Change Your Ticket (Narry)

Nineteen

Harry calls me only a few minutes after he says goodbye to the interviewer and I answer on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe," Harry's cheery voice speaks, "Did you watch?"

"Of course I did," I reply, rolling my eyes, "I told you I would."

"I know, I wish you could've been there."

I laugh, "Yeah to sit there with the reddest face on the Earth and stuttering out answers like a buffoon?"

"Nooooo," Harry draws out, "To hold my hand so I can show off the dime piece I call mine."

I bite back a grin and I'm glad that Harry can't see the blush that creeps up on my face.

"Either way you did great," I compliment.

"Thanks babe."

"What are you up to for the rest of the day?" I ask, playing with the hem of my shirt.

"Since I'm going to be in LA for a few more days I was thinking about going house hunting, maybe get some dinner with some friends," he responds and I can hear a car door shut behind him.

"House hunting?" I ask, confused. This is the first I'm hearing about Harry wanting to have a house in LA.

"Yeah, I'd like to split my time between London and LA," he says nonchalantly.

"Oh," I furrow my brows, thinking about the news.

"Bad idea?" he chuckles nervously into the phone.

I don't reply. I'm thinking that if Harry buys a place in LA and wants to spend a lot of time there then I won't be able to see him as often. It's hard for us now with the long distance, and only getting to see him for a few days every couple of months is hard for me.

Then I start thinking about what Louis had said in Las Vegas. If after I graduate I do start spending more time with Harry – which is what I want to do – and he lives in LA, then I'd have to be in LA. Which then means that I won't get to see my friends as often.

"Niall? You there?"

"Yeah," I respond quietly, "I'm here."

"You didn't answer me. What's up?" he asks, sounding more concerned.

I chew on my lip. I can't tell Harry my worries about this. I can't try to control him. He should be able to live his life the way that he wants to. I'm worried that if I say something, not only will his manager find a way to twist this so it is worse than it really is, but I don't want Harry to be down because of my feelings.

"Nothing, just tired from the trip and classes start up again tomorrow," I lie and my heart immediately stings.

"I'm sorry baby. You'll be graduating in no time though," Harry soothes.

"I know," I mumble, "I should probably get to bed then. It's late here."

"I'm sorry for keeping you up love," Harry says almost sadly into the phone, "I miss you Niall."

"I miss you too Harry," I say before I yawn loudly, causing him to laugh, "I miss you more than you know."

"I'll hear from you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Of course," I respond, walking towards my room and unbuttoning my jeans.

"I better," he says cheekily, "I love you."

"I love you too Harry, talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye babe."

_____________

"Hey Z," I say, tossing my backpack to the floor of his car and slipping into the passenger seat.

It's back to class today and to say I'm nervous is an understatement. It's the first day of me being outside of my flat without Harry since Vegas. There weren't many people out in front of my flat, which helped ease my mood.

"Hey Ni. You're looking good today," Zayn compliments and a blush stains my cheeks.

I've tried to dress better today and I've even done my hair up so that if people were taking pictures I'd at least look decent.

"Thanks," I respond. I buckle up and pull out my phone as Zayn pulls away from the curb.

I open Twitter and I notice all of the tags and mentions in my notifications. I guess this is the new normal for me. I sigh and click on the notifications button, scrolling aimlessly through them. It's hard to read every single one, so I decide to come back to them later. I check what's trending and to my surprise there's one about me.

"What's #whataboutNiall?"

Zayn takes a peek over at me, "What?"

"It's trending on Twitter," I say and my anxiety skyrockets. I don't even want to click on the hashtag at all, afraid of what I'll see.

"I don't know mate," Zayn responds before he pulls into a parking spot in the lot at school, "I haven't gotten on Twitter this morning."

I look at him with wide eyes and concern all over my face, "What if it's bad?"

"Calm down Ni," he places a reassuring hand over mine, but it doesn't ease the feeling one bit, "You sure you want to look right now?"

"If I don't it'll eat at me all day," I admit to him and he nods knowingly.

"I'm here if you need me."

I nod before returning my gaze to my phone. I take a deep breath and hold it in as I click the hashtag. My heart drops to my stomach as I'm met with tweet after tweet of Harry and his ex, Alexis. There's pictures of Harry with his arm around her shoulders walking in the street sometime last night. There's a few more, some with Harry's hand in hers, his head down, but his long curls are something that I could recognize anywhere.

"Ni?" Zayn places a hand on my cheek, wiping at a tear that I didn't know had escaped my eye, "What is it?"

I pass my phone over to him and bury my head in my hands. I try to keep calm. I pray that the tears stop and I take a few deep breaths.

There has to be an explanation for this. Harry wouldn't make up with me and tell the world we are together just to flaunt her around in my face. He wouldn't do that, would he?

"You're okay," I repeat to myself a few times over.

I shouldn't get worked up like this because I'm sure it's the first of many times that I will be seeing something about Harry that will try and wreck our relationship.

I wipe my red eyes and sigh once more, "I'm okay Z."

He looks like he doesn't believe me but I assure him that I'll be fine.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

"You sure? We don't have to go. I'll skip with you and we can go do something fun," he says and his genuine concern makes my heart swell, "Just me and you. Maybe we can let people get pictures of how much fun we're having to make him jealous."

I laugh at that. As amazing as that sounds, I can't be fighting fire with fire.

I shake my head, "Thanks Zayn, I appreciate it. I really do. But I can't let them win. I can't let them tear me down. I'll talk to Harry later, I'm sure it's nothing," but I find myself not being able to believe my own words.