Since We're Alone |NH|

Chapter 38

Ophelia's POV

"Alright, sweetie, I'm going to go change and fix my makeup and then I'm out," Tomi says as she grabs her bag.

"I thought Mully was picking you up here?"

"He is."  She pointed to the end of the bar.

"Geez, when did he get here?"

"About five minutes ago.  But you've been lost in that pretty little head of yours, smiling an awful lot, so I don't blame you for not noticing."  She smirked at me before disappearing behind the wall that separates the bar from the kitchen, on her way to the restroom.

I walk up to Mully.  Smiling at him, I say,  "Hey there, sorry I didn't see you come in."

"All good.  Not like I'm staying."  He smiled at me but then got serious.  He looked behind him towards the door to see who was there before turning back to me.  "Niall will be here any minute."

I smiled.  "Oh, okay, good."

He looked around him again. He looked nervous. "Look, Ophelia," he sighed, "I don't know you very well, but I like Tomi and you are Tomi's best friend and she loves you.  And I'm Niall's best friend and I love him like a brother.  We've known each other since we were four." He paused again. He shifted his gaze from hers and looked down at his hands that were resting on top of the bar. "So, forgive me for asking, but I need to know if your intentions with him are true?" 

The smile on my face started to disappear, where was he going with this?  "My intentions?  What do you mean?  Have we been transported back to the fifties?" I say, letting out a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood that had suddenly come over my head.

Mully looked back up at her but didn't completely change his demeanor.  "I don't want to be a dick.  And from what I've seen, I like you. I do.  You seem great.  And the way he talks about you...."  He paused, again.  "Ophelia, he really likes you."

"And I really like him," I say, furrowing my brow, still unsure of what he's saying to me.  "Feel free to tell him that, too.  I sometimes feel like he doesn't quite get that."

He nodded, a small smile appearing on his face before he got serious again.  "Look, I just want to make sure that you aren't playing some sort of game with him.  He's a famous guy, and girl's like to use him--"

"Excuse me? " I snap, my mood had quickly gone from happy to concerned to horrified to pissed in a matter of minutes.  "You think I would use him?" I say, getting defensive.  Mully looked behind him towards the door again.  "He's not here, yet, if that's who you are looking for," I snap.

He turned back to face me, his own face had become quite sullen.  "I'm sorry, I hate even asking you but he's just had a string of bad luck when it comes to women.  I'm just trying to look out for him."

 "You're trying to look out for him? By questioning my motives? Wouldn't this have been a better question to ask me..say...back when I first learned what he does for a living?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and level. "I wouldn't do that to him; or anyone else, for that matter.  That's a really insensitive question to ask me. You don't know me, which I guess, I get, but you do know your best friend. Is he that bad at picking girls that you have to go around interrogating them?"

"I'm sorry, Ophelia, I am. I've done my best to keep myself from asking you but my own paranoia has clearly gotten the better of me." He rubbed his eyes, sighing deeply. "I don't think you're a bad person, I really don't. And, like I said, from what I know, I like you. And the smile you've put on his face..." He trailed off, "He's just...he's had far too many girls come into his life and only want to be around because he's famous, because it'll give them their fifteen minutes of fame. It starts to break a person down and I just can't watch him do that again." He shrugged, "I just want to protect him."

Even though I could clearly see he was upset by having this conversation, my anger surged and got to me, but before I could get anything out in my defense, I looked up and saw Niall walk through the door, but he was on the phone.  He smiled at me and waved, before pointing to his phone.  I smiled back at him.  Seeing him calmed me down and everything Mully had just said suddenly hit me differently.

Turning back to him, I softly said, "Look, Mully, I appreciate your concern for your friend. And I can see that this is clearly not a conversation you want to be having. But I promise you, I'm not out to hurt him. In fact, I can clearly see that he has been hurt and it hurts me. You can choose to believe me or not, that's up to you."

Mully looked behind him and saw Niall.  "He's my brother."

I sighed, "I don't want us to be on the wrong foot."

"I don't want that, either."

"You know, Tomi has a history of picking some pretty shitty guys, but you don't see me ask you if you plan on using her and breaking her in half. And that's because, for once, I think she picked a good guy.  So, maybe have a little faith in Niall, that maybe he finally picked a good girl.  How about that?  How about we have a little faith in each other?"

Mully slowly nodded and a slight smile appeared on his face. "I'd like that, Ophelia."

"And, if it makes you feel better, we can hang out and you can get to know me. I'd really like to get to know you better. I want you and any of his other friends to like me. And I'm sure he'd like that, too." 

He smiled at me, a more relaxed shift in his demeanor. "I would love that. And, I'm sorry about all of this. I really am. I know I shouldn't have asked because I do like you, so far, and I'm just scared of him getting hurt again, that's all. He's had a string of good actresses come into his life and not just fool him, but fool his friends, too. I just don't want to see that happen again because I honestly don't think he can survive it again."

My heart broke when Mully said that. Biting my lip, I nodded. "I get that. Just note that that last comment, alone, makes me sad. People don't deserve that kind of treatment, regardless of what they do for a living. It's ugly. And it hurts me to know that someone or multiple someone's have come into his life and done just that. And I hate that you felt you had to do this." 

He scoffed, but not at me.  "Yeah, trust me, I hate it, too."  I saw his eyes divert to something behind me and his face light up. I knew, without even looking, that Tomi had rounded the corner.

"You really like her?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I really like him," I said, softly.

"I saw the way your face lit up when he walked in.  It's how I knew he was here." He smiled brightly at me then.

I softly smiled at him. Somehow, despite the way this conversation had started, Mully and I had gained a bit more of each other's trust, or at least, an understanding. 

I saw Niall start to walk over to the bar then. Watching him as he made his way over to us, I tried to look for a clue that would tell me exactly what happened. Clearly this ex of his had done something, something I felt to go far beyond his fame. I had told myself when I found out who he was that I wouldn't look him up and beyond Tomi doing it that one time, I hadn't. I wanted to get to know him without knowing his history. It didn't seem fair for me to so easily know about his past without him knowing about mine. I wanted him to tell me in his own time if he felt there was something I needed to know. But, now, as he smiled at me, I was beginning to wonder if that had been a good idea after all.