Since We're Alone |NH|

Chapter 60

The door swung open and Tomi's small form appeared in front of me. "Hey, girlie, how was your day with the boys?" She asked, walking back inside and letting me in.

"Not bad. Although, I couldn't shake the feeling that 'the boys' were there to watch me."

"Yeah?"

"Considering they were all talking about me this morning, yeah, I feel like I had to be on my best behavior and watch every little thing I said and did. It was immensely uncomfortable."

"So, no fun at all today? I thought Niall wanted to have fun with you the next two weeks?"

"It wasn't entirely not fun. There were moments when I felt like I could relax but then I'd notice, or thought I noticed, one of them looking at me a bit too long. Like they were gauging my reaction to something. I don't know. It was weird and probably all in my head but still. I couldn't fully relax until they were gone and it was just me and Niall, again. Even then, it took me a little bit to relax."

"So what did you guys do?"

"Well, for the morning, nothing all that exciting. We all had lunch together at this little bistro and afterwards, Willie and Deo finally left. I felt like they could all sense I was a bit tense but I'm hoping they chock it up to nerves. Anyway, after they left, Niall took me to the studio where he's been working lately, and showed me around. He was so cute getting all excited showing me what he does and how everything works. He even let me pretend to be a singer for a hot minute in the recording booth."

"Oh, god, he didn't actually record you singing, did he?"

"Oh, hell, no. I didn't actually sing, either. I'm not stupid. I know full well I can't carry a tune."

"Phew!" Tomi sat back down on her couch and pulled her laptop onto her lap. "So, wanna know what I've discovered?"

"Yes!" I said, sitting down and scooting closer to her so I could see. "It took everything in me to not think about this all day which I completely failed at with his cousins around. So, yeah, I need to know what I'm up against."

"Well, I can't say anything about whether or not she cheated on him, but I think maybe I can get Mully to spill the beans without actually spilling the beans. But, I did find out that her name is Maggie Phillips and they dated for two years, which we already knew. I found the pap photos that were taken during that incident you overheard them talking about. Lots of reports on that because it was the first time they had been seen together and it does look like she just grabbed his face and kissed him. See."

She turned her computer and let me look at the photos. The photos after the kiss, Niall looked pissed.

"Now, we already know he likes his privacy, so yeah, this probably irked him a bit. But, after that, there wasn't much until it appears she went with him to some awards show. They didn't walk the red carpet or anything like that, but they were seen and photographed at some afterparties and during the ceremony. One such afterparty, there's video of her dancing on the bar top and he's trying to get her to come down. Her dress is way too short and you can nearly see everything the bitch has to offer."

She showed me the video. She was clearly drunk, spilling her drink multiple times as Niall could be seen trying to get her down off the bar. He turns towards the camera at one point and looks so mad and embarrassed. Towards the end, you see him walk off, mumbling something while she ignored him and kept on dancing on the bar.

"There's several photos and videos from that night. A lot of which they look like they're fighting."

She showed me those photos.

"Anywho, that's about all I could find, as far as public photos. But then I remembered things like Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. The bitch is on all of them. I can't see much on her Facebook. Here's her Twitter. To me, she comes off as an idiot, if you ask me."

I scrolled through some of her more recent tweets. She definitely didn't seem to have too many brain cells swimming around up there. Most of it looked like her seeking attention from one celebrity or another. She had a lot of followers, though.

"Does Niall still follow her?" I asked.

"I checked but didn't see his name. But, then again, there's no way to really search without scrolling through them all and she's got a lot. Probably from mooching off of him for two years. Her followers have a lot of Niall related at's from what I could tell. I scrolled through it a bit and it doesn't seem like his fans liked her too much. But, then again, I doubt his fans will like you very much if they ever find out about you. They seem quite possessive."

"Hah, yeah. What about Instagram?"

Tomi opened up Instagram on her phone. "Here ya go," she said, handing it to me.

I immediately went to her followers and saw a lot of celebrities still followed her. However, I did not see Niall's name. That allowed me to relax and take a deep breath. I went back to her page and started scrolling through her pictures. She definitely liked to drink.

"She looks sloshed in every picture," I stated.

"Yeah, or high. Look at her pupils in that set of pics," Tomi said, pointing to one group. Her pupils could hardly be seen and yet she was clearly in a darkened room.

As I scrolled through her pictures, the one thing I noticed is how pretty she is but also how her appearance seemed to change. She was a thin girl, maybe too thin, I couldn't really tell. But, as I scrolled back in time, her face seemed to alter in appearance.

I finally noticed some of the dates on her posts were when they were dating, so I slowed down, looking for any sign of Niall. I found a couple of pictures of them. He looked happy but there was still a sadness in his eyes. I noticed how he didn't like or comment on any of those posts. He probably didn't like the fact that she had posted them. They seemed to be her most liked and commented on pics.

"She's pretty," I said, a little sadly. "Prettier than me."

"Oh, please, she looks like a crack whore in most of those pictures. And she also looks like she puts on way too much makeup. You are definitely way prettier than her and it's a natural beauty, not artificial. God knows what she looks like without it. She's probably one of those girls that puts on a full face just to go to the mailbox!" Tomi stated, knowing full well what I was thinking. "And Niall sees that. I've heard him say it myself."

"Say what?"

"How pretty you are. And how he likes that you don't put on a lot of makeup."

"When did he say this?"

"One night when I was staying there with Mully. He had just gotten back from the studio, I think, and he was sitting there on the couch scrolling through his phone and smiling. I made a joke about him looking at pictures of you to which he blushed and said he actually was. He showed them to me. I think the pics were from your first official date that Phil tried to fucking ruin where you ended up at the food trucks. He simply commented that he liked how you didn't overdo the makeup; that he preferred you 'fresh faced', as he put it."

I smiled, "That was sweet of him."

"It was. I, of course, made a puking noise but he knew it was in jest. I hope."

I laughed slightly at her momentary concern, as I continued looking through Maggie's pictures.

"I'm sure he did. So, what do we know about their breakup?"