Just Another Girl (Niall Horan A.U. fanfiction)

Chapter 23

"Emily? Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he? Oh God." Julie sits down next to me and wraps her arms around me. I lay my head on her shoulder and that's when I notice I'm crying. I'm not sure how long that's been going on and I honestly don't care. She sits quietly with me, just patting my back and saying soothing things to me. When I finally calm down a bit she gets up and grabs a blanket.

"Here, you're staying here tonight. I don't trust him. You should text or call Katie so she doesn't freak out."

I shake my head. "I don't want to have to explain what happened to her too, she'll just assume I'm out with Niall. She can assume that until I get a chance to tell her."

"So..." Julie says hesitantly. "What did happen, Emily?"

"He drank...a lot, and when I tried to take it away from him he got mad and started kissing me, but he wouldn't stop and nobody was paying attention. I was all alone there Julie," I say, starting to cry again. "I'm sorry," I say, wiping my cheeks.

Julie shakes her head. "Don't you dare be sorry. You've been through an ordeal, you have every right to cry as much as you want to. You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready."

I cry a little longer before I finally feel like I'm getting under control again. "Okay. After he kept kissing me I told him we could go upstairs and then I shut him in a room and got out of there as quickly as I could."

"You were really smart, Emily. I mean, I already knew you were smart but you really proved you could think through dangerous situations. I'm so glad you're okay." she hugs me again and even though I'm not normally a fan of hugs it just feels so good right now. My phone starts buzzing and my chest fills with dread that immediatly goes away when I see it's Katie.

"Emily? Emily, what's going on? Are you okay? Niall called Louis up and he was all drunk and asking where you were and how he'd made such a mistake...Emily what happened?"

I take a deep breath and tell her the story I just told Julie. When I'm done she says, "That asshole. I hate him. I'm coming over to Julie's right now." I hear her say to Louis, "take me home. Now." and then she turns back to the phone. "I will be there as soon as I can."

When I hang up Julie looks at me questioningly. "She's coming over."

"Good, you could use as much friend support as you can get."

I pull the blanket tighter around me and continue taking deep breaths. Even though I've stopped crying, I'm still really shaken. Whatever I thought might happen at the party, this was definitely not it.  I agreed to go to the party with Niall because I thought he would keep me safe not be the source of danger. The idea that he would get drunk and try to sleep with me never crossed my mind. I had finally started to trust him...how could I be so stupid?

There's a banging on the door a few minutes later and I jump and squeak in fear, but then - "Emily? Julie? It's me, Katie!"

Julie jumps up and pulls open the door. Katie runs in and flings herself down next to me.

"I knew I shouldn't have let him take you, I knew something bad would happen. I'm so sorry Emily, this is all my fault."

I laugh for what feels like the first time in years. "Are you kidding me? I agreed to go with him, this is one hundred percent my fault."

Julie sits on the other side of me and I suddenly feel like crying again.

"I just want to tell you guys how much it means to me. I mean, you -" I point at Katie, "blew off a date to be here and you -" this time I point at Julie, "hate me so it really means a lot -"