Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Fifteen

In class some people made plans to go to dinner. I was really excited to get to know more people that I would be with all semester and to go out in the city not by myself.

I spent the afternoon shopping with Ashley, the girl in one of my classes who is also from the Midwest. We had a great time window shopping in places we couldn't afford and actually shopping at cute little boutiques. We got lattes and walked around bundled in scarves. I felt so grown up in this city without any family.

I didn't get a text from Niall all day but I wasn't worried. He was probably busy.

That night Ashley and I met the others in our class for dinner. It was a little awkward at first because we don't all know each other well but we all had to start somewhere. We ended up staying really late just drinking wine and talking. It was weird not getting carded. Even though I have a fake ID, here I wasn't doing something illegal.

I met a guy named Paul who was in my business class. He is from Texas and goes to TCU. We talked for a pretty long time I guess but it's not like it was just us, there were about twelve people sitting around the table with various conversations going on.

By the end of the night everyone was pretty drunk. And it was a Tuesday night. But hey, we're abroad! This experience isn't about being in bed by ten for class and spending hours all day studying. I wanted to make good grades but I still wanted to have some fun while I'm here.

We all piled into cabs and went back to our little hole in the wall apartments. They were all for the most part very near to each other because it was meant to be foreign student housing.

Paul offered to walk me in and for the first time in the night I wondered if I had been leading him on. I mean, we had talked for a good amount of time and had a lot in common. But I didn't mean to flirt and I hope I didn't.

I declined his offer and walked myself in. After finding the Tylenol I passed out still in my clothes.

...

Niall Horan

Wednesday

"Niall, come look at this," Harry called from his hotel room. We had the whole floor to ourselves. It was eleven in the morning and we had to start an afternoon of interviews.

His tone of voice made me nervous. As I was walking in I saw a picture of Olivia on his laptop just walking around London. It was some gossip site. Uh oh.

"Do they know who she is yet?"

"I don't think so." Harry and I skimmed the article. It basically just says that this "mystery girl" has been seen with Harry and I. It linked back to their article that had the picture of her with Harry on their first date.

"How did you find this?"

"A fan I follow tweeted it. I don't think anyone knows you guys are dating because the only picture they have of you two is from that first weekend I introduced you."

"That's honestly the only real date we've gone on. We mostly just stay in."

Harry raised one eyebrow at me and smirked. "Oh you do, huh?"

"Not that. To avoid paps." I gave him a good punch to the shoulder. "Shut up."

"Sure that's the reason." I ignored his disbelieving tone.

"Wait a second, what's that?" It was a link to an article titled "MYSTERY GIRL SPOTTED WITH GUY #3" and it had another picture of Liv. "Click it."

"No, it's not even going to be true."