Making Headlines {n.h.}

Reconnection with Trouble

*Dahlia's P.O.V.*

"Are you fucking dating Niall Horan?" my friend Ashley hollers through my phone. I met Ashley a few months after I moved to California and we've been friends ever since. We're not actually close in the sense that we talk all the time or go shopping but we always go to parties together and talk every once in a while. Ashley has a million other celebrity friends exactly like me and I couldn't care less to have a long heartfelt conversation with her.

"It's complicated." There is no way I can tell Ashley about the contract. Even if she is my friend I don't trust her enough with that kind of secret. You learn early on in the celebrity world that anyone can stab you in the back at any time.

"It's not that complicated if you're on every fucking magazine with him!" I sigh not knowing what to say.

"How did you even find out? I thought you were on vacation in the middle of nowhere?" Ashley's parents are extremely rich and own a bunch of companies.  With their money she always gets to go on extravagant vacations every few months.

"I was in Dubai and my my stupid phone service wasn't working so when you called me it never went through until I came back and then that's when I was going through the airport yesterday I saw you and Niall on the cover of a magazine. " I was wondering why she never answered my call or responded back to me.

"Oh"

"So this whole you dating Niall is a joke, right?"

"No, we're dating." Might as well get it over with now.

"Yeah, right, Dahlia, I know your type of guys and they're not Niall." Ashley knows what kind of guys I like and she knows that I'd never go for a guy like Niall.

"He is different than the other guys I've been with but he's sweet." The lie rolls of my tongue and I think maybe I can convince her that I'm really dating NIall.

"Wait so is this like a sex thing or what?" I'm not surprised that she's asking me that, every other relationship I've had with a guy has been casual and mostly about sex. I don't date because I'm not into that sappy shit.

"No, it's not like that. We're actually dating."

"Shit! Niall must be pretty special if your actually going on dates with him." Her voice is full of disbelief and I have to agree I can hardly believe the situation myself.

"He is," I say.

"You should also know that I have a man too."

"Wow ofcourse, who is he?" There is no surprise there. Ashley goes through men faster than water boils.

"I met him on the plane. He's a music producer," she gushes. Her voice is full of excitement.

"How old is he though?" He is probably mid forties and his hair is probably greying.

"Don't give me shit for going for older guys. Remember your director?"

"Don't fucking bring that up. Fucking asshole got me fired."

"See you normally go for guys like that, not guys like Niall Horan." I know she must is skeptical and she keeps bringing up our relationship so she can find out what's really going on. She'll never find out the real reason I'm dating Niall because she would only gossip about it and I'd end up in deep shit with Kathy.

"It's different with Niall."

"You know you've changed a lot since I last saw you at that after party we went to. Now you are head over heels for some dumb guy." I want to scream 'No I haven't, Im just pretending to be dating Niall' but I swallow those intentions.