Small Talk (Niall Horan)

Chapter 70

*Sofia's P.O.V.*

I was in shock, petrified. Harry's words kept replaying over and over again in my mind. Soph's a fan. Soph's a fan. Soph's a fan. I don't know how much time passed, but to me timed slowed down, it was as if time was frozen. 

"Sofia." Eleanor nudged me, waking me up from my trance. "Niall's looking over." She continued as she motioned towards Niall. I could see the fear in his eyes, he didn't know what to do. I could see him looking over to me, since we were seated almost directly across from the boys and I knew what that look meant. He was wondering what he should do. And I knew deep down that there was nothing we could do, there was no way of getting out of this, the truth was going to come out now, whether we liked it or no. Why did Harry have to chose the only live show to fuck up? The timing this boy had was unbelievable. It had only been about 5 seconds, but to both Niall and I it surely had already felt like an eternity. I lightly nodded my head and closed my eyes, and thankfully Niall understood. He knew too that it was time for the truth to come out.

"Based on the look on your faces, you weren't supposed to say that I presume Harry." I heard Jonathan say, all of the boys just laughed nervously, not knowing what to do or say. "But I have to ask, who's Soph Niall? And why do you keep looking over to the crowd?" He inquired, he obviously wasn't going to let it slip. He knew he had to get the scoop.

"Soph's my girlfriend." Niall finally spoke, the color slightly returning to his face, but he still looked paler than a ghost.

"Didn't know you had a girlfriend. Is she here? Is that why you keep looking over to the crowd?" Holy fuck someone please shut this man up. "Who is she?" Was he serious? it was one thing for Niall to spill the beans about him having a girlfriend, but it was a whole other thing for the presenter to expose me in national television. I could see the cameras already panning towards the crowd, and it wasn't hard to spot me obviously, since I was nestled between Eleanor and Gigi, who everyone knew were the boys' girlfriends. "That's her right?" The presenter asked Niall again as a camera was shoved in my face. Fuck.

"Yeah, that's her." Niall had no other choice but to admit.

"She's really pretty. Hi Soph." Jonathan turned towards me as he waved. I couldn't be impolite obviously, even if I didn't like this in the slightest, so I had to lift my hand up and wave back, with a fake smile plastered on my face. After I waved back the presenter shifted his back to me again and turned his attention back to the boys. The camera man also backed off, finally removing the camera from my face.

*Niall's P.O.V.*

"Soph's a fan." I heard Harry speak right next to me. And I froze, what the fuck had he just spoken? I could literally feel the color drain from my face. "Fuck, sorry." He muttered under his breath so that only I could hear him. I slowly lifter my gaze and turned to look at Sofia who was seating right across from me in the crowd, her face was very pale and she wore a dazed expression. She didn't look at me, but thankfully Eleanor noticed and nudged her until she finally looked up to meet my gaze. I just hoped she could see that I was asking her what I should so with my look. It's not like I could mouth anything to her or do anything else since I was pretty sure the camera was zoomed in on my face. She lowered her gaze and nodded, giving me the okay to tell everyone about us. She knew there was no way to get out of this. This all happened in less than 10 seconds, but to me it seemed like it had been minutes, you know how time seems to slow down when you're in shitty situations.

"Based on the look on your faces, you weren't supposed to say that I presume Harry."Jonathan spoke, and I could hear the rest of the boys laughing nervously. No shit Jonathan, we wouldn't have this looks plastered on our faces if it was something he was allowed to say. "But I have to ask, who's Soph Niall? And why do you keep looking over to the crowd?" He finally turned towards me and asked. There was no way he was letting me off the hook. He loved prying.

"Soph's my girlfriend." I finally admitted, and it took a lot of strength to stop my lips from quivering as I said it, I was nervous as fuck.

"Didn't know you had a girlfriend. Is she here? Is that why you keep looking over to the crowd?" Are you fucking serious Jonathan? Are you not seeing my face and the boys'? You seriously want to draw more attention to it? Can't we just let it go? "Who is she?" He had every right to ask if I had a girlfriend, specially after Harry's fuck up, but I saw one of the camera guys start panning across the audience, trying to find her. And of course he found her in a heartbeat, she was seated between Eleanor and Gigi and everyone knew they were Louis' and Zayn's girlfriends. Why did she have to seat in between them? It was so unlucky that she chose to sit in the middle, making it easier for every one to figure out who she was. "That's her right?" Of course that's fucking her, she wouldn't be seated between the girls if she was just a random person.

"Yeah, that's her." I reluctantly voiced. He didn't have to show her face on live television, specially not after our secret had come to light in national television and we hadn't even recovered from the shock of it.

"She's really pretty. Hi Soph." He waved at her and I saw her wave back. Her all too familiar fake smile plastered on her face. 

"So tell us Niall, how long have you and Sophie been dating? Or is it Sofia?"

"It's Sofia." I hated being the center of attention. "And we've been dating for a couple of months." I gave a vague answer. I wasn't going to divulge all of our personal information, and I didn't know how much information Soph felt comfortable with sharing. We still hadn't talked about it, since we were going to tell everyone about our relationship in a week, not have it slip out on national television.

"Lovely name."

"Yes it is."

"So that means that all of you are taken." He stated and we all nodded. "Well, now that that's cleared up, let's carry on with the game." He continued before he started reading the questions again.

"Niall, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for it to slip. I know I fucked up, big time." Harry told me as soon as we got off from the stage.

"I know you didn't mean for it to slip out, don't worry." I could see how upset he was, and even though I was mad as fuck, I knew he hadn't done it on purpose and that there was nothing I could do about it now. No need to make him feel even worse.

"Do you think Soph will hate me now?" He asked concerned.

"Don't think so." I responded, but deep down I knew Soph was just as mad as I was or even more. 

"I hope she doesn't hate me. I really didn't mean for it to slip out. I'm really sorry." He continued apologizing, but I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't listen to the rest of what he was saying. All I kept thinking about was how the fans were going to react, I didn't want Sofia to receive hate online and I hoped this didn't spark backlash from the fans and the media  for hiding our relationship and even denying it a couple of times. But I knew it was inevitable for Soph to receive at least some hate, I just hoped that she could cope with it and it wouldn't break her like it did last time. It pained me to see her  cry because of the hate she received online when they didn't even know her name, now that they do I know that it's only going to be a matter of time for everyone to start prying into her life and using that information to hate on her. It's going to be 10 times worse and I hope she's strong enough to endure it and still love me the same, because god knows that I can't live without her.

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Author's Note:

Hey there guys! Thank you so much for all the love you're giving my story! It means a lot to me. Can't believe it's almost at a 100,000 reads, wow! So, their secret's finally out, what do you guys think will happen next? Also sorry for updating so late, I had a really busy day today! For all the new readers, I update daily! How are you enjoying the story so far? If you have any suggestion about something you'd like me to include be sure to leave it in the comments! I'm really hoping you enjoy it and any suggestions and/or grammar corrections are more than welcome. Don't forget to follow me, vote and comment, it really helps me out and I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you're obsessed with 1D make sure to check my TikTok account, I upload daily vids of the boys, it's @cristylealr