The car ride mostly consisted of my fretting nervously. I couldn't stand being late to things, especially work things. When the cab stopped, I didn't even bother with the overused routine of insisting on splitting it after Niall had said he'd pay.
I briskly walked to the entrance door I used yesterday, barely refraining from sprinting. I heard Niall chuckle behind me as he struggled to keep up with my long strides.
"Calm down, Aubrey," he said, nervousness absent from his tone.
"Calm down?!" My voice rang out, nearly up an octave. "I could lose my job for this! I have been told a billion times never to be late, and here we are 15 minutes late!"
"It's only this one time," he spoke again, rolling his eyes and opening the door for me.
I keep from scoffing after his nice gesture, but didn't say anything.
I was familiar with this part of the venue, and was happy not to have to stay with Niall's slow pace if he was the only one who knew where to go.
We had barely rounded the last corner to the dressing room when a voice shrieked out, "Aubrey Coles! Where have you been?"
I cringed and turned around to face Miranda, who was staring at me with a scowl on her face.
I opened my mouth to speak but was quickly cut off. "You have been specifically told not to be late. It's only our second day on tour and you think you can just disregard the rules?!"
"No," I finally cut in. "It's just that..." I trailed off, unable to come up with a valid excuse. "You see..."
"I held her up, Miranda," Niall supplied. He had just walked into the hallway I assume, and was looking slightly winded. Apparently, I had been moving a lot faster than I originally thought. I felt bad for him taking the blame, but he looked at me and nodded, and I realized that nothing could happen to him. He couldn't get fired. Without him, there wasn't One Direction.
More at peace with this, I started to agree to his explanation, but I realized Miranda was absolutely livid.
"You two were together?" She screeched. Her face was turning pink as she eyed the two of us then glared at me. I blushed slightly at what she was applying what was going on, but I couldn't understand why she cared.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten the agreement, Aubrey," Miranda practically sneered.
My mouth fell open. Why was she obsessed with whether I was dating Niall?
"I remember," I said through gritted teeth. I wasn't allowed to date the boys. Which was fine, I wasn't going to, but this was an over-preoccupation of hers.
"Good," she said with a sickly sweet smile. Then, she turned to Niall (who, might I add, had gotten no form being told off, even though he was late too) and said, flipping her blonde shiny hair, "Niall, head down to sound check why don't you?" Her awful, fake grin stayed on her face.
Niall looked at me, question lurking in his eyes, but I nodded for him to go. He sighed but turned and walked down the hall, his hands deep in his pockets.
"Get to work, Aubrey," Miranda snapped at me. I copied Niall's sigh, and headed to the dressing rooms.
-
The concert ran smoother this time, and I got to see a lot more of it. They're so energized on stage; it's fun to watch.
I was folding clothes with Julia when Niall and Louis walked in, both gripping water bottles in their hands, still sweaty from being on stage.
I noticed Julia freeze but them continued folding. I made it my goal to get either her or Louis out of the room before this got too uncomfortable.
The boys were laughing about something and dropped into the chairs behind the counter we were working at.
"How was the show?" I asked, genuinely sad I had missed the finale.
"Pretty good," Louis said, grabbing a banana from the fruit basket that was near him and peeling it. When I looked up from the tan chinos I was holding and looked in the mirror me and Julia were facing, my eyes were met with blue ones. Niall and I held contact for a few seconds; he was sending me a look I couldn't decode, to which I kept wiggling my eyebrows and he made a funny face.
I laughed at the way his crossed and he stuck his tongue out. It was an easy laugh, like the one you use when you're around your best friend.
"What's so funny," Julia demanded.
I quickly sobered down, muttering, "Nothing," and finished folding the pants. We were all quiet for a bit as we finished folding clothes and Niall and I continued to make faces as each other in the mirror.
When Louis finished his banana and was going to the bin to throw it away, the door opened and the rest of the boys walked in, followed by Miranda and a few other Publicity people.
"Hey are we doing anything tonight?" Niall asked the boys.
"You aren't going anywhere tonight," Miranda butted in. Niall stood up and walked over by the other boys, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"You don't control us," he said, bluntly.
"Niall," the blonde girl whined lightly, twirling her hair. "Of course not. But, it's awful for your image, and I would hate for you guys to be in the media for this. I'm only looking out for you." She flashed him a perfect smile.
It suddenly occurred to me that Miranda was flirting with him. I had noticed her certain infatuation with Niall, but I didn't know it had gotten to this. And, worse, he was, unknowingly or not, flirting back.
"Well, that's sweet of you Miranda," he said, carefully, only sometimes meeting her eyes. "You could come, too, if you wanted?" He offered.
Louis and Zayn then began to snicker as Miranda grinned widely, her white teeth glimmering. Could Niall seriously be doing this? I had thought whatever was between us, actually was starting to mean something. I had actually begun to obtain feelings for him; the ones where your heart flutters and your stomach dips. Now all my stomach was doing is hurting.
Miranda was pretty, there was no doubt about that. With her long, skinny legs, blonde hair, and beautiful smile, I could understand why Niall would want her, not me. I couldn't believe how foolish I was to think anything could happen between us.
Miranda nodded in agreement, then smirked at me. She won, and she knew it. She got Niall, the thing she's been wanting since we met two months ago.
Between her smug look and the insecurities that I had placed back in my mind, a lump hardened in my throat and my eyes began to prickle and blur. I jumped off the counter I was sat on, and ran out of the room, completely humiliated and disappointed.
My legs carried me to the street where I hailed a taxi and directed it to the hotel. I had forgotten my purse, but luckily had two twenties in my pocket and my phone.
Sat in the backseat, I let a few of my tears slide down my cheeks and drip onto my lap as I stared out the window at the city-life passing by. But only a few, because I knew I wasn't going to let myself cry over this. He wasn't worth my tears if he was going to go for someone like that. Someone who looked fake and acted fake.
Halfway through the drive, my phone buzzed with a text from Zayn.
hey, where'd you go? you ran out of there pretty fast. harry reckoned you went to use the loo, but julia checked there. are you ok?
I smiled slightly at the fact that they cared about me, but was slightly disappointed that Niall didn't seem to care. Not that I was surprised, as he was probably too busy hitting on Miranda to notice.
I quickly typed a response back.
i went back to the hotel. no partying for me tonight!;) i'm fine though, thanks :)
I pressed send just as the cab pulled in front of the hotel.
"That'll be $27.84, miss," the gruff voice of the taxi driver bellowed. I sighed, still unaccustomed to the American currency, but I still managed what I think is the right change.
When I entered the elevator, which was empty, I impulsively pressed the button that goes to the top floor. I bounced on my feet as the lift rode up, conveniently never stopping. The bland music in the background made me want to rip my ears off, but luckily, I made it to the top without doing anything too drastic.
I climbed up the same flight of stairs I had a mere couple hours ago and made my way onto the empty rooftop on which I had spent half an hour with Niall. I sat on the bench opposite of the one I had occupied earlier, preferring to look at the other side of the city. It was a lot cooler now, making me wish I had a jacket, but not cool enough to convince myself to go get one. Instead I pulled my legs up to my chest and settled for rubbing my arms to keep them warm from the breeze.
I was sitting there for a only bit, - maybe five or ten minutes? - when I noticed a presence next to me. I didn't look up though; I just stared into the city.
"You know, you're kinda predictable," Niall said, his accent thicker, his voice deeper after tonights show. I pursed my lips as I fought the feeling his voice gave me. He chuckled when I didn't respond and sat down next to me, repeating our actions from earlier.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking me in the eyes. I squirmed a bit at the question, pulling farther into my corner of the bench. "You seemed pretty upset when you left and I was...worried about you." He got quieter at the end, admitting why he had come.
"Do you like her?" I asked bluntly.
Niall cocked his head in confusion, "who?"
"Miranda," I practically spelled out. He didn't answer me at first so I continued. "I mean, she's pretty and stuff and it seems like yo-"
"I don't like Miranda," he said quickly.
"Then why did you invite her?" I demanded. "Why were flirting with her?"
"Flirting with her?! I was just being nice!" He defended.
My anger quickly subsided when I realized how badly I had overreacted. Of course Niall would be nice enough to want to invite everybody.
"But she's so pretty," I said quietly.
"That doesn't make me like her," he said. I was embarrassed by how jealous I had gotten, and I had a feeling Niall caught onto that. "Hey, Aubrey?" He asked.
I hummed in response, wary to speak.
"Remember how we only saw each other like once a year?" I nodded, thinking back on our childhood. "Well, I could never understand why I looked forward to that night so much. I mean, it's normal to want to see an old friend, but I couldn't process the depth of it. I couldn't understand why it felt that every fiber in my being just wanted to please you to make you happy. To see you laugh, and smile at me like I was the best person in your life." He took a deep breath, watching my reaction, but I couldn't speak. I was so overwhelmed with his words and their meaning that I just sat there, staring into his blue eyes. "That's why I never called. That's why I let you fall out of touch. I couldn't understand it and I was scared. I was scared that, I needed you more than you needed me. That I was gonna fall like an idiot. I was scared how I wanted nothing more than you. I realized today that it was because I loved you, Aubrey. I think I always have."
I felt my mouth part as I tried to form words but I couldn't. I couldn't describe the feeling in my chest as my heart fluttered so I did the only thing I could think of.
I pushed my lips to his, feeling his slightly chapped ones quickly move against mine. My fingers went into his hair and he put his hands on my sides, rubbing up and down. Our mouths moves slowly together, gentle at first, but it reached a faster pace as I kissed him hard and desperately, so much emotion in one action.
As I began to run short on breath, I knew all of the words he had said went both ways. I liked him more than I could ever explain. He meant more to me than the whole world.
My lungs burned when I finally pulled away, our chests rising and falling rapidly as we stayed there, our foreheads pressed together and our eyes locked.
My eyes scanned his face, taking in the beauty of it all at once. His eyes bore into mine and I had to restrain from kissing him again.
"Me too," I said softly, when I stopped panting.
"You what?" He murmured, his lips now grazing my forehead then trailing down my nose to meet mine.
"I've always loved you," I said. He smiled into our feathery kiss.
Niall wrapped his arms around me and I put my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"What are we going to do, Niall?" I asked him sadly, meeting his eyes.
"I don't know, Aubrey," he sighed. I loved it when he said my name. "But whatever happens, it'll be worth it, to be with you."