Let's Pretend [Niall Horan]

Chapter 12

"I completely messed up..." Niall moaned again, trailing off.  He leaned back, resting his head on the couch in frustration.

"It's okay," I tried to comfort. "I'm sure you had a reason." Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the greatest thing to say to someone in this state, but it was literally all I had.  I never was the best at comforting people, however much I wanted to help.

A few moments passed, Niall staring up at the ceiling blankly.  

"I missed her."

"What?"

"Faith.  I missed her – her laugh – her smile – her everything.  And I found this cute Irish girl at the studios, so I invited her over two nights ago.  I wasn't thinking but that's what I did." He choked out a humorless chuckle.  "And it's funny because I'd never slept with Faith so I don't even know why I did it.  To comfort myself, I guess, to prove that I was over her.  All Faith and I used to do was run around and just do crazy things in town.  It was a happy life..."

I studied Niall, trying not to lose eye contact, but he tended to look down whenever he was nervous, and he was definitely nervous now.

"Niall," I started tentatively, but his rough voice cut me off.

"Don't you dare say it's okay, because it isn't.  It's horrible and it's not like me.  I sound like Harry, always having a bunch of girlfriends, or as he calls it, 'girls that are friends.' I didn't act like me – Niall.  And that's not all.  Harry... He..." Niall couldn't finish.  He buried his face in his hands, and I could tell that he was trying not to cry.

I bit my lip.  Even though I didn't know exactly what was going on, seeing Niall like this was horrible.  I couldn't bear it.  It was like the sun in my life just set, giving way to a sudden snowstorm. Niall always was the happy, cheerful, funny, one that made everyone laugh; once I even said in an interview that if I were to change lives with anyone for one day, it would most definitely be with Niall because he found everything funny or fun.   

I helplessly glanced back over at the boy who was sitting on the other end of the dark leather couch, silent tears dripping to the floor.  

This was not the fun, happy-go-lucky, hilarious Niall I knew.

Making a quick decision, I picked up my cell phone again and quickly dialed Harry’s number.  He would know what to do, and maybe he could tell me what had happened 

But the phone went straight to voicemail; I clicked the "End" button, leaving me in an eerie silence with the happiest boy I had ever known – who was definitely not happy at the moment. 

-Mrs. Gray-
••January 24, 2013••

The landline rang loudly, quickly answered by my new housekeeper, May Hayes.  For the past two days she had proven that she is by far the best housekeeper I had had in many years.

When I woke up three days ago to find Faith nowhere in sight, Lisa fed me some sort of story about Faith being at a church camp.  I admit, the woman had me fooled for a day or so, but after I phoned the church to discover that there was no such camp, Lisa was caught like a rabbit in a steel trap.  She tried to wriggle out of it, I'll grant her that.  But I ended up forcing her to tell me the truth.  Knowing the kind of power I held, I was glad it didn't take long for her to break down and tell me where my daughter had run off to.

Threatening Lisa about her oh-so-very-poor family was simple.  It shook her up enough to tell me things. Then I kicked her out, of course – I didn't need an unfaithful housekeeper in my life.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected much from Lisa, anyways.  She was a stranger; she didn’t know anything about Faith or me.  She didn't know just how dangerous indulging my daughter could be.

“Shannon Chin is on line,” May’s soft voice said, popping her head into the den with the phone in hand.  

“I’ll take it,” I replied firmly.  I was dying for more information about Faith.  What an amazing coincidence that Shannon happened to be in London!

May nodded and handed me the phone, exiting the room.  I waited a few seconds, making sure May was far from my office before pressing the phone to my ear.

“Tell me,” I breathed.

Shannon let out a long, rather obnoxious sigh before starting, “Hello, Mrs. Gray,” she said in her regularly boring voice.  I kind of felt bad that I had made Faith hang out with her.  I mean, who could stand this voice for more than a couple of hours?!  I rolled my eyes as Shannon continued.

“I found Faith."

“You did?!” I almost jumped off of my chair in relief.  I had been so scared I was going to lose her.  After what the doctor told me years ago...  The farther away from places like London Faith was, the better.  But Shannon's next words killed my excitement almost before it started.

“I may have lost her, though…”

“Excuse me?!” I yelled into the phone.

“It’s okay!  I saw her yesterday, but she ran away.  I think I know where she is, though.”  Shannon replied calmly.

“This is serious.  I cannot risk this.  Faith needs to come back to Ireland as soon as possible,” I hissed into the phone, unable to suppress my rage and disbelief.  Was Shannon joking?  She saw Faith yesterday.  She let Faith GET AWAY FROM HER.  And she was only calling me NOW about this???

There was a muffled voice on Shannon's end of the phone, making me suspicious about who was there, but Shannon quickly returned to the line.  “I have to go, Mrs. Gray.  I'm at the studio, and I have to record for a while longer.  I'll look for her tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow?!” I exclaimed. “That will not do.  Don’t bother.  I will go to talk to her on my own.” I hung up on Shannon without another word.  That selfish, annoying, stupid little kid.  I never should have trusted her to bring Faith back home.  I guess if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.

I pressed a few numbers on the phone's keypad, massaging my temples as I waited for the person I was calling to pick up.  Eventually, I heard a click.

“James Gray speaking."

“It’s me,” I replied.  I smiled in satisfaction, examining the perfectly-manicured, bright red nails of my left hand.  Everything was going to turn out just fine.  “I’m coming to get my daughter."

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