The Cover Up Smile (Niall Horan FanFiction)

Chapter 20-i cant show you!

Niall P.O.V

After i got Cassy to go and find brinley and i got her back, we walked all the way to the bus in silence, she just stayed snuggled into the side of my chest. i think she was crying but i didnt want to check because i knew that it makes her embarrassed. once we had finally gotten back we found louis and harry tackling each other on the floor. Brinley would usually laugh but she simply stayed silent and walked straight to her bunk and closed the red curtain after herself. i thought that i should go and check on her but decided she probably just wanted some space i figured she would come out in her own time...

"what up with brinley?" louis asked concered as we were all sat around the tv late that night, brinley still hadnt come out of her bunk.

"its not about the mirror is it? because i really dont care about that" zayn said, i shook my head to say no.

"it wasnt anything serious, just a bunch of fans came out of no where, i found her crying in the bathroom and then we came back, shes been acting strange since that but i dont know why shes so upset about it." i explained to them all.

"maybe she was just in shock, she obviously wouldnt expect it, remember how scared you were niall when we came out of the x factor house and we were mobed by fans, imagine that in her shoes" liam justified with me.

"good point" i said realising that if i was brinley i would probably be the same, well i dont think i would cry about it but still, i understand why she was in shock and ran off.

"no way! no that cant be right, how do you know? oh im so sorry...ill tell the boys...yeah...okay...bye" i heard liam talking on the phone and the conversation did not sound like a happy one to me.

"what was that all about mate?" harry asked climbing into his bunk but stoppoing to turn around and face liam before he did so.

"its about steven...." liam dragged on

"hows he doing? is there something wrong with him?" zayn was asking as he was sprawled across the floor in front of the tv as family guy was playing, liam picked up the remote from te side of the tv stand and switched it off.

"the police... they found his body" liam finished looking upset.

"shit!" harry cursed in disbelief

"what happened?" i questioned liam

"they dont know, i mean they found the body last week, just after he quit the job and they hadnt identified him until now, he was in ireland when they found him, they said it looked like a murder and they are investigating it" liam told us all the information he knew about it, i was sad i guess, we all were but we didnt really know him that well...but still i feel sorry for his family and that he lost his life.

i thought i should go and tell brinley, and ask her if she was okay i mean she still hadnt come out of her bunk, he bunk was in another part of the bus with mine so she probably didnt hear any of the conversations we had been having.

i walked through the doors and then found my self in the second part of the bus it was dead silent in there, i could here brinley breathing slightly if i listened carefully.

"brinley?" i asked

"yeah" i heard her sigh from the other side of the drawn red curtain covering her bunk oposite mine.

"are you okay?" i questioned.

"i guess"

"you dont sound okay"

silence, she didnt reply to me so i pulled back the red material revealing brinley snuggled in the covers,covering up most of her face.

"do you want a cuddle?" i asked and i saw the corners of her lips perk up into a smile i took that as a yes and climbed into her bunk pulling her into me for warmth.

"i have to tell you something.." i told her

"tell me what?" she yawned, she was so tired her eyes were drooping.

"its about steven" i said, she froze up against me and for a moment her breathing stopped, what was that about? "well they found him dead, murdered....i just thought you ought to know about it" i finished,

"so...hes gone" she asked.

"well....yeah" i answered her, it was a bit of an odd question for her to ask me.

"he cant hurt you now" she sighed in relief. what did she mean?

"what do you mean brinley? why wpuld he hurt me? what do you know?" i asked her pulling away slightly.

"i wasnt supposed to say, he said he would hurt you!" she gasped.

"you have to tell me brinley, please" i begged

"steven he told me not to tell you, he said he woul hurt you and the boys just like donte hurt me..." she paniced.

"How does he know about donte?"

"I don't know?" I noticed she was shivering and tried to pull her in for a hug.

"Just tell me" I pleaded

"I can't show you!"

"Show me?"

"What?"

"You said 'show'" I pressed on.

"No"

"Yes you did"

"I can't"

"Please" I begged her to show or tell me and she finally gave in.

She rolled off of the bunk and scrambled over to her bag beside my bunk, she pulled out her purse and started rummaging around in it before pulling out a small folded piece of paper.

"What's that?" I asked completely confused.

"I don't know" she admitted looking at the floor.

She handed it to me so i could unfold it to reveal the red writing, 55?

"I don't understand...."

"Neither do I" she admitted again.

"You should have told me Brinley, it could have something to do with Steven, did he hurt you?"

She looked again down at her hands and started to play around with her fingers entwining them with each other.

"Brinley"

"He didn't do anything major he just grabbed me that's all, firmly, it wasn't that bad, They were only medium sized bruises"

"Bruised! how didn't I notice" I felt so stupid.

"Next time promise you will tell me"

"Next time?" I hadn't realised how I had said it.

"Hopefully there won't be a next time" I pulled her in for a hug and she snuggled into me and we soon fell asleep, well she fell straight to sleep but I took quite a while. the number 55 kept circulating all around my brain confusing me. what could it mean?