The Voice

After going into my room after the Brinley fight, the only time I left was to get a strawberry lemonade. After getting my dress on, Kiley and Madi came in, all dressed in their attire minus shoes, and we began the process all over again.

I didn’t know what I would do without both of them. Life would be very dull again . . . .

Anyways, we enjoyed our last time together. We laughed, cried, laughed ‘til we cried, and talked the ultimate boy talk. Noah, Niall, Max . . . and then it got to my secret.

“Those wings, were they real?” Madi asked, voice a whisper as she continued braiding my hair.
She was braiding around the side of my head into a loose ponytail.

Kiley put light pink and silver glitter nail polish on the tips of my nails. It went well with my dress, which was a strapless light pink and silver dress I was a bit too fascinated with. It was beyond fun to spin around in, and I felt like a little kid doing so.

But I was happy.

They both did my makeup. Madi put on the soft pink lipstick while Kiley put on some glitter pink eye shadow. Of course, they put on mascara, too, but they only put on a very thin line of eyeliner.

I had on my diamond crown necklace as well, something I found when shopping here. It was beautiful, so I decided to get it. It looked great with this, especially the shoes.

When I got to the closet to grab the incredible stilettos I had picked out, what I found actually brought me to tears.

Brinley had struck again, somehow. In the few minutes I was downstairs getting my strawberry lemonade—obviously Harry stopped me to make sure I was okay—she managed to have just enough time to get all of my shoes, aside from the bright blue, or the purple, or . . . my pink fuzzy house slipper boots.

Of course I was pissed, and even though I put the boots on, I didn’t stay in my room and instead began banging loudly on her door.

“What?” she scoffed when she flung it open, wearing only a bra and a petticoat underskirt. She had her toothbrush in her mouth and a look of complete and utter hatred in her eyes. “Oh. Even worse.”

“Where in the hell did you put my shoes?” I snapped. “Are they in here?” I shoved past her and didn’t even give her a chance to answer.

“Excuse you!” she exclaimed, and she began trying to push me out. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“You’re the only person in this house who would even think about stooping so low!” I yelled back at her, something that made her jump. I guess I surprised her with all the rage and power I put behind it.

“Maybe not everyone here worships you anymore,” she said, giving me a smirk of delight. “I didn’t take them, and even if I did, you can’t prove it. So get out. I have to get ready to be told I’m the top.”

I was absolutely fuming, but she was right. There were nowhere to be found, and with the crowd gathering outside, I couldn’t kill her. So, instead, I looked her dead in the eye and actually let out the softest hiss. “I have shoes. These aren’t my first choice, and maybe they don’t look amazing. But you better give them back soon. I have no problem hurting you.”

“Everit,” Niall said with more anger in his voice than I would’ve liked, and that, for whatever reason, just made things even worse.

“Yeah, I got it,” I said back in a very bitter and sarcastic tone, and tears of frustration started forming in my eyes. “I’m supposed to be nice and pleasant and just take everything she says and does to me.” So, with a chipper and obviously fake smile, I turned back to her and slapped her, really hard. “Thank you for bringing up my dead mother. Thank you for taking all of my shoes and then trying to act like it was someone else. Thank you for doing everything you can to make my life hell. Well guess what. As pissed as I am right now, you’ll never succeed. I’ve been through hell. You can’t take me back.”

With those words, I turned and pushed carefully past everyone, downstairs and into the kitchen where I began pacing back and forth just to try and calm myself down.

Harry surprised me when he hurried down here and slapped me a quick high five. “Way to go, Ev, though I think you should definitely stop hitting her.”

I shrugged, my eyes impassive as I turned back to him. “What can I say? She stole my shoes.”

He sighed. “I noticed that little bit with Niall . . . just like I heard you yelling at him earlier.”

I knew here wasn’t the place to talk, especially with everyone coming downstairs, so I just sighed and tilted my head towards the beautiful outdoors, where the sun was setting and making everything quite beautiful.

When the door closed, I grabbed him and very quickly popped my wings out so that I could fly us to the roof. It freaked him out, but he just stared, wide-eyed, in front of himself and began clearing his throat.

“So, what do you need to say?” he whispered, voice so soft I knew that Niall had no hope of hearing. “I’m all ears.”

“I fell in love with a boy,” I answered. “And I haven’t been the same since because somehow, I need him more than anything else in the world.”

“Fuck that,” he scoffed. “Don’t be the girl who needs a man. Be the girl a man needs. Niall included.”

“You don’t understand,” I said. “It’s not that simple. We’re connected, and I just can’t help but overreact and freak out when I see another girl making him happy. Then I start thinking, overthinking, and things get out of control. Then I wake up, and I wanna die. Well, not really die. Just erase myself from existence completely, past and present.”

“That’s some serious connection,” he said with wide eyes. “Everit . . . I know something’s different with you and Niall, and the worst part about it for you is, you’ve never experienced a real relationship. So, you not only have to learn how to handle this, but you also have to go through so much more than normal relationships do. You have all of your extra emotions and attachments, all the extra drama and secrecy due to the fact that you’re on this show. I mean . . . love takes us by surprise. Sometimes, we fall in love at the wrong time, but it’s always worth it if you really love the person.”

“It’s definitely worth it,” I assured him. “That’s not the issue. The issue is . . . we can’t be together right now. Isn’t it sad how you can love someone so much but can’t be with them? It’s not because the feelings aren’t mutual. It’s other things that get in the way. It’s the hardest thing to go through, and it hurts more than anything. And it can’t be changed, only dealt with.”

He nodded. “I know what you’re saying. Never experienced it for myself, but I know what you’re saying. Something tells me, though, that this isn’t just about you and Niall. This is more of you.”

“It was,” I agreed. “But I don’t care anymore. At least, I don’t see it as a problem that can be fixed. I messed up, but there’s no turning back. It was selfish to bring Niall, to bring all of you, into this, but I was selfish. He’s never gonna let me destroy the people that made me on my own either. Point is, I’m over that. I just . . . my whole life has been about making my dad happy. After losing my mom and escaping Prepot, that’s all I wanted to do. I was trained to not really feel, but being with my dad changed that. At any rate, I wanted to make him happy. Did whatever it took. This was the first real thing I did for myself, and then I met Niall. Then I went even deeper into selfishness. All I wanna do is make him happy, too, and I keep screwing that up.”

“He’s happier than I’ve ever seen him before,” Harry informed me, and he surprised me by pulling a flask out of his jacket pocket and taking a sip out of it before holding it out to me. “Here’s to the people that spent so much time trying to make others happy that they forgot to make themselves happy.”

I took a huge gulp of the moonshine with a smile, loving that he actually let me drink right now. “Thanks, Harry.”

“Anytime,” he assured me before taking another sip and handing it right back to me. “Finish it off. You need a little edge.”

I just took one more huge gulp and handed it back to him. “I can’t. I’m being watched on live television soon.”

When I started to stand up to get us off the roof, he surprised me by holding his hand out towards me with a smile. The look in his eyes, the grin on his face, made me realize that this was something I was gonna wanna hear.

“What?” I asked.

“Let me give you one more piece of advice,” he offered. “When someone hates you for no reason, you know what you’re supposed to do?”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

“Give that motherfucker a reason!” he exclaimed in delight, and he began laughing at the same time I did. “Am I right?”

I was still laughing as I pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you, Harry. I needed to laugh, genuinely. I’m crazy nervous, and I don’t think it’s right for him to pick me tonight if I’m not the top.”

“I saw your performance,” he informed me with a scoff. “You’re the top, Ev. Even if you’re not, if Niall does pick you, it’s not because you don’t deserve it. That I can guarantee.”

And something about this made me realize, out of nowhere it seemed, that . . . Niall wasn’t picking wrong. I didn’t mean in the competition because if he picked me, it was wrong. But I meant in life, in our relationship. He wasn’t picking the wrong girl. Maybe in my eyes he was, but in his, I was all he wanted.

The only proof I needed was, in fact, him staying with me, being with me, no matter what the price, cost, distance, or amount of time we had to go through. He was all I needed.

And he was mine.

Notes

The lyrics are from Proof by Paramore. :D Love that song so much. The entire song fits, well, this part of the story well.

So I was a bit bummed. I didn't think anyone had read the new chapter because it didn't alert me to any new comments, but when I looked at the actual story, there were some. I was like :D Really, guys. Your feedback makes my day, even when it's things I mess up. :3 It means a lot to me that you're not only taking time out of your life to read my story, but you're also taking time to let me know what you think of it. :) So thank you. :D

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think. :)

Oh. This is what Evie looks like. :)