My Judgements Clouded ♥

Chapter Four

Sunday came even slower than Saturday did, but when the time came to leave, we were more than ready. I had left my hair natural, preferring the soft, bushiness of it to rest over my shoulders and frame my face then have slick and straight hair. I had put on the tiniest bit of makeup, but in all truth, I didn’t really like it. Moana, Molly and I walked upstairs, to say goodbye to my parents and the twins, Evelyn and Flynn, before we went out. I had told my mum about what had happened with Niall and though she seemed wary and uncertain about us hanging out with a ‘popstar’ she let us do it. Emma picked us up from my house and Tayla turned to me excitedly and said, “I still can’t believe it! Emily, I LOVE YOU! Seriously!” I laughed and nodded. “Love you too, but you know what I just realised. What exactly are we going to do?” I looked at my friends, waiting for their answers. Often we would turn into tourists of our own city, walking for hours through op-shops and small alleyways or market places. Molly and Moana were known for their op-shopping, so they were often the ones who introduced us to new areas, shops and food markets. It was easier when it was just your best friends to explore your won city with. Five good-looking, famous, goofy boys who happened to belong to a well-known boy band; it wasn’t so easy. We decided to show them the wharf, where not only did they perform there in the arena, but cute cafes, restaurants, ice-cream bars situated among the water. There was a place where you could rent out roller-skates, kayaks, boats and even go rock-climbing, a park, and places where you hire out four people bikes. Often people would play music or small skits among there and huge ferry boats would stop there. Little boats would be ready for trips around the harbour and if you were really into some serious exercise, paddleboats and walking routes were to offer. It was the perfect place to spend a day, especially if you didn’t really know the person you were hanging out with, like we were. It was nice place for a date, but I tried to push that out of my mind. A date with Niall Horan? Whatever.

The boys were waiting outside the hotel for us. We parked the car and walked towards them. I was suddenly nervous. I didn’t want to call out and wave, but I didn’t want to just suddenly pop up behind them. I knew the girls were feeling the same way but luckily Niall saved this problem for me. “EMILY!” he called, walking over. The boys followed, smiled. He gave me a quick hug, which I accepted without hesitation, but was the tiniest bit shocked at the gesture. We hardly even knew each other; actually, scratch that, I knew everything about him and all he knew about me was my name and that I was a fan of his band. And a klutz. “Niall! How are you?” I ask, stepping back. The boys and my friends were standing around my friends awkward but the boys almost at ease. I guess for them, meeting shy fans was normal. “I’m good. Lads, this is Emily…the girl I told you about. And these are her mates…” he trailed off and looked at me. I started to point to my friends “That’s Tayla, and Molly, and behind her is Moana and that’s Emma,” I turned back to Niall, “I was so happy when you called. Thank you for choosing us, you know, to give you a tour.” Niall smiled and nodded. We told them our plan and we started to walk in the direction of the wharf. It was about ten minutes from their hotel. While we were walking, I noticed that Niall and I dropped to the back. Louis and Moana were talking to each other, smiling and laughing. Harry and Zayn were cracking jokes with Tayla and Emma, and Liam and Molly were quietly talking, both smiling and looking relaxed. The boys might have just met us, but they had a very comfortable vibe to them. I wished for us to be friends, but I had a feeling that the guys would be like this for anyone. I was happy though. “You look gorgeous, by the way,” Niall said, sheepishly. I grin. “Thank you. A lot. Really.” I stuttered over my words and ended up grinning shyly back up at him. He was taller than me, despite the fact I had heard things about him being a little short. His blonde hair was in my favourite style, sort of fluffy with a tiny quiff/mohawk. It looked sweet. He was wearing cream pants, a white t-shirt and a thin blue zip-up jacket. We settled into a comfortable silence, but after a while I wanted to break it. Everyone else was getting to know each other, so I asked “Do you want to play Truth?”
“You mean Truth or Dare?”
“I mean Truth. You just ask questions. So, if you ask me a question that I don’t want to answer, and I say ‘pass’ then I ask you a question, and you answer, you win. It’s pretty simple. But it’s a girl game, for sleepovers, you know.” I was afraid he might think of me young and silly, though I was only younger by one year.
“Yeah, I’ll play. Start off easy, end up hard?” He was now walking slower, as if too keep him and I from getting to the wharf with the others. “Sounds good.” I replied.
“Favourite colour?” Niall asked. “Purple and gold. What’s yours?” I answered.
“Green, for obvious reasons. Favourite food?”
It went on like this for awhile. Easy, low-key answers with simple and happy answers. By the time we had gotten to the wharf, he had taken my hand and we were walking quite close together. Liam and Molly were sitting down on a bench and everyone started to move towards them. As I went forward I felt a tug on my hand and a turned to face Niall. “Another Truth question; after you have showed everyone around, would you like to have dinner with me?”
I smiled. “That would be great.”
As a group, we decided to go hire out a boat and go for a quick ride around the harbour. Liam said he knew how to drive one. While we were walking to the place we could hire out one, Harry waited until I caught up with him. He grinned. “I’m Harry.”
I laughed. “I know. How you doing?”
“Well. Yourself? You and Niall seemed to be getting along fine.”
“Perfectly. He’s a wonderful talker. Does that sound weird?”
“Course not; he’s a fine wee chap. The amount of times he’d go off to meet new people on the XFactor tour was crazy!”
“Are you excited for the start of your tour?”
“Didn’t Niall tell you?”
“Tell me what?” I stopped and harry whirled around. He tugged at his pale blue blazer. “Nothing. You’ll know. C’mon, Niall’s pants will turn as green as his heritage if we don’t hurry up!”
I laughed. I hoped, as time moved forward, that Harry and I could become good friends.

The boat was nice. Liam could drive really well and we all had an awesome time. We did trips around the harbour and ate and talked. There were some awkward moments when one of the boys would ask a question about us but when it was our turn to ask one, they figured out that we knew a lot more about them than they did about us. At the end of the day, we were fans and they were the famous boy band. We tried not to treat it like we had won a radio contest to meet the boys, but instead just ten friends hanging out. Some moments were like that of course but other times, it just seemed that we knew too much. The guys smoothed over the bumps and we dodged the obstacles. We enjoyed our time together. We got off the boat at about three and we all decided to go to Nandos. It’s Niall’s favourite restaurant but the boys just can’t get enough of it. After lunch it was nearly four and everyone was getting tired. The boys suggested we head back to the hotel when suddenly I remembered something. I grabbed Niall’s hand and whispered in his ear:
“Another Truth question…are you ever going to tell me the huge secret?”
He grinned.

One hour later, we were at Foxglove, choosing to seat on a coach without the weaved bubble over top. After food and drink, we both lay down, looking at the blinking fairy lights and the stars that were starting to appear. I had called mum, but she said to be back by ten. After your NCEA exams have finished, most kids just go on Christmas/Summer break. Me and my friends and some other seniors (like those rugby playing boys we were watching that Monday before the boys came) chose to take some extra-curriculum classes for Year 13 and University, after exams. The classes were only two hours every afternoon so I didn’t have to be home that early. It was only one more week until classes ended.
Niall had his arm draped around me and then he said, “Now I think it’s time to tell you. Well, we are here for more than just the weekend. More than week, actually. We are here till January 25th. We are recording our new album here…it’s sort of like a break and work thing at the same time!” I sat up excitedly. “That’s two months! You’re here for two months! Oh…Niall, that’s amazing!” I was so happy. Maybe we could actually go somewhere with this…what was it? Friendship? Potential relationship? A lucky encounter? What? But before I could elaborate on this any further, Niall said: “Truth: Are you excited?” I nodded and we both lay back down on the cushion. “Very,” I whispered.
We went back to the hotel. The others were sitting around the TV, eating pizza and laughing at some made-for-TV comedy movie. We said our goodbyes and they thanked us for the day out. We swapped numbers, twitter names and email address before Tayla, Molly, Moana, Emma and I walked back to the car. I didn’t tell them about what happened. I gave them the basics, but in the end I couldn’t even admit to myself what had happened. We didn’t kiss, just snuggled as the stars blinked into the sky and asked Truth questions to each other. I didn’t tell them the way every move he made, every word he said gave me butterflies. I didn’t tell them how I was fast growing feelings for a boy I hardly knew. I didn’t tell them about how One Direction was staying for another two months. I didn’t tell them about how I had hid behind a large concrete column and watched as Niall took photos and talked with the few fans that were out. I listened to their stories of what happened after we left and made the appropriate noises at the right places. I thanked Emma when she dropped me off at my house and called out a hushed ‘hello’ to my mum and dad. The twins still had proper school and were asleep in bed. I crawled into my bed, pulled the covers over my head and let a tear fall down my face. It was a mixed emotion tear. One of happiness, from this amazing weekend and one of sadness, for the possibility that the next two months could be the best months of my life and end in heartache. I fell asleep, with that single mixed-emotion tear beside me on the pillow.