My Gift Is My Curse

“But we didn’t kiss! I swear! And I didn’t even tell Louis anything!”

Alice and Niall were arguing about none other than Demi Lovato. After the encounter where Demi mentioned not being able to kiss and tell, Alice left the room pretending that her sister had been calling.

She spent the rest of the time they drove “sleeping” according to all of the boys, when in reality she’d just been laying there crying. She didn’t want to sit down and cry because of her boyfriend kissing some other girl, because she practically already knew that they didn’t kiss.

But her thoughts were eating her alive. She laid there for hours pondering, “what if he really doesn’t want me?”

And then once they arrived at the venue, everybody got out of the bus. They all headed inside to check it out, and Alice stayed behind. She took her time showering and getting ready, basically avoiding having to be around the others.

But then she’d heard the bus door open, and in walked Louis. She’d expected it to be Niall, coming to apologize and beg for mercy. But it wasn’t. It was the other blue-eyed boy, and he had a look of genuine concern on his face.

“I don’t know what you two are up to,” He’d said, causing Alice to spin around from her spot in front of the mirror and face him, “but you need to be careful. Don’t be stupid about this.”

And then he left, just turned on his heels and left the bus. He left Alice to sit and wonder what the fuck Niall said to him.

Which brought them to their argument, which had been their first encounter in the past two days. They hadn’t spoken a word to each other; Niall strayed away from Alice as best as he could.

Until he followed her out the exit of the restaurant they’d all been at. Alice excused herself and said she had a phone call, which Niall clearly saw right through, and he excused himself for the bathroom.

Luckily the bathrooms were the same way as the exit, and the boys were very oblivious – or so Niall thought – and he followed his girlfriend outside.

“But that’s bullshit, Niall. All of it. Everything that happened. Why did you let her get away with saying that? And clearly you told Louis something! How else would he know anything is happening between us?” The brunette was fuming. Her fists were balled up and she had her eyebrows furrowed in pure anger.

They were standing on the side of the building, a side far away from the entrance, further enough away from where any paparazzi or guest could hear them.

Niall ran a hand through his hair and had sighed. There were so many things he loved about Alice. So, so many things.

Except how she got when she was angry, because her face would scrunch up with every word that she’d speak. She looked so mad and it was always something that he hated to see. It didn’t necessarily scare him, but it made him feel very uneasy.

He grabbed her left shoulder very lightly, and then ran his hand down her arm. He laced their fingers together and opened his mouth to speak. “Please, Alice. Look at me. She doesn’t mean anything, alright?”

Alice was still very angry, and her entire body language showed that with the way that she presented herself. She ripped her hand from Niall’s and shook her head. “That doesn’t answer my question. Why didn’t you correct her if you two didn’t kiss? Hm?”

He sighed. “I don’t know, Alice! I know it was wrong though, okay? I know that. And I’m sorry I didn’t correct her. I’m so sorry. I just thought that you’d see through it all and know it was a joke. You always do.”

The girl laughed. “Do you like her?” She asked.

Niall looked at her like she was crazy. “What?”

“Don’t avoid the question, Niall. Do you like Demi?”

He nodded. “Of course I do!” His voice was enthusiastic, and he was trying to play dumb it seemed. “She’s one of my mates, I have to like her.”

“Oh my god.” Alice whispered, and ran a hand down her face. “You do. You do like her. Jesus Christ.”

She felt her eyes water, and she turned away from Niall. “Is it because she’s a pop star too?” She asked. “Does that make you two more compatible or something?” Her voice was venomous and Niall nearly flinched from the way it sounded.

Before any of them could speak another word, a voice tore them away from their argument.

“There you two are!” It was Demi, and Alice found herself cringing.

She turned back around to face the other two, and they both looked at her. Niall with worry, Demi with some unrecognizable expression.

“Oh gosh, are you okay?” Demi asked her, and Alice nodded. “Did I interrupt something here? Because I can go if you’d like.”

“No.” Niall answered, and looked at Alice once, then back to Demi. “You’re fine.” He walked past Demi and smiled at her, then continued his way back inside.

Demi looked at Alice, and couldn’t help but laugh. She thought the younger girl looked ridiculous. Her hair was a mess as though she’d been running her hands through it for the past hour, and her cheeks were stained with mascara.

“C’mon, let’s go inside.” The older girl said, and latched her arm with Alice’s.

Alice felt everything churn inside of her. If she thought she was pissed before, this was taking that to an entire new level. She felt herself attempting to breathe to calm herself down the entire way they walked back to the table.

Just before they reached the table, and while they were out of earshot, Demi pulled her arm from Alice’s and she turned to smile at her. “By the way,” she said, “It’s really cute how you are arguing about me. But I’m afraid to say this, Alice. You’re going to lose.”

Her words had a complete double meaning to them, and her smile pulled even wider at the sight of Alice’s smile faltering.

After all, Demi had a plan, and she wasn’t going to let some average girl ruin that plan for her.