His Princess

We spent the entire day doing this. It was so much fun, and I saw a side of the city I had never seen before. How many times had Sparrow and I come through here together, goofing off? Still, it was nothing like the way I was seeing the city today. I was seeing it with a completely new perspective, a positive one.

At one point, we got out and walked. That was crazy for the fan mobs, but the guys were actually eager to sign things and take a few pictures. It was weird because the girls, though they had no idea who I was, wanted me in some of the pictures as well. I didn’t understand it, but I kinda liked it. Not necessarily someone wanting my picture, but being surrounded by those five guys and some of their fans as a group picture was taken . . . it was a weird but good feeling.

By five, Niall and I were getting unbearably hungry again, despite the fact that we had gotten all kinds of hotdogs at random vendors throughout the city. Niall started going on about how New York City would be perfect if it had a Nando’s when one of the security guards reminded us of something that kinda killed the pleasant mood.

“Miss Emmit, the police need your statement.”

Right.

My statement could completely make this disappear or could completely ruin this. I was going to tell the truth, though, so things should clear right up.

When we got to the police station, they immediately realized who I was and took me off to a room by myself before the guys had time to say anything to me at all.

The officer in here looked kind, so I wasn’t so nervous. He even offered me a doughnut and Mountain Dew, so I was pretty happy, to say the least.

“We’re going to record this, for official and legal purposes,” he informed me. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” I said.

“When did you meet Mr. Jenkins?” he asked.

My eyebrows furrowed. “Who?”

He looked surprised but cleared his throat. “Uh, Daniel, I guess you called him.”

I nodded. “Right. We met at an ice cream parlor the night prior to the incident. He gave me his number, but I don’t remember texting him with my number. He says I did, and I guess I did at some point since he did have my number.” I pursed my lips for a second as I paused, reminding myself that it was okay to calm down and talk at a normal speed. “I, uh, got a phone call yesterday morning from him requesting that I see him before he leaves New York. I was really hesitant. It seemed sketchy, but Niall offered to go with me as support and backup in case things got weird or went wrong.”

“To confirm, Niall Horan?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes, sir. Um, he was really just there for company beforehand and support, but I’m glad he was. I showed Daniel around the city, and as we were going to dinner, he asked me to come with him afterwards and make the night something memorable? I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking straight. For the first time ever, someone showed interest in me, and it kinda threw me off guard.” I began rubbing the side of my eye, my right eye, before clearing my throat and going on. “I didn’t really think about it and agreed, and we went to dinner. His girlfriend showed up. Turns out, he wasn’t in town for the concert with his little sister, like he had originally told me. He lives here, and we just live in different parts of the city. When I left the restaurant after his girlfriend started calling me all kinds of horrible names, he followed me. He kept insisting that they were about to break up, and he tried to get me to come with him still. I told him no, that I wanted to go home, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He started telling me that I was beautiful and captivated him and that he wanted excitement. So he started kissing and biting my neck while I was trying to get away. Niall stepped in and told him to back off. It surprised him, so I kicked him in the nuts and ran behind Niall. While he was on the ground, Daniel told Niall to mind his business, and Niall told him this was his business, that he was the friend Daniel suggested I bring. Well, Daniel stood up and realized who he was and then had the nerve to ask him for his autograph for his girlfriend. When Niall said no, we started to leave, but Daniel threw Niall against the wall, hard enough that it busted his head open, and Daniel went psycho. It was suddenly like he didn’t care who Niall was, and he was yelling, telling him to back off and mind his own business. Niall just reacted and punched him off of him, but we didn’t stick around to see how he was. Fans started realizing what was going on and came running.”

He nodded. “So, Niall acted in self-defense and in your defense only?”

“Yes, sir,” I confirmed.

“He didn’t do it because he was jealous of Mr. Jenkins and you?”

My eyes widened a little. “No, sir. I met those five after their concert a couple nights ago. We haven’t known each other that long either. I seem like a stupid girl, but this kinda thing has never happened to me. Guys never show interest, but Daniel did, so I went with it. Never again, but Niall doesn’t have any feelings for me like that. He was just protecting us both.”

He stopped the recording and looked up at me with his eyebrows raised and a soft smile.
“From what I’ve gathered working this case, I have to disagree with you on that.”

My eyebrows furrowed, mostly because I wasn’t sure what he was disagreeing with, but when he finished writing whatever he was writing, he led me back out of the room and back to the boys.

Niall immediately pulled me into a tight hug, and I realized that despite all that had gone, despite all that we had done, I finally got to hug Niall. He was the one I wanted to hug the most, and he was the first one I got to hug.

There was something calming about this hug, something magical almost. I took in a deep breath, and even though it hurt, his cologne was enough to distract me from the pain. If I could’ve, I would’ve stayed right there, but everyone was telling me to follow the officer that got my story, so I did.

“Now, we’re bringing Mr. Jenkins into custody,” he informed me. “We’ll negotiate things, and if you would like, we can work on bringing up sexual assault charges.”

I nodded. “Alright. Thanks.”

It took them a matter of minutes to get Daniel into the station, and when he saw me, the five boys surrounding me intimidated him. A lot. But, the funniest thing wasn’t how scared he looked to see us all. It was his swollen face. There was a fist sized lump on his swollen and black as the night nose and darkness underneath his eyes that made him look not so cute anymore. Actually, now, I never wanted to see his face again.

Harry hissed at him as he passed by us. It lightened the mood, a lot, to the point we were all laughing while they began moving a cuffed Daniel into a room. Our laughter had barely even started fading before they asked Niall, Niall’s lawyer, and me to step into the interrogation room.

The officer who got my story spoke first. “Mr. Jenkins, you have brought some charges against Mr. Horan that will not hold in a court of law. He has a witness whereas you have your word. I’m going to be very blunt when I tell you that you won’t stand a chance. If you carry this through, you’re wasting a lot of money for nothing. Their stories match, whereas yours is completely different. You’ll waste money, so I strongly suggest you drop these charges.”

Daniel was glaring at us. “You’re just saying that because he’s famous. If he was just a nobody, he would already be in jail.”

“Mr. Jenkins, who he is doesn’t matter,” the officer said. “I would think carefully about this. You’re also being brought up on sexual assault charges, which I can promise you will be found guilty for.”

“I didn’t assault her!” he protested, much louder than what I expected. “She’s making that up!”

“She has a very reliable witness in the matter, and yes, the fact that he’s a very famous musician does help his reliability,” he said. “Mr. Jenkins, you can spend years behind bars for sexual assault, or you can drop the charges and make a public apology to both Mr. Horan and Miss Aldaine.”

Daniel didn’t look happy about this, but his own lawyer whispered in his ear and told him to take this deal. At least he must have because Daniel accepted and began writing his apology.

“One more request,” Niall spoke up, something his lawyer didn’t know about and didn’t like. “Don’t mention her name.”

Daniel looked irritated about such a simple request. “How can I apologize without mentioning her name?”

Niall, despite the fact that he didn’t like this guy, remained calm and simply shrugged his shoulders. “Say something like ‘to the girl involved,’ or something vague. I don’t know, but don’t mention her name.”

Quickly, when Daniel started showing signs of protest, it became a demand, and Daniel unwillingly followed it. A part of me was surprised when they started leading him outside for the public apology, but at the same time, it wasn’t surprising that they could get a press conference together so quickly.

“All taken care of in less than twenty-four hours,” Niall said as we walked back out of the room and over to the guys, that world changing smile on his lips when he looked down at me.

Harry threw his arms around both of us and squeezed us against him. If my ribs weren’t already broken, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he finished them off just then, but I bit my lip and sucked it up. “Are my two babies all clear?”

Niall snorted. “We’re the babies? I’m older than you.”

“She’s not,” Harry pointed out.

“How do you know that?” I asked. “I could be older than all of you. I’m not older than any of you, but I could be.”

Harry shrugged. “Lucky guess. Seventeen, right?”

I nodded. “Seventeen.”

“I’m guessing a holiday birthday, maybe Valentine’s Day?” he continued on with a smirk, but his guess actually freaked me out a little.

After just a few seconds, however, I caught on. “Sparrow told you, didn’t she?”

He started laughing and nodded. “Indeed she did.”

That was how we ended our tour of New York City—the Manhattan part anyways. There was still so much to see, even parts I hadn’t seen, but Liam had to be getting to the airport.
Now that everything was settled, he was able to go back home, so the poor lad had to deal with some serious jet lag. When I started to apologize, he insisted that he would rather be here when it cleared than anxiously worrying and waiting across the ocean, not knowing what was going on, how close it was to being over.

Louis had to catch a plane, too, and Zayn had one going to LA with Perrie as well. Harry stuck around town, but he went and stayed somewhere besides their original hotel because he was visiting a relative vacationing there. I didn’t really hear what he said because he was talking into his hotel room door.

That just left Niall, and he looked a little lonely as I began getting my things to go. He kept looking over at me then quickly away if he saw me looking at him as well. Something about the way his lips pressed together, the way his eyes seemed a little dimmer than before just felt lonely to me.

I plopped down on the bed beside him, staring at whatever TV show he was watching with a blank expression. “Are you gonna stay here by yourself?”

He shrugged nonchalantly and leaned back against the headboard. “I don’t know. I may head home for a couple of days. I never really know until I decide.”

I nodded, although hearing he was leaving New York sucked. It was awful because I had to face the fact that he would be gone, just like the others were, and life would go back to normal. I would disappear, and he would move on with life. Maybe he would text, but that would be it. I wouldn’t see him anymore, and he would find his princess.

Niall noticed my long face and began to laugh. “You know, I really love New York. I’ve always been thinking about getting a place here. That way if we ever decide to come back, we have a place to crash. What do you think?”

“New York may not be the best place to raise a family, but it’s special,” I said. “I used to live in North Carolina, actually, but we moved up here when I was in the fourth grade. As much as I love North Carolina, New York just . . . stole my heart. Until I have kids of my own, I’m staying here.”

“I don’t think I want to live in the city,” he informed me. “I’ve been paying attention to houses out here, and I noticed one a few minutes from Sparrow’s that was available. Nice place, really too big for me, but it would be great for the all of the guys. They could even all bring their girlfriends for a fun, One Direction family vacation, you know?”

“I think that would be fun,” I agreed, but I began thinking about what he was saying. Niall wanted to live near Sparrow . . . . Did he like her?

Suddenly it all made sense. She was so confused and backwards that she didn’t realize that someone else was falling for her. Once again, another boy was chasing after Sparrow and completely passing over me. It was for the best, really, because I was too scared to accept that anyone could possibly want to care about me; and it wasn’t exactly a good thing for someone to care about me, but it still kind of stung.

“I’ve still got to think about it and talk with everyone about it,” he said. “But, enough about me.” He suddenly turned off the TV and turned to look right at me, particularly the left side of my face. “What really happened?”

I sighed and leaned back against the headboard beside him. I got caught up in the moment of just sitting there on his bed with him, just . . . two friends talking. The way he looked at me felt like it was more than two friends, but the things he said showed me otherwise. It wasn’t me . . . like always.

“I can’t give you a full backstory,” I said. “Let’s just say my stepdad got really pissed at me. He . . . didn’t mean to?”

I didn’t know why he covered his eyes with hands or why his breaths seemed so forced and struggled, but they did. He didn’t say anything, not at first, but just the first part with no details seemed to bother him, a lot.

“Niall?” I whispered. “Are you okay?”

When he looked at me now, I saw bloodshot eyes and tears rolling down his cheeks, which sort of put it all into perspective for me. I saw a sensitive guy hearing one of his friends was beaten, and it tore him apart. I think, deep down, he knew it was something like this, but hearing it confirmed didn’t make him feel any better about it.

He didn’t actually answer me, but instead, the two of us sat in silence. Nothing really could be said about it besides the inevitable, “You should tell someone,” but I knew that. Telling someone in this instance wouldn’t fix it, though. Not really.

As Niall and I sat here, just sitting in the silence together and not finding it unnerving or uncomfortable, I felt a few tears leave my eyes as well. This was something I had come to terms with a long time ago, but something about having yet another person care, another person get so upset about it . . . it hurt me.

This just went on to further prove that I wasn’t good for anyone, especially Niall Horan. All I would ever do is hurt him.

After a few more minutes of silence, he decided to say something. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I asked. His apology made no sense in my head, so I just asked before I even thought about it.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess over this,” he started, but I could tell that wasn’t the end. “I’m sorry about everything that’s happened to you. I’m sorry that you’ve had to suffer and endure such a hard life. No one deserves what you’ve had to live through.”

More tears of my own began forming as I shook my head, something he actually scoffed about. “Niall . . . I deserve this.” I pulled my sleeves up to show him my scars again, even though it didn’t really help things. “Each scar represents a time where he beat Mika. His own daughter. I wasn’t there for her, or I did something to cause it, and I let him hurt her. Now, I deserve it. She doesn’t deserve this. She’s an innocent eleven-year-old girl, and you guys coming to meet her . . . .” I began crying now, and I hated it. I hated showing this, but with Niall, it just came so easily. “You gave her hope in her life again, hope that was fading. She’s tried to stay strong and remain positive through all of this, and you guys were what she clung to. It was her way of being a normal almost-teenage girl living a happy life. She became a Directioner, and then you guys came and met her?” I shook my head as a smile crossed my face, remembering the way she lit up. “She’ll never forget that.”

Niall suddenly took my hand in his and kissed it softly, something that caused my heart to jolt again in my chest. This time, I couldn’t breathe, and the electric current that usually formed turned into a high voltage shock that burned me. But it was a wonderful burn, and suddenly, all I wanted was to feel it again. In an instant, I craved it, craved these feelings Niall gave me.

“You’re wrong about one thing,” he said. “You don’t deserve this. Your stepdad? He needs to be taken out and beaten to a bloody pulp. But you?” He shook his head firmly, even as more tears spilt down his cheeks. “I don’t care what you say. Unless you personally beat her yourself, you don’t deserve it. I happen to know that you probably did everything in your power to stop it.”

That made me cry a little harder as I nodded, but it didn’t change things. “She was only ever beaten when I wasn’t there or when I did something to get in trouble. It was punishment for me, so yes, Niall, I do deserve it.”

“I don’t care what you say,” he said. “No, you don’t, and if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get you out of there. You’ll be safe.”

“I can’t do anything,” I insisted. “If I tell anyone or go to the police, I’ll get to stay with Maw and Paw, but she’ll be shipped off to a foster home. That’s no life for her, not to mention some . . . family things that prevent that. So, as soon as I’m eighteen, I’m going to the police, and I’m gonna request custody. First, though, I have to get things in order. Until I have a stable job and I’m eighteen, I just have to accept things as they are and work on a plan to change them.” I looked up at him with wide eyes as the thing I was supposed to demand before telling him suddenly came to mind. “Niall, promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.”

He looked hesitant, but he eventually came around and said, “I promise, Emmit. I won’t tell a soul.”

And he hugged me again. It would’ve lasted much longer if I didn’t realize it was almost ten and that I needed to get home. Niall didn’t want to let me leave, but I promised him I was going to my grandmother’s. I almost told him that was where he had met Mika, but instead, I just hugged him one last time and left.

Walking away from that boy was one of the most painful things I had ever done.

Notes

The lyrics are from New Perspective by Panic! At the Disco. I love that song. :)

Let me know what you guys think! It's a depressing end, but overall, I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)