The Voice

Watching everyone pack their bags to leave was hard. Everyone was packing, but the eight who I might never see again hurt, especially Ella. I had gotten all of my crying done while I was performing, but it didn’t mean I was thrilled to see her go.

Everyone was pretty much gone by midnight. Some wanted to get home to their families as soon as they could while others were just taking it easy and relaxing, waiting until morning. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. Noah had left already, so it was just Niall, Eleanor, Brinley, Caleb, and me. Brinley was trying to be left alone with Niall, but she didn’t realize that he was leaving and heading back to London, so she was pointlessly staying the night while he left.

I called a cab to come take me to the airport. It was one of the nicer ones that’s really like a small limo, although I really didn’t know that at first. But, it was, so I just started loading all of my stuff in the trunk without turning back or saying goodbye to anyone.

It was hard to face things, but I decided that it was time to stop living in a fairytale. It was time to put everything aside and win this competition, for Ella, Dad, Max, and myself. For Max and Dad’s support, for Ella’s dreams, and for myself . . . I had to, and to do that, I had to stop believing in fairytales and stop believing everything that came to mind.

I had to get an entirely new mindset.

As I was getting close to being done, Niall actually came outside with me and started loading his stuff in the trunk as well.

He didn’t say anything until we were both done and he started to close the trunk for me. “Mind if I ride with you? I hate taking cabs alone.”

“Me too,” I agreed, and even though I smiled at him, the idea of riding with him was as terrifying as riding alone. Different reasons for terrifying me, sure, but it didn’t matter. Both were equally terrifying.

Truth was, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be alone with him—well, if I needed to be, really, because of course I wanted to be. I decided to give up the fantasy that he actually liked me in the romantic sense. I mean, it’s just crazy! Why would he? Not to mention, he’s a professional, and he wouldn’t let himself feel something for someone in a competition where he helped decide the fate of the competitors. Still, I wasn’t too eager to have a talk with him, and even though he was professional, that didn’t mean I wasn’t still falling for him. Somehow, he just made things better. His smile just brightened my day, and his hugs just melted away all of my problems. Being with him made me forget everything bad, even if just for a minute.

Niall shut the connection between the front and back seats so that the driver couldn’t hear us. “I’m assuming you still can’t tell me what’s wrong?”

I sighed. “Part of it doesn’t matter anymore anyways. What’s done is done, but the other part . . . Josh was right. That song brings up the darkest things inside of you.”

“Well, whatever it was, it was really bothering you, as I’ve already stated,” he murmured. “Evie . . . you have got to make sure you’re on top of your game from now on. That’s the only way to win this, and you can. Remind the world that you’re the amazing girl who sang There’s No Going Back at the blind auditions. I mean, technically, the world doesn’t know who you are yet, but in a month, they’ll know. Don’t lose the girl you really are. Show the world your true voice, and change someone’s life like I know you want to. You’re an incredible person, Evie, and an incredible singer, too. All you have to do is learn how to leave it all backstage.” Then, he sighed as he looked away from me. “You’re not the only one either.”

That was just confusing to me, so I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Just know I’m gonna have the same problem of my own to work on.”

“Is . . . everything okay?” I asked, but I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to ask.

“Everything’s fine,” he assured me. “I would say perfect, but of course, the thing I’ve waited for and searched for my entire life is just out of reach—the one place I’m forbidden to go.”

Even though it was really tragic, I mustered up a tiny smile for him. “Forbidden love is always the strongest. I’ve noticed that.”

His eyes widened a little. “How did you know I was talking about love?”

I shrugged. “I mean, it was just kinda obvious. I know how you feel, though.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you do,” he said under his breath, but he actually smiled a little. “My situation is . . . quite a unique one.”

“Mine too.”

Something sparked in his eyes, but it flashed across them too quickly for me to catch it. I forgot all about it, though, as a coy smile pulled across his lips. “Hmm. Well . . . if you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

Thankfully, I didn’t have time to answer. We arrived at the airport right about then. Niall refused to let me pay for the cab ride, so I scurried to try and get some of his bags for him. That actually backfired because he took all of my bags for me.

By the time we got inside the airport, he changed the subject. “Oh, by the way, I have an idea for your next song. It’s not fair to tell you, but if you want to do like you did tonight and dress sorta like the mood of the song . . . well, no. I shouldn’t tell you that.”

I laughed a little and nodded. “You’re probably right. It really wouldn’t be fair.”

Niall had a black flat bill on, so he was able to hide himself better. This was LA, though, so seeing famous people didn’t really spark anyone’s attention. Besides that, it was almost one in the morning. Most people here at this time didn’t care about One Direction, if any did at all.

We made it through customs and security together, and we were even able to sit beside each other while we waited for our flights to board. Somehow, we started getting to know each other better than I had gotten to know anyone. I found out that he loved dogs but couldn’t get one because of his crazy lifestyle. He, like me, loved to eat and thought laughter was the best thing ever. Laughter and food anyways. Some of this stuff, I already knew. You learn a lot online, you know. Still, it was nice to have it confirmed because despite what some people think, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.

He also found out a lot of the same things about me, except that I already had a dog. Harley, my apricot miniature poodle, was at home missing me like crazy. To my surprise, he told me to bring him with me next time. I warned him that he didn’t like people and he barked a lot, but he told me to bring him anyways.

They called the flight number for my plane, and with a sigh, I started gathering my stuff. As I did, though, Niall reached out and stopped me.

“I . . . take care, Evie,” he whispered, and he carefully took my hand in his and kissed it ever so tenderly. The feeling of his soft lips on my skin was electric, but I unsuccessfully tried to block it out. “Don’t forget Harley. I wanna meet the little dog.”

I half-heartedly smiled before I grabbed my pillow from the seat. “I won’t forget.”

Really, I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to go. When I was putting my stuff in the cab, I was sure. I wanted to get out of here so I could clear my head and get ready to win this competition, but now . . . talking to Niall . . . I really didn’t wanna go. If I could’ve, I would’ve frozen time around us and stayed there for a while. But, it was time to go home. He would go home to London, and I would go home to Cullman. Thousands of miles apart . . . I would miss him.

Why? Because you were stupid enough to fall for him. How could you do this to him, Everit?

“See you in a month,” he murmured, but something seemed off in the way he said it. “I . . . goodbye, Evie.”

I actually felt my eyes watering, but I looked away quickly so he wouldn’t see that. “Bye, Niall.”

He surprised me yet again when he stood up from his seat and hugged me. It wasn’t just a normal hug but another one of his tight ones that made me feel safe and secure. Somehow, every worry went away, and I just felt like everything was gonna be alright. For just a moment, life was perfect.

And the most surprising thing of my entire life happened right then. As he released me to let me get on the plane, he abruptly took my face in his hands and kissed me with a fierceness and passion I couldn’t wrap my head around.

I tried to process what was happening, but almost as soon as it started, it ended. Niall pulled away from me and sat back down in his seat, his hands covering every bit of his face.
My lips parted as I stood silent. My mind swirled with questions, questions I was too scared to ask. Or maybe it was the answers to my questions I really feared.

Confusion and desire tore through me, and though I didn’t know why it happened, with his kiss still fresh on my lips, everything wrong was, for the time, made right. All I could think about was how badly I wanted him to do it again. I mean, he kissed me.

Niall kissed me.

It was when I looked at him that the reality of the situation sank in. No matter how right that felt, it was completely and painfully wrong.

How did that happen? Why did that happen?

Clearly, he didn’t even know, but he didn’t want to talk about it either. Actually, after he put his hands down, I realized that he was quite pissed at himself, so instead of bothering to ask a question I probably wouldn’t get an answer to, I tucked my hair behind my ears and stared down at my shoes.

“Uh . . . yeah. See you in a month.”

I didn’t even let him respond before I hurried off to the flight gate I was supposed to get on. Every part of me wanted to scream and demand an answer as to why he did that, but instead, I left him there to figure it out for himself.

Maybe then he could tell me in a month when I saw him next.
*Niall* The first thing I did was search around me for cameras, for witnesses. No one anywhere within the vantage point of us was even awake, much less taking pictures, so I felt relief to know that this wouldn’t jeopardize her career.

I tried to figure out where this all started, how I let myself be so stupid as to fall for a girl on my team like I did. If she was on anyone else’s team, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but she wasn’t. She was on mine, and right from the start, just like when we met in Nashville, I knew I had to make her mine as well. It was terrifying, and I tried to fight it, but I gave in rather quickly.

Now I had really done it, though. She knew now, and I had kissed her! How could I do that? She had a month to freak out and wonder what the heck was going through my head, and she won’t know. What would she think of me?

Will she still respect me and listen to my advice? I was the one trying to get her to leave it all behind and focus on the task at hand, and I just kissed her. Really. That was the most unprofessional thing I had ever done in all of my life, and I had done some unprofessional things.

Still, I wanted to do it again. I wanted to do it more and more and more—for the rest of my life.

After I was certain no one saw that, I sat back down and called Liam. Surely he would know how to help me, right?

“Niall!” he answered on the first ring. “Guys, it’s Niall!”

I winced. “Liam? I have a problem.”

“O . . . kay,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t quite understand how serious it was. He was still just laughing away at one of the other guys. “What’s wrong, man? Are you still coming home soon? We miss you like crazy!”

“I’m waiting at the airport now,” I murmured. “Liam . . . I found my princess, the girl from Nashville concert I talked about for the longest time.”

“Niall, that’s not a problem!” he exclaimed. “Holy crap, that’s fantastic!” He even let out a loud cheer of excitement. “Guys, he found her!”

“Liam, it is a problem,” I insisted. “Don’t you see? She’s . . . on my team.”

There was complete silence on the other end of the line now, except for the guys cheering in the background. They didn’t hear that part, so they didn’t realize there was a reason to stop cheering.

I began rubbing my free hand over my face for a moment before taking my hat off and rubbing my hair. “I kissed her, Liam. In the middle of the freaking airport!”

“Did anyone see you?” he asked. Now he understood. There was a certain degree of panic in his voice that made it quite obvious we were now on the same page. “If so, you need to find some way to keep them all quiet!”

“No,” I murmured. “No one saw me. If they did, they don’t even realize who I am, so it doesn’t matter. Everyone’s asleep, though, so I don’t think anyone did.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “For your sake, I hope so.”

“What’s wrong, Liam?” Harry asked, and his laughter and cheering died immediately. “Why are you so down all of the sudden? This is wonderful news!” Then, he was talking to me, and it sounded like he took the phone from Liam. “When do we get to meet her?”

“When you guys come up to the house and meet my remaining team,” I said, but as the words came out, I heard my pain.

Everit was everything I thought she’d be after our fifteen minute conversation at the meet and greet. I hated management for so long because they pulled me away from her, and they wouldn’t let me give her my number.

Just when I assumed I’d never see her again, she was the one place she couldn’t be.

Harry was silent now as he realized just why Liam’s mood changed. “That’s . . . what’s wrong.” After a few seconds of silence, on both ends, he sighed. “Look, Niall, don’t worry about it, alright? It’s not like you meant for this to happen. You’re capable of not letting this get in the way of the competition, right?”

“I don’t know, Harry,” I moaned. “That’s one reason I’m so worried about this! I’m not so sure I am because I’m not so sure I should’ve picked her tonight. Adam and Christina agreed with me, though, so maybe I just got lucky. I just . . . I’m so scared. This can’t get out of hand.”

They called my flight number right about then, and I think Harry heard it because he took a deep breath and said, “Alright, Nialler. You just get on the plane and relax. By the time you get home, we’ll have the perfect solution to your problem. Everything is going to be alright because even though the circumstances are a little rough, this is wonderful news.”

That was a little hard for me to believe, but if anyone could figure this out, it would be those four, so I decided to just try it. What could it hurt?

“Alright, Harry,” I murmured. “I’ll see you guys when I get off the plane.”

“Wonderful news, love,” Harry said. “Sleep. Have a good night. You sound exhausted, and we don’t need our Nialler walking around with dark circles under his eyes.”

Sleep sounded so great right now, so I laughed a little and even cracked a tiny smile. “Okay, Harry. I will. Tell everyone I said I love them and that I’ll be home soon.”

“Will do,” he promised. “Bye, Niall.”

He hung up before I had time to say goodbye, so with a sigh, I grabbed my pillow and carry-on bag and began heading towards the gate I was going through to get back home to London. Back to my family—those four guys working really hard to find a solution to my huge problem.

That’s why I’ve got the best brothers in the world.

Notes

The lyrics in the description are from none other than Try Hard by 5 Seconds of Summer. :)

I'm actually gonna stop posting chapters now and let you enjoy. I just really wanted to post this chapter. x3

Enjoy. :) Thanks for rating, commenting, subscribing, and reading. :)