Bree’s POV

“You ready?” Emily asks. I turn to look at my stuff and I do a list of all the stuff that I have packed mentally.

Finally I nod. “Yeah, I’m ready,” I reply with a smile. I take my bag and follow Emily as we make our way outside the house and towards her car. “So, who’s going?” I ask, as he starts the gas.

“Uhm, Charlotte, Brenda, Andrew, Alex, Tanya,” She shrugs. “Same old, same old,” She says, making me smile. I was really excited to see everyone again after a long time. “Oh, uhm… and Matt is coming as well,” She adds quietly.

“What? Why?” I asked, getting frustrated. After what happened with Matt I was never in good terms with him again. I wasn’t ready to face him just yet. I know that I should just forget about it, but I hate when people lie to me, and that’s what he did the most.

“They don’t know what happened between you two, and since you’ve always been good friends with him I guess they just invited him,” Emily explains. “I’m sorry, I would’ve stopped them, but I just found out this morning,” She adds.

I sigh. “Its fine, Em. It’s not your fault,” I say because it’s true. Besides, I won’t let him ruin my day with my friends at the beach.

It’s been about two weeks since I came back to L.A, and I still haven’t seen everyone so we decided on going to the beach like old times to catch up. I was really excited. This was going to bring so many memories from when I still lived here. I remember coming to the beach with all my friends all the time. We used to have lots of fun. I know that something horrible happened in one of those days of me coming here, but I won’t let that take away the good times that I spent here. If I’ve learnt something from all this time is that everything happens for a reason, and even though when bad things – like losing your family – happens, you just have to stay strong and move on. I’m sure everyone has their own way of dealing with this kind of things. Thankfully, someone really special was with me when all of this happened. If I would have been on my own, I seriously don’t know what I would have done. All this strength that I’ve been able to recover, I owe it to one special Irishmen, my special snowflake; Niall Horan.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Emily asks after a moment of silence.

“Huh? Nothing,” I reply, fighting the smile that appears on my lips.

“Or better said, who are you thinking about?” She asks again. I chuckle, shaking my head. She knew the answer already; there was no need for me to confirm it. “Have you talked to him?” She asks.

I nod. “I called yesterday and we talked for a while,” I say. “You were taking a—”

“Bree?” Emily says, trying to call my attention as I stopped talking. I can’t believe I’m in this place again. So many memories come to my mind as I see the place where I grew up. I didn’t know we were going to drive around here. I would’ve liked to know, but if I did I don’t think I would have had the same reaction as right now. “Bree, what’s wro— Oh my God, I’m such an idiot!” She exclaims. “I’m so sorry, I just didn’t think about it,” She apologizes. “I would’ve gone another way if I wasn’t so stupid!”

“Em, it’s fine,” I say with a smile on my face as I keep looking at that house. That house that from now on will only bring good memories to me. I need to forget about the bad things. I need to stop thinking about them in a negative way. I don’t like to remember them in that accident and how much they suffered. I want to think of them of how good they were to everyone and how I was lucky to have such a great family. “I guess I needed to see this. I needed to see my old house,” I say.

Emily sighs. “I’m so sorry,” She says.

“No, I mean it. It’s totally fine,” I reply.

“You’ve come a long way, huh?” she says smiling as we pass by me old neighborhood. “You’re such a strong girl, Bree,” She compliments me.

I smile. “You think?”

“Hell yeah,” She replies, chuckling. “I’m so happy that everything turned out okay for you. I was so worried for you when all of that happened, and I need to admit that, even if I’m so jealous of you touring with One Direction, I’m so thankful for them. Especially Niall,” She adds smiling. I can’t help but smile back. She’s totally right. I’m so lucky to have those 5 lads as best friends now. But of course, I’m so lucky to have the Irish one as a boyfriend. “Remind me that I need to thank him,” She says.

I frown. “Thank him? Why?” I ask confused.

“Because he saved my best friend,” She replies, looking at me quickly before turning to look back at the road. At this I can’t help but blush a little. I guess she was right.

.

“It’s a beautiful day out,” Emily says as we arrive at the beach.

“Yeah,” I agree. “I’m so glad that we decided to come today.

After walking for a while in search for a perfect spot, we laid our towels and sat down on them so we couldn’t get our clothes dirty from the sand. We took out some chips and drinks that we had brought and waited for the rest to come.

A few minutes later, Brenda, Alex and Tanya arrived. After saying hello, we sat down again and continued eating and drinking, talking and catching up. Then Charlotte and Andrew came and after doing the same a while passed before the last person came. I had forgotten that he was going to come, but what annoyed me is that he was still with the same girl.

“Hey guys,” He says.

“Hi Matt,” They all reply. “Hi Josie,” they all said later, talking to, I’m guessing, Matt’s girlfriend.

“Bree,” He says. “It’s so good to see you again,” He says. I fake a smile and replied with a ‘you too,’ and then continued eating. I still don’t know why I’m still so annoyed with him, I guess it’s the fact that he hasn’t apologized yet.

After that, Matt didn’t talk to me again, but I was totally fine with that. That was until some of the guys decided to go inside the water, and others to go for a walk. I was left alone with Matt because I didn’t want to do either of those things, but I’m sure he stayed back so he could talk to me. I swear if he continues to be a jerk I’m totally leaving.

“So, how’s life with One Direction?” He asks.

“It’s great!” I exclaim, trying to sound as excited as possible so he couldn’t notice that he was actually annoying me. “I’m having an awesome time,” I add.

“That’s awesome,” He replies. “And you’re dating one of them, right?”

I nod, and automatically a smile appears on my face. I don’t care if I’m talking to Matt, when someone mentions Niall I can’t help but smile really big. “Yes, I’m dating Niall,” I say.

“That’s great,” He says with a smile. “Look, I wanted to apologize about what happened a few months ago,” He says after a minutes of silence, scooting closer to me. “I know you had a crush on me, but at the time I had no idea, and I’m sorry that I led you on. I swear, it was not my intention,” He explains. Whoa, I can’t believe he’s apologizing after all this time. “It must’ve been hard for you to see me kissing Josie that night,” He comments.

I scoff. “Please, it was a tiny crush, don’t get so full of yourself,” I joke, making him chuckle. Of course it hurt me, but I was not going to admit that to him.

“And also, I’m so sorry about your family,” He says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

I sigh, but a smile appears on my face after. “It’s fine. It is what it is,” I reply. “Also, I’m sorry about that day in the mall,” I add quietly. “You know, the accident was very recent and I wasn’t being myself,” I explain.

Matt chuckles. “It’s understandable,” he shrugs. “It’s fine,” He replies. “So… we’re good?” He asks.

I giggle. “We’re good,” I state. He smiles and hesitantly plants a soft kiss on my temple. I smile at the friendly gesture, but minutes after I didn’t felt as comfortable. What if his girlfriend is watching us? I don’t want any drama with her. I look around, looking for her, but she was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to let it slide.

But oh boy, how do I regret that.

~ ~ ~

Four chapter left! Are you guys ready?

This was going to be up on Thursday, but I got sick and wasn't able to write until yesterday night. That was until I got writer's block. Thankfully it's all gone now and I was able to finish this tonight.

BTO will be up tomorrow or on Wednesday!

So yeah...

Would you guys please check her out:
http://www.wattpad.com/user/natalievanbaars

And I made a new tumblr, please check it out:
http://always-smile-1d.tumblr.com/

Ok, I think that's all... PLEASE vote, comment and all that stuff. THANKS!

~ Marii xx