The Voice

Niall dismissed us as soon as we talked for a bit. Before he did, he asked us why we picked him, if we didn’t mind answering. Most responded with, “I’m a huge fan, and I felt that you were the best choice for me.”

Me? “You’re sexy, Irish, and you’re an artist that has truly changed my life. You gave me hope that no one else did because if a guy from Mullingar can become what you have, anything can happen.”

That brightened his smile, a lot, but he didn’t respond like he had with everyone else. He just moved on and started telling us to enjoy the night. Brinley was giving me some really dirty looks, but I really didn’t care.

He told us where the pool was and left us to our own business. It had been a while since I swam, so I decided to go and do that—after making sure there was still plenty of daylight outside, of course. Noah agreed that swimming sounded fun, so we hurried upstairs and got ready to swim. I chose my cyan halter top bikini and black swim shorts with cyan plaid.

As I was coming out of my room with a towel, my iPod, and my iPod dock, I practically ran right into Brinley, who snorted in a holier-than-thou kind of way as she looked down at me. I chose to ignore that and try to be the better person.

“Oops. Sorry! I didn’t know you were right outside my door.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Look, you think looking like a tramp around Niall is gonna help you?” She laughed mockingly before her face lost all emotion. “I’m gonna win this, and when I tour with One Direction, Niall’s gonna fall in love with me, and we will have the most amazing sex. He’ll strap me down and take me from—”

“Um, Everit, Noah told me ya might need help getting some of that stuff down to the pool,” Niall very quickly interrupted her, which freaked Brinley out so much that she actually turned and ran right into my room. I giggled a little whereas Niall just blinked rapidly, looking quite disturbed.

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “No. Thank you, though. I can manage. Are you gonna swim as well?”

That distracted him from what Brinley said, so he was able to grin and nod. “The water’s heated, so it should be fun. If you’re sure ya don’t need help, I’m gonna go change.”

“I’m positive,” I assured him, and with a smile, I turned and began rushing down the stairs. To get to the pool, I had to go through the game room, where every guy except Niall and Noah were either watching two people play video games or playing video games. When one noticed my presence, he started getting everyone’s attention. It was really awkward, especially when I had to fumble around with the door, but before I was even out the door, they were all rushing to their rooms like hungry dogs.

I had no idea what that was about, but I didn’t really think about it much as I began rushing towards the pool, where Noah was already enjoying the warm swim he was getting in. “How’s the water?”

“Heated and fantastic!” he moaned, and he watched me as I began plugging up my iPod dock. “You know, I told myself that I wouldn’t make friends because that would only make it harder, but . . . I’m glad I met you, Everit.”

I turned on my dance playlist before spinning around to face him with a smile. “I’m glad I met you too. You’ve made this whole deal a lot more bearable. It’s also nice having someone ta vent to when Brinley goes all crazy on me. She just told me that dressing like a slut wouldn’t help me win and that she’s gonna win, tour with One Direction, and Niall will fall in love with her—not to mention that they would have incredible sex.”

Noah snorted. “He cannot stand her! If he could trade team members, he would. He had a lot of good things to say about you, though.”

I pursed my lips and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh?”

He shook his head and smirked. “Sworn to confidentiality, Ev. Sorry.”

It took my music a second to get started, but when it did, I cranked up the song Yeah by Usher. Since it was just Noah and me, I had no problem dancing a little as I moved towards the diving board and began taking my hair down from the ponytail. I waddled to the edge of the diving board, and that was when I noticed Noah was staring at me funny.

“What are ya staring at?” I demanded. “Is my face really that funny looking?”

“Everit, I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you are hot,” he said, and as my eyes widened, he began laughing. “What? Don’t tell me you don’t know that. You are, and so beautiful. How can you not know you’re beautiful?”

“Right now, I’m looking at you, and I can’t believe,” Niall began singing, surprising us both with his presence. Noah laughed whereas my entire body jolted so bad I nearly fell in the water. “You don’t know-oh-oh, you don’t know you’re beautiful. Whoa, oh, oh. That’s what makes you beautiful.”

Noah applauded him whereas I just blushed profusely and stared down at the water. Not only was it heated, which I could feel from where I was sitting, but also, it had neon lights underwater that changed colors. Before jumping in, I smiled up at Niall, who was dancing himself as he began singing along to the song and dancing his way over to the diving board.

“I’ve always loved your voice,” I informed him.

That made him smile even brighter, but he didn’t stop singing and dancing until he was behind me. “Well, you know what? From the moment I heard yours, I fell in love.”

Despite the fact that I knew he was talking about my voice, it made my heart race to hear Niall Horan say that he fell in love with something about me. I could just imagine him saying that to me, that he was in love with me, and I almost forgot how to breathe.

I decided to brace myself to jump in, but before I could, Niall wrapped one strong arm around mine and pulled us both in together. Noah laughed at me, but I didn’t care. Niall just held me close to him and jumped into a pool with me.

I was completely okay with that.

We didn’t stay under long, but when we came up, the guys who had been playing video games were rushing towards the pool—all shirtless in their swimming trunks. Niall laughed and gestured for them to come on in, whereas I just awkwardly slipped back away from them all.

“What made you guys decide to swim all the sudden?” Noah laughed.

The smirk Jesse shot my way made my stomach churn. “That sexy lady right there, that’s what!”

“Hey, Niall,” Caleb said, and Niall turned to face him with raised eyebrows. “What direction do five gay guys walk in?”

While the guys all around us laughed, Niall actually rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Poor Niall . . . the gay jokes must’ve been something he got all too often.

What guys didn’t realize was that on tour, they had girls taking their tops off everywhere. They could get any piece of ass they wanted anywhere in the world. Why in the hell did they think it made them gay?!

Since Niall didn’t have a response, I sure as hell did, and I smirked over at Caleb. He seemed surprised I even got in the conversation, but you better believe I was gonna stand up for Niall.
“Not in one because that’d be a straight line.”

Niall wasn’t the only one in shock at my response, but his mouth wasn’t hanging wide open. A huge grin spread across his lips, and he just laughed and laughed. Noah joined him, and the two exchanged high fives with me while the others just stood there, not really sure what to say.

“You’re the greatest, Everit,” Niall laughed. “I’m so telling the guys about that.”

Speaking of guys, the ones around us started coming to their senses and laughed, too. They started talking about how that was good, they hadn’t thought of that, and then, the chaos began.

“First one to Everit gets to carry her on their shoulders in chicken!” Weston called out, and my eyes widened.

Noah laughed at me again, especially my facial expression. “Who is she gonna go against? She’s the only girl.”

The guys were all jumping in before they had time to answer, and I was pulled onto Jesse’s broad shoulders so suddenly. Without warning, Brendan went underneath Niall and lifted him up. Niall freaked out at first, but once he realized what was going on, he just laughed and braced himself.

I decided to do the same, even though my body was shaking. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I chose to swim, but I was already having more fun than I thought I would.

“Ready, set, go!” Caleb exclaimed, and Jesse and Brendan both began rushing towards one another. I was about to fall off just as Jesse ran, but I was able to steady myself just in time to have Niall’s hands grab my shoulders and began trying to push me off of Jesse.

Honestly, if Jesse wasn’t holding my legs as tightly as he was, I probably would’ve fallen off since I was holding back on my strength—trust me, I had to—but he was holding on, so I was able to push back as lightly as I could while also appearing strong. The guys began chanting and cheering for their pick. Some, surprisingly, were cheering for me.

After a couple of minutes of still trying to knock each other off, Caleb told the guys holding us to let go of our legs. It was now based solely on us and how well we could hang on.

I wasn’t doing so hot since I was trying to hold back and remain balanced, but instead of falling by myself, right as Niall began to win, I clung to him so that he had to pull me back up along with himself so that he didn’t fall in too.

“Clever!” I heard Caleb exclaim. “This girl is feisty! I like her.”

“Come on, Ev!” Noah cheered. “Use your special powers!”

I gawked over at him, only briefly, before turning my attention back to a very wet, very sexy Niall, who was grinning at me. “What?!” How did he know about that?!

“Every woman’s got ‘em,” he snorted. “You just have to figure out how to use them, apparently.”

Suddenly, though, Niall just started to laugh. No one knew why, not until he jumped off of Brendan so that he could tackle me into the water. It was hilarious, and I definitely enjoyed being tackled by Niall.

He had my body pressed against his, even under the water, so I felt something . . . poking me.

Did I turn him on?

Either way, for the first time in my life, I actually felt a little turned on myself, so I really didn’t notice much. As I came up for air, though, Niall very quickly pinned me against the side of the pool with wide eyes.

“Everit?” he murmured. “Where’s your . . . top?”

My eyes widened in horror, and suddenly, I felt it. My bare chest against his. That just turned me on more, but I also felt panic and fear solidifying the blood in my veins. With that, I was able to ignore all raging teenage hormones and focus in on the problem at hand—young males, shirtless female . . . big problem.

Niall and I both looked every around us, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“What’s the problem?” Jesse asked us, and Niall quickly turned back towards them with his back covering me. I really appreciated that, enough that I just wanted to hug him.

“Uh . . . Noah? Can you run to the room and grab one of my t-shirts?” Niall asked, but he was hesitant, as if he was just as aware of the problem of the horny guys around us as I was.

“She lose her top?” Caleb asked, far too eagerly for my liking. “I can protect her! I mean, you are the coach, and—”

“Bite me!” I cut him off with a frown, and the guys all laughed, including Niall.

Noah quickly jumped out of the water and ran inside. He didn’t even stop for a towel because let’s face it. You get a lot of guys into a pool and tell them that there’s a topless girl, what do you think they’re going to do?

Niall literally had to press me against the corner of the pool while he pressed his body as tightly against me as he could manage. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”

“Guys, come on!” Zane exclaimed. “Back off and let her breathe! He’s our coach, but he has to protect her from you guys? That can’t be comfortable for either of them.”

I actually sighed in relief. “Thank you, Zane.” He was wrong, of course. It was quite comfortable, maybe even too comfortable considering that he is my coach, but it was. Really, I didn’t mind, and to help Niall stay up, I slid my arms around his chest and pressed my feet against the wall.
As I did this, I could feel his heartbeat increasing, probably because he had to hold both of us up in the water so he had to work harder to stay afloat. Besides that, he was now breathing heavily, but he actually seemed relatively calm and normal, despite all of this.

Noah was back after that. It took some work to get me out of the pool so that I could put the shirt on, but Niall and now Noah helped me with that. Once I was out, they made a shield around me so that I could slip into the shirt.

This was awkward, especially as Shots by LMFAO began playing. Every time I heard that song, I wanted to dance, but I couldn’t. Now more than before.

Noah noticed the urge and began laughing. “Come on, Ev. Dance.”

My eyes widened a little as I shook my head. “No. It would take quite a few shots to get me where I’ll do it. I don’t dance around people I’m not comfortable with.”

“I can get us some shots!” Brendan very eagerly reminded us, and he even began climbing out of the pool to get ready to go.

Niall sighed. “As incredible as that sounds, no underage drinking. I wish I could allow it because I miss drinking. That’s what I love about Ireland and England. But while we’re here, no drinking allowed. If you’re twenty-one or older, that’s fine, but don’t share. Seriously. You can and will get disqualified if they find out.”

It was a little bit of a downer to hear that because I was with Niall. I missed being able to drink freely in my home, not that Dad let me that often.

We began looking for the missing top, but somehow, it completely disappeared. After over half an hour of searching in and around the pool, I noticed the sun going down, so I told them that it was fine. I had others, and I could just get another one later. So, we all just went inside and began heading off our separate ways. Niall informed us that he hates getting up early, so we’ll start talking battle round pairings at noon.

I’m not going to lie. That was alright with me.

It shouldn’t have surprised me to walk into my room and find my bikini top with a note sitting beside it, but it did.

Whore. Now all of the guys have seen your fake boobs, and to Niall, you’re nothing but the team slut!

With a laugh, I turned and marched right over to Brinley and Kiley’s room. Kiley actually answered, but Brinley was quick to come to the door and try to keep me out.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” I smirked, which only confused her. “If you’re so clever, why am I wearing his shirt, and why was I the one pressed up against him while he helped cover me? I think your plan backfired, but if ya don’t stop messing with my stuff, it’s gonna get really ugly.”

“It already has,” she said, but I could tell she was anything but happy to hear about how things ended up going. “You’re in here.”

I put my hands over my heart and held it as if it hurt. “Oh my tigers. How will I ever recover from something so hurtful? Oh wait. I don’t care. If you think I’m ugly, that’s your own business, but I would look in the mirror before I started calling other people names. At least I don’t have a half shaven head.”

“It looks awesome,” she snapped, and she began pushing me towards the door. “Get out of our room!”

Kiley frowned over at Brinley. “She wouldn’t bother us if you would just leave her alone.”

“Enough, Kiley!” Brinley barked. “No one asked you. This isn’t your business.”

With a roll of my eyes, I turned to leave but not before saying, “Two more things. One, my boobs are completely real.”

“No one has boobs that perfect without surgery!” she yelled at me, and my eyebrows rose in surprise. I was a little horrified too, but she quickly recovered . . . sort of. “I mean, they’re totally fake!”

I just laughed and continued to leave. “Alright. If you say so. I know they’re real, but if you wanna believe they’re fake, that’s your business, but thing two? Touch my stuff again. I dare you. But hey. If it gets me in Niall’s arms again, be my guest. That was really something I would very much like to do again.”

She just let out a frustrated screech before slamming the door on me. It only caught my heel as I was leaving, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. It only caused me to bleed a good bit of blood, which for me actually wasn’t a big deal. Blood was something I was used to very frequently shedding, sometimes in large amounts.

I carefully made my way downstairs only to find Niall in there, with wide eyes full of panic. I was immediately worried as well. “Whoa, Niall. What’s wrong?”

“I just heard someone screaming,” he said. “Is everything alright?”

“Oh, that?” I sighed. “Yeah. Everything’s alright.”

“Well, I’m not really worried about anyone’s health anymore, but . . . it doesn’t sound like everything’s alright,” he noted. “You know, you shouldn’t let her bother you.”

I nodded, and instead of saying anything immediately, I skipped over to the cabinets to start looking for something to snack on. “I know. She’s just being a drama queen. By the way, where would the bandages be located? She nicked my heel as she was slamming the door on my bum.”

He snorted. “Between you and me, I cannot stand her, and the comment she made earlier about having sex with me? What was that all about?”


I shrugged. “Don’t really know, honestly. She goes from telling me how she’s gonna win ta how you’re gonna fall in love with her, and you’ll apparently have amazing sex.”

“Oh, I will have amazing sex one day,” he said, and his confidence in that statement made me laugh. “Just not with her . . . and I’m not sure if I’ll ever try tying someone down.”

I took a bite out of the apple I found and let out another laugh. “Agreed. Ya know, that’s a good way to look at it. I’ve always feared that first time, but if you just go at it positively, I guess it’ll work out better.”

Now he was the one laughing. “I can’t believe we’re talking about our future sex lives. You’re really easy to talk to, Evie.” Then, he paused and pursed his lips. “Is it alright if I call you that?”

The abbreviation of my name surprised me. I mean, Evie made sense. My name was Everit, but all of my life, everyone just call me Ev. No one thought to call me Evie, but I kinda liked it. It had a nice ring to it.

So, of course, I nodded and smiled. “That’s fine. And surprisingly, you’re really easy to talk to as well. I’m usually a very shy person.”

“I’ve noticed,” he murmured. “I’ve always thought shy girls had an extra cuteness factor that outgoing girls didn’t have.”

Even though he wasn’t necessarily complimenting me, it made my cheeks turn a light shade of pink. “Oh?”

He laughed again, but it was breathless this time. “You have an extra one, too. You blush any time I say something that might be a compliment towards you. How were you reacting when you auditioned? It was hard to tell.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever blushed as much as I did in that moment,” I admitted with a sheepish smile. “I mean, you and Adam both said I was sexy and beautiful. I mean, that was . . . insane for me.”

“Surely you’re used ta guys chasing after you,” he murmured, and to my surprise, he took my apple out of my hands and took a bite out of it. In any other circumstance, I probably would’ve slapped the person, but something about it felt easy, right even. Weird, I know, but true. “Irish boys are usually smart enough to know a beauty when they see one—inside and out.”

I shook my head and laughed nervously as I began blushing all over again. It didn’t help that I knew that he found this cute because it made me blush even harder. “Uh . . . actually, no. I mean, I had one lad stalk me, but other than that, no. I mean, I have a pretty good amount of guy friends, but that’s all I am. Just another one of the guys with boobs and a vagina.”

Niall sighed and began looking at the apple intently. “I wish I didn’t have to be nice to everyone. If I could, I would go right upstairs and throw this at Brinley.”

I smirked at him. “She’d like that too much. You bit off of it.”

He grinned, but he knew I was right, so he just handed it back to me. “You’re probably right. So, I’m guessing she had something to do with your top?”

I nodded. “Somehow she got it without anyone noticing.” That made me realize something, and my eyes widened a little. “Uh . . . did you, erm, see anything?”

He winced a little. “I did . . . but don’t worry. The water makes it harder to really see things, so it’s just a distorted image in my head.” Then, his eyes widened. “I mean, not that I’m thinking about it! Why would I do that?” Now, he was irritated, and he slapped his hand on his forehead. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t want to, but—” He cut himself off by suddenly frowning and letting his shoulders fall. “I’m just gonna go to bed now, and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.”

“I thought it was funny,” I informed him. “Really adorable, too.” Spontaneously, without giving it a single thought, I leaned over the counter and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Niall. For everything, really.”

He was speechless, though, and the only thought going through my head as I rushed back upstairs, without my bandage I might add, was he was taken aback by my kiss on his cheek! My kiss made him happy enough that he actually did that cute cliché scene where the person touches their cheek with that adorable, awestruck smile.

That really just happened to me, except he was happy that I kissed him!

Holy crap! I kissed him!

Notes

In the description, I'll sometimes use lyrics that kinda summarize the chapter. For this description, I used lyrics from the song Party Starter by Will Smith.

Thank you to the two subscribers! I think I'm gonna put a few more chapters up today and wait and see. A little more into the story might be better to get people into it. :)

Comments are still welcome, though. They're welcomed and much appreciated. :)

Enjoy! :)