Night Air

Chapter 59

*Alyssa's POV*

"Shh, shh, shh," Stephany soothed as I cried into her chest, "It's okay." I wasn't sure if I was crying because I was upset or because I was angry and felt betrayed. Either way, the tears weren't stopping anytime soon and just kept sticking to Stephany's bare shoulder and spaghetti strap. This was a Saturday that she wasn't working and I was happy because otherwise she wouldn't have been in yet.

"Why don't you come in so we can talk?" Stephany suggested and I took a step back with a sniff. I had forgotten that I hadn't even made it into her room yet and we were just standing in her doorway.

"Oh yeah." I let a small chuckle out and wiped my face while Stephany gently pulled me into her room and closed the door behind me.

She led me to her bed and had me sit down. She then handed me a pillow to cuddle with and a box of tissues which I gladly excepted. "Now," she said getting situated, "what's going on? Is it about Niall? Is he back?" I shook my head no while wiping away my runaway mascara and eyeliner. "Then what's this about?"

"My dad," I started to say with a sniff. "has been setting up some stupid plan so that I'll end up with Ryan and I think he knows about Niall." I bit my trembling lip and watched Stephany's face fall into sympathy. I had already told her about Ryan being as he had called one night that we went out and I ended up ignoring him. She didn't, however, know much about Niall and I. She just knew that we hung out a lot and had a few make out sessions here and there. I didn't ever actually tell her that I fell in love with him, but I don't think I really had to.

"Oh, Ally," she started to say and then moved so she could hug me. "What do you mean he knows about Niall? H-how did you figure all of this out?"

"I overheard them."

"Who?"

"My dad!" I grabbed another tissue. "He was in some room talking to Tom- and Ryan and his dad were in there too!" She held me tighter and started whispering how sorry she was even though it wasn't her fault. "They didn't know I was there," I added.

"So what are they going to do?" Steph asked while pulling away a little bit.

I shrugged and wiped away my tears again. "I don't know. I mean, I set up a date with Ryan on-"

"What!?" Steph interrupted me but I just rolled my eyes.

"No. I'm not actually going," I told her and she seemed to settle back into place although it was obvious she was a little confused. "I told him I would give him a second chance but really, Haley's going to show up instead because we talked earlier and she thought he was cute."

Steph snorted. "Wait what? You and Haley actually talked? I thought you guys couldn't stand each other."

I shrugged and shot my tissue across the room trying to make it in the basket. It bounced off the rim and onto the floor, but I didn't really care. "We made a deal. She told me everything she knew about Niall's return and I gave her my old bully. Fair enough."

Stephany laughed as she got off the bed and threw away my lifeless wet tissue laying on the floor. "Sure, sure. So is it true that he's back then?" She sat back down on the bed, staring at me curiously.

I looked away from her and down to the pillow I was holding tightly to my middle. "Yeah," I said just above a whisper, "he's back."

"You know for sure?" She asked, and I just nodded my head. "How do you know?"

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Because," I started, "I ran into him on the elevator."

"Good!" My eyes shot open and saw her smiling at me like it was a good thing.