This Town

Chapter Fifty Seven

I spent those four months promoting my second solo single and finishing up my album. Siobhan and I had talked a couple of times through texts, mostly me apologizing to her, but once again, things seemed to be strained between us and I couldn't help but wonder why I kept getting into this mess. She had clearly made up her mind and wanted to only be my friend. And I was the one fucking that up.

When I got back to London to do some promotion there, I got an odd phone call from David, of all people, inviting me to go out with him and Siobhan for lunch. I agreed, hoping that maybe this last fiasco was behind us and I could maybe actually just be her friend. And be happy for her.

But when I arrived at the pub, David was the only one there. "Hey man, what's up?" I asked, approaching him, "Where's Siobhan?"

"She's not coming. In fact, she doesn't know I'm here."

I raised an eyebrow, "So what's going on?" I asked as I sat down. Suddenly nervous.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

'Shit.' I thought. "About what?" I asked.

"Did anything happen a few months ago? The last time you saw her?"

I began to panic. I looked around, trying to find an escape route if I needed it. "What do you mean?"

"She's been acting weird the last few months. I just didn't know if something weird had happened. It's worrying me, is all."

"Weird? How?"

"She's just become more distant. I thought things were moving along for us, but they seem to have stalled and have now moved backwards. I almost feel like she's maybe done with me and hasn't figured out how to break up with me."

I almost broke out into a smile but stopped myself. I needed to act concerned, not jovial. "Well, I mean, I don't recall anything happening. Mostly, any time we hung out, we played music. She worked on her thing and I mine. I don't know about anything that may have happened."

"Are you sure? Did she meet someone else?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just, like I said, she's distant. I mean..." He stopped for a second and leaned in a little closer to me, "Niall, we haven't had sex in three months."

"Oh." That was all I could say. I did not want that image in my head.

"And maybe twice in the month before that. That's why I'm asking. It's like she suddenly lost interest in me." He stopped. He looked really upset and actually wiped away a tear. "I just don't know what to do, Niall. And I'm sorry about coming to you with this, it's just...you've known her for a long time and I didn't know if you would have any insight."

Insight? Insight told me she had indeed lied to me. And now it was effecting her relationship with David. I looked across the table at this guy who was usually so happy and completely unaware of who I really was to her; this guy who never once acted as if I was an inconvenience to his relationship. He was looking at me, desperation in his eyes. I knew that look well because it was often on my face. Despite being rather happy that things were going south and that my instinct was correct, I felt bad for the guy.

"Well, it's almost August, and her father passed away at the end of August a few years ago but I don't think that would be bothering her now. Has she said anything?"

"No. But she's writing it."

"What do you mean?"

"She writes down everything. Her songs are personal, I know that. I'd love to meet the guy who broke her heart when she was a teenager. Not just because he clearly meant a lot to her but so I could break his face." I gulped. "But now, I don't know, the songs I hear her fiddling with sound like maybe she still isn't over him. Or something. What do you know about the guy?"