes met. I turned around to the barcounter and orderer another pint and took a huge sip. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I ordered another one. Our eyes met again. I ordered another one. I started to feel dizzy.
When I decided I had already drunk enough I went to the bathroom, which was in the direction I had been looking at all night. I made my way among people until I found myself in front of the table. I stared at him, every single move he made, I tried to imagine him having pints with her more than four years ago. I saw a blonde girl approaching him, and I swear I prayed that girl wasn't her. I sighed out of relief when I realised she wasn't.
"Hey, you! You gonna stand there all night?"
"Dylan" I guess I was pretty drunk, becaused that's all I muttered.
"Who the hell are you?"
I didn't say a word, so the blonde girl replied.
"I think he's one of those boys from One Direction"
"Oh God. I think you'r the one who dated my ex, right? What was her name?" he asked.
"Maddie" I said.
"Yeah, that's right! Weirdest person I ever met. It's no surprised you left her, to be fair"
I didn't reply. I smiled to myself. It was kind of funny the fact that he pretended not to know me or Maddie, but I didn't care. I went to the toilet and suddenly, it seemed a good idea to use that as an excuse to text her.
Niall: Hey! guess who I've just bumped into! Dylan!!
Maddie: wow, hope he ain't in london hahaha
Niall: he is, so if you're out and need someone to give you a ride home, calle me :)
Maddie: Don't worry, i'll be fine. thanks anyways x
I knew she wouldn't want to see me, but I had to give it a try. I put the phone back in my pocket and went out of the bathroom to say goodbye to Darren and Steve. I walked without really knowing where I was heading too. My mind wasn't there. My body, full of alcohol, decided to take me to the last place I was expecting to be at that night. Maddie's old house. I wondered if she still lived there, and I decided to stay there to check. I sat on the stairs of a building that was pretty close to her door and I waited. An hour or so after that, a car parked in front of her door. Maddie was in the passenger's seat, next to a boy I had never seen before. I looked at him, trying to recognize something characteristic about his face, just in case he was one of the co-workers Maddie had described to me back when we were still together. Nothing came to my mind.
I sat there staring at them. Luckily, they couldn't see me. She talked nonstop, and he seemed to ask something every now and then. She looked serious, and I noticed it was getting hard for her to talk when she couldn't find the words. Sometimes, he'd interrupt her and they'd laugh. When they said their goodbyes, there was no physical contact, not even a kiss on the cheek. They just said goodbye, she got out of the car and walked to her door. She turned around to smile at him before opening it. He stood there for a couple of seconds smiling once she left, and then started the engine and left. I got up and walked to my own house. I must admit I felt sad at first, jealous because that man wasn't me. But when they were talking, when I was her expressing her feelings, I was glad she was happy. It felt good seeing her like that: so carefree and calm.
I arrived home, turned on the lights and found Francesca sitting on the sofa. We both smiled.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in New York" I asked.
"I decided to come back early and here I am"
"How did you get in here?"
"Nah, I just got a little help from Steve and Darren"
I smiled and I really didn't know what to say. She stood up to kiss me but I just hugged her tighly.
"You didn't have a good day, uh?" She whispered.
"Not really, but it's okay now"
I went to my room, got undressed and lied in bed. A few minutes later she came in and asked if she could stay the night. I nodded. I don't know if it was the alcohol in my body or the need I had of talking to someone, but laying there, shoulder to shoulder, I told her everything about that day: the fact that she was completely different to Maddie and that you couldn't compare one to the other, and how I was completely different when I was alone. I told him about Dylan, about how Maddie moved her hands nervously when she was talking to that boy. I told her what I felt after seeing them: nothing. I felt nothing once I realised it had been six long months and that I had moved on. And I felt guilty for feeling nothing, I felt sad for feeling nothing. And I told her about that, too. And she said that it was okay, that people and feelings changed.
We didn't have sex that night, but she held me until she made sure I was fine. She held me until I fell asleep. And suddenly, that house didn't seem that big for me anymore.
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A/N: Heyyy guys! Long time no see!! sorry it's taken me so long to update, but there have been a few things going on in my life and I've been too busy with uni aswell.
Hope you liked this chapter, and I really hope you understand now what Niall and Francesca's relationship is about. I really like how the story is turning out, to be honest.
Also, I'd love to get some feedback, so if you're reading the story and you are enjoying it, please let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading x