We Figured It Out

My head was pounding as I woke up the following morning. I hadn't heard my alarm so it must have been earlier than my usual wake time. My mouth tasted horrible and I immediately regretted my decision to drink so much last night. Despite the blinding headache, I sat up in bed and noticed I was wearing last night's dress but no shoes. A sudden movement next to me startled me and my eyes widened at the sight.

"Niall?!" I asked surprised to see him laying in my bed.
"Hmm?" Niall hummed turning on his back still with his eyes closed.
"Niall!" I exclaimed shaking him awake. His blue eyes squinted at the same sun that was making my headache worse.
"Good morning to you, too. What time is it?" He said nonchalantly.
"Who cares what time it is! What are you doing here?" I asked running my fingers through my hair a few times. I could only imagine the tangled mess my long brown hair was in. That's why I always braided it before bed.
"You don't remember? Zoe, you wanted me to come here. I didn't really want to sleep in your tiny sofa so I joined you. Nothing we've never done before..." he answered like it was no big deal.
"So we didn't...?" I asked hoping to avoid the word.
"No, Zoe. We're both fully clothed." He said motioning to our bodies, "Besides, you have a boyfriend." Niall finished off looking down.
"Right..." I said remembering what Jackson had revealed the night before. Then I broke into a bit of laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Niall asked eyeing me suspiciously.
"Well, Niall, my boyfriend turned out to be gay." I confessed and laughed again seeing Niall's eyes nearly pop out of his head.
"Um, oh, wow. And you didn't know all this time?" He asked pressing his lips tightly together to avoid laughter.

I stood up from the bed and adjusted my tight dress as to not reveal everything underneath. I could feel Niall's prying eyes on me.
"He was never my boyfriend, Niall. In fact I had just met him the day before the awards. He asked me to go and I agreed. You just assumed he was and I didn't disagree. That's all." I said crossing my arms over my chest. I felt silly still in this dress.
"Dammit, you shoulda told me that last night! I used all my self control here!" He said smirking making my mouth drop open in disbelief. I picked up my pillow and threw it at him letting out a chuckle.
"Don't forget you have a nice little blonde waiting for you, though." I said remembering the woman from the awards.
Niall cocked an eyebrow and responded, "She was just the woman I was presenting with. Had never met her before in my life." We both stood there in silence realizing that we did nothing wrong. Both single and consenting adults.
"I need to change out of this dress. Do you mind?" I asked, motioning towards the door leading to my living room.
"Why can't I look?" Niall asked cocking his head a bit.
"Out, Niall." I demanded and he raised his hands in defeat.
"Alright, alright. I'll go take a wee and make us some breakfast." He said getting the covers off and heading towards the door.
"There's a spare toothbrush in there." I informed him before he closed the door.

After finding my phone in the clutch I carried yesterday I realized I still had an hour before I had to head to work. I changed into one of the many outfits I had specifically for work and made my hair into a ballerina bun. It was the best I could do with the mess of a hair I had woken up with. Once I finished my morning routine, I joined Niall in the tiny kitchen I hardly used. He was at the stove finishing up the breakfast he promised. I leaned against the counter across from where he stood and watched him work. A small smile spread across my face. The scene before me had played out so many mornings before.

"Breakfast is done!" Niall announced with two plates of food in his hands. He continued to place them over the small round dining table where he had set out utensils and a pitcher of grapefruit juice with glasses. He still remembered my preference of grapefruit over orange juice.
"Thanks, Chef Horan." I said taking a seat in front of a plate and serving both of us some juice.
"You're welcome. As you know, breakfast is my specialty." Niall smiled and picked up his fork to dig in.

A few minutes of eating in comfortable silence passed and I still had a lot of unanswered questions. Niall said I wanted him to come here but how did that happen? Last I remembered I was left alone and was staying just to finish off my beer.

"You know I don't really remember last night. How exactly did we end up here?" I interrupted the silence, startling Niall slightly.
"Well," he began and set down his fork to pause his eating, "I noticed you were at your table drinking your beer alone and I approached you. You said your boyfriend had to leave on an emergency. One thing led to another, you invited me here and were really... forward." He explained pausing before saying the last word.
"What do you mean 'forward'?" I asked for clarification knowing that I must have made a fool of myself.
"Well, once we got here you basically attacked me. There was one thing on your mind and you were determined to get it." He said making me turn the darkest shade of crimson I have ever turned, "Like I said earlier. I had to use every ounce of my self control... you were very pushy." Niall finished off and I could no longer hold eye contact. I acted in an unacceptable and foolish way.
"I'm sorry, Niall. I really am. I don't know what happened. Lost track of the beers, I guess." I apologized and sat back on my chair. The embarrassment was real and there was nowhere for me to escape to. This was my apartment after all.
"Zoe, no, don't apologize. I'm just glad it was me and not some cunt who would've taken advantage of you."
"Right." I said before getting up from the table and taking my dirty dishes to the sink.

Niall continued finishing off his food as I gathered my laptop and studio badges for work. I avoided eye contact as I tried to go on about my business but I could tell from the corner of my eye that his gaze was following me around.

"I have to go to work. You can can stay as long as you want to." I said as I grabbed my phone to call an Uber.
"Work already? I'd take you but we took a cab here so I'd have to wait for someone to pick me up to get my car." Niall explained as he got up from the dining table.
"Don't worry about it. I have to get going, see you later. Make yourself at home." I shot him a smile and headed to the front door where I could hear a quiet 'Bye' from Niall.

Once at work, I went on about my usual business. My work was already cut out for the day as the body of the missing girl case I had been covering was found. It was an eerie situation but so many stories like it have passed through our newsroom, we kind of grew a bit used to it. It was still very sad to cover the ending of the case as no one wishes these disappearances would end badly. It was a bit of mood changer when my phone rang as we were packing up the truck to leave the scene for the day. It was Leah so I knew she'd brighten up my mood a bit.

"Hey cuz." Leah chimed through the phone. She never stopped calling me 'cuz' from when I was dating Niall and that always made me smile.
"Hey what's up?" I responded as I hopped into our live truck to head to the studio.
"I have an idea! Why don't we have a girls night in tonight? I just feel like we probably won't be having these type of bonding experiences anymore after the wedding." Leah whined, probably feeling nostalgic.

Leah is getting married soon. As in 3 weeks soon. She was very unhappy when she found out my not so happy ending with her cousin Niall. She was sure we'd be together forever happy and I'd be always present during family gatherings. When she found out what went down, she rushed to meet up with me here in London. Little did she know, what was supposed to be a trip of mourning my relationship with Niall, turned out to be pretty life changing for her. She ended up meeting Graham at the grocery store while she picked up ice cream and movies to aid my heartbreak. What was that day an argument over who was first in line turned into getting married in a few weeks. How fast the night changes.

"Are you kidding? This sounds perfect!" I agreed instantly.
"When are you off work? I can pick you up and we can go to Tesco to get supplies. You know, ice cream, chips, popcorn..." Leah's plan sounded perfect.
"I'm actually on my way to the studio. We already edited the segment so I should be out by 6." I informed her after making the mental math.
"Ok, see you at 6!"

With that, we hung up and I felt ten times better. Leah has always had the magic power to change my mood and make me smile. It was making me very nostalgic that she was getting married. I was very excited for her and her new life awaiting but I couldn't help wonder where our friendship would stand in the end. She would probably go on and have kids soon, will want new friends who can relate and I would be a thing of the past. It was a hard concept to think of but I also had to be realistic. Which is why I took any and every opportunity to spend time together. It also helped that I was her maid of honor.

Leah was right on time at 6 and off we went to raid our local Tesco for all our favorite junk. Armed with enough snacks to feed a small army, we went up to my floor where I fished my key and opened the door. As soon as we barged in, our lively chatter died down as we stared ahead.

"Um, Zoe... I'm a bit confused." Leah said looking back and forth between me and Niall who was sitting on my couch watching golf on my tv.
"I'm a bit confused, too. Niall, I know I said 'make yourself at home' but what are you still doing here?" I asked mentally trying to think of a good reason.
"Well I was going to leave but then I realized how was I supposed to lock your apartment from the outside? I couldn't just leave it open. Someone could have intruded." Niall explained with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Ok, valid reason." I nodded.
"Now you're home so I guess I should leave now." Niall suggested, rubbing his palms on his jeans.
"I guess you should." I agreed and crossed my arms.
"Bye, Leah. Bye, Zoe." He said before grabbing a set of keys on my dining table, which I assumed were the car keys someone brought for him, and walking out the door.
“You have some explaining to do!” Leah teased as she dropped all of our junk on the small dining table.

My cheery mood was replaced by a different one. I couldn't quite pinpoint this new feeling. It wasn’t a bad one, but it was different. Butterflies were taking over my stomach as I turned into the kitchen to put away the ice cream we had picked up and saw Niall’s phone on the counter. A small smile appeared on my face. This was not going to be the last time I’d see Niall and I was rather pleased.

Notes

Hi lovelies, I'm back!!! And so is Niall in Zoe's life. :o And it seems Niall definitely wants to stick around, but does Zoe want the same? Will she be quick to welcome back Niall into her life? We'll see!

So I want to thank everyone who has stuck around for this story from WTAC it really means a lot to have y'all enjoy my writing. It's a wonderful feeling! I also want to let y'all know that my collab story Southern Belle is up with two chapters! So please check it out if you can.

Lastly, WHO IS SEEING NIALL ON HIS TOUR?!?!?! I am very happy to announce that I AM!!! I'm seeing him next July and I am so excited! I'M GOING TO BE BREATHING NIALL HORAN'S AIR. SDLAJGALDKGHJVRDFSKU