Broken (a Niall Horan love story)

Chapter 27

"Actually, I was in the hospital," she sighed, and I felt her picking at the material of my shirt when she said the words. I was happy to see that she was being open with someone, but I just wished that it wasn't this kid. He pushed my buttons in very bad ways, and I really didn't want them to get much closer to each other.

"Oh wow," the boy breathed out on his end of the conversation, "are you okay? What happened?"

Navaeh took in a deep breath, and my tense hand rubbed against her back to try to help her to calm down. "I'm fine now, I just had a little problem with some pills," she admitted, and I had no doubt in my mind that he understood what she was implying. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if he was a complete idiot and didn't catch the meaning of the words at all.

"Was it because of the family issues?" Cody wondered, and that made my mind spin with this odd kind of anger. How did Cody know about everything with her father? I hadn't even known about it until a few days ago and I had known her for almost a year. How did a fucking boy she just met know about something so personal? My knuckles were starting to turn white at how tight my fists were clenched, and I had to force myself to breath regularly.

"Um, yeah," she mumbled, "just a bunch of stuff, but yeah."

"I understand," Cody told her, and I resisted the urge to scoff at that statement. "If you feel like things get too tough than I won't question it. I'm glad you're okay, though." His words baffled me; he was treating the fact that she tried to kill herself like it was a paper cut. How could it even be considered that unimportant? A look down at Navaeh showed me that she was smiling at the conversation, and that fact only boiled my blood a bit more.

"I'm glad to be feeling better," she replied to his words before her smile grew and she fidgeted with my shirt a little bit more. "Hey, would you be interested in catching that movie on Friday night?" her question was enough to make me want to grab the phone. The thought of them alone in a movie theater was brought up once again; a picture of this Cody boy reaching over to put his arm around Navaeh was what filled my head, and it was an unacceptable sight. I wouldn't be able to advise against it, though; she had already made the offer and I couldn't stop her from going if it was truly what she wanted to do.

"Are you kidding me? Of course," Cody answered with excitement from his side, "I was actually-."

"Navaeh, I'm hungry," I groaned to try to gain the attention that she was putting on the conversation. She actually looked up at me, and I could hear the slight mumbles of Cody continuing coming from her phone, but I tried to pay it little attention. She looked up at me with a raised brow and then let her lids close before shaking her head at me. Situating her head back to its regular position, she interrupted a babbling Cody.

"Yeah, hey, Cody, I'm so sorry but I have to go," she told him, and a smug little smile tilted my lips. I was consoled by the fact that she had chosen to pay attention to me rather than Cody. At least I was still at top priority over this new boy; that was something to be happy about. "Yeah, I'm at a friend's flat so I'll get back to you as soon as I can." And with that, she snapped the phone closed and looked back up at me. "Do you need me to get off of you so that you can go get food?" she asked me once she had slipped the phone back into her back pocket.

"No, you can stay here," I shook my head, and I wrapped my arms around her a bit tighter. She let out a slight squeal when I shifted slightly and she was brought even closer to my chest if that was possible.

"But Niall, you said you were-," she started, but I interrupted her before she could finish the sentence.

As I buried my face into her hair, I mumbled out a, "nope."

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"The look on your face was priceless," Louis laughed as we all climbed the steps to get to the front door of my flat. The boys and I had been out very late that night; it was Thursday, Navaeh had gone back to school and back to her house, and I was back into the schedule of recording and interviews. Things had been crazy for the boys and I; it was late night after late night and it was wearing down on us pretty quickly. We had to get up early in the morning the next day, and the boys and I had agreed to stay at my flat overnight so that we could all go in together.