Synergy

Seventy-nine

"We can't. I can't. You can. Why are you even here?"

His eyes traced the room. "I was on my way, but I passed the room and thought I'd check on you and you almost fought that girl who asked about Harry so I thought I'd step in."

My eyes rolled to the side. "I did not almost fight her."

He put two fingers up to my face and pinched them together. "You were pushing it. This close Cunningham."

I rolled my eyes again. It was the only response I could muster.

"Right. So here comes another one. Try not to slap her if she says she loves your songs."

His smile was so heartwarming that it almost, almost made some of the darkness crippling me release a little bit.

"Hi Ela."

"Hey there. What's your name?"

And it wasn't as hard to communicate with Jake there. It wasn't as hard to force a smile with Jake there. It wasn't hard with Jake there.

"Good job Cunningham. Proud of you and all that."

The meet and greet was over a long two hours later. I was so tired. Again.

"Thanks Jake. For everything. "

His lips released an army of pearly whites.
"You look like you could use a good meal. Or food period. Let's go."

I shook my head no. "I'm not hungry. But thanks."

He scoffed. "Nope. Not letting you become some depressed bag of bones who gets pushed around. You're coming with me and were going to some crappy ass buffet table and you're eating a shit ton. Step one to get over someone, is eat. A lot."

The debate in my head was fierce as he put his hand out and waited for me to take it.

I could go with him and eat my heart out and maybe, with a small chance, quite possibly I could just forget about my pain for a minute or two. Or, I could go back to my room and try unsuccessfully to sleep it off.

I took his hand.

Alexa's pov

I talked to Niall only two times in the past three weeks. And both times it was awful. Short clips of sentences with nothing other than small talk was all that was discussed. The conversations lasted four minutes tops.

So I was surprised when I he called again.

I let it ring untill the very last ring before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"What were you doing with Cody this morning?"

He didn't even say hello. "Hey Niall. Yeah I'm having a nice day thanks. Yeah, the next concert is tomorrow in Florida."

"Answer the question Alexa."

This was strange. Things with Niall have never been this tense or hostile.

"What are you talking about?"

His tone increased over the line. "I saw photos of you and Cody sneaking out of a coffee shop this morning. Really early in the morning. Care to explain?"

"Are you kidding me Niall? You must be joking because the Niall I know would never call and accuse me of cheating on him."

"I never accused you of anything."

My fingers tightened around my phone. "You are implying it Niall. And if you must know, we just arrived in the United States yesterday morning. Cody and I couldn't sleep because of the time difference and decided to go get coffee early in the morning. We were trying to avoid the papparazzi, hence the sneaking around. Any other questions?"

Silence seeped thick across the reciever. After a moment, a sigh was heard.

"What is wrong with you Niall."

"I dont like Cody, Alexa! I dont like you with him! I miss you and want this tour to be over with!"

Hearing him say that made some of my anger resolve away. "Niall.."

What could I tell him to fix this? Nothing. I couldn't leave the tour. I couldn't get rid of Cody.

"I miss you too Niall."

"This is shit Alexa!"

My belly did flips. "Niall there is nothing I can do!"

"Get rid of him."

I gasped. "Niall! I cannot get rid of Cody. He belongs on this tour. He is signed for this tour. He has a contract. That doesn't go away. And you should trust me enough to believe that I would never cheat on you. I would never do anything to hurt you. I'm so disappointed in you Niall. So disappointed."

And this time, I was the one to hang up.