Chapter Twelve

"A fight with Niall Horan?" my aunt cried out, holding out a tabloid.

It had been finally publicized that I had a little spat with Niall Horan, and the media was going absolutely crazy with the new information. My twitter, and facebook accounts were blown up with lovely feedback from people, and One Direction's fans. The messages were horrid and almost inhumane. It hurt to look at the messages. I couldn't even bare to log onto Twitter when it began.

I found myself, an hour after it started happening, in my condo being screamed at by my aunt of how stupid I was to get in a fight with Niall.

Being the star of the news -and certainly not in the best way either- I had stayed away from the articles, not wanting to see their reactions. I didn't want to see their opinions. It was unwanted knowledge I never wanted to know.

"You could have chosen anyone," my aunt fell against the couch. "Sofia, you could have had a public fight with anyone, but you chose a band member with a million fucking fangirls to back him up. Are you serious?"

I haven't spoken a word to my aunt while she lectured me about my decisions. Part of that was because she hasn't let me say anything. Another reason was that I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to, simply because there was not enough words for me to tell my aunt how I really felt.

How Niall was a prick, and a downright, hateful bastard...

How I want to kick Niall in the balls and make sure he is incapable of having children...

How I want to make sure Niall hurts as much as me...

There wasn't enough words in the dictionary to describe the way I felt about Niall, and the fight. Every time I thought about it, new feelings arose and confused the ones that have already been floating around inside me.

"You didn't need to be so rude-" I cut my aunt off, then.

"Me, rude?" I scoffed. "I was barely rude. Niall was the rude one. No, scratch that. He was a hateful motherfucker."

My aunt stood up immediately, rage dancing in her eyes. "Niall is hateful for saying I'm sorry!?"

That definitely caught my attention. My eyes widened in shock, disbelief and confusion crossing my features. What was she on about? Niall never said sorry to me in the few minutes we've fought.

"What are you talking about? Niall never said he was sorry," the disgust growing in my stomach was almost more than I could handle, with this topic growing bigger and bigger as my aunt and I discussed it.

My aunt looked repulsed as she threw me the tabloid. I caught it with ease and began flipping through the pages to look for the article. I didn't need to look hard; the article was on the third page, the title in big letters.

"NIALL HORAN AND SOFIA ADAMS FIGHT PUBLICLY IN STARBUCKS," the article read. My eyes glanced down to see a bad quality picture of Niall and I, coffee spilled over our shirts. So far, nothing untruthful, I thought as I continued looking down at the article.

My eyes traveled across the paper, reading what they've written.

Sofia Adams and Niall Horan were seen at Starbucks in Los Angelos,

talking after the two ran into each other. As seen in the picture, the two

had gotten off at a rocky start. Well, Sofia more than Niall Horan as he

had immediately apologized to Sofia for spilling coffee.

Sofia however, decided that an apology wasn't enough and began

spazzing at the Irish lad, calling him unmentionable names, a disgusting

creature to be one of them. We don't know where you're going with this,

Sofia, but here's a hint--downhill.

I scoffed at the paper, anger filling my veins. My hands shook as I threw the paper at my aunt, disgusted at the lies the media and witnesses had spewed. They had completely turned this around on me! How could they! They all saw the way Niall spoke to me, as if I wasn't even worth being an air molecule!

When I looked up at my aunt, tears started brimming my eyes. "How could you believe that tabloid? You're family, Delilah. You're flesh and blood." After a moment of looking at my feet, I looked back up at her, pain clear in my voice. "Niall... he looked at me with such hatred, it threw me off. I didn't see it coming. He called me so many names. He told me I wasn't even worth living. He called me a fire breathing dragon, even."

"I don't see how you can just lie to my face like that, Sof-" Aunt Delilah never got to finish her sentence.

"How can you not believe me!" I screamed at her, throwing pillows in her direction. "Niall broke me in more ways than one, and you have the decency to call me a damn liar! My own aunt!"

My aunt didn't dare to say another word. Instead she looked at me, barely flinching. I knew from the look in her eyes she didn't believe me. She didn't believe a word I was saying. She wasn't phased by anything I said.

Shakily, I pointed to the door. "Get out."

Thankfully, my aunt didn't argue with me. Picking up her purse from the couch, my aunt slipped out of my condo wordlessly.

Moments after she left, I fell against the nearest wall as tears rolled down my cheeks. Everything was falling apart on me, and a big part of it was because of Niall. He forced me to remove Harry from my life. He turned the entire world on me, hating me for something that wasn't even remotely true. And because of him, my aunt --my own flesh and blood-- thinks I'm a liar.

I didn't bother to wipe away the tears as I usually do, to rid the evidence of my pain and my broken, aching heart. I let the evidence show this time because everything hurt a little bit more. I was broken more then I was yesterday.

Standing up, my legs wobbly, I moved towards the bathroom. Wordlessly, I took out the small black bag of supplies I hid underneath the sink. I collapsed on the floor, and took out my razor. I glanced at the shiny object.

It was the only thing that would suffice.

*.*.*.*

A few days passed since I've talked to my aunt, and since the incident. Multiple times, my dad tried calling me to see if I was alright. My mother didn't called me, though I expected her indifference towards me; she's always been that way. Ella and I talked a few times, and for her, I put on my brave face and told her that her big sister was a brave warrior and could defeat the petty foes. I ignored every call Harry made, and left every text unopened.

I couldn't face Harry, not after Niall and I's publicized fight. He'd hate me, and think I was disgusting just as Niall thought. Harry's done so much for me, including being my friend, and I've done nothing but do bad in his life. Niall was right. I was no good for Harry and it was just better if I simply stayed out of it.

Today, I had my legs curled up against my chest with my fleece blanket wrapped around me. A cup of hot cocoa was sitting on the coffee table, not too far out of my reach. I was in a comfortable state, and that was fine with me.

I've done nothing but watch movies today. I couldn't bare to go into the studio the last couple days, and have asked for a few personal days. I think Management understood I needed them with the amount of unwanted attention I've received. Sometimes, I wanted to smack them in the head multiple times, but then there were days I wanted to kiss them on the cheek and thank them. Today was one of those days.

As I reached forward to sip on my hot cocoa, my door burst open. I sat up quickly, and glanced at who barged in, only to see Harry fuming. His hair was disheveled, as if he'd run his hands through it, one too many times. His dark shirt was wrinkled, and his jeans a bit tight. Harry looked good, but as if he was in a rush.

He looked at me as if he'd been angry with me for a long time.

"How could you Sofia?" he started as he stormed his way over to me on the couch.

I didn't bother to stand up. I didn't have the strength as I had been lying down all day. I blinked up at him, confused. "Sorry, what?"

"How could you ignore me like that?" Harry repeated. I opened my mouth to give him some excuse, but he didn't let me. "And don't bull-shit me, Sofia. Niall told me the truth. He told me all the shit he said to you. He told me that he was protecting me, and didn't want you to hurt me. So, tell me the truth. Why did you do what he asked?"

I was trembling inside. I knew I was defeated with Harry, that I couldn't ignore him any longer. And for that, part of me was relieved; I hated being away from him for so long; the boy managed to wiggle himself inside my heart, and stay there.

"Pride," I mumbled, looking down at my hands.

For a moment, it was silence. Maybe Harry didn't hear me, or maybe he was just in shock. If the latter, why would he? He's known me this long, he should know that my pride is big, that I'm stubborn as hell. He should know this well.

When Harry spoke again, it was much softer. "Sofia, your pride is a little bit too big sometimes. What Niall said, you should have come to me about it." Harry knelt down in front of me, his hands on my knees. "Seriously, Sofia. It bothered me that you didn't trust me enough to tell me what Niall said."

I couldn't find any words to say to Harry. I trusted Harry, I did, much more than a lot of people in this world. The problem was that I cared more about my career and pride than Harry. It might sound bad, but if I lost this career, I'd be a mess. It took my entire life to get me this far. I couldn't just lose everything now for Harry.

"I'm sorry," I murmured quietly, fumbling with my fingers. "I truly am sorry, Harry. I trust you more than a lot of people in my life, alright? You've been there and helped me stand back up when everyone turned away. However, my career means a lot to me and Niall threatened that when we talked. I had to protect my career. It's everything to me, I can't lose it now."

Harry's fingers brushed my cheek as I kept my gaze on my lap. "I understand your career means a lot to you, Sofia. I feel the same way with mine. However, please promise me you'd come to me next time something like this happens, alright?"

I nodded my head, finally resting my gaze on Harry. When my eyes met his emerald ones, I swear I felt my heartbeat quicken. His eyes... they were beautiful up close. How did I not know this before? When he leaned up and planted his lips on my cheek, I felt my cheeks darken and heat up.

"I've got to go, Sofia. I have a plane to catch in a couple hours, and I've got to catch that plane," Harry frowned.

This time, I stood up to hug him. I wouldn't see Harry for a while, and that thought left me empty. What was I going to do without my Brit? He was my rock, the only thing keeping me strong. Without him, I'd be noodles without a bowl -- limp.

"Have a good flight, Harry," I mumbled into his warm chest, "And I am sorry, again. I didn't mean to waste so much of your time here in America, ignoring you."

"It's alright, Sof," Harry said pulling away, smiling down at me. "I did have a nice time here, but sadly, my home is in England. I'll skype you and call you every day. I promise."

Raising an eyebrow, a small smile made it's way to my lips. "Do you pinky promise?"

A chuckle passed between Harry's lips as he nodded. He held out his pinky, letting me wrap mine around it. He gave it a small tug before he gave me another kiss on the cheek, and mumbled out a sad goodbye.

Watching Harry leave my condo was hard. Biting my lip, I glanced down at my covered arms, slightly relieved that he didn't find out about my dirty little secret. God knows what would happen if he found out.

And I really wasn't looking forward to that, either.

_______________

I know Niall's an ass. Trust me, though, things will get better in the next chapter between Niall and Sofia. Niall will not be an ass after this chapter, I pinky swear to you guys. (And I take pinky swears seriously.)

Anyway, I hope you all like this update, because I've enjoyed writing the last bit between Harry and Sof. I mean, the two are just adorable!♥

Happy Sunday, everyone!

-Chey xx