Chapter 7
"What are ya going to do?" Niall asked as he came down and sat next to me on the sofa.
"I don't even know," I replied. I buried my face into my hands. We sat in silence for a while. I was screwed. What was I going to do? There was nothing I could do. My dad was going to find out I was lying. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at a dorky smile that Niall had on his face.
"What?" I asked.
"I got it! I'll drive you back!" said Niall.
"How the hell are you going to do that, Niall? I live 4 hours away? I don't think I can get there in one hour."
He did a faint smile. "Well, why don't you tell your dad not to come get you? Just make something up. Then you'll get home in time and he won't know." I could do that I guess. I took my phone out to text my dad.
"You don't need to get me at Mel's. I'm at the mall with her. Idk wen ill be back to her house."
I hope it works. There was an immediate chime from my phone.
"Are you sure? When will you be home?"
"IDK, dad. Sometime tonight. I'll just call you later."
There. That was done with.
"Okay, I told him I'll be home later tonight. Now I just need to get to the train station. I'll go call a taxi." I went to dial the number to the cab company when Niall put his hand over my phone. "What are you doing?"
"Don't call," Niall said, 'I'll drive you."
I was confused. "How in the world are you going to drive me?"
Niall took his hand off my phone and smiled proudly at himself. "My friend has a car. I'll borrow it. He won't care. C'mon, it'll be fun. Kind of like a little road trip." I continued to look at him. He was absolutely insane.
"Niall, I…" He cut me off
"No, I'll take you. You go get ready and I'll call my friend." I didn't say anything. I slide my phone into my pocket, still looking at Niall, and picked my purse up off the couch. I slowly turned and walked down the hallway. It's official. Niall was absolutely mad.
I came out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway to the living room. Niall was standing by the island. He was wearing the same clothes he had been, but only now he had on a black snapback. Oh, wow. How adorable.
"Ready?" he asked as he shut the lights off in the kitchen.
"I suppose so," I replied. I didn't know what to think about this. Niall opened the door for me to leave. As I walked past him I got a smell of his cologne. Something sweet, yet manly. Niall walked out behind me and shut the door. I followed him down the hallway, into the elevator, and then into the lobby of the hotel. We didn't say anything the entire way. There wasn't anything to say. I followed Niall out the front door of the hotel. It was hot outside and the sun burned down on us. I followed Niall down the sidewalk. Where was the car at? I saw Niall reach into his pocket and pull out a set of keys. He aimed the keys at a car and I saw the lights flicker on and off. It was a sleek, black car.
"Here we are," Niall said as he opened the door for me. "Hop in!" I slide inside the car and Niall shut the door. It smelled like a new car and had black leather seats. I buckled my seatbelt as Niall got in the driver side. He buckled his belt and fixed the mirrors. He started the car and sat back. "Ready?" he asked as he turned to me. I nodded and Niall slide on a pair of black sunglasses. 'Okay, then. Here we go." Niall slowly turned onto the street. We were off for out four hour journey. I watched as Niall drive with caution. As he turned to get onto the interstate, he allowed the wheel to slide in his hand. He was adorable. Everything about him seemed to mesmerize me.
"Niall, do you know how to get there?" I asked. I haven't even thought about it.
"Oh, right," he said as he turned on the GPS. "Why don't you type in the address?" I took the GPS and typed in the train stations address. There was no way I was going to let him drop me off in front of my house. I set the GPS and checked the time. Three hours and fifty-five minutes away. Fantastic. I texted Mel to let her know what time to pick me up at the train station.
We didn't speak a word to each other for a good hour. There wasn't much to say. I just know that I wanted to get home. I looked down at my phone when I felt it vibrate. "Low Battery" Shit. "Niall, do you have a phone charger in here?" I asked. I doubt he would even know.
"Uh, yea. I think he keeps some in here." Niall reached over to the glove compartment. I felt his hand brush across my thigh as he went to open the compartment. His hand was so soft. He fished around inside before pulling out a long cord. "Here, love," he said as he plugged it in. I took the other end and plugged it into my phone. Perfect. I sat my phone in my lap and starred ahead.
"I've seen you before," I said, trying to break the silence.
Niall looked over at me. He raised one of his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
I smiled. "Before the concert. I saw you in that café next to the theater. You were with some guy."
"Oh, okay," Niall said smiling. "That was my friend Nathan. He's the one who let me use his car."
"Is Nathan American?"
"Yea," replied Niall. "I met him when I was visiting New York a year ago. We met up here before the concert. He's a good guy." I nodded and smiled. "So, Grace, you were talking about going to a university. What's stopping you from going?"
"Nothing really. I'm just not sure which one to go to. I can go to one far away and get a good education, or I can go to a small community college and save money by living at home."
Niall nodded in understanding. "Okay."
"What about you, Niall?" I asked, "Are you going to go to a university?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't really like school. I think I'll just wait and see how things work out." I nodded and starred ahead. He caught me off guard with his next question. "Tell me about your step mom."
"What?" Why would he want to know about her?
"You don't seem to like her. Why?"
I sighed. "She doesn't like me either. We never liked each other. He first husband died right after they were married. She never had any kids of her own."
"Why'd your dad marry her then?"
"Because he thought she was perfect. I don't get it. She's like an evil demon woman." Niall chuckled at my comment.
"Well, what about your mom? Why isn't she with your dad?"
I paused and looked forward. I hated thinking about it.
"Look, Grace, you don't have to tell me. I was just curi…"
"No," I cut him off. "It's fine." I sighed again. "I always thought my parents loved each other. They were perfect for each other and I loved them both a lot. My dad had to go away on a business trip. He's a publicist and he had to travel to Texas for two weeks the day after I turned thirteen. I remembered him being so sad that he had to leave because he hated being away from my mom and I, but it was his job. So, he left and my mom and I continued with our lives." I looked up to Niall. He seemed to be still paying attention.
"Go on," he said.
"Well, I was at Liz's house one night and was going to sleep over, but we had gotten into a fight. Her mom had volunteered to drive me home, but I didn't want her to. She only lived down the street, so I just walked home. I got home that night and ran into the house. I was so upset. I was looking for my mom, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I went down the hallway to her and dads bedroom and opened the door." I took a deep breath in. "I saw her and some guy lying on the bed. They were both under the covers, naked. It was the worst thing ever."
"Wow," Niall said.
I continued. "I ran into the living room, ready to run out the door when I heard my mom running down the hallway. She was yelling at me, telling me to wait. I was so mad. I had tears streaming down my face. I couldn't believe she would do that. I waited and when she came up to me she tried telling me that it wasn't what it looked like. I knew she was lying!" I took another deep breath in I could feel the anger building inside of me. "I yelled at her. Asking how she could do this to us. To this family. To dad. I kept yelling at here. Telling her that she was a horrible person. Dad loved us and would never do anything to hurt us, unlike her. She was horrible!" I spammed my fist down onto the top of my thigh. I paused for a minute. I could tell Niall didn't know what to say. "She told me that she was sorry and that things weren't the same between them anymore. She said she needed more." I wiped my nose on the back of my hand. My eyes were starting to water. "She said she didn't love him anymore…she wasn't sorry." I stared ahead as the tears started rolling down my face. I felt a hand cover my hand that was on my leg and squeeze. I wrapped my fingers around his hand.
"I'm so sorry, Grace," said Niall. "I can't even imagine how you felt." We sat in silence for a while, our hands holding each other's. I finally looked up at Niall. He had taken his glasses off and I could see his eyes. They were red. Had he been crying? Did he really feel sorry for me?
The rest of the ride remained almost silent except for when we went through a Starbuck's drive thru. We finally arrived at the train station and I had Niall drop me off in back of the train station, that way Mel wouldn't see us. Niall got out of the car and came over to open my door. It felt good to be out of the car. Niall shut the door and stood in front of me, his hands in his pocket.
"Well, here you are," he said.
"Yup. Thank you so much, Niall. You have been such a nice person these last couple of days. I really appreciate it." I was getting ready to walk away when Niall grabbed my hand. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.
"Here, love. It's my number. I'm sure I won't be going back home for a while, so call me sometime." I held the piece of paper in my hand and clutched my fist. I smiled.
"Okay, I will," I said. I figured I better do something nice for him. I slid the piece of paper into my pocket and opened my arms wide. I walked toward Niall and wrapped my hands around his neck. He smelled so good. "Really, Niall. Thank you so much. I don't know what I would have done without you." I felt his arms grip me around my waist. He took one of his hands and slowly slid it up and down my back.
"It's really no problem, love. You were great company." I got ready to pull away when Niall tilted his head and softly kissed me on the cheek.
I blushed as I dropped my hands from his neck. "Bye, Niall." I walked away.
I pulled myself together and turned the corner of the train station and walked inside. I saw Mel and waved. She looked annoyed. "Look, Mel. I'm so sorry about the train and everything. It's been a mess."
Mel didn't say anything. She still looked annoyed.
"Mel, I really am sor…" she cut me off.
"Save it, Grace. Who the hell was that guy?"
