When I got home, the first thing that came out of my mom's and Toby's mouth was "How was the audition?" I smiled as I recalled how I think I hit it out of the ball park. Toby asked about Niall; it seemed that my brother enjoyed having a nice talk with Niall when they were trying to come up with a devious plan to wake me up that morning.
Giving a deep breath, I told him that Niall left just recently. But I told Toby not to worry, we could Skype him any time we wanted to. Mom came a gave me a warm hug, "Are you sure that Niall and you don't have anything going on? There's nothing to be ashamed of, he's not such a bad kid."
"No, really Mom. We're friends. I just really miss him." I said trying to keep on my fake smile.
I slept peacefully that night. And honestly, it came to a surprise to me. But I welcomed it so I slept soundly until I felt my phone buzzing on my bedside table. "Hello?" I said groggily. I looked at my alarm clock. Three o'clock in the morning.
"AUDDIE!" Louis' voice screamed in my ear, "NIALL'S BACK IN ENGLAND!"
I wondered why Louis' always seemed to have energy. Always. "That's great, Louis."
"Hold on, I want to talk to Auddie!" I heard Harry's voice, "Hey Auddie, I miss and love you! How are you?"
"Miss and love you too, Harry." I said, "I'm doing good, thanks for asking."
"That's great, love. Say, how's Josie doing--"
"Lads, give me back my phone!" Niall's muffled voice could be heard in the background.
"But Niall...we wanted to talk to her." Louis said.
Obviously, Niall had the phone back because I heard his voice, "Hey Auddie. Were you sleeping?"
"Yeah, I was." I said, "But it's okay, I'm glad you called me."
"Well, I'll call you later. Miss you, American girl." I bet Niall was smiling.
"Miss you too, Irish boy." I said wanting so much to have him in my arms again.
The next few weeks were better than I had anticipated. Josie, Evelyn, and I were making lots of plans for prom and we decided to go dress shopping. Evelyn was still hoping that her beloved Travis would ask her to prom. Josie, on the other hand, didn't want anyone to ask her any longer. She had her mind stuck on Harry Styles. So apparently her master plan of making Harry fall in love with her did work. They were non stop texting no matter the time zones.
"He's so adorable and has like the cutest kittens ever! Harry's always sending me pictures." Josie squealed. Evelyn and I just rolled our eyes.
Honestly, I was a bit jealous of Josie and Harry. They seemed to care about each other a lot. I mean, sure, I skyped Niall a few times. But lately, it seemed that he was much busier than usual and went out drinking with his friends more often than not.
"So how are you and Niall doing?" Evelyn asked picking out a gold dress.
"Doing okay I guess. You know, as good as a friendship can get." I sighed.
"I'm sorry."
"I'll live." I replied.
"Well, from what I heard from Natalie is that Jackson has been asking for you recently." Josie said eyeing a cute green gown.
"What?" I turned around to look at her face.
"Yeah," Josie twirled modeling with the dress in front of her, "Hasn't he tried to call you or something?"
I checked my phone, "No."
"Weird, huh?" Evelyn said, "If Jackson cared so much he would've called her. Because that makes more sense."
I sighed. Honestly, Jackson has really been the last person I had been thinking about for the past few weeks. But I wouldn't deny that I felt bad for not connecting with him. "Should I call him?"
"Why?" Evelyn asked.
"Why not?" I asked back.
"Are you interested in him?" Josie said, "I mean the guy is gorgeous, but what about Niall?"
I sighed, "Niall and I are just friends. He probably wouldn't care, right? And besides it's not like I plan to go out with Jackson."
Dialing his number, Jackson's voice was heard, "Hey! How are you, Auddie?" I smiled as we started talking and catching up. We must've been talking forever because Josie and Evelyn kept dramatically sighing trying to get my attention as they tried on dresses. But I didn't care. Jackson was a sweet guy and I loved hearing all his college stories.
"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." I laughed.
"I am," Jackson said, "But I can't wait to go back to Jersey for prom. It's in like three weeks, right?"
"Yeah." I said, "Pretty exciting."
"I bet." He commented, "So...has anyone asked you yet?"
"Um..no."
"Oh. Well, you know, my offer still stands."
For a moment, I stopped looking at dresses and tried thinking back to when Jackson told me he would like to take me to prom. And I wanted to say yes. Then Niall's blue eyes popped into my thoughts and I opened my eyes and took a breath. Jackson was on the line asking if I could still hear him, "Huh? Oh yeah. I'm still here."
"So is this still a no?"
"You know what, Jackson? I would love for you to take me to prom." Evelyn and Josie looked at me, wide-eyed. We said our goodbyes and then I said, "What?"
"Did you just say yes to Jackson?" Evelyn asked.
"Yeah?"
Then they both attacked me with reasons why was utterly ridiculous for saying yes to Jackson. "What about Niall?" Evelyn squealed. They sat there lecturing me about how I was making a huge mistake before I shut them up.
"Guys," I said searching an article on my phone, "Niall has gotten over me, see?"
They both narrowed theirs eyes onto my phone and read the article, Niall Horan Has His Sights Set On Another American Girl? The article spoke of Niall getting "comfy" with a model name, Nastia Highlander, at the Funky Buddha. I couldn't blame him. Nastia was a beautiful red head with the prettiest green eyes I had ever seen.
"'Insiders say that a relationship is on the horizon?' Oh come on, Auddie, you can't really believe this." Josie scoffed.
"That's what I thought at first. But then I saw them tweeting each other a lot." I replied.
"They could just be friends." Evelyn offered.
"Yeah, and I have a unicorn named Pepé." I said, "Guys, it's okay. And besides Niall and I are just friends and we still keep in contact. It's fine."
They both looked at each other and then back at me. Evelyn nodded her head but Josie said, "I'm calling Harry about this!"
I couldn't stop Josie even if I tried, because it wasn't even a moment later before I heard Josie squeal with excitement as we all sit on the comfy chairs in the dressing room, "Hey Harry! How are you? That's great! I'm doing well. Oh my gosh, you're kidding? That's so adorable. Oh please, I can't be more adorable than that--"
"Um, Josie?" Evelyn interrupted, "Can you skip the 'awws' and 'oh em gees' for later?"
"Oh yeah. Right." Josie said before clearing her voice, "Hey Harry? I was wondering can you tell me anything about this Nastia Highlander girl that Niall has been linked to lately? Hold on, I'll put you on speaker. Okay go on."
Harry's voice echoed through the phone, "Well, I was just gonna say that she seems like a lovely girl, really. I mean, Nastia has been hanging out with us a lot and she seems to always feel uncomfortable if Niall isn't around, but other than that Nastia seems alright. I really don't know much about her, honestly."
"See?" Josie said, "Niall and this Nastia girl aren't going out!"
"Hopefully not," Harry said. All of us were silent, "Nastia's an new coming model and not to mention hot--um I mean, she might need the publicity to get more agencies to discover her."
"She better not be hot, Harry."
Harry became slightly scared, "Oh course not, love."
"Well, I gotta go. Talk to you later pooky bear." The two of us turn to Josie. Did she just call Harry pooky bear? "What? He wanted me to give him a nickname and that was the best I could come up with. You guys know I'm not good at that."
I picked out another dress and go back into the dressing room, "Guys, it's okay. I don't mind if Niall starts going out with a model."
Getting out of the dressing room, Evelyn was already looking at herself in the mirror before turning to me, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, and if it'll make you feel better I'll talk to him about it later." I said.
"Well alright." Evelyn sighed, turning back to the mirror, "Does this look good at me?"
I looked at her and smiled. She had on a purple gown that draped on her perfectly. Little silver gems ran down the gown making it a bit shiny. Evelyn was beautiful. "It looks perfect on you, Ev."
"Well don't you just look attractive, too?" Josie said, "Auddie, you should be a model."
Tilting my head, I looked at the red gown I was wearing. It had almost a vintage modern looked at which was the whole reason that I wanted to try it. Not to mention, the flowery design on waist running down the tip of the dress was just gorgeous. "Does it really look that good?"
Josie checked the price tag, "It's on clearance. Buy it."
I laughed as I went back into the dressing room, excited that I found my prom dress. Eventually Josie found herself a navy blue dresses with a golden band that went around her waist. She kept flaunting it around before sending a picture to Harry.
"Audrey? Can I speak to you a moment?" Mrs. Hutchens, my creative writing teacher, asked one the seventh period bell rang.
"Um sure. What's up?" I said.
One thing about Mrs. Hutchens was that she was the main reason why I loved writing so much. I had her my freshman year for English and there she encouraged me to write down my thoughts and ideas out. That's why I almost started freaking out when I found out she was the creative writing teacher.
"I just wanted to tell you, I love this last poem you wrote." Mrs. Hutchens smiled.
"Really? I'm really not that good at poems."
"Oh trust me, I know." She laughed, "But I liked when you wrote 'Love isn't when you first fall in love with their face, but with their beautiful heart.' Very nice."
"Thanks." I blushed.
"What was the inspiration?" Mrs. Hutchens asked.
I pondered her question. Honestly, I had never truly been in love before, but I knew I could see the love my parents had for each other. How many girls do you know that could stand to have a beau that was constantly leaving for wars all the time? And for Dad to let Mom go to college all the way in Spain for a year must've been difficult, but they sacrificed so much for each other. One day, I hoped I could find someone like that. "My parents, I guess."
"Hmm, I see." She said, "Well, I just thought you should know that you're doing a good job, Audrey. Keep it up, you might become famous one day for it."
I waved good bye to Mrs. Hutchens as I made my way to my car and drove all the way home. "Keep it up, you might become famous one day for it." Was I really that good of a writer? I hoped I was. But maybe, Mrs. Hutchens was being too nice about it.
My thoughts changed quickly before I got a text from Evelyn to check out E! on TV. Apparently Nastia was talking about me. And so I did as I was told as I turned on the channel to find Nastia sitting next to a reporter chatting it up as if they were old friends.
"So." The reporter started, "You've been reported to be hanging out with One Direction lately, specifically with Niall Horan. And I've got to say you two seemed to be so cozy together."
Nastia flipped her red locks and laughed softly, "Oh please, we're just friends. Ni is a doll." Ni? Really?
The reporter smirked, "Funny, that's what Niall says about you, too. Yet it seems that he has a lot of lady friends from America. A photographer has a picture of Niall with a girl named Audrey Walsh from New Jersey. We never got a chance to talk to her, but we understand that she has a marine for a father. Have you ever met Audrey?"
"Oh no, I haven't." Nastia stuttered, "She seems okay, I guess. But if you ask me, I think she was just looking for some air time."
"What?!" I yelled at the TV.
"You think so?" The reporter said eyeing her with intrigue.
"Oh yeah," Nastia laughed again, "I mean, if I was a regular girl having a chance to meet a famous and very attractive guy, well I would do exactly what she did."
I turned the TV off before I would change my mind and break it. This Nastia character was completely insulting to the human race. Nastia didn't even know me, but she's already saying stuff that she had no right in saying.
"Don't take it to heart, love." Louis said through Skype.
"But this isn't right, Louis." I sighed, "Nastia doesn't care to know me, nor do I want to meet her, but she still saying stupid things about me that aren't true. Can't you tell her to cut it?"
"I wish I could," Louis replied, "But Nastia is apparently boosting us in ratings so I can't do much. Really, she's quite annoying for an American. I rather you around."
I laughed a little bit, "Trust me, most American girls aren't like her. We actually like eating meat and not tofu."
"Thank God." Louis sighed in relief, "I miss you, Auddie. It's so dreadful here--"
"Who on earth are you talking to Louis?" I heard a female's voice.
"To my girlfriend from America, Eleanor! What else would I be doing on a Thursday night?" Louis yelled, "Psht...women."
I laughed as Eleanor's face came into view. Gosh, she was so much prettier than I imagined, "You must be Auddie! I've heard so much about you, nice meeting you, love!"
"Oh thanks. I've heard much about you, too. Louis never stops talking about his Eleanor." I said.
Eleanor eyed Louis before turning back at the screen, "Good things, I hope."
"Nothing but massively wonderful things about you, babe." Louis said kissing her cheek.
Eleanor looked at him lovingly before getting herself comfortable next to him, "So what were you two talking about?"
"Nastia Highlander." I replied.
"Dear God!" Eleanor sighed, "Why are you talking about that thing?! Ugh!"
"Did I miss something? What has she done to you?"
Eleanor shook her head, "She once worked at the agency that sponsers me. Terrible model. Always asking for more jobs when she's only been modeling for little over year. Nastia really isn't that photogenic either and she thinks she's just perfect. And so arrogant. I've tried to be nice to her, but I can't. Louis knows, I've tried. Haven't I?"
"Yes, you have, El." Louis said rubbing her back, "Nastia isn't really our favorite person around here."
"Well, what does Niall say about all this?" I asked.
"He thinks we should try to give her a chance. Honestly, I just think he's trying hard to get over you."
"And failing miserably." Eleanor added, "I rather see Niall heart broken over you than running after Nastia to fill a void."
Louis smiled, "It's true."
"Thanks, guys." I blushed, "But I told Niall that I just want to be friends."
Eleanor sighed, "What a shame. I would've enjoyed having you around."
Laughing I replied, "Maybe, I'll visit one day. But hey, I gotta go. Talk to you both later!"
"Bye Auddie! I love you!" Louis screamed as Eleanor laughed waving good bye.
Great. Niall was still interested in me. Yet he thinks running after this no good Nastia Highlander would fix the problem. Maybe it was wrong for me not to say yes to Niall when I had the chance. But it was too late now, I had to keep moving forward and make the most of it. Right?
A/N: Yeah. Lots of things happened. hehe So please comment and tell me what you think! Oh and enjoy the Taylor Swift song I picked out specifically for this chapter lol.
xo AC Leon