Night Air

Chapter 65

*Alyssa's POV*

"I just don't get it," I sighed and Steph rubbed my arm to comfort me. "I just can't help but feel he's suddenly treating this like..." I trailed off and looked up at her as I ran my fingers through my unwashed and oily hair. "It's like I'm just another one, you know?"
Stephany sighed and scooted over to me to wrap me in a hug. "I'm sorry, Alyssa. Maybe he's not meaning to ignore you."
I shrugged and looked down at the comforter on my bed as our hug broke up. "I don't know. I thought it was strange when he cancelled us having dinner Saturday night, but I just shrugged it off, you know?" Steph nodded her head, probably out of apathy, but I nonetheless appreciated it. "But then when he didn't answer any of my calls or texts yesterday, I started to get actually worried and then today, he hardly even looked at me at all!"

Stephany reached over to my nightstand and grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza from the box I had bought. "I mean it's the end of the tour, too. You have to remember that," she told me as she chewed a bite off of the pizza. "I mean you said he left on Saturday to review photos so maybe, since it's the end of the tour, Tom is working him harder."
I shrugged and grabbed another piece of pizza, too. "I guess that's a possibility."
"Look," Steph said while putting her slice on a napkin, "Niall makes it quite obvious he cares for you. Everyone can see it. I really don't think he would sleep with you and drop you like you were some one night stand."
"But what about all that shit he told me before he left? About how he was just 'looking for another victim' and I was it because I was a virgin and he just wanted-"
"Oh, shut it!" Stephany cut me off. "You really think Niall would do that? You really think he meant that?" I shook my head no. "No. Of course not. No guy would treat a girl the way he treated you for two and a half months just for half an hour of sex."
I shrugged as I saw her point, but it didn't necessarily make me feel completely better. I just really wanted to know why Niall had barely spoken a word to me since Saturday night. If he regretted Friday night and never wanted to speak to me again, I wish he would have just told me he didn't like it. While, yes, it would hurt, at least then I would know he was being honest with me and I wouldn't be sitting in suspense wondering what went wrong.

God. Why did he have to be so confusing? Why couldn't he just tell me how he felt about things... like maybe me for example."

Stephany suddenly smiled as she looked around the room. I quirked an eyebrow and slowly set the slice of pizza I was about to take a bite of back down. "Why are you smiling like that?" I questioned.
Stephany quickly shot her head back to me and locked her chocolatey brown eyes on mine. "Let's go do something."
"Like?"
She shrugged her shoulders, exposing her stomach as she did as she was wearing a black, loose crop top. "Something adventurous!"
I quirked one of my eyebrows with my pizza sitting in my lap. She quickly grabbed it and set it over on my nightstand. "Hey," I furrowed my eyebrows, "I was eating that!"
She nudged me with the back of her hand as if to push me off of the bed. "Go shower."
"What?"
She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Go shower. We are going out. I will have an outfit ready for you when you come out." I continued to sit there while giving her a strange look. Her face fell as her hands found her hips like a mother who was scolding their child. "Go!" She yelled. "Shower! I'll be back!"
Without another word, she ran out of my room and all I heard was the door slam shut behind her. I sighed, but nonetheless pulled my body up so I could wander into the bathroom.
This better be good.

**
"Are you sure this is legal?" I asked again for the tenth time as I climbed over a fence in heels and skinny jeans.
"Completely!" She laughed and continued to lead me through a path I was pretty sure was supposed to be marked off as private property. "I used to come this way all the time when I would visit Paris with my family. I was like, 16 when I first came this way."
I rolled my eyes as I continued to struggle to walk the dirt and rocky path in Steph's heels. "That's reassuring."
When I had gotten out of the shower, Steph had a pair of my skinny jeans and a nice blouse waiting for me along with a pair of her sparkling silver high heels. It was freezing that night and my cover up over my blouse wasn't cutting it as I struggled and tripped over my own two feet.
Stephany wasn't struggling the least bit to climb the old trail up a hill, but I on the other hand, although I could walk in heels no problem on a flat surface, was struggling to not break my ankles.
"Why do you know your way around Paris so well?" I questioned, suddenly out of breath as I caught up to her.
She shrugged. "My dad's company has a headquarters stationed here and every year since I was six we would come here during the summer. I learned French and made a few friends." I nodded my head, wondering how I got lucky enough to coincidentally get a friend that could help me out in a place like Paris.