Counting the Stars

"Just keep your head down, don't answer anything they ask you, and please don't believe a single thing they say" Niall instructed, pushing the door of the coffee shop open.

I slid my sunglasses down from my forehead right before we walked out. Niall kissed the top of my head, not caring that the paparazzi could snap a picture of the gesture and rolled my wheelchair out of the shop.

"Niall! Callista! Is it true that you two are dating?!"

"Niall! Callista! Look over here at our camera! Is it true that Niall cheated on Caroline for you, Callista!?"

"Callista, how does it feel to be a home wrecker??!"

"Niall, did you really already get Callista pregnant?!"

"Callista, did you know that Niall is actually cheating on you with Demi Lovato??!"

The questions from the paparazzi just kept coming as we walked the short distance to the SUV that was waiting for us. Not even a week after agreeing to go out with Niall, the paparazzi had figured it out and created the craziest rumors. According to the press, Niall had still been dating Caroline when he asked me out and he had a fling with Demi Lovato. Some of the stories they created were absolutely ridiculous. I had no clear where they cam up with some of the things they said.

We had yet to actually publicly announce that we were dating, but the press and fans caught on quickly. The fans were like the FBI, they didn't need an announcement to notice a change in the both of our behaviors.

Six days ago Niall had asked me out, and six days ago I had agreed. For the past six days I was the happiest I had ever been. For the past six days Niall was nothing but a sweetheart to me, and all of the other guys were in love with the idea of us dating. It took a few days for Harry to come to terms with our relationship, but he did quite quickly.

---

"What do you mean you agreed to go out with him? Cal, he hurt you! He tore your heart out, stomped on it, danced around on it with Caroline, just to make sure you felt the pain! He was cruel to you and now you agree to be his girlfriend?" Harry practically shouted at me as he ran his hand through his curls multiple times. He was over exaggerating everything more than necessary, but I couldn't stand being yelled at.

I looked downwards at my hands that were fidgeting in my hands, avoiding eye contact with Harry, "Geez-la-wheeze Harry, you make it seem like Niall tried to kill me or something. He made some mistakes, I made some, too. We talked it over and agreed to go out, but take it slow at first."

Harry was still fuming as he paced back in forth in the hotel room. He was beyond angry and this scared me. I hated when people were upset with me and started to yell.

"Please don't be upset with me, Harry. This was my choice to make, not yours. If the relationship ends, that's it. I'm not going to leave a relationship broken and shattered because a guy didn't love me or treat me right. Please stop acting like this. I wouldn't have told you at all if I knew you were going to act this way."

Harry stopped pacing and sighed, "I just don't want you to get hurt, Cal. He already did that once and I don't want that to happen again. You mean far too much to me to see you get hurt."

I shook my head, "I'm a big girl, Harry. I can look out for myself."

He shook his head, "You can't come cry to me again if he does anything to hurt you again."

I rolled my eyes, "Like I said, I'm a big girl."

---

I knew that Harry wouldn't like the idea of us being together, he made that very clear after I told him. He came to terms with it and respected our decision. I knew it was going to affect our friendship, it already had. Harry went back to his womanizing ways and had already hooked up with two girls during our time in Canada. It wasn't my place to judge him, though.

The paparazzi snapped a ton of pictures of Niall and I, their flashes going over a million times each second. I was thankful that I had put my sunglasses on or I was sure to be blinded completely.

"D'ya need help into the car, 'Lista?" Niall asked.

I shook my head, "Nope, I think I've figured out how to get in and out of the car."

Niall sighed, "Are you sure? I don't want you working your foot more than necessary."

I laughed, "Don't be such a worry wart, I got this."

Little things like this that Niall did made my heart swoon. He was constantly making sure my foot felt okay and that I was never overworking it. He'd check up on me every hour and was willing to do just about anything that I asked him to.

I found a way to get into the SUV and sent the worrisome Niall an encouraging smile and thumbs up, letting him know that getting into the car didn't kill me.

"You up for some lunch before my interview, love?" Niall asked as the car pulled away from the coffee shop.

I nodded eagerly, "I am always up to eat. You of all people should know this."

Niall gave the SUV driver the name of some restaurant and the driver nodded, typing the name into the GPS. As we drove away from the coffee shop, I took in all of the beauty that was Toronto.
Toronto was an extremely beautiful city. I couldn't tell you what made it as beautiful as I found it, but it was just stunning. There was something about waking up in a new city everyday that made each new location breathtaking in my eyes.

Niall reached out and took my hand in his, smiling over at me. I grinned cheekily back at him in response. Out of habit, Niall began to rub small circles with his thumb, something he had started doing recently.

You can rough me up, you can break me down, baby don’t stop nooow, My phone sang loud and obnoxiously, informing me of an incoming call.

Incoming Call From: Calderific The screen read.

This was weird. Eleanor never called me due to the time difference and the cost to make an overseas call. Niall raised his eyebrows at me in curiosity, to which I replied by mouthing "El." He looked just as confused as me, knowing that people in the UK rarely ever called them.

"Hey El," I answered my phone, stopping Don't Stop Now from playing.

A slight sniffle came from her end of the line, "Callista, I really need you right now."

"El, what the hell happened? Why are you crying?" I questioned, worried for the girl that I now called my best friend.

"Louis broke up with me!" The small sniffle turned into a full out sobfest.

My face fell as my heart broke into a million pieces. This wasn't even my relationship and I felt as if Niall had just broken up with me, that was how badly I felt. I didn't say anything in response for a while, just letting her cry.

I sighed, "What the hell? Why?"

Niall stared at me, looking even more confused and starting to resemble a lost puppy. I held my hand up, signalling for him to give me a few minutes and then I'd explain.

Eleanor's voice came through the other line of the phone, but it was undecipherable. I had absolutely no clue what she was saying, seeing as it was muffled with sobs and tears.

"Take a deep breath, El. I don't know what you're saying right now. How about you take a few minutes to calm yourself down and I'll call you back once we get out of the car," I instructed, trying to calm down the sobs that were coming from her mouth.

Even though I couldn't see her, I imagined her nodding her head violently, one arm wrapped around herself in comfort, "Okay," She choked out.

I offered a few more words of encouragement before hanging up the phone. I looked over at Niall and explained what had just happened, "Louis broke up with Eleanor.. Why? I haven't figured that out just yet. I'm thinking we're going to have to skip out on lunch so I can Skype with El and you can figure out what the fuck Louis was thinking."

Niall looked at me again sadly, "Pass on lunch? I wanted to take you out, though..."

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, offering him a sad smile, "We can take a rain check and go out again tonight?"

After putting up a little fight, Niall agreed begrudgingly. In attempt to cheer him up, I pulled out my phone and composed a new tweet.

@C4llista: @NiallOfficial I'm taking a rain check on our lunch date and turning it into a dinner date. Turn that frown upside down. :-)

While I had the Twitter app open, I went onto El's twitter to see if she had tweeted anything. She had tweeted about ten minutes ago, a simple message that read, "I didn't know I could ever feel like this." Once again, my heart broke into a million pieces for the normally bubbly and happy Brit. Seeing her as upset as she was hurt my heart. In attempt to also cheer up El, I composed one more tweet.

@C4llista: Hey @EleanorJCalder... Chin up, fears down. Love ya, girl!

Niall looked over at me and rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging on his lips, "You really had to tweet me for a rain check? If our fans already didn't think we were dating, this would put the icing on the cake."

I shrugged, smiling brightly, "I really don't like having to hide the fact that we're dating."

"Who ever said we had to hide it?" Niall asked.

I pointed my finger at him, smirking, "Exactly! I should be able to tweet whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want! If your fans don't like us, fuck them. Niallista is the best ship to set sail in this fandom!"

Niall rolled his eyes playfully at me, "You always yelled at El for talking in internet lingo, but there you go doing the exact same thing."

About 10 minutes later we pulled up at the hotel we were staying while in Toronto. Niall got out of the car and quickly ran over to my side, helping me out of my seat and into my wheelchair. No matter how many times I told him he didn't need to, he always insisted on helping me get out of the car. That was one fight I knew I would never win.

Niall rolled me into the hotel, waving at a few fans that were waiting outside to try and catch a glimpse of one of the guys. Paul seemed to appear from out of nowhere and walked in front of us, Andy the other guard walking behind. The fans all yelled in glee, hoping that Niall would stop and get a picture with a few of them.

"Sorry girls, no pictures right now. We're on a tight schedule," Paul lied to the girls, gesturing for Niall to go into the lobby. The fans faces all fell instantly, knowing that they couldn't get a picture with someone they cared so much about. I almost felt bad for the girls, especially knowing that we weren't on a tight schedule for at least another two hours. Management and head security were sneaky bastards, always lying to the fans. Even though I could deal without the Directioner fandom, I did feel bad for them.

I sent Eleanor a quick text, letting her know that I'd be calling her back in about ten minutes. She responded with a simple 'K,' nothing more, nothing less. Eleanor was always a very chatty texter, so to get a one letter text from her was weird.

Niall rolled my wheelchair into my hotel room that I had all to myself, "You go ahead and call Eleanor and I'll go find Louis. Text me once you're done talking with El and I'll come back over here."

He leaned down and kissed my forehead, something he had started doing these past six days. It was also something that made my heart swoon.

He walked out of the room and left me all to myself to call El. I dialed her number and hit send, waiting for her to pick up.

"Hello?" She answered sadly, the normal cheeriness no longer evident in her voice.

I sighed, "Hey El, it's me. How are you doing?"

From there we talked for a good hour. Apparently, One Direction fans got ahold of Eleanor's old Beebo account and found a bunch of pictures of her and her ex boyfriend. Since her and Louis were a relatively new couple, only dating for about 7 or 8 months, the pictures weren't very old. Only about a year old tops, so they all looked pretty recent. The pictures were posted on Tumblr and created a wildfire of drama, proclaiming that Eleanor was cheating on Louis with a guy that she went to school with. From this, the fans all decided that Eleanor was actually a "beard" and her and Louis never really loved each other.

Eleanor then went on to tell me that Louis had seen the pictures since so many fans were tweeting them to her. Because the pictures did look pretty recent, he called her immediately and broke up with her, telling her that "He could never love a cheater." Eleanor was completely devastated, seeing as it was all just one big misunderstanding.

At first it was hard for me to believe. Louis did not seem to be the type of guy that would break up with Eleanor without listening to what she had to say, especially over a rumor the fans started. But it had happened, and I felt so bad for my best friend.

"I'm so sorry, El," Was all that I could say. I was never very good at advice, "If you want I can go and talk to Louis, tell him your side of the story since he didn't take the time to hear it from you."

After a few more words exchanged, she hung up the phone and went to bed. I sent Niall a text and told him he could come over.

Just when things were looking up for me, they were falling down for someone else.