Believe

Chapter thirty three

"So explain," I say and I sit down on the couch. Niall is pacing in front of me and I try to be patient while he tries to find words. After a few moments, I can't contain myself anymore "Who is she?" I ask so I can put a name to the girl I saw him with.

"The girl you saw, that's my ex, Hailee Steinfeld," he says and looks at me with a pained look. I feel like a fool, was I just a rebound until his ex would go back to him? I think about what I know about her. I've seen a couple of interviews with her and she seems like a nice girl, she's gorgeous as well which makes me even feel worse.

"It's just that," he says and he throws his arms in the air "she still means a lot to me".

"So you let her kiss your neck?" I say it before I could even think about it "do you know how much of a fool I feel like right now?" I say trying to contain my anger.

He sighs and he's still looking for words, and I look him in the eyes. I know how someone you love can make you fall in your old habits even though those habits are wrong, I've been there.

"I'm sorry Lauren, that was never my intention, but what about you and Tom? How do you think that I felt?" He said and I'm shocked.

"What do you mean Tom and me? He was just being friendly while you were with your ex" I say and I could see that I've hit a nerve.

Niall starts pacing again and I can see that he's getting angry too.

"Tom was hitting on you and you can't even see it," he says throwing his hands in the air again, his voice raised.

"He wasn't and so what if he was? I wouldn't let him kiss my neck" I say standing up out of anger "you know you've done this to yourself".

"I didn't kiss her back for god's sake!" He screams back at me.

"Is that supposed to make it okay?" I scream back "what if Tom had kissed my neck? Would you've liked that?" I say looking in his eyes, seeing the anger growing in them.

"So you do like him?" He says accusing me and I put my hands in my hair because he just doesn't understand my point.

"No, I don't like him! I like you but you go back to your ex like I don't even exist" I say trying and take a deep breath to calm myself down.

He doesn't answer and I can see that my words have an impact on him.

"Lauren, I'm so sorry," he says and takes a step in my direction. I take a step back, I don't want to feel like this again. The only way I know how to make sure that he'll never get the chance to hurt me again is to hurt him. That's something I've done to much in my life, I self destruct.

"Why don't you just go to her and kiss her back because I'm done," I say and I know that I've said the thing that hurts him. He looks at me with a pained look "if that's what you want" he says but he's still standing in front of me, looking me in the eyes. I try to look like I don't feel anything and I see that it works because he turns to the door. He takes one more look at me before leaving me all alone. I crash to the floor and let the tears fall down my cheek. When I don't have any tears left and my eyes are dry from crying I get up. I go to the bathroom and wash my face and look in the mirror, my eyes are red and I look miserable. I change into my pyjama and lay down on my bed. My phone makes a sound and I take it hoping that it's Niall but it's a message from Sarah. I open it to see that she sent me a selfie with her and Harry. Harry kisses her cheek and they look so cute together.

"You two look so good together xxx" I text her back and go to my Instagram to scroll through my feed. While I'm scrolling through my feed I get a message on Instagram, it's from Tom.

"Hey Lauren, it was very lovely to meet you," it said and for a minute I think about what Niall said about Tom, that he was flirting with me, but in my opinion, he's just being nice.

"Hey Tom, it was lovely to meet you as well" I text back and set my alarm for the photoshoot tomorrow. I hope it doesn't get awkward between Niall and me tomorrow.

I wake up the next morning feeling very tired and when I look in the mirror, I can see that my face looks horrible. There are red spots from crying on my cheeks and I've got bags under my eyes. I take a hot shower and make my tense muscle relax. When I get out of the shower I put on light washed blue jeans and a plain black shirt. I brush my hair and put it in a ponytail. I put on my black high All Stars and am ready. They gave me instructions not to put makeup on so I take my bag to go to the restaurant to get some breakfast.

When I get to the restaurant, I can see that Niall isn't there yet. I order some fruits with yogurt and English breakfast tea. My phone rings and I pick it up without looking who it is.

"With Lauren," I say and my breakfast arrives.

"Hey chick," Sarah says and I'm so happy to hear her voice.

"Omg! I'm so glad that you called" I say and tell her everything that happened last night. I'm glad that I'm too tired to cry otherwise I would be crying again.

"Lauren, are you okay? I'm so sorry that this happened to you" she says and I'm so glad to have her on my side.

"I'll be fine, I just want to go home and for everything to go back to normal," I say sighing.

"Harry and I will pick you up on Sunday and take you to my place so I can cook you a homemade meal," she says and just thinking about that makes me miss London even more.

"You're the best you know that?" I say and I can hear her laugh.

"Uh yes of course I know," she says and I laugh with her.

"I have to go but I'll text you after the photo shoot," I say and look at my watch to see that I only have ten minutes left before I have to go.

"Great and Lauren, if he really wants you then he really needs to show it okay, don't go soft now," she says knowing me all too well.

"I will Sarah, bye love," I say goodbye and we hang up.

I finish breakfast and when I'm done there's still no sign of Niall. I only have a few minutes left so I get up to meet Logan at the car. When in the entrance hall of the hotel I can see that Niall is already outside. He's wearing sweatpants with some Nike shoes and a black hoodie. I approach them and "good morning Lauren," Logan says smiling at me. Niall looks up at me and he looks very tired as well.

"Good morning," I say to Logan and I look at Niall waiting for him to say something. He gives me a small smile "good morning" he says and takes a step back to let me in the car first.

"Good morning," I say back at him and get in the car. We drive in silence and it takes everything from me to not take his hand. I look up at him and he's looking out the window. Is this how the rest of the day will go? This is going to be a long day.

Author's note: Hey guys! Almost 3000 reads! Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the story, what do you hope will happen next? Don't forget to vote :)