Homepage › Stories › Diana › Chapter 16

Diana

Chapter 16

16
Niall’s P.O.V.
I woke up on the floor of my room and just laid there for a bit, thinking. I had to go back to the tour soon. I wanted, so badly, for Diana to come with me. But she really needed to get used to living at home again. School would be starting soon. But I would miss Diana so severely if I left her here. But she needed to stay. But she would have fun on tour. But she needed to stay. But if she stayed, she’d be here with Marcus and no me. But she could take care of herself. But what if staying here made her unhappy?
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I’d figure it all out later.
Standing up, I unplugged my phone to check the time. However, it was still useless. I cursed myself for dropping it and pulled on a shirt. I tried to flatten my bedhead as much as I could with my hand and left the room. I hadn’t gone three steps before stopping dead and turning back.
Had Diana been in bed, where I’d left her? I wasn’t sure.
I checked the bed to find it empty. Weird. She liked to sleep in. I shrugged and strolled downstairs.
“Morning,” I called to Dan and Sara, who were finishing breakfast.
“Afternoon,” Sara called back, giggling.
“What?”
“It’s that time of day where it’s not morning but it’s not evening either,” Dan grinned.
“What time is it?” I asked, hastily.
“Oh,” Sara took her time, “only about 2.”
My face must have been hilarious, as both Dan and Sara burst out laughing.
I finally recovered. “Where is everyone?”
“Maddie’s at a friend’s house. Mom’s downstairs. Dad’s at work…” Again, Sara took her time getting to what I wanted to know. “And Neala is upstairs in my room with a friend.”
“Who? Janice? I don’t like her and I don’t think Diana does either,” I half asked, half mumbled to myself, running up the stairs.
I burst through the door, looking wildly around. Diana was plopped on the edge of the bed with another girl next to her. Diana’s shoulders were shaking. She was crying!
“Oi! What are you doin’?” I demanded of the other girl. It wasn’t Janice, I realized.
When Diana turned around I could see she’d been laughing, not crying.
“It’s okay, Ni,” she giggled. I loved it when she called me that. “She’s my friend.”
“Oh… Well uh, I knew that. I just wanted to scare you!” I fibbed, embarrassed.
“Oh, suuure,” Diana rolled her eyes. “Ni, this is Macey. Mace, I think you know who this is…”
Macey was frozen, gaping at me.
Uh oh, I thought. It doesn’t look like she’s breathing. Looks like a fangirl attack.
“Hey there, M-“ I almost said her name. Which, I knew from experience, was not a good thing to do during a fangirl attack.
I hugged her and rubbed her back slowly, instead.
“Heyy, it’s okay.”
“I- I love you, Niall!” Macey got out, sobbing now.
“I love you too,” I responded, automatically. Then I glanced at Diana. Was she jealous? But she was smiling widely. I relaxed a bit and continued hugging Macey until she calmed down.
“S-sorry,” she blushed as I let go of her to sit between the two girls.
“Why? That was more controlled fangirling than some people.”
“That was controlled?” She laughed.
“Yeah! One time we had to call an ambulance for one girl who flipped out when she met us.”
“Really?” Diana and Macey asked at the same time.
“Yeah! And people pass out a lot too! It’s scary. One time there was a huge group and this one girl tripped over her own feet at the sight of me! Then, she feinted, right on the spot!”
I could barely hide my laughter as I recounted what had happened with Diana, my version.
“We had to call an ambulance and everything! She was out for a while, but when she woke up, I was right there!”
Diana knew what I was doing now and joined in.
“I seem to remember you falling for her even though she was younger. Is that right?”
“Why yes, it is! She was as beautiful as they come and not too shabby with humor too.” Now I was gazing straight into Diana’s green eyes. “I think she may have taken a liking to me too. You seem to know a lot about it. What do you think, Diana?”
“I think she liked you back,” she said, just before bursting into a giggle fit.
“Well that’s good. Because it would be weird to ask her on our first actual date without her liking me back.”
Macey must have caught on, but I didn’t notice if she did. I was too focused on Diana.
“So, would you? …Like to go on a real date, I mean.” Color rushed to my face as I fumbled with the words.
Diana was frozen now, her mouth open. She looked at me for a while, then at her friend. I turned to try and catch some of their silent conversation. Macey was nodding vigorously at Diana.
“Yes! Yeah, sure.” Diana gushed.
“Alright. Be ready at 7! I’m gonna go eat now. I missed breakfast!”
I got up and went back downstairs before she could ask any questions.
I hadn’t been planning on asking her out earlier. But while I was telling the story, I realized, we’d never actually been on a proper date and I had to return to the tour the next night.
I made a sandwich and went back to my room. Once again, I grabbed my phone, forgetting that it was broken. I needed a new one. Sighing, I put it down and turned on my laptop. I ran a search for restaurants in the area. There were a bunch of them, but nothing really caught my eye.
The door opened and Diana stepped in.

Diana’s P.O.V.
As soon as Niall left the room, Macey started jumping up and down.
“You didn’t tell me he was here! Oh my gosh! Neala! You’re going on a date with Niall James Horan! We’ve fantasized about this for years! I never thought it would actually happen though! Oh my gosh!”
I laughed, “Now all we need is to get you to the beach with Louis!”
“You remember I’m a Louis girl?”
“What? Oh, yeah. I guess so.”
“And that my dream date would be the beach? Your memory’s coming back!”
I just smiled. Maybe it finally was.
We chatted for a few more minutes then, Macey asked, “What are you going to wear?”
I hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t know. What do you think I should?”
“Well it depends on where you’re going.”
“And I don’t know that.”
“Well go ask!”
She pushed me up. I took my time going to Niall’s room, trying to decide how to ask. But I got there all too soon and had no idea what I was going to say. I opened the door and walked in.
“Hey, uh, I wanted to know, what should I wear tonight?”
“Uh…” Niall was on his laptop. “Anything you want and I’ll find a place to suit it…?”
“Are you sure?” I asked. He didn’t sound very sure.
“Of course!”
He flashed a smile as I left.
Macey and I just hung out together until I needed to get ready.
“So, what should I wear?” I asked.
“Nothing too fancy. But not sweatpants either,” Macey said slowly.
“Well take a look at what I have.”
I opened my suitcase and began pulling stuff out.
“Why don’t you come over to my house? We’re the same size and I have more clothes.”
“What about my house?” I asked, suddenly. Obviously I’d lived somewhere! I wanted to see it!
“That’s way on the other side of town. We don’t have time to get there. We could go tomorrow though,” Macey suggested.
“Okay. Let’s go to your house then.”
It was only a 15 minute walk to her house. On the way there, I thought of something.
“Macey?”
“Yeah?”
“Why weren’t you at the funeral?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? My mom had a baby! I had to drive her to the hospital because my dad was at work!” She explained with pride.
“Oh, wow! Congrats!” I grinned. “I guess you’re older than me.”
“Yeah. Not by much though. I was born in July. That was my first day with my license.”
“You had to drive to the hospital on your first day?”
“Yeah, pretty crazy, huh?”
“Insane.”
We got to her house and ran upstairs. Macey’s mom and new baby sister were still at the hospital.
Macey opened her closet and all her drawers. She had a lot of really cute clothes!
After trying on a gazillion things, we settled on my black skirt with her peach top. Then we dug through her earrings to find some cute feather ones. She handed me a bracelet and necklace and told me to put it all on.
When I was finished I checked the look in Macey’s mirror. I loved it. I smiled and gave her a hug.
“Thanks,” I said. And it wasn’t just for the outfit. It was for staying my friend and everything before, when I was just Neala, even if I didn’t remember it.