Never Ever Ever

“Leah?” I heard a distant voice asking me from afar. “Leah?”

I snapped out of my daze, and turned to look at Cullen. He had taken me to this incredibly fancy sushi place. It was crawling with celebrities, Cullen had said, as if that was supposed to make it more intriguing.

“Sorry,” I replied sheepishly. “It’s been a long day,”

“I understand.” He smiled politely. “You not hungry?” He gestured to my plate that was still full of sushi.

“I guess not,” I lied. I was pretty sure I had told him about a month ago about my extreme dislike of sushi. But I wouldn’t spoil the night, not after he was so excited about eating here. “So what were you saying?”

“Just how much of a twat I am for standing you up these past few nights,” he said smoothly, reaching his arm over to grab my hand.

“It’s fine. I understand work is busy,” I shrugged it off. His phone beeped, and he disconnected his hand with mine. I saw his eyes flicker across a text message.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“No one important,” he replied, smooth as ever, tucking the phone back into his pocket. I wondered if it was good that I trusted him enough to not doubt him or if it was bad that I didn’t care enough to make an effort. We finished dinner, eating and chatting aimlessly. Eventually, he paid the bill and we left. While we were waiting for the valet man, he turned to me.

“So it looks like I’ll have to be going back to work,” he sighed.

“At nine o’clock at night?” I responded, turning to him with a confused look on my face.

“There’s some conference call with the management team in LA. Time difference shit and all that,” he answered.

“Oh,” I nodded. That made sense. “I guess you can just drop me off at home,”

We drove in silence, listening to the music. We pulled up into my apartment building and I turned to him. He kissed me quickly and apologized for not being able to walk me up. I assured him it was fine. I opened the door of my apartment to find it was filled with a few boys, none of which I knew.

“Um, hello?” I asked, confused. This was my apartment, right?

“Hello, love,” smirked a boy smoking a cigarette on my couch. In MY apartment.

“Who are you?” I asked bluntly.

“We’re mates with Josh.” He shrugged, as if that explained everything. “Who are you? I don’t think I’d forget a fit girl like you around here.”

“I live here,” I said in a stiff voice.

“Wanna go upstairs, love? Show me your room?” heckled another boy who sat on the opposite side of the couch. He looked me up and down. Disgusting.

“Oh, piss off Andy,” chuckled a voice from behind me. I turned around to face the familiar accent I had heard so many times.

“Niall!” I said, shocked. “What are you doing here?”

“Josh invited us,” he said. “Now give me a hug, ya idiot!”

I laughed, slinging my arms around his neck. I had missed Niall. We had a special bond. He was hilarious and outgoing. We had become really close when I was dating Harry. I hadn’t seen in what seemed like forever, though.

“How are you?” I smiled, after he had let me go.

“I’m good,” he laughed. “Happy to be back,”

“Tour was good?” I asked.

“Yeah, except your whiny boyfriend complaining about how ya won’t call ‘em back!” He chuckled.

“Please,” I shook my head at him.

“Please,” he mocked me, nudging my hip with his.

“Where’s Alicia?” I replied, wanting to change the subject.

“Kitchen,” answered one of the boys. I followed his directions and wound up in the kitchen. Alicia was standing by the fridge talking to Josh, giggling at something he said.

“Hey there,” I smirked, interrupting their moment.

“Oh, hey Leah,” said Alicia, sounding surprised. “I didn’t think you’d be home till later.”
“I see you were having a party here and forgot to invite me.” I rolled my eyes playfully.

“Oh no, it’s just a couple of mates.” Josh responded, tossing his arm above Alicia’s shoulders. I swear I saw her swoon.

“We’re thinking of going out to the pub,” Niall said from behind me. “You lot in?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Josh, and Alicia giggled a, “Me too.”

“How bout ya, Leah?” he said, and I smiled.

“I should probably be doing some homework.” I said, coming up with a lame excuse.

“Shut up, you wanker.” He rolled his eyes, pulling me out of the kitchen. “You’re coming.”

It seemed I didn’t really have a choice. Later, we pulled up to a small pub that wasn’t extremely popular, but was fun and had a good atmosphere. There were no paparazzi outside, either, a plus for Niall.

“Drink?” Niall asked me, as we entered.

“You read my mind,” I smiled sweetly. He ordered us two pints and then turned to me.

“So tell me about your new boyfriend, yeah?” he said, taking a sip.

“Who told you?” I replied.

“Harry.”

“Oh.” I paused. “His names Cullen. I don’t really know. I think he’s cheating on me.”

“Shit?” Niall asked.

“I dunno. I mean I’m not sure, but I just have a feeling. Guess I just have a sign stamped on my forehead: Cheat on me!” I said, the more I drank the gutsier I was becoming.

“Well, damn. Bartender, we’ll have four shots over here!”

“Niall I don’t think,” I started, but he interrupted me.

“Trust me: You need them,” he responded, shutting me down. Niall and I continued and kept on drinking beer and shots, until it was getting really late and I could barely see anything.

“Dammit Niall,” I cursed later in the evening, while we were trying to leave. “I’m drunk,”

“You’re shattered,” he laughed; He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up.

“I think I forgot how to walk,” I slurred. “Which leg goes first?”

“I’ve got ya,” he laughed, attempting to study me. I had always been a bit of a lightweight, and Niall had built up a tolerance of sorts. He was Irish. We walked outside the pub, and I was caught off guard by the amounts of cameras and flashing lights going off.

Niall quickly got us a taxi, but that was after the paps managed to get a few shots.

“I feel sick,” I said, as we neared closer to my apartment.

“Hang in there, love, have to pay extra if you die in the taxi.” He joked. We pulled into my apartment building and Niall paid the taxi driver. He got out of the car, and I turned to him, confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Alicia went to Josh’s flat. I’m not going to let you go up alone when in you’re in this state.”

I nodded, too tired to argue. I quickly walked inside and immediately passed out on the bed.

The next morning I woke up with a splitting headache. I felt like I was dying. All of the sudden, a wave of nausea crept over me, and I rushed to the bathroom. After I had finished throwing up from all the drinks I had had last night, the night’s events came back to me. Basically, it included lots of drunken rambling to Niall, and Niall- oh my gosh!

I walked into the living room, and sure enough, there was Niall sitting on my couch, drinking a tea and watching some football match on my television.

“Rise and shine, lovely. Feeling good?” he joked.

“Need aspirin and water.” I croaked out. “Never drinking again.”

I heard him laugh from the living room as I walked into the kitchen. My phone began buzzing right as I grabbed a water.

“Hello?” I croaked.

“OK. I just saw it. Don’t panic.”

“What are you going on about, Alicia?”

“The paper of course.” She replied, as if I was dense.

“What paper?” I questioned her blankly.

“Oh my gosh. She hasn’t seen it!” she cried to someone in the background. “Go check today’s papers and call me back.”

“Ok,” I replied. I walked past Niall’s calls of confusion and opened my front door to where the paper was delivered every morning. I picked it up, closed the door and flipped to the cover. My eyes grew wide, and I screamed.

Niall came running in, “What’s wrong?”

I said nothing, except pushed the paper to him.

“Shit,” he said, his eyes growing wide.

The title had read: HORAN STEALS STYLE’S GIRL. There was a picture of us stumbling out of the pub last night, with his arm around my waist. It definitely looked suspiciously romantic. I groaned, throwing myself onto the couch.

This was not good.