Small Talk (Niall Horan)

Chapter 71

*Sofia's P.O.V.*

"Fuck." I muttered under my breath after the camera was removed from my face.

"Harry fucked up." Eleanor whispered.

"Yes he did." I replied back, still trying to process the whole situation in my mind.

"Can't believe he messed up like that." Gigi added.

"Specially him, since he was the one that asked about it last night." Eleanor continued.

"I know, I'm still in shock." I answered. This obviously wasn't the way Niall and I had planned to tell everyone about our relationship, but for better or worse our relationship was now exposed and we had to deal with it. I knew Harry didn't do it on purpose, he wasn't deliberately trying to fuck with us, so even though I was mad at the situation, I couldn't be angry at him. I couldn't even pay attention to the rest of the interview, over thinking about the previous events and how they would affect our lives and relationship. It was all going to be different from now on. 

As soon as the show was over we saw the boys get off from the stage. We had to stay and watch until the show ended, since we were sitting in the audience and we couldn't just leave our seats in the middle of the show. After another 15 excruciating minutes, since I couldn't stop thinking about how our relationship was no longer a secret, the show finally ended. I sprung from my seat as fast as I could and started to make my way backstage, I could hear Eleanor's and Gigi's footsteps close behind. The first person I came face to face with as soon as I went backstage was Harry. And knowing him, I knew he must've been really worried and wanted to apologize to me as soon as possible so he decided to wait by the entrance until I got there. Even if he had fucked up big time, he was still a sweetheart.

"Soph, I'm really really sorry. I swear to god I didn't mean for it to slip. Please don't hate me." He pleaded, the pain and regret evident in his eyes. How could he possibly think that I could hate him? I could be mad at him, which I wasn't, but I could never ever hate him. 

"It's okay Harry. I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"So you don't hate me?"

"Of course I don't hate you. I could never hate you." I spoke and I saw as relief washed over him before he embraced me. 

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Again, I'm really sorry."

"It's okay Harry, don't worry." We broke apart from our embrace. 

"Hey." I suddenly heard Niall speak from behind me and I turned around to face him. I don't know what overcame me, but I had the sudden urge to wrap myself around him. It was as if I needed his embrace to let me know that everything was going to be alright. And it was as if he understood exactly what I needed, because he hugged me as tightly as he could before whispering

"Everything's going to be okay babe. Don't worry." As he stroked my hair in a calming way. 

"I hope so." I voiced, mostly to convince myself. 10 minutes later we were ushered into several vans, Harry and Liam in one, Zayn and Gigi in another, Eleanor and Louis in a third one and finally one for us, since they were taking each of us to our houses. I couldn't help but pull out my phone as soon as Niall and I got inside the van. I had been dreading the moment, but I knew that I had to check it sooner or later, so I decided to deal with it now instead of later. It had only been about 30 minutes since the interview had aired, and news had travelled fast. I opened Whatsapp first and saw that I had messages from Valentina, Victoria, my mom, some cousins, Isabella and Emma, my trader friends, and a bunch of other acquaintances who suddenly all wanted to speak to me. I decided to only answer Valen's, Vic's and my mom's texts, I would deal with the rest later. I opened Valentina's texts first