Stole My Heart (A Niall Horan Love Story)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After Niall had led me up to my room and kissed me goodnight, promising to text me in the morning, I quietly slid my key card into the lock, and stepped inside. It was only nine, so both my parents and Claire were still up. All three heads swiveled in my direction as I closed the door behind me. 

“Hi!” Claire beamed up at me from her spot in bed. She was laying on her stomach, her ankles crossed in the air. In front of her, lay a coloring book with a new box of Twistables colored pencils next to it.

“Hey, Claire,” I smiled right back. 

“Where’d Niall take you?” I turned to my mom. She was propped up on her bed that she shared with my dad, pillows piled behind her back. She held a book between her manicured fingers, a copy of some new Jodi Piccoult novel. My dad sat beside her, his ankles crossed, holding his iPad. He gazed at me from the tops of his reading glasses, a small smile on his face as he waited for my answer. 

“We had a picnic at the top of Palomar Mountain State Park,” I couldn’t help but smile.

“Wow,” my dad piped up. “The view there is incredible.”

“Yeah, it was gorgeous,” I smiled.

“Well, go get into something more comfortable, sweetheart,” my mom said.

I nodded, and turned to my suitcase. I pulled out the same blue, rounded v-neck t-shirt and candy patterned that I had worn the night before and changed in the bathroom. I threw my hair up into a messy ponytail, and cleaned off all makeup. I gazed at myself in the mirror, leaning slightly on the counter. I wondered what Niall’s reaction would be the first time he saw me without makeup. I didn’t think I looked completely different without it, unlike some girls, but I was curious as to what he would say.

Exiting the bathroom, I padded over to my suitcase and pulled out my laptop. I logged on to Facebook and Twitter as well as my favorite gossip website, PopSugar. 

PopSugar caught my attention first. The first story that appeared on the screen not only showed my boyfriend, but myself as well. It had been taken outside the Hilton right after the CD signing. I hadn’t remembered seeing any cameras there, so the photographer had been sneaky. In the picture, I was holding Niall’s hand, mouth spread open in a wide smiling, eyes gazing up at him. It wasn’t a bad picture by any means, but one that I wasn’t entirely prepared for. Trying to shake off the initial shock, I read the headline, “Niall Horan’s New Princess?” 

As I read through the brief article I wasn’t sure whether to smile or be worried. As incredible as it was to appear front page of one of my favorite websites, a lump of dread began to settle deep in my stomach.  This was only the beginning of the articles about Niall and me. If we were to be in a relationship together, this was bound to happen a lot. Although this particular article wasn’t negative, I feared that future ones might be. The press were cruel people, often stretching the truth in order to get a good story. 

Just then I felt my phone vibrate. I glanced down to see a new text from Liam.

How’d the date go? ;) I hope Nailler was good to you.

I smiled. Everything was perfect :)

He replied a few seconds later. Good! That means I won’t have to smack him. He won’t stop talking about you though... ;)

Really? What’s he saying? I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Niall talking about me.

Liam didn’t respond right away, so I clicked on Twitter. No new mentions or anything, just a bunch of new followers. Even though I had been a part of the One Direction fandom for a while, it never failed to amaze me how hardcore some of these fans really were. They didn’t even know who I was, had no idea that I was even friends with One Direction, nevermind Niall’s girlfriend, and they had followed me.