Short chapter, sorry about that!

I'm not really religious, but they say God works in mysterious ways. Some may even say it's fate. Either way, it's usually not on my side. It seems like it's hellbent on making my life miserable actually.

Except for tonight.

It's been a week since I've seen the blond chick for the first time. She's been lingering behind my brain for a while, but I don't think of her for long. It's frustrating to put a story behind a face.

But tonight, I see her. I'm casually walking back from Chomp It, a campus restaurant that specializes in greasy delights. They're open late so they're the best place for late-night guilty pleasures.

It's just past midnight when I pass one of the buildings on campus. I see a figure dressed up in a black hoodie and jeans, seemingly inconspicuous. If anything, it's a guy waiting for his secret lover.

But then, I see Blondy walk out of the building. I duck behind the wall, close enough to hear them. 

I cannot believe I've stooped to stalking.

She goes up and kisses him. He openly embraces her, even picks her up a little. She squeals in obvious delight.

Jealously of their sweet romance pangs in my stomach.

I squint my eyes, trying to identify the male. His hoodie falls down as he lowers her on the ground. His back is to me, so I don't see his face, but I catch a glimpse of his blond hair. It seems that Blondy's lover has the same taste in hair. He quickly pulls it back up again as if he doesn't want anyone to recognize him. I furrow my brows in confusion. There's practically no one around, so why is he so hell-bent on hiding?

They stand in each other's arms for minutes. She girl talks about how much she missed him and he kisses her in pure bliss.

I'm about to turn away, not being able to handle the romance between them. It seems personal, something I shouldn't witness. Then, the male speaks.

"I missed you too, baby." His unmistakable accent is a dead giveaway. My eyes widen in shock.

No, it can't be!

"Hey, girl," someone calls out into the night.

The girl nervously glances around before pulling the man into her building as if they thought they've been caught.

I grit my teeth in annoyance as Macy approaches me. "Whatcha doing?"

"Macy you will be the literal death of me," I snap, annoyed that my one chance was messed up. 

"Okay. I'll see you later then," she replies curtly and walks away. I know I should chase her, but my irritation overpowers my sense of logic. She scared them away. I was so close to confirming who the guy is, and now I'm left in doubt.

There's no way...

But it all makes so much sense! Now I have a very faint memory of her face.

There's only one way to really confirm it.

I pull out my phone and dial my newest contact. It rings and he quickly picks up, almost too quickly. "Ellie! What's up? Isn't it a little late?"

"Oh, sorry, I completely forgot about the time zones. Are you able to talk?"

He chuckles on the other end. "Always for you."

"Cool! So whatcha doing right now?"

I hear him shush someone in the background. "Oh, I'm just chilling."

"Babe, we only have one night," a female voice whines in the background. My eyes go wide as my thoughts are confirmed. He shushes them again.

"Oh, sounds like you're busy... I'll call you later," I point out.

"Ellie, wait-" he calls out before I hang up.

I bite my lip to stifle a laugh. There's no freaking way I just figured that out.

It all adds up though. The blond that I saw was Sydney, Niall's soulmate. I remember meeting her a long time ago at a new club. She was our waitress and he hit it off with her instantly. I hadn't found out he had a soulmate until much later. Then, we barely got to talk about it before everything went down.

It also explains why he was so nervous about being seen.

The door to the building opens again and I cower behind the wall.

"I can't believe you did that," Niall yells into the sky.

Sydney desperately follows behind him. "Someone's gonna hear you," she hisses.

He stops and turns to face her, talking at a normal volume now. "You know how I feel about this. She rarely ever calls me on her own accord, and the one time she did, you had to mess it up."

I gasp, realizing they're talking about me.

"It was so hard to even convince her to let me back into her life. Now she's slowly easing back in, you're ruining it!" he continues.

I peek over and see Niall threateningly standing over her small figure. I can see the tears in her eyes, and Niall's face softening.

"I'm sorry," she blubbers. "I just don't get why you like her that much! What if she takes you away from me?"

I gag at the thought. I love Niall as a friend, maybe even a brother. Anything else makes me sick.

I watch his next moves carefully. He grabs her by the shoulders and wipes her tears. "No baby, it's always you, okay? You're the love of my life." She nods and he pulls her into a hug, stroking her hair to soothe her.

My heart melts at the sight.

"She's just a one of a kind friend, okay? I'll never meet anyone like her again. I just want her back in my life, but as friends," he emphasizes. "Besides, I would never to do that to Harry."

I tense up at his name.

Sydney scoffs and wipes away the remaining tears. "Word has it she's with a frat boy."

Woah woah woah. How does she know that? And what else does she know about me?

Niall wholeheartedly laughs and I'm reminded how much I've missed that sound. "Ellie? A frat boy? No way. You must have her mistaken."

I cheesily smile. He knows me too well. Trust me Niall, I don't believe it either.

"It's true! My sorority friend posted a picture and I saw them in the background. They were leaning in to kiss. At first, I didn't believe it because he's his frat's president and one of the more attractive specimen. Like, he'd obviously date in Greek life, right? But I swear it's her. Here, I'll show you."

I look offended as she searches through her phone. So what if I'm not in a sorority? What does that have to do with him dating me?

Then I realize she said Laine's the president of his frat... No wonder he has so much respect.

"Look, that's her," she hands the phone to Niall, who squints. Then his eyes widen in surprise.

"No fucking way!"

Sydney nods, just as surprised. "Yup. All my friends are complaining about her. Rumor has it, he's even given her his windbreaker, which is only given to girlfriends. They must be pretty serious."

"Huh," Niall says amusedly. I see the mischief sparkle in his eye and fear nothing good can come from this. He grabs her hand and places a kiss on it before leading her back inside.

There's so much information to process. I just found out that Laine's the president of his frat, I've got a hate squad consisting of sorority girls, I've put a name to mystery girl, Sydney doesn't like me, and Niall's here. Not to mention, I'm basically the bestest friend Niall's ever had.

Wait a damn minute. Niall's here and he didn't even tell me? Rude! I'll definitely grill him about that if he ever brings it up.

Once the coast is clear, I make my way toward my building. I replay the conversation that just occurred, cheesing every second. Not only am I touched by the impact I have in Niall's life, but Sydney mentioned the thing about the jacket.

Not only was Laine being nice, he was making a statement. He could have taken it back at any time, but he wanted me to have. It also explains why he was so bummed out when I said I have no idea about frat culture. He obviously wanted me to see the significance of the moment.

"You're back late," Sonia notes when I walk back into our room. "And super happy..."

"Chomp it," I laugh. "And yeah... I am. I put a story to the face I was bothering you about."

She breathes a sigh of relief. Not only was I going nuts not knowing, but she was getting the worst of my frustrations. "Who was it?"

"A mutual friend from my past."

She groans and dramatically flops on her bed. "So you're not gonna tell me the story."

I laugh and change out of my clothes into my pajamas. I open my mouth to reply, but she beats me to it.

"One day, I know," she huffs.

"I'll tell you that you were right. She hates me."

She purses her lips. "Yikes, how are you handling that?" Yeah, she also knows about my compulsive need to be liked.

"I'm fine," I lie. "It doesn't matter. I know where I stand in our mutual friend's life and he'd stick up for me."

"Something tells me there's more to this story..."

"Curiosity killed the cat," I hum, putting on fuzzy socks. I climb into bed and grab my laptop.

"But satisfaction brought it back!" she completes the saying. "El, why do you have to be so damn mysterious?"

I giggle. "Because if I told you everything, I think you'd either think I'm lying or hate me."

"Now I'm more intrigued," she groans. I visibly put in my AirPods and start Netflix, hoping to drown her and her questions out.

~

Aha! Do you guys remember Sydney? If not, she was in Ch 66 of Colorful when they all went to a club together and Trina was there and Harry beat up a dude who harassed Ellie... Ah, good times.

I hope the Niall content makes up for the lack of Harry??