Niall's POV

As I regained consciousness, I blinked my eyes a few times, waiting for the world to unblur. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head as I sat up, squinting at the line of light pouring in from the window. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 11. Damn jet lag. New York was like three hours ahead of California, right? I shrugged and stood up, noticing the light on my phone going off. I slid the screen up, clicking on the unread message from Liam.

Went ovr 2 Harry nd Louis room didnt wnt 2 wake u :)

Shrugging, I slid my legs over the edge of the bed and stood, deciding to go down to the lobby for the free breakfast before going to find him. I slid on my jeans over my boxers and pulled a shirt over my head- too tired to even notice that it was Liam's. Scrubbing my eyes and running my hand through my bleached hair, I made my way down to the elevator.

A ding rang through the enclosed area when it stopped on the correct floor. The smell of bacon greeted me as I shuffled across the lobby. That's when I first saw her. She walked through the large glass doors and into the hotel. Her nose was red from the cold and a few snowflakes stuck to her hat and scarf. I couldn't help but notice the line of tears running down her cheeks. I watched her as she walked to the front desk and was eventually handed a room key. It made me mad that the girl at the counter looked at her so sympathetically. It was like she was giving her pity rather than concern.

For the first time in my life, I didn't have to think twice about walking in the opposite direction of food. I followed her back to the elevator that I'd just came from. Her hair was glossy and dark brown, falling like a waterfall from under her beanie. Two things occurred to me then, only one of them being relevant. First of all, was it normal for it to be snowing in October? And second, the girl looked younger now than she did before. I'd guess maybe around sixteen.

"Sorry to intrude, but are you okay?" I had to ask when she leaned against the wall and slid to sit on the floor.

"I'm fine." Her voice was muffled by the sleeve of her jacket, her face buried in her arms.

"Are you here all by yourself?" I asked, sitting beside her on the ground.

"Right now, yes. My brother will be back in a few hours."

"So you don't live around here?"

"I do. He doesn't. What's it to you anyway?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"Why? You don't even know me."

"That doesn't mean I don't want to see you happy and smiling."

She sniffled and looked up at me, her eyes seeming confused for a few seconds before she shook her head back and forth, as if she were clearing her thoughts.

"If you don't mind me asking... What's wrong?" I had to know.

"You wouldn't understand."

"I can try to."

"I just got in a fight with my boyfriend, is all. It's fine."

"Oh... What happened?" What kind of boyfriend was he to make her cry? She looked so soft and pretty... Like an angel... How could he hurt her?

"I don't even fucking know!" She threw her arms up, obviously frustrated. "He's just so... ugh! He's so full of it. Like he never does anything wrong, it's always me, me, me. So he just said that he's done and he broke up with me, just like that. After five months. Five months!" She finally let go.

"What's your name?" I asked after a moment had passed.

"Abbey." She cried into her jacket.

"I'm Niall. And I think your ex boyfriend is a fucking idiot."

She smiled in an almost silent laugh. "I agree." But then that same look of confusion crossed her face. "Have we met before? You look so familiar... And I know I've heard that name..."

"I would've remembered if we met before." I smiled happily at her. I loved meeting fans, I really did, but it was nice that she didn't know who I was. I hadn't had a normal friend in a really long time, aside from the boys. I stood up and said "Come on," then grabbed her hand to help her stand too. "I'm not going to let you sit alone in your room when we could be having fun."

"How did you know I would be alone?"

"I just saw you ask for a key. So I figured..."

"My brother is out with his fiancee until midnight, at least. And they have both keys. I was supposed to spend the day with Luke... But then... And... Yeah..."

"Luke being your fucking idiot boyfriend, right?" I continued the conversation after I'd stopped at my room and quickly gotten dressed.

"He's no longer my fucking idiot. Now he's just a fucking idiot." She reminded me hastily. The only thing that stopped me from grabbing her hand once we started down the streets of New York was the fact that she'd just gotten out of a relationship and we just met. Even though I wouldn't mean it in a romantic way, I didn't want to freak her out.

New York City was just crowded enough not to be recognized. Everyone was rushing around, too preoccupied to notice who they were running into. Abbey and I laughed at a man on the phone who didn't even look before running out into the middle of the street.

"It's always like that here." She informed me. "I've lived right in the heart of the city my entire life, so you get used to it. There's always people pushing and shoving, and acting like they own the place."

"So if you live here, why are you staying in a hotel?"

"I'm not. My brother is. He and his fiancee, Nat, came to visit from England. And to come get me."

"To come get you?"

"Yeah. I'm going to live with them for awhile."

"I live in England." I smiled at her. "Right in London with my friends."

"No way! That's where he lives! We'll be in the same city! That's crazy. Small world, right?"

"I'm glad I'll be able to see you there!" I laughed. It was true, I really was glad. We'd be able to stay friends, hopefully, if we lived close enough.

"Me too. I like you, Niall."

"C'mon, let's go in here! I'm starved!" I announced, pulling her with me into the biggest Hershey's store I'd ever seen. Not that I'd ever even seen a Hershey's store before, but still, it was massive. "Whoa!" I looked at all the different kinds of chocolates they had around the inside, licking over my lips subconsciously. "I want all of them!"

"I love Hershey's. They're all so good. The best are the chocolate covered pretzels, and the peanut butter chocolate."

"Let's get some then! What else do you want?"

"I didn't bring any money though..."

"Don't worry about it. You'll buy next time." I grinned and gave her a wink, pulling her with me up to the front counter. I grabbed multiple different things on the way including a chocolate kiss the size of my head, some Crunch bars, and a bag of Reese's Pieces. "We'll get these, those chocolate pretzels, peanut butter chocolate, and that box of different ones." I told the lady working at the counter.

"Oh, and two hot cocoas. Extra whipped cream." Abbey smiled politely at her, and turned to me. "They're super good, I promise."

The woman gave us a weird look, but did as we asked, and let us on our way. We sat at the nearest table and immediately opened the big box.

"How do we know what flavors are what?" I asked her, looking up into her big, brown eyes.

"We don't." She shrugged with a small laugh. "It's a trial and error experiment." She continued to explain, grabbing one from the middle. It looked like milk chocolate with white and light brown swirls all around it. "Mmm..." She moaned when she bit into it. I bit my lip, feeling a blush in my cheeks at how intriguing the sound was. "Try it." She handed the second half over to me and I popped it in my mouth. She was right, it was delicious.

We continued doing that with the majority of the box, changing which was our favorite every couple minutes, and laughing at the faces we made when one was gross. We gave each other high fives when we had the same opinions, and called each other crazy when we didn't, even fake fighting a few times.

"You'll come stay in my room with me, right? We can watch cartoons!" I promised, trying to convince her as we walked back toward the hotel.

"Of course! And by the way, I realize how I know you now. You're from that band right? The one from X Factor?"

I laughed, unable to help myself. It was funny that she didn't know about us. "Yeah, that's right. One Direction."

"My friends are all obsessed with you guys." She confessed. "I mean, I like you guys too, I just... I mean, I didn't even know who you were at first. I've only heard two songs, and that's about the extent of my knowledge."

"Yeah? What two?"

"What Makes You Beautiful, and One Thing. I liked them. They're cute."

"Well, thanks. I think you're cute." I admitted.

"Shut up!" She laughed, her cheeks turning pink as she lightly hit my arm.