Keep Me From Falling Apart [Niall Horan]

Chapter Twenty Five

“You’re dim because everyone, but you, see how you two act when around each other. And obviously, if you’re doing all this researching and snooping, you feel something for her. Why can’t you just admit that you wa…”

I replayed Josh’s sentence about 10 million times, breaking it down to make sense.

“Obviously, if you’re doing all this researching and snooping, you feel something for her.”

Her. Her as in.. me?

“Researching and snooping.”

Why would Niall be researching me? I’m not very interesting. All he’s going to find is medical records indicating that I’m mentally unstable, and he already knows that mess.

I figured out the email address that sent me the video was Josh’s. That being that got me to thinking about something else. Something about when we were in New York a few days ago. The old smelly guy that was talking to Josh outside the hotel, he and Niall were talking about him. They were clearly getting something from the guy, even if it wasn’t drugs. I had completely forgotten all about that mess because I never heard anything else that had to do with it.

But Josh sending me that video confused me. If they were being so secretive about Niall’s ‘snooping’, then why did he send me the video with them talking about it.

“Get in here,” he sighed, yanking me inside his room by elbow.

“Josh, I need you to tell me!” I demanded, turning to face him.

He shut the door and turned to face me before he finally said anything.

“Why are you asking me? I’m not the one doing it. Go ask Niall if you want to know so bad,” he said raising his eyebrows.

I sighed, crossing my arms. He looked at me lazily, the look on his face told me to leave, but I wasn’t and he knew that.

“I’m asking you because you sent me that video. Obviously you’re not stupid enough to send it and then deny whatever it is,” I answered.

“It’s none of my business what he’s looking for. He only asked me to get the hard drive from Eddie the other night because he was going to the premiere,” he admitted monotonously.

I straightened up. Finally somebody would answer with a legit answer.

“Any idea what was on the hard drive?” I asked, hoping he would.

He shook his head. My shoulders slumped. I brushed an annoying piece of hair out of my face, thinking of something else to ask him.

“Records,” he said in a tone of realization.

I looked up at him, confused. He shook his head, moving past me, further into his room to get something.

“He texted me…” he trailed off, looking around the room for something.

I waited by the door, watching him until he finally found what he was looking for (his phone) and he spoke again.

“He texted me saying that he got a call from Eddie about the records he was looking for. He wanted me to meet him to get them, but he ended up not having them and we got them right before we left the next morning,” he said searching through his phone.

“Records of what?” I asked not moving from my spot by the door.

“From what I heard; just old real estate purchasing,” he shrugged.

He finally stopped searching his phone.

“He said he finally found the records from September 2011,” he continued, “he had never told me anything about what he was searching for, so I didn’t understand what he meant. When he was talking to Eddie the morning he got the hard drive, I heard him say something about a man and woman, but that’s all I heard.”

He couldn’t be talking about my mom and Adam. Could he? Please, God, don’t let him be.

“Did you hear any names?” I asked, pushing for more information.

“No. Just something about Alaska..” he said in a confused tone.

Alaska? Maybe they’re shipping me off to a mental home in Alaska. If so, I’m glad I’ll be far away.

“Thank, Josh,” I said before turning to the door.

“Wait. Where are you going?” He asked, following me.

I opened the door, then turned around to look at him.

I had two places I could go. I could leave and catch a bus and be long gone by the time my mom finds me, I could forget about everything, even Niall, and I wouldn’t have any problems. Or I could go to Niall and find out what he’s looking for, which is what I really wanted to do; go to Niall.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly before stepping into the hallway and closing the door.

“Wait!” I could hear him shout through the door.

The door opened and I turned around to look at him.

“Michaela, please just take a piece of advice, for me,” he said, his face serious.

“Advice on what?” I asked, my eyebrows knitted together.

He stepped further into the hallway, closer to me.

“Niall is serious.. about.. whatever this is,” he moved his hands on emphasis to me, “And that’s kind of important, considering he doesn’t act like this very often.. or, come to think of it, I’ve never really seen him act like this..” he trailed off in thought.

His words were nipping at spine, sending chills throughout my body. Niall is serious. That’s a new one. Maybe I would go to Niall.

“Anyways..?” I egged Josh on, wanting to hear the rest.

“Uh, anyway… he’s not kidding around. He’s going through a lot of trouble for whatever he’s looking for. I’ve not gotten the full story, but I do know that… that all of this trouble is for you, Michaela,” he paused for a second and I was sure my heart had stopped.

Now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear the rest now.

“W-why? He’s mad at me, because we fau-” Josh cut my words off.

“He’s not mad. He’s only frustrated because you won’t talk to him, or tell him anything,” he said.

Does Niall just tell him everything?

“Do.. do you know?” I asked, wondering if Niall had told him.

He shook his head and my shoulders relaxed in relief.

“He only told me something’s been bothering you, but you won’t talk to him about it and when I asked him what he knew he refused to tell me anything,” he shrugged.

So Niall still was the trustworthy Irishman he was when I first met him.

“I’ve gotta go,” I spit out before turning down the hall.

I heard Josh protest, probably wanting to finish what he was saying, but I kept walking till I got to my room.

“Where have you been?”

I jumped at the sound of Emma’s voice.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I answered throwing my key onto the table.

“Harry, Nicole, Louis, El, Zayn and I all went out,” she shrugged staring at her phone screen as she lounged on her pillows.

“What about Liam?” I wondered.

She texted back whoever, most likely Zayn, before answering.

“He and Niall have been here the whole time,” she said, still looking at her phone.

I hadn’t realized that she hadn’t mentioned Niall. He had been with Louis and Zayn earlier and said that Nicole and Eleanor were waiting on them, but never mentioned Liam.

“Something wrong?” Emma asked.

I quickly shook my head, kicking my shoes into the corner before walking to the bathroom.

“Right, well I’m gonna sleep, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said clicking her beside lamp off, leaving me in semi-darkness before she rolled over and went silent.

Maybe, I thought before going into the bathroom.