Niall's POV
After driving her to her flat, I call Conor to see if he wants to hang out. A short moment after I get home, he and Marty show up.
'So! How was your date?' Connor teases me.
'I'm gonna kill you! You got into my head and I messed everything up!'
'Mess what?' Marty asks.
'Niall has a crush on the French girl who's writing his book.'
'Would you stop calling her that! She has a name! Just call her Chloe.'
'So what happened?' Marty asks again.
'So at the beginning, I was so awkward and I couldn't come up with things to talk about and there was this awkward silence.'
'Yeah but you're always awkward when you're with a girl you like at the beginning.' He points out.
'Yeah, but I didn't think about it like that until this idiot got into my head just before I saw her!'
'Hey, all I said is that she's pretty, she's your type and you kinda like her. None of which is wrong. Besides, you said at the beginning. So then after that, it was fine? I don't see how a short awkward silence "messed everything up!" What are you fussing about?'
'It's not just that. Something else happened.'
I pause, go to the kitchen to bring beers for me and the lads and then go back to where I was sitting previously.
'So?' They both urged me.
'Well, we had a moment.'
'What kind of moment?' Conor asks me.
'Umm... Well... The thing is. She's shy and she's the kind of person who doesn't really make eye contact? And I don't know why it started to really annoy me by the end of the night. I felt invisible to her. So I tried this exercise with her, to make her more comfortable and used to look me in the eyes. And then I got carried away.'
'You kissed her!' Marty shouts excitedly.
'What? No! Of course not!'
'Stupid.' Conor mumbles.
'I just got so lost in the moment that I unconsciously held her hand-'
'Oh my god! You're so boring! Are you serious with me right now? That's it? What are you 5?' Conor snaps.
'Well, when she looked away, it felt like a slap back to reality and I kinda freaked. I stood up a bit too quickly and called it a night. The drive to her flat was silent. We didn't even turn on the radio. And then when I told her good night, she called me Niall.'
'What?' Marty asks confused.
'Well, at least she didn't call you by another guy's name. That is Horrible!' Conor comments.
'No, you don't get it. She's supposed to call me Ni, it's her thing. She does that. And now she hates me! And now probably is gonna write bad things about me. And she won't want to be friends with me, and I'll hate myself forever.'
'Okay, one, you're gonna approve of anything she writes before it's published, so that's not an issue!' Marty starts.
'True, and I'm sure you're overreacting! I'm sure it doesn't mean anything that she didn't nickname you. It happens. It doesn't mean she hates you or she's mad. You're overreaching.'
'He's right. You're thinking way too much about this. Just call her tomorrow, meet up, and then you'll know. If she's mad, you apologise. If she's not, then you forget about it and you continue like nothing happened.'
'Yeah, I guess I can't do anything about it now.'
Chloe's POV
I come back home, and of course, the girls are all here, with drinks and popcorn? As soon as I enter the sitting room they're all looking at me with big expecting eyes. I take a deep breath and sit down, getting myself ready for the long interrogation.
'So, date or no date?' Lil asks.
'Well?? I don't really know? But let's say no!'
Lil and Izz whine, then Cat asks, 'Okay, but like, what happened?'
'It was a lot of fun actually, on our way to the restaurant, we sang to the songs on the radio. Then while eating we actually had some work done. After that, we walked around, he told me some jokes and funny moments with him and his friends off the record. I haven't laughed that much in a really long time, I actually teared up from laughing too hard. And then we had ice cream and we continued walking and yeah that's it. He drove me home and said that he'll text me tomorrow when he wakes up to set up our next meeting.'
'Sounds like a date to me!' Lil teases.
'What's important is that you had fun! I'm so glad you're happy!!'
'Thank you, Izz! Yeah, it was fun... well there was a weird thing at the end. But I'm not sure if it's something.'
'What do you mean?' Cat asks.
'It's just that he cut it short suddenly out of nowhere and didn't say anything the whole ride back here. And I didn't dare to say anything either because he seemed out of it? Like he was deep in his thoughts and wouldn't hear me anyway. I can't help but wonder if I did something wrong.'
'Well, what was going on just before he cut it short?' Izz asks.
'I guess he thinks I'm too shy? And it bothers him? He suggested an exercise thingy where I have to maintain eye contact with him as long as I can. I mean he put me on the spot and I hesitated. But I did it. But I really wish I didn't. I really thought I could push my feelings away and pretend they don't exist. That I don't love every little thing about him. But doing that, looking into his blue eyes, it was almost impossible to deny that.'
'And what happened after that? How long did you do that for?' Lil asks me.
'Well, it would've lasted longer, but he, and by the way it wasn't the first time he'd done it, he put his hand above mine and like held it tightly. My head snapped and I looked over to what's going on and as soon as I did that, he just stood up from where we were sitting and was like "Well, I think that's great progress for tonight! Call it a night?" and that was it.'
'OMG!!' They all shouted.
'What?'
'He likes you!' Izz says.
'Oh, shut up!'
Lil and Izz squeal in joy as I roll my eyes.
'It doesn't even matter anyway. Tomorrow, I'll go to the publishers and I'll quit.'
'What? No! Why? You can't!' They all shouted.
'I have to! I love him too much. I'm too biased. He wants someone to write about his good and his bad. He doesn't want to be looked at as perfect or an angel. But how can I do that if I do think he's perfect? Well, not exactly perfect, but imperfectly perfect. I love everything about him, especially his quirks and flaws.'
'Wait, he has flaws?' Lil asks confused.
'HE STOLE MY CHIPS!' I yelled and they all gasp dramatically.
'And you let him?' Cat sarcastically asks.
'I know right!' I shout.
'Wow you're really in love with him, aren't you?' Izz asks in a serious tone.
'Truly, Madly, Deeply. You see the problem now? I Can't Do This! I have to quit. It's the only option.'
'Okay, Clo, you're being ridiculous. You're overreacting. It's not that bad. You're a brilliant writer, and you wrote kinda badly about him before in your stories. You're not biased when you want to. When it comes to it, I'm sure you'll figure out logically what you should and shouldn't write about him.' Izz tries to reassure me.
'Are you sure?' I ask.
'YESS!' They insist.
At the end of the night, when I'm alone in bed trying to get myself to sleep, my mind keeps wandering back to Niall. I'm kinda compelled to text him now that I have his number. It's 1:27 AM I'm pretty sure he's still up. I really shouldn't be doing this.
'Hey, Ni!'
'Clo! Hey! Didn't think you'd be a night owl. Thought you'd be sleeping by now.'
'What? I am so not a morning person!'
'Didn't seem like it this morning, you were kind of hyper and talking a lot.'
'Yeah I have two modes, either cranky and silent, or never shut up. Sorry about that. I guess I was excited to meet you so...'
'So I wasn't entirely wrong.'
'But you're not right either... I don't sleep before 2 AM no matter how tired I am. And that's when I do most of my writing.'
'Oh okay, interesting!'
I stare at the screen, thinking of what to type next. But it says that he's typing so I wait instead for his text.
'So tomorrow... I was thinking maybe this time you pick the place? Maybe your favourite spot in the city?'
'Yeah, sure. Why not!'
'Great! Send me the address tomorrow. I'll text you when I wake up, and we get a quick breakfast to go?'
'Sounds okay.'
'Great, I'll see you tomorrow then. Try to get some sleep. Good night Clo.'
'Good night Ni!'