Tiger Teeth - Terms & Conditions // Book Two

Chapter 19

CHROI

I suppose I should've come to LA sooner than the morning before the Grammys but I didn't want to leave New York. Dallas and Josh knew why and didn't push. I also supposed that it should've seemed weird that Josh was now part of my friend group but it didn't. I liked having him around. He was nice and I think he really understood how I felt. And it felt good to be around someone connected with Niall even if he'd disappeared out of both of our lives.

When he offered to come to LA with me, I jumped at the opportunity.

He leaned over to me in the car on the way to the hotel,

"He'll come back." He reassured me.

I knew it was because Dallas had probably told him about the letter.

I looked over at him,

"I don't think so."

Josh shook his head,

"I know him. He'll come back. He loves you."

It hurt to hear someone else tell me Niall loved me. I still felt so guilty about never letting him say it to me. The fact that other people knew he loved me made me feel worse.

I looked down at my hands in my lap,

"Josh, I know you're trying to be helpful...and maybe in a couple weeks when his absence doesn't feel like a huge hole in my chest, I'll hear you. But he wrote me that letter for a reason."

Josh stared back at me before a shake of his head,

"I'm telling you...he'll come back."

Dallas sighed,

"Can we focus on the show and the awards? That's why we're here right? It's her night and we all need to be excited."

Josh studied me closely before he drew a long breath into his lungs and then sighed it out. He smiled,

"She's right." He pulled his knee up onto the seat to look at me,

"So...when we get to the hotel I'm gonna get us some food and we're gonna have some champagne and we're gonna celebrate."

Rupert snorted from the other side of the limo,

"Isn't that how all great parties start? On a schedule?"

Dallas and Josh roared with laughter and before I knew it, I was laughing too.

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My hotel room was a like a parade of everyone who knew me as well as anyone who wanted to say hello to me. Each time a knock came on the door, my heart fluttered with the hope that Niall would be on the other side.

He never was.

Brandon was the final knock. He clapped his hands together as he walked towards me while Dallas finished putting on my mascara,

"How's my girl?"

I nodded, slightly nervous but maintaining,

"I'm good. I'm good."

He took my hands in his as he surveyed my outfit. He let go of my hand long enough to slap a high five with Dallas,

"Minimal...good. Perfect Chroi..." He turned back to me, "Got a minute?"

I nodded, a little caught off guard. Brandon usually avoided any kind of emotional discussion or pep talks. I suspected that was why he stayed out of it while I figured out my stage fright thing. Once we were in the bedroom, he closed the door and turned to me. He gestured to one of the chairs,