Where Have You Been

Chapter 17

 Niall’s POV

Zoe and I have been texting for a while. Two weeks, to be exact. I had almost forgotten all about my girlfriend of one year, Adrienne. She was nothing to me for those two weeks, nobody. She was a nonentity, she was unimportant, negligible. Until today.

I thought the text was from Zoe when my phone buzzed. I was surprised to feel my face fall when I read the text.

“So, it occurred to me that I haven’t really seen you in a while. Date night? --Adrienne”

Her texts were so monotonous in contrast with Zoë's flirty ones. New relationships were always like that, I guess. They fell of after a month or so. That’s what had happened to Adrienne and I. It was pure bliss for about a month. It started to dwindle, losing its spark, like dying embers.

There wasn’t really a particular reason. Adrienne was pretty, with long black hair and deep russet eyes. She wasn’t mean, and she still liked me. Our relationship just didn’t have a certain spark in it. Or. This is what the boys try to tell me. Even our band manager keeps trying to convince me to break up with her. Bad for publicity, he says. I knew her before X-Factor, so it’s not as if she only likes me for my fame. I just can’t quite understand why our relationship doesn’t work out. I had to try, for Adrienne, to uphold our status.

“Sounds great :). I know a perfect place to escape to.” The text was not in synch with my bored face. That was the thing about texting, you could never tell whether the person was serious or not. Just then, Liam, Harry, Zayn and Louis came tromping in to the living room, arguing about pigeons, or the sort. (They were arguing about whether a pigeon in your bathroom or a pigeon in your closet was scarier)

“Guess who’s got a date?” I mumbled, trying to sound remotely excited.

“With Zoe?” Louis shouted in hopefulness, ready to jump up and hug me. I shook my head, and their faces fell.

“With Adrienne?” Zayn asked, shaking his head as well. “Man, I was hoping you would see it by now.” They all looked slightly remorseful, agreeing with Zayn’s comment. Even Liam, who used to stand by me, was supportive of this statement. I rolled my eyes at their disapproval.

“I’m taking her to… a restaurant?” I put my hands up, asking for suggestions. They offered me none, and I grumbled some colorful profanities at them. They left the room snickering, and began a new argument placing bets on how long our relationship would last. Louis bet on 6 hours.

Deep down, I really hoped he was right.

Adrienne’s POV

Niall had been pretty much MIA lately. What with all the fame, I wasn’t surprised, but I needed a little alone time with him. I normally didn’t initiate our dates, but Niall’s absence prompted me to take control. I know I should have been worried about him and other girls, but I wasn’t so much, I guess I was so happy with him that I didn’t want to ruin our relationship with petty jealousy. The only problem was… Niall didn’t seem to be all that in to “us” lately. I was hoping our date would change that.

I dressed in my favorite outfit: a short, black dress with silver heels, hoping it would bring me luck. I was hoping, as well, that it would draw Niall to me. I caked on makeup, feeling a bit ridiculous. Niall came to my door at 8:00, promptly, wearing a casual suit. He held his arm out for me, not smiling in the least. I tried not to take note of his wearisome attitude, but it was too difficult not to notice. He was polite and gentlemanly, but his attitude lacked his usual humor, charm, and likability. I hoped I had nothing to do with this sudden despondency.

He took no care to avoid Paps, almost taunting them with his bored face. They crowded us, almost giving me a seizure with their repetitive flashing bulbs. I had to be the one to finally wave them off, Niall was so robot-like. He ushered me awkwardly to a table at the front of the restaurant, with no real atmosphere. I wasn’t trying to be picky, but it was as if he was purposely avoiding any romantic date-feel.

“A large Margherita pizza to share, please,” Niall politely asked the waiter. I was glad that we were sharing, feeling that perhaps it meant we were still into each other. Suddenly, Niall’s phone beeped with the indication of a new text. His face brightened considerably when he read it, and it looked like he was trying to conceal a laugh. I couldn’t help narrowing my eyes at him. Whoever had texted him was obviously better company than me. I snorted and rolled my eyes, hoping Niall WOULD notice.

“I—I have to go to the bathroom. Are you alright here?” Niall asked me. I nodded my head, acting innocent. As soon as he was out of my sight, I glanced around at the other tables. A few fans were ogling at me, so I gave them a polite smile, and they turned away in embarrassment.

Niall’s phone buzzed, and after a few seconds of sitting awkwardly, curiosity got the best of me. I didn’t want to be “creepy snoop girlfriend”, but I couldn’t help glancing at his cellphone. I slid my head under the table and unlocked his phone using the same code he had for years. The text was from “Zoe”. In fact, there were quite few texts from Zoe. I had just checked to make sure. I wasn’t expecting Niall to actually be texting a girl. I scrolled through the conversation, my face contorting into something horrible as I read the “hearts”, giggles, “luv yous”, and “goodnights”. This girl was certainly not a friend.

My heart began to beat out of its chest as I scrolled farther and farther back. My breaths became shallow, and my eyes were swimming. I felt my forehead erupt in heat, like flames were engulfing me.

Niall Horan was most definitely cheating on me.

In a moment of pure insanity and hatred for this girl, I decided to text her from Niall’s phone. I couldn’t help smiling maliciously as I sent the message:

“We can’t text one another anymore. This is getting farther than I ever meant it to. Lay off of my girlfriend and me. It’s better if we just stop contacting each other forever. Goodbye.”

With only a brief moment of reluctance, I sent the text. I deleted the text I had sent. I knew how to cover up my tracks. I might have just ruined our relationship, but one thing can be sure. I ruined theirs, too.