Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Twenty-Six

Niall Horan

I woke up to a text from Mason, our main connection to Modest! Management, and that was either incredible news or horrible news. Considering we didn't have a new album out or anything he could be reporting on, it was probably the latter.

Who is this girl?

He had attached a photo of Liv and I together outside the club the other night.

Olivia. I've been seeing her for awhile now

Olivia who? Who is she? Where is she from?

Olivia Allen. She's from America

I am not giving a whole synopsis over text. I hate when management is like this.

I need to meet with you both today

Does it have to be today? We're in the studio writing

Yes today. Noon

Well she can't be there then but I'll come

No, we need her there. When can she be? 1?

Fine

Mason wasn't my favorite guy. Yeah, he was just doing his job. But I hate his job. He's nosey and he over steps his bounds. Maybe it was necessary when we were kids just starting out but we're all in our twenties now.

I sent Liv a text saying that I'd get her from class and explain why when I got there and told her not to get excited.

After a distracted morning of trying and failing to write anything someone with ears would want to listen to, I picked Liv up from class.

"Hi!" She climbed into the car smiling brightly and leaned over to give me a quick kiss. Poor thing doesn't know what's coming. "Wow, you don't look excited to see me."

"No, I am. It's just that I have bad news."

"Oh?"

"We have to go meet with someone who's part of our management team. Our PR connection."

"We? Did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all. They're just going to tell you not to post anything bad on Instagram or Twitter and they'll try to scare you. Honestly, it's going to be shitty and I'm really sorry in advance. I don't know why they're like this."

"I can take it." She sighed.

"I don't doubt that." I smiled at her. She's tough.

We pulled into the parking garage that was for the massive skyscraper near it. Modest! has a whole floor to themselves in this building.

The last time I was here it was to celebrate that FOUR had gone number one in one hundred and forty-six countries. The time before that it was to get my ass chewed. Once because I was "too drunk" on the boat in Miami. Once I got in trouble for some tweets. Another time I was really sloppy drunk when I was out with a girl I was dating. Let's hope this meeting isn't too bad.

Liv was trying to act tough but she looked nervous.

"Don't worry about it." I took her hand. "It won't be a big deal. They will just be jerks for like ten minutes then we'll leave."

Olivia Allen

I was putting on a brave face but the whole idea of this freaks me out. What are they going to say to me? Why was Niall so freaked out? He's trying to calm me down but he's not even calm himself. He's not fooling me.