"I hate that," Maura said bluntly. I sighed; I had been trying on dresses for nearly two hours and we had been to three different stores. "I don't know," I said as I twirled in front of the mirror, "I kind of like it." Maura's reflection glared back at me. "I hate it," she repeated. I sighed again and walked back to the dressing room, defeated by the future in-law. I changed back into what I had been wearing and met Maura by the door to the shop. "Let's just go on back. I'm sure you want to see Niall," I suggested. She nodded, keeping a stern face, leaving me to once again wonder what the heck was going on.
The drive home was quick and quiet, and somewhat tense on Maura's end. "Ni? You still here?" I called as I entered the house. I heard him thumping down the stairs. "Mum!" Niall cried as he reached Maura, embracing her in a hug. She pay his back. "Hey, honey. Let's go sit," she suggested, and basically invited herself into the living room. Niall and I followed her and I sat on the couch. I expected Niall to sit by me, but he sat next to his mum so they were both facing me. There was a moment of silence until Maura spoke.
"Dear, I am afraid to say so, but I do believe my Niall is making a mistake in marrying you," she stated. I had nothing to say; I looked to Niall but he avoided my gaze. "Dear, he complains about you often and I realised today how often you talk about yourself. You're a tad full of yourself." I stuttered. "Niall, do you feel this way, too?" I asked softly. He nodded, still avoiding my gaze. "You said you love me. Marriage is through thick and thin, better and worse, etcetera. But I guess you can't handle that with me." I stood and Niall did, too. "Leanna," he started, but I held up a hand. "You and your mother please leave my home. I need time to think. We can talk later to make a few decisions." Maura stood abruptly.
"Like what?" Maura demanded. I glared at her. "Niall and I need to talk privately and we need to discuss how to proceed in our relationship if he feels these things or any doubts," I stated plainly. Niall looked at me sadly and took his mother's hand, leaving.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A few hours and several fallen tears later, I cleaned my appearance up and heard my phone ding. It was a Twitter notification that read:
Yes, Leanna and I have decided to part ways. Please respect this mutual agreement. It is our own business.
I started to cry again and shakily dialled his number. "'Ello?" I sniffed. "Mutual agreement?" I demanded, quoting the tweet. "What?" Niall asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "Your tweet." I stated. "But I-- Mum! What did you do?!" I gasped. "I did it for you!" I heard her yell back at Niall. The line went dead and I stared at the phone in shock.
Half an hour later, I was watching TV and eating Nutella, when the doorbell rang. "It's open!" I called, not even caring and keeping my eyes on the screen. "Leanna?" I recognised Zayn's voice, followed by Liam saying, "Leanna can we talk to you?" I sighed and turned off the television. "I suppose," I said reluctantly. They came in and sat on either side of me and just stared at me. "What?" I finally said. "Look. Know that all the b.s. that went down was all Maura. I don't know her reasoning for it; only she does. Nevertheless, she tried to destroy what you and Niall had," Liam began.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh. Ya don't say," iI said scornfully and sarcastically, "Well she did a dang good job." I stood to take the Nutella to the kitchen. "He deleted the tweet," Zayn tried. They followed me. "So?" I asked over my shoulder. "Leanna, Niall's sorry he let his mum control and influence him. He realises it was childish and immature of him." I turned to face them. "I'm glad YOU realise that. But until I hear it from him, I won't believe he truly feels that way."