Night Air

Chapter 45

*Niall's POV*

I should have stopped about two drinks ago, or maybe it was five. What number am I on? Hell if I know.
The bartender comes back to me again, but this time he's moving back and forth. And there's two... and a half? His seemingly black eyes bore into me like I'm a small child about to get scolded. "I think you've had enough, sir. Would you like a glass of water?" I push my empty glass away and nod my head, leaning quite dependently on the bar. I think the bar and I have made a good friendship in the last while.
"Where's Alyssa tonight?" Someone asks behind me. It's Ashton. The other boys are around here somewhere, too, but we all kind of got split up. I thought I saw Michael leave a while ago with some girl, but I'm not too sure anymore.
I shrug in response to Ashton's irrelevant and pointless question. "Well didn't you ask her to come tonight?" He interregates.
No.
I shrug again as my water arrives and is placed on my friend in front of me that I'm still leaning on.
"So where is she?" He pushed again, and this time, I turned my head to look at him. Our eyes connected as I sent my glare, but he didn't even blink an eye in a form of flinching. He just sent a harsh glare back- a more sober harsh glare. "You didn't even ask her, did you?"
"Why the fuck does it matter to you where she is? She's not yours!" Damn.

He crossed his muscular and bulging arms over his chest. "She's not yours either, Niall."
Nerve struck. I pushed myself off from my stool and stumbled back and forth on my own two uncooperative feet. One of us was swaying from side to side and I was pretty sure it was me, but I nonetheless kept my glare sent dead in his eyes. He rose an eyebrow as if to challenge me, which only pissed me off more.
"Wanna say that again?!" I growled and stumbled back, the bar catching me. Wow. That bar really was my friend.
Ashton still hadn't moved a muscle and was only staring at me with a blank and bored expression. "Alyssa is not yours," he repeated.
I bravely step away from the bar and push my hand against his chest in a rough manner, but he didn't budge. I only fell backwards where I started. "Yes she is. She is my responsibility! Until the modeling tour is over, she is mine!" I was fuming and the fact that Ashton was appearing to be completely calm only pissed me off more. He didn't even bat an eyelash when I pushed against him.
He did that same thing that Alyssa does and propped his nose in the air. The thing she does when she's about to make a smartass point. "If she's your responsibility, then why isn't she with you?" He took a step closer to me. "What if something bad was happening to her right now? You would have no idea because you're here drunk off your ass and as far as you know, she could be getting raped in an alley." My eyes immediately widened as the thought of someone touching Alyssa- my fucking Alyssa- sunk in. I couldn't bare to think of someone holding her against some worn brick wall in the dead of night, touching her in ways and kissing her how only I have. I don't care what Ashton or anyone else says or thinks. She's mine at least for the next precious month and a half because after that, I'll never have the chance for her to be mine.
My widened eyes suddenly lowered and turned angry again. I once again stepped away from the bar so I was chest to chest with Ashton. "No one is going to touch her. No one but me and that's a promise." I harshly spoke and then stepped around him and towards the exit of the bar.
"Niall!" I heard Ashton call from behind me as he must have realized where I was heading. "Where are you going?" I only ignored him and kept walking. He didn't come after me.

Where did he honestly think I was going? I was going back to the hotel to see Alyssa. The only good idea I was coming up with at the moment.

*

I was trying to be quiet as I stumbled into my room at eleven o'clock at night, but it wasn't really working and I kept tripping over my own two feet. I passed Alyssa's room on the way to mine and I seriously considered stopping in and visiting, but then I figured she would maybe be upset if my drunken self randomly showed up.
I threw my jacket off and it landed on the arm of the couch before slowly sliding off and then landing on the floor with a thud. I just simply shrugged and then wandered into my bedroom, slipping my shoes off before laying back and letting my body sink down into the mattress. It wasn't too long after I had gotten myself sunk down that I heard a crinkling noise under me and felt a sharp pain under my back.
It was Alyssa's notebook. I smiled and lifted my back up while pulling the notebook out from under my body. It was open to the last entry I had read, but I found myself rereading it anyways. It was the day that she left for Los Angeles. She explained how worried and shakey she was that morning. She also talked about how she wanted to make her mom proud of her by completing this.