Act Like You're in Love {Niall Horan}

Chapter 30: That Escalated Quickly

~Mariah's P.O.V.~

I covered my mouth to keep from screaming. John is watching me, watching us. He knew I was helping Zayn with Perrie, so John must have been able to hear us, too.

I realize that everyone else is still looking at me confused, so I stutter a baffled explanation. "John...he can see us. He can hear us. Like, right now. Oh my God. Oh my God."

All of the boys immediately take action, searching at every window. Meanwhile, I just sit on the couch in complete bewilderment.

This. Is. Creepy.

"Every single one of those windows are now closed, locked, and have blinds covering them," Harry reports in a serious tone, pulling me away from my heavy thoughts that were pushing me down, inch by inch.

Soon all of the boys come back. They're all wearing emotionless faces, except Niall whose worry on his face is more readable than a picture book. It just reminds me how scary and surreal this is, and I want to cry.

"I think John used the fire escape to get up, and just listened from your balcony. It's much safer there at this height, obviously, plus the door was left open for him to hear from," Liam says.

His idea makes sense because that's the only place there's somewhere to actually stand and has a way to get up. Unless he had a bug or little camera planted in my apartment? I speak my thoughts aloud, although it sounded a lot more reasonable in my head.

"You're just paranoid," Louis tells me. "Don't worry about a bug or anything like that, I don't think he'd even think to do that."

I nod my head without a word and absentmindedly walk to my balcony. I unclasp the lock and slide the door along its smooth, metal track. A cool breeze immediately greets me when I step out onto the balcony. Shivers spread through me as my hands make contact with the cold metal railing that's reflecting the moonlight surrounded by darkness.

I feel like this is getting more serious than it needs to be, but I don't think it's anything to be worrying about. It's just a bit creepy. If it isn't anything I would call the police about, it isn't worth me being scared over. Maybe John is just overdoing this more than he meant to.

I look down, wondering if this is the way John took to get here. There's no sign of movement below, but he would be long gone, anyway.

Billowing in the breeze, however, is a small piece of green fabric. I bend down to untwist it from the corner rail where it was stuck. It feels soft under my two rubbing thumbs, and I think it must be part of a T-shirt.

I don't remember it being there before, which means John probably was here. And if he was in a hurry to get away, of course he would keep going if his shirt got caught on the railing.

This time when I go in, I shut the door, lock it, and pull the cord to cover the door with blinds. The boys are having a quiet, serious discussion, and they all still look expressionless besides Niall.

"I found this on the balcony," I say abruptly, holding up the small piece of fabric. I can practically see their minds whirring as they come to the same conclusions as I did.

They don't respond, so I just say, "I'm going to call Callie and Mary now," and then I go to my room and leave them to talk again.

As soon as I reach my room, I call Mary. I explain what just happened, and she tells me very nicely that she'll handle this and I shouldn't worry about it, so I thank her over and over again.

After I hang up, I dial Callie's number.

"Hey Mariah! What's up?" the cheery voice comes from the other end.