Niall

Everyone around me is buzzing as we run off stage. We had a great show tonight however my mind was a little distracted. All I could think about was Olivia. The fight from last night is still swirling around in my head. Despite that I was still able to make the fans happy and that is all that really matters when it comes to my job.

"Hey mate?" Louis calls to me. "Are you feeling ok? You seemed a little off tonight."

I sit down on the couch in the dressing room and run my fingers through my hair. "I had a fight with Olivia last night and she left. I have been trying to get a hold of her all day. I think she went home to Philadelphia."

Liam joins the conversation, "What happened? Why did she leave?"

"I found out that she was fan and I got upset. It wasn't something that we had discussed with each other and I just assumed that she wasn't. I slept in Harry's room and when I went back in the morning she was gone."

Harry throws a towel over to me and I wipe the sweat from my forehead. He tells me, "You just need to go see her. Tell her you are sorry for walking out. You need to see if you can work it out. Don't let her just run away from you."

Hearing Harry's words surprises me. He always had his guard up around her so to hear him say don't let her run away made me want to run to her as fast as I could. She is the girl that I want to be with. She is the one that I want to be with every moment that I have free.

"How can I just leave and go to Philadelphia? We have a concert in Miami in two days."

Louis tells me, "Just leave now and take a little detour. You can catch up with us after you talk to her. We will cover for you and make up some kind of story so you don't get into trouble."

********************

I arrived in Philadelphia at 8am the next morning and now I am standing in front of Olivia's apartment door. I take a deep breath and knock. After several more knocks, the door opens and I'm met by a tall guy with dark hair and covered in tats. He definitely has more tats than Liam, Louis, Zayn, and Harry combined. He looks like he had a rough night and he smells of tequila. I rack my brain trying to remember if Olivia ever mentioned that Riley has a boyfriend.

"Hi. Is Olivia here?" I quickly ask before I have a chance to runaway.

Mr. Mysterious looks me up and down before speaking. "Liv isn't here right now." When he opened his mouth to speak I couldn't help but notice that he has the same Jersey accent as Olivia.

I catch that he called her Liv and wonder why he just call her that? She hates that name. I recall the day we spent in Santa Monica when she demanded that I never call her that name again. She was so angered by that nickname so why would one of her friend call her that? Then it suddenly clicks, this has to be her ex Vinnie. Only someone that you hate would conjure the anger I seen behind her eyes that day. As I figure out one puzzling question, more arises in my mind. Oh my god wait...what is he doing here? Did she run back to Vinnie after she left Seattle?

As sweat starts to gather on my brow, I ask, "I'm a friend of hers is there any way I can wait for her inside?"

"I don't know, it's not my place," he says while leaning on the door. "Liv's not here and Riley is sleeping. I don't feel comfortable with letting you in."

I can understand not feeling comfortable with letting a strange guy into your ex-girlfriend's apartment but I know deep down that he is just being a dick.

"Look mate, I just got in on the red eye from Seattle and I would really appreciate it if I could come in and wait."

To my surprise he steps back and holds the door open for me to come in. Once I am inside, I take a look around. It's a small apartment, which I expected, being that they live in a city. Plus she lives right in the middle of Philadelphia. I am sure that ups the price of the apartment a few hundred dollars. The place is decorated nicely and the only hint that college students live here are the scattered books around the room.

I look over at Mr. Mysterious and ask," Vinnie, right?"

"Yeah?" he replies looking at me questioningly.

"I'm Niall."

With a cocky attitude he says, "I know who you are." He then sits down on the couch propping his feet up on the coffee table and continues speaking, "You're the guy from the boy band she decided to follow around the country. Somehow she doesn't see the irony in the situation."

I look at him confused wondering what is ironic about her coming with me for a couple of weeks. Annoyed I ask, "What is your problem with me?"

"What is my problem? Hmm, let me see; she broke up with me because she didn't want a life of following a musician around the country but she decides to pick one that travels the world. I guess she had her eyes set on something bigger. My small time band wasn't good enough for her."

"How can you even talk about her like that? I spent less than two weeks with her and know that she would never be with someone for the money or fame. You spent six years with her and if you think she is that kind of person then she is better off without you."

He gets up from the couch and steps up to me puffing out his chest. He is much bigger than me but I am so pissed off the adrenaline is coursing through my body and I am ready for whatever is coming my way.

"You really think that she is going to fall for you? It will never happen. We are meant to be together. I have helped her through way too much to let her slip away."

I take a step closer to him raising my voice. "You honestly think you can be better for her then me? I am not the one who lied to her and took her dreams and hopes of a future together and threw them in the gutter. I hate to tell you this but she is already gone. She is not coming back."

Vinnie kicks the table and I realize that I hit him where it hurt. He feels guilty for what he did to her. But he still doesn't want the white picket fence and a family like she wants.

He leans into me, pointing his finger in my face, "You somehow think that you can give her what she wants? It is never going to happen while you are touring the world!!!"

My voice turns to yelling, "You broke her heart. I may not be able to offer her the life she wants right now but I won't make promises to her that I can't keep like you did. I will make sure we work on building the future we want together."

He yells back, "How dare you?"

"How dare I what? Tell you the truth? It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Oh you better run because I am about to fuck you up." I can see the fire behind his eyes.

"I'm not running anywhere. You want to fight? I'm right here."

Next thing I know Vinnie is swinging at me. I was able to duck just in time and ran at him. There is a loud noise as we both hit the couch. We wrestle each other for a few minutes before a girl, who I can only assume is Riley, is standing over us yelling to stop. She somehow manages to pull us apart and is now standing in between me and Vinnie.

"Vinnie what do you think you are doing? This is not your home and you should show some respect for me and Olivia's space." She then turns to me giving me a perplexed look. "I am Riley and I guess you're Niall. And why are you here in my living room fighting with him?" She is now pointing at Vinnie. "This is ridiculous and you are both acting like little boys. If Olivia was here she would kick both of you out right now for being idiots. She is a grown ass woman and doesn't need either of you speaking for her and deciding what she wants for her life."

Vinnie looks at Riley and in a whining voice says, "I was sleeping and he just shows up here uninvited."

I snap at him, "You are not going to put this on me. You are the one that started talking about how she was only coming after me because I am famous."

Riley throws hers hands up in the air completely frustrated with us and says, "This is ridiculous. Olivia is going through a lot in her life right now and neither of you are making her life easier right now by fighting over her. Do either of you know where she is while you fight over her?"

Riley is right. Vinnie and I fighting over her is ridiculous. She is neither of ours to fight over. She can make her own decision about who she wants to be with. Taking a step back for a second I can now understand why Vinnie is so upset with me. He sees me as the enemy. He thinks he still has a fighting chance with her and maybe he is right. He has six years on me even though he took her dreams and crushed them. Who am I? Just some guy who came along and helped her escape her reality for two weeks. But I need to make it clear to him that I am not trying to steal her. I am not that kind of guy.

"Look Vinnie, I didn't come here to cause any problems. I just wanted to talk to Olivia. I am not trying to steal her from you. Besides she is not even yours for me to steal."

He looks at me with a smug look. "You know I spent all of last night with her and look, I am here at her apartment the next morning. If you ask me, it looks like I might just have a foot back in the door."

I look at Riley hoping that she will chime in and give me a different story from the one that Vinnie just gave me. She shrugs her shoulder and say, "I don't have a clue what went on between them last night. We were all at the bar last night but I was not with them while they talked for hours."

I stop and look him; I must look like a total loser. Here I am showing up at her apartment early in the morning to ask Olivia to forgive me only to find out that she may be back with Vinnie. I probably did pushed her right back into Vinnie's arms . My head starts to spin and all I can think about is that I need to get out of here before Olivia comes back and sees the mess I made.

"Riley, I'm sorry for any problems I caused you. I don't belong here. I am going to go. This was a mistake. Please don't tell her that I was here. I don't want to cause any more problems for her."

Before I walk out of the apartment, I look at Vinnie and he has a big old shit eating grin on his face because he knows that he just won.

Vinnie's POV

I am woken by a loud noise that sounds like knocking on a door. When I open my eyes, I don't recognize anything. It's clear that I am in a girl's bedroom by the clothes lying on the floor. I pull back the purple duvet and am happy to fine that I have my boxers on. See my shirt and jeans lying at the bottom of the bed.

I hear the knocking sound sound again. This time I know that it is coming from the door to the apartment. I have a killer headache from last night and I need to make the noise stop, so I grab my shirt and jeans before I make my way to answer the door. As I begin to wake up more, I recall things from last night and remember Liv helping me into bed at some point. I have never been to Riley's apartment but I am guessing this is where Liv has been staying since we broke up. I am confused why either of the girls isn't getting up to answer the door. I then wonder where Liv could be.

As I open the door I am met by a blonde guy wearing a hoodie, tight jeans, and sneakers. He is standing in the door way just staring at me. I gather that this must be the infamous Niall, there is no mistaken the boy band member. He is the one that gets all the teen girls screaming and yelling for his cheesy music.

He looks nervous standing in front of me as he says, "Hi. Is Olivia here?"

As he speaks I take notice of his Irish accent. I bet Liv loves it. It makes him stand out and probably makes him more intriguing to her. Damn this Irish boy trying to steal my girl.

I give him a short and quick answer. "Liv isn't here right now."

At least I don't think she is. I haven't checked Riley's room but even if she was I don't know if I would tell him. I remember her telling me last night that she needed time on her own, to find herself again and to search for something that she is passionate about. I need to keep him away from her. She needs this time to herself. It doesn't have anything to do with her being with someone else and not with me. Ok, maybe it does have a little to do with me being jealous. She was my life and I miss her every day.

As I stand here my mind drifts off to Olivia and I am brought back to reality when Niall speaks. "I'm a friend of hers. Is there any way I can wait here for her inside?"

"I don't know, it's not my place," I say while leaning on the door. "Liv's not here and Riley is sleeping. I don't feel comfortable with letting you in."

"Look mate, I just got in on the red eye from Seattle and I would really appreciate if I could come in and wait," he asks almost begging.

He is talking to me like a give a fuck how tired he is. I have a headache and am hung over from last night, I am tired too. I can't even remember what happened most of the night. Here he is probably flying in on his private jet complaining about taking a red eye. Ugh, I think to myself, I hate that I am being a dick to him right now. Being mean really is not my thing so I decide to let him in. Besides if Liv found out he came here and I didn't let him in she would be pissed off at me.

As he walks through the door, he asks, "Vinnie, right?"

"Yeah?" I reply wonder how he knows who I am. I wonder what Liv has told him about me. Did she tell him that I was an asshole that broke her heart and chose music over her? I only know who he is because of all the gossip articles and photos of them together.

"I'm Niall."

I nod my head as he tells me his name. I just want to scream out, For fucks sake, I know who you are. You are all over the gossip sites with my girl, but instead I say, "I know who you are." I sit on the couch and prop my feet up to show him I how at home I feel in the apartment. I want to give off the feeling that I have been here before. "You're the guy from the boy band she decided to follow around the country. Somehow she doesn't see the irony in the situation."

Shit, so much for me not being a dick. It's like word vomit spewing from my mouth. My jealousy is taking over my mind.

He stares back at me with a confused look on his face and asks, "What is your problem with me?"

Well, here we go; I guess I am going to need to spell it out for him.

"What is my problem? Hmm, let me see, she broke up with me because she didn't want a life of following a musician around the country but she decides to pick one that travels the world. I guess she had her eyes set on something bigger. My small time band wasn't good enough for her." As I say this I know that I am wrong. I know that she isn't after fame or attention, she just isn't that girl and it kills me to even say it. But here he is standing in front of me. He is the enemy. He is the other guy in her life and soon to be the only guy in her life. I know that once she leave here and heads to England that he will still be a part of her life.

"How can you even talk about her like that? I spent less than two weeks with her and know that she would never be with someone for the money or fame. You spent six years with her and if you think she is that kind of person then she is better off without you."

I get up from the couch and step to him. I am so much bigger than him and there is no way that he could beat me in a fight. To my surprise he doesn't step back.

"You really think that she is going to fall for you? It will never happen. We are meant to be together. I have helped her through way too much to let her slip away."

Niall takes a step closer to me and says, "You honestly think you can be better for her then me? I am not the one who lied to her and took her dreams and hopes of a future together and threw them in the gutter. I hate to tell you this but she is already gone. She is not coming back."

I kick the table in anger when he tells me that she is not coming back. After last night's talk I know he is right. I have lost her.

I lean into him and say, "You somehow think that you can give her what she wants? It is never going to happen while you are touring the world!!!"

He begins to yell, "You broke her heart. I may not be able to offer her the life she wants right now but I won't make promises to her that I can't keep like you did. I will make sure we work on building the future we want together."

"How dare you?"

"How dare I what? Tell you the truth? It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Oh you better run because I am about to fuck you up."

"I'm not running anywhere. You want to fight? I'm right here."

If he wants a fight then I am going to give him one. I swing at him and he ducks. Next thing I know he is tackling me and there is a loud noise as we both hit the couch. We wrestle each other for a few minutes before Riley is standing over us yelling to stop. She somehow manages to pull us apart and is now standing in between us.

"Vinnie what do you think you are doing? This is not your home and you should show some respect for mine and Olivia's space." She then turns to Niall just as pissed. "I am Riley and I guess you're Niall. And why are you here in my living room fighting with him?" She asks while pointing at me like I am a piece of shit. "This is ridiculous and you are both acting like little boys. If Olivia was here she would kick both of you out right now for being idiots. She is a grown ass woman and doesn't need either of you speaking for her and deciding what she wants for her life."

I look at Riley in protest and say, "I was sleeping and he just shows up here uninvited."

Niall snaps back at me. "You are not going to put this on me. You are the one that started talking about how she was only coming after me because I am famous."

Riley throws hers hands up in the air completely frustrated with us and says, "This is ridiculous. Olivia is going through a lot in her life right now and neither of you are making her life easier right now by fighting over her. Do either of you know where she even is while you stand here fight over her?"

Riley is completely wrong.  I am trying to help Liv by putting as much space between her and Niall so that she can work on herself. He will just end up being a distraction for her. If Riley was such a good friend, she would be encouraging her to take time for herself as well. If Liv was here right now standing in front of Niall, she would fall under the spell of his boyish ways and would work things out with him.  I don't want her to forget about her dreams in a moment of weakness. She said she needs to go and find herself. I need to help her take this leap and protect her heart from further pain. I fucked her up enough for a life time and if what I need to do is stand here and be an asshole to Niall then I will do it.

Niall's demeanor changes after Riley scolds us. "Look Vinnie, I didn't come here to cause any problems. I just wanted to talk to Olivia. I am not trying to steal her from you. Besides she is not even yours for me to steal."

Ugh, he just had to throw that little dig in at the end so I bit back at him. "You know I spent all of last night with her and look, I am here at her apartment the next morning. If you ask me, it looks like I might just have a foot back in the door."

He looks at Riley searching for some kind of hint that I am lying but she shrugs her shoulder and tells him the truth of how much she knows. "I don't have a clue what went on between them last night. We were all at the bar but I was not with them while they talked for hours."

I see the confidence slide from his face. I smile at him because he looks like such an ass right now.

"Riley, I'm sorry for any problems I caused you. I don't belong here. I am going to go. This was a mistake. Please don't tell her that I was here. I don't want to cause any more problems for her."

As he walks out of the apartment, I continue to smile because he thinks I won this battle. But deep down inside I know that I too lost the fight in trying to win Olivia back. She wants me even less than she wants Niall. She admitted last night to having feeling for him. She doesn't even feel that way for me anymore. But I will still protect her to the best of my ability. I want Liv to be excited to live her life to again. She was fearless and ready to conquer the world when we met. When I ran into her at the park a few weeks ago she seemed like a shell of the girl I knew but last night, I saw a little spark of life return to her eyes.

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My, how this chapter has changed since the first time I wrote it.  It has gone from 1,000 words to 4,100.  I felt it didn't have a big enough impact to help set up the final chapter.  With a little work and lots of love, I think it has what it takes!  Thank you for the views!  Please vote and a leave comment.  Enjoy the last chapter of the book but don't be sad because Olivia's is going to go on a journey of self discovery in London with all of the boys in tow.

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