Goal » [Niall Horan]

Chapter 29 - plans

Niall's POV

"You have your own room?" Julie asks as we enter my hotel room.

"Erm, well, I, umm.." I stutter, not knowing how to tell her. I don't want her to overreact and leave.

"Niall? Is that you?" Barbara calls from the master bedroom. I'm about to say something when Barbara struts out of the room wearing her small pajamas.

"Uhm." Julie hesitates.

"Julie it's not-" I start.

"Hi I'm Julie." Julie interrupts me, introducing herself to Barbara.

"I'm Barbara, Niall's girlfriend." Barbara states. Julie face tenses but soon calms.

"You can drop the act." Julie says and laughs.

"There's no act." Barbara defends.

"I know y'all aren't actually dating." Julie shrugs.

"But we are, right Niall honey?" Barbara directs the conversation to me.

"Barbara, for the last time, we aren't a real couple. Actually, we aren't a pretend one anymore either." I say and Julie smiles at me. However, Barbara isn't as happy about my statement.

"I'm going to have a word about this to your managment." Barbara argues.

"Okay, but so will I." I argue.

She huffs and stomps out of the room. Julie turns around to face me, sadness etched onto her face. "Smile." I whisper as I get closer.

"Why was she wearing that?"

"She's a model, what else would you expect her to wear?" I say. I chuckle, however Julie's face remains sad. "I don't like her, promise." I whisper while cupping Julie's face in my palm.

"I love you Niall." Julie whispers, closing her eyes.

"I love you more." I whisper and place a lingering kiss you her lips. "Can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Sure, anything."

She took the 'sharing a room with Barbara' thing very well. I think about the way I will word my sentence. Repeating the words over and over in my head, practicing, not wanting to blurt out the wrong thing.

"You mentioned that you were a virgin." I state and she raises her eyebrows at me.

"That's all you got from me yelling at you?" she says with a chuckle.

"No, no, no." I ramble. "I just didn't believe it." I admit.

"You think I've had sex?" she asks and I nod. "Why?" I can tell by her facial expressions that she doesn't want to talk about this. She looks almost offended.

"I just know your history with guys and thought-" I start.

"Stop." she cuts me off. She closes her eyes, thinking of the right thing to say. "With who? I can tell you right now that I'm a virgin, Niall." her voice remains at a normal tone but is slightly harsh. "Who would you think I'd do that with anyways?" she repeats.

"I'm not accusing you, I was just shocked when you said that you hadn't done..." I stuggle to find the words. "...that before." I finish.

She turns towards me, hurt flashes in her eyes but immediately vanishes.

"Please don't leave." I whisper.

"I'm not going to leave." she admits and slowly approaches me. I wrap my arms around her, reassuringly squeezing her. "I love you, Niall." she whispers.

"I love-" I start.

"But that doesn't mean you didn't hurt me." she cuts me off. "And I overreacted, I'm sorry." she adds.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." I whisper and kiss the top of her head. "I just....thought Brandon might have taken advantage of you." I carefully add.

"He did. But...not exactly that way." she says. I look in her sad, regretful eyes.

"I'd never take advantage of you, you know?" I say softly. She nods her head and I tighten my arms around her. "I'm sick of all this drama." I say, changing the subject slightly.

"Me too." she lets out a weary sigh. "But it's worth it, to be with you." she whispers and I instantly get an idea.

"I've got to go." I let her go.

"So should I just, like, leave?" she questions confused.

"Uhm, yeah.." I hesitate. She understandingly nods and gives me a hug.

"I should probably shower anyways." she says. I finally notice her appearance, black dress, bare feet, smeared makeup and her hair looks wavy but very messy; however, she still looks beautiful.

She releases my embrace and stares into my eyes. "So are you a virgin?" she teases, rolling her eyes.

I laugh, avoiding the answer. She obviously wasn't expecting an answer anyways. She turns around, walking past me and out the door.

I pull out my phone and look through photos of Julie and I. I exit my photos and go into my contacts and press call.

"Hello?" Kathryn answers.

"Hey." I say into the phone.

"What would you like?"

"I just wanted to say I don't need Barbara to be my fake girlfriend anymore." I say confidently.

"Niall, we can't just do that." she says worriedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's not just you forced into this relationship. She was forced into this by her management too." Kathryn explains.

"I have a real girlfriend though." I excuse.

"Niall, we had a deal with her managers." Kathryn stresses.

"Then call the deal off." I raise the intensity of my voice.

"It's not that simple." she sighs.

"Find a way to break the deal, before I go out with Julie, and then Barbara the next day. Everyone will think I'm cheating, and I'm sure that's not a rumor you want spreading around." I threaten.

"Niall, you're overreacting." Kathryn argues.

"I'm in love, not with Barbara. Break the deal, or I will." I state. She sighs in defeat and I hang up before she can say anything else.

This whole thing is over my head. I don't even know why they put me in this fake relationship. I was doing fine without Julie... Okay that's a lie, but having Barbara as my fake girlfriend really didn't make me feel any better.

"Who was that?" Barbara says, exiting the bedroom.

"Management." I simply answer and head for the door. I grab my hoodie and sunglasses and put them both on.

"Where are you going?" Barbara asks.

"Out." I answer obviously annoyed and exit the hotel room quickly.

It's not that I don't like Barbara; she just tries too hard to get my attention. I'm actually pissed at Kathryn for telling me that Barbara was forced into this fake relationship by her management. That's complete bullshit. Barbara has been all over me ever since we met. If anything, her management was forced to put her in this fake relationship by Barbara herself.

I wave to a taxi and it thankfully stops. I hop in quickly and close the door. I strap my seat belt across me, buckle it, and pull out my phone. I pull out the directions and tell them to the taxi driver. After about ten minutes the taxi pulls in front of a large building full of different small stores.

"This is it." I tell the driver and he nods. I pay him quickly and get out of the car. I walk into the small store; a bell rings as I open the door and enter.