Before She Falls

Chapter 19

"So what happened?" Vanessa says immediately as she tosses her bag in the backseat and buckles herself into my car.

I do the same, "Tell me about Niall first."

She rolls her eyes, "Nothing happened. We cuddled on the couch last night and he kissed me a few times. Same thing today, he kissed me on the way back to the hotel from the Boathouse and the Aquarium."

"You seem annoyed" I add as I drive down the street.

"I guess I am" Vanessa starts. "I don't know. I like him and I just wanted him to do or say more."

"Well Niall's a little more innocent than the rest of the boys. You have to cut him a little slack" I tell her as we reach the highway. "He's too cute, be nice to him."

"Yeah... I know" Vanessa smiles and I don't think I've seen her smile about a boy like that since her sophomore year in high school. "Anyway, how was Mr. Styles?"

"So cute" I answer honestly. "Oh look in the bag back there he bought me a stuffed animal shark!"

Vanessa reaches in the back seat and pulls the stuffed shark out of one of my bags, "Oh my God, that is adorable!"

"Right?"

"Mr. Styles turns out to be Mr. Right" Vanessa's eyebrows raise, but I bring the conversation back to a semi-serious tone.

"I don't know what happened but something clicked between us just recently. I don't think I've ever cared about someone this quickly before, it's weird."

"He seems like a really good guy. Maybe he's just different" Vanessa turns from looking outside of the window to comment.

"I guess. I just think it's strange how I already feel so comfortable around him, kind of scary actually. I mean the last time we talked besides these past few days was two years ago. A lot has happened since then."

"Don't psych yourself out. You've both changed since then, but if you guys have feelings for each other now, who cares?" Vanessa says seriously, she takes all this love crap very seriously even though she's been in a lot of relationships this past year.

"That's the thing, I don't know what his feelings about me are!" I say sort of angrily, not directing it towards Vanessa, just venting.

"Kat, you're joking right? He fucking likes you" Vanessa stares at me to make sure I know how serious she is.

"Okay but where do we take it from here?" I ask continuing down the highway. "The boys leave for California tonight for a week, then Atlanta, then MAYBE I'll see him in England if I even go, then what?"

"Ya know, you don't always have to know what's going to happen next, Katrina" Vanessa half smiles. "Stop trying to plan ahead so much. He'll call you."

I take her comments in and realize that maybe she's right. I always want to make a plan for what's going to happen next with everything I do in my life, especially when it comes to boys. It's hard for me to sit back and not take control of a growing relationship, but I think I might listen to Vanessa, just this one time.

I keep my eyes on the road ahead but relax my body back into the cushion of my car seat, "I hope so."

"Hi baby" my mother hooks her arms around me and kisses my cheek.

"Hey mom" I reply as she releases me from her embrace.

"How was it?" She asks as I make my way upstairs to drop my bag off in my room.

I climb up the stairs and lean against the balcony so she can still hear me, "It was fun. A lot of fun."

"How was the Knicks game?" She walks into the foyer to see me face to face.

"Good. How'd you know we were there?" My eyebrows furrow together.

My mother doesn't reply, instead she just holds up her white iPhone.

"What? Did Liam text you or something?" I ask, confused by what she meant by her phone.

"No, there's pictures all over the internet" she began to wiggle her phone in the air and I can't depict her emotion.

"Really?" I ask. "I mean, I knew people were taking pictures but I didn't even think to look online. Actually my phone's been dead since this morning."

"There's also pictures from the river" my mom continues to just look at me.

"Where are you finding these?"

"Everywhere, Kat."

I drop my bag at the top of the stairs and walk down to meet my mom, "Why are you so upset?"

"I just don't know how to feel about pictures of you being posted for the whole world to see" my mom's voice sounds really annoyed. "I just don't know."

"It was two days, mom. And it wasn't like I was with strangers. I was with Liam the entire time."

"Even at the Aquarium?"

"Why are you so mad?" I raise my voice, she's ridiculous if she's really mad at me for the paparazzi taking pictures; the boys and I didn't ask for them to photograph us. It just happens.

"I'm not. I just don't how to feel about it" my mother's voice lowers and she closes her eyes as she puts her hand on her head.

"I can't help it, they're paparazzi, they get paid to take pictures of the band" I stretch out my arms and wait for my mom to hug me.

" I know" she walks into my embrace and squeezes my back.

I wait a couple seconds before asking, "So have you thought of the whole England trip yet?"

"Katrina!" My mother laughs as she pulls away from the hug.

"I'm just wondering!" I laugh too, lightening the mood in the room.

"I'm still deciding, alright?" She pats my shoulder.

"Alright" I say as I make my way up the stairs again.

My room smells like fresh lavender and it looks like my mother just vacuumed my carpet. I drag my bag to the foot of my bed and then plop myself down on my back.

I plug my phone charger into my iPhone and then into the outlet next to my bed. The phone starts up and I start receiving an excessive amount of notifications.

@Real_Liam_Payne mentioned you in a tweet: So nice spending some well-needed time with my favorite cousin, @KatrinaGray xx

@eonline mentioned you in a tweet: The @OneDirection boys werespotted hanging out with @Real_Liam_Payne's younger cousin @KatrinaGray at the Knicks Game last night at MSG

Then I scroll further to see a lot of Twitter notifications; girl replying to me for Liam's tweet and then other girls replying to E! News. I retweet Liam's tweet and ignore the rest of them, there are just way too many.

From: Madison Gray

I took your pink top to wear to the movies tonight, don't hate me.

The text message from my little sister makes me annoyed at first but then I internally giggle at her "don't hate me" plea.

From: Liam Payne

Text me so I know you're home safe x

I send Liam a quick text message back to let him know I'm at home in one piece and then return to my new messages.

From: Mark Hunting

Hey

From: Mark Hunting

Okay I understand if you don't want to talk to me after what happened the other night, but I just want to say that it was a lot of fun. Made me miss you.

Okay, wait. What the fuck happened the other night?