Isla's POV
We drove to the meeting and we walked inside. I saw El in one of the rooms and went over to her.
“I’ll see you after the meeting,” I said, pulling on his hand and giving him a quick kiss, “I'll wait for you here with El.”
“Okay, babe, see you later” he said, walking down the hall before going into one of the other rooms.
I walked towards El and sat down beside her.
“Hey, how are you,” she said, once I sat down.
“Hey, good, you?” I said, picking up a magazine.
“Good” she replied, putting down the one she was reading, “so, I have something to tell you.”
I looked up from the magazine and looked at her. She had a serious face so I put down the magazine. “What is it?” I said, curiously.
“Okay, I’m not making this up and I’m sure I overheard correctly,” she started saying nervously. She was having a hard time looking at me in the eyes and she was fidgeting. Her mouth kept opening and closing but no words came out.
“What?!” I said, impatiently.
“Well, Harry stayed over at mine and Lou’s flat last night and I overheard them talking,” she said, looking at me this time, “and they were talking…about you.”
“What about me?” I said, confused.
“Harry said that…he might…still…like you,” El said, she stopped and waited for me to say something but I just sat there, shocked.
Harry and I broke up a year ago. I had broken up with him because I realized that we would be better off as friends and he seemed okay with it. We were good now. If what El just told me was true, then things will get awkward. Why would Harry all of a sudden start having feelings for me again?
It felt like I had been sitting there for half an hour, letting it all sink in what El had just told me before I snapped back to reality and I turned to her.
“Are you sure he said that?” I said, hoping that this was just a stupid joke. I closed my eyes, waiting for her answer.
“Yes, I’m sure because Lou asked him why he started liking you again,” El said, quietly.
“What did he say?” I asked her, reluctantly, not wanting to know the answer.
“He said that he--“ she started to say before the boys came in and stopped our conversation. El gave me an apologetic look and mouthed “Later”. I gave her a small nod and turned around to face Niall, who had sat down on the couch beside me.
“Miss me?” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders, smiling.
“So much,” I said, smiling back. Then I had done what I had been dreading to do since the boys came in. I looked at Harry. He was looking at Niall and I and when he noticed that I was looking at him, he gave me a quick, small smile and looked away.
I definitely had to talk about this with him before it got any worse; I just had to wait for the right time.
We had decided to go to Nando’s for lunch so we all went into our cars and drove there. Once we got to Nando’s, Niall and Liam went to get everyone food and the rest of us went to sit down at a table.
“Hey you,” I heard Harry say as he sat down beside me.
“Hey,” I replied, giving him a small smile. I glanced at El and she was looking at us carefully. I also noticed that Lou was looking at us, too. How awkward is this? I turned back to Harry, who was still looking at me.
“What’s new?” he said. I noticed that he was slowly inching closer to me until our legs were touching. I pretended not to notice and I crossed my legs so that they weren’t touching Harry’s anymore. I saw his smile go away for a second when I pulled away from him but he quickly recovered and smiled again.
“Not much, me and Niall are thinking about getting a dog but there’s the whole being away on tour situation but, yeah, nothing else new,” I replied, I saw his smile falter again once I said ‘me and Niall’ but I couldn’t make myself guilty over it, “how about you?”
He cleared his throat and said, “Not much, same old same old.” With that he faced forward and looked down at his hands before Niall and Liam arrived with our food. Niall sat down on my other side and started giving everyone their food.
“I’m not that hungry,” I said, when he offered me my food. I had suddenly lost my appetite after the conversation I just had with Harry.
I felt so bad once I saw the look on his face while we were talking. How long has he started liking me again? Have I just not noticed him? I kind of saw him sometimes looking longingly at me when I was with Niall but I thought nothing of it because I thought he was over me. I thought that he just wanted something with another girl like what Niall and I have, but not with me.
I noticed Harry wasn’t eating either and was still looking at his hands. I wanted to talk to him about it but it wasn’t the right time. Not here with everyone with us.
“Hey, you guys wanna come over and have some drinks in the backyard and just hang out?” I said. I quickly thought of something to do with everyone, hoping that I’d get the chance to talk to Harry alone about everything.
“Yeah, sounds fun, we have nothing planned today” Lou said, looking at El, who nodded.
“I’ll text Dani and see if she can make it,” Liam said, before taking a sip from his water and pulling out his phone to text Dani.
“I’m sure Perrie can come, too, yeah,” Zayn said doing the same as Liam.
I looked at Harry, who still didn’t say anything.
“Harry?” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. I felt him flinch at my touch before slowly looking at me. The way he was looking at me made me remember the times when we were together, at the beginning of our relationship when we couldn’t stay away from each other and the loving way he would look at me. I cleared my throat and said, “are you able to come tonight?”
The look in his eyes slowly faded and he gave me a small smile before saying, “yeah, I’d love to.” I gave him a smile back and looked away, anywhere else other than into his eyes.
What had just happened? I couldn’t be thinking about Harry like this again. I love Niall. More than anything in the world. This was just a momentary thing, nothing big. I’ll just have to wait until I can talk to him tonight. Until then, I’ll just have to avoid him as much as possible.
I would never hurt Niall, I would kill myself if I did. I put my hand on Niall’s leg and gently squeezed it. He looked at me and smiled and gave me a quick peck on my lips. I smiled back at him, hoping that Harry didn’t see.
What am I saying? I shouldn’t be worried about Harry seeing, he knows that I love Niall and I always will. He’s seen me kiss Niall millions of times and it didn’t seem like he had a problem with it…until now. I saw him clench his hands into fists the second Niall kissed me but he quickly relaxed once Lou asked him if he was okay.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just need some air,” Harry said, in a monotone voice, before getting up and walking out of the restaurant. I watched him as he left and saw him walk around the corner and out of sight. Everyone was oblivious to what actually happened except me, Lou and El.
“I’ll go see if he’s okay,” Lou said, getting up and heading towards the direction that Harry went. I’ll admit, I was worried about Harry, I didn’t like seeing him hurt either. I just didn’t know what to do.
Once they had finished eating we all headed out of the restaurant. I saw Harry get into Lou’s car once we got outside. We all got into our cars and headed to our place.
**
We arrived at our place after Zayn and Liam picked up Perrie and Danielle. Everyone grabbed food and drinks from the kitchen and brought it outside to the backyard.
Everyone did their own thing for a while, just sitting and drinking, going in the pool, talking. Once it got dark Niall set a little campfire and everyone sat around it.
We were just talking, played a few rounds of truth or dare and ‘Would You Rather’. Then everyone started having their own conversations with each other. Niall was talking to Liam so I took this opportunity to talk to Harry since he was just sitting there with a beer in his hands, not talking to anyone.
“Hey, I’m just going to get some more food and drinks, I’ll be right back,” I told Niall, standing up.
“Okay, babe,” he said, standing up and giving me a quick kiss then sitting back down and continuing to converse with Liam.
“Umm, Harry, could you help me?” I looked at him, trying to seem casual. He seemed surprised when I spoke to him but he nodded and got up and we walked inside the house. Every step I took closer to the house, the faster my heart beat and the more I got nervous.
We entered the kitchen and I grabbed some chips and a case of beer and put it on the counter.
“I’ll bring the drinks out,” Harry said, reaching for the beer.
I stopped him by putting my hand on top of his, which was on the case of beer. Once again, I felt him flinch at my touch but he didn’t make any gesture to remove his hand.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” I said, trying hard not to sound nervous as I let go of his hand.
“Um, yeah, sure, what’s up?” he said, looking at me intently.
“Can we talk somewhere more private?” I said, looking out of the sliding door windows where I could see everyone else, which means that they could see me and Harry. Also, I didn’t want anyone walking in on us while we were talking.
“Yeah, okay” he said, nodding.
“Let’s go to my room,” I said, I wasn’t sure if the bedroom was the right place to talk to him but it was the best place to talk to without getting interrupted. So I headed to my bedroom with Harry following closely behind.