His Princess

Running in wedges, even though they were hidden wedges, wasn’t something I was skilled at. As a matter of fact, while running, I twisted and nearly broke my ankle—at least that was what it felt like. It hurt pretty bad, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it. With Niall helping me up and the fans in sight, there wasn’t much time to focus on the pain.

“Are you alright?”

Niall’s breathless question was nearly impossible to hear. If he hadn’t turned his head back towards me, I probably wouldn’t have.

I nodded and grabbed onto his hand. Though he was surprised, he followed my lead as I pulled him to a crosswalk. Though the sign was telling us not to walk, due to the bumper to bumper traffic littering the streets, I pulled Niall behind me as I weaved between cars. Some honked at me because I got in the way of them moving one inch, but I didn’t care.

We were able to get through there a lot easier than a group of fans would be able to, and we got through just in time. The bumper to bumper traffic actually started moving behind us, as if God had reached down and given us a small break.

Relieving as it was, I didn’t wanna stop just yet.

“Be safe!” Niall called back towards the girls, who seriously looked like they might jump in front of the cars, as he pulled off his toboggan. “I love you all!”

“Oh my gosh, Niall!” I heard some of them screech, but their cries didn’t sound excited.
Actually, it was the exact opposite.

Something about Niall scared them.

When I looked back at him, only managing to get a brief glance, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Though his face was red and he was out of breath, he seemed alright.

What freaked them out?

With the traffic flow picking up, I knew I had bought us some time, and I had to lose the shoes. Pulling Niall aside and into a corner beside a small laundry mat, I wiggled out of my shoes and socks. New York streets weren’t ideal to be barefoot on, but there was no way I could keep running in them.

I took a deep breath as I tied the laces tightly together and slung them over my shoulder. “Okay. The traffic won’t stall them long. We should make our way back to the hotel.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Niall breathed. “There’s probably still a bunch waiting outside the hotel.”

I bit down on my bottom lip and continued trying to steady my breathing. “You’re right. We don’t need to figure out a plan here. I guess let’s keep running until they don’t know where we’re at anymore, and we’ll figure out what to do then.”

Niall nodded. “Get on my back.”

“What?”

“I’m not letting you run around barefoot in New York,” he snorted. “Besides, I’m sure your ankle hurts anyways.”

“Niall, that’s gonna kill your knee,” I said.

“Nah,” he said, giving me a toothy grin as he positioned himself in front of me.

Suddenly, the girls freaking out made sense. How had I missed it before? Niall’s normally blonde hair was stained deep red from blood, his own blood.

It must’ve been from when Daniel threw him against the wall, but there was so much blood . . . it was running down the back of his neck.

Tears actually started to form in the bottom of my eyelids. “N-Niall, I can’t. We need to get a cab or something.”

“What?” he asked. “Why? I’m okay. Are you okay?”

“Your head,” I whispered. “It’s bleeding.”

“Yeah, I know,” he murmured. “Doesn’t hurt much. It probably looks worse than it feels. Trust me, Em? I won’t do anything to hurt myself. You weigh, what? Twenty pounds? My knee and head can handle that.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, but I wasn’t entirely convinced he was okay. All that blood couldn’t be healthy.

“I weigh ninety-five, actually.”

Niall turned back around to face me with wide eyes. “What the hell? How? You eat as much as I do!”

My face immediately flushed, and I averted my attention away from his face and down to my feet. “I, uh, don’t really know. Sparrow says it all goes to my . . . erm . . . places.”

I didn’t expect Niall to laugh the way he did, a devious chuckle under his breath that only turned up the heat in my cheeks, but he did. Though his cheeks were a bit rosy, I could see his eyes fighting the urge to stay on my face.

That was really fascinating to me. Guys these days didn’t do that. Maybe he was gonna look at my ass when I wasn’t looking, but to me, that wasn’t necessarily horrible. Girls do it when guys aren’t looking, so why is it so wrong for guys to do the same?

Point was, my heart fluttered at his determination to keep his eyes on my face. It was beyond sweet.

Niall turned back around and squatted down a little. “Now come on, Em. We really need ta get us both outta here.”

He pulled me onto his back with ease, and he started moving quickly down the streets. We didn’t seem out of place. No one stared or questioned what was going on.

We made it away from the crowd of scared girls and into another side alley, but we didn’t stop for good until we knew that we were alone.

It would be my luck that all this good led straight to death by drug dealer.

Niall carefully sat me down, but he picked me up and put me on his feet so I wasn’t standing on the nasty pavement. It was so sweet, and I melted all over again.

Could he get any more perfect? Really?

Niall leaned against the wall, panting desperately for air as he squeezed his eyes shut. It didn’t really make me feel any less guilty about the fact he had just carried me on his back, but he seemed alright. A bit in pain, but, well, that was to be expected.

I couldn’t really contain my remorse anymore. While I watched him breathe in unsteady and shaky breaths, watched as his eyes squeezed shut when the city that never sleeps didn’t sleep too loud . . . I couldn’t take the guilt without saying something.

“I am so sorry, Niall. This is all my fault. This whole thing was a really bad idea.”

“Don’t be,” he said, looking over at me so he could muster up a resemblance of a smile. “I woulda done the same thing in your place, so just don’t worry about it. You mind calling Harry for me? I need him to do me a favor.”

It didn’t even take five seconds to pull up Harry’s contact and call it, but since I didn’t really know what to say, I immediately handed the phone to Niall.

“Harry,” Niall said the moment Harry picked up. “I need you to listen to me. Step outside of the hotel with some body guards. Take a walk around the block. I need to get inside without being chased some more. It’s not helping things.” He paused while I’m sure Harry said something. “How the fuck do you know about that? Alright, okay. I’ll explain everything in a bit. Just please? Thank you, Hazza.” By the end of the conversation, Niall was laughing and handing me my phone back. “Apparently I only get help like this because I’m cute and Irish. And somehow, Harry’s already heard about my head.”

My eyes widened. “What, what?”

Niall nodded. “I mean, I knew word traveled fast, but . . . has it even been ten minutes since those girls saw it?”

“Apparently it doesn’t even take ten minutes for your fans to be informed of your well-being,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. My thoughts drifted away from that and back to the word that had spread so quickly, Niall’s bleeding head wound . . . caused by me. “Niall, really, I—”

“You don’t need to say anything more,” he assured me, now wearing a small but still adorable smile. “Trust me, Emmit. I would’ve done the same thing in your situation. Next time, I’ll make sure he’s alright first. Deal?”

The idea that Niall Horan planned to inspect the prospects of my future boyfriends was yet another reality beyond my dreams, but I knew it would never happen.

I shook my head. “Niall, there’s not going to be a next time. No one ever notices I exist. But, if there ever is another once in a lifetime occurrence like this, I’ll make sure I call you and let you know.”

“Any guy who simply overlooks you is simply stupid,” he informed me, giving me a larger than life smile that took my breath away. “Absolutely stupid.”

I could’ve stayed in that alley forever with him, but I knew we needed to get him back. It took a lot of willpower and less thought, but I forced myself to look away from him as I knelt down and slipped back into my socks and shoes.

“If you say so,” I murmured. “Should we be heading back?”

He nodded. “I guess so. I couldn’t really sleep last night, so sleep tonight might be good, especially for tomorrow.”

I grimaced a little. “Do you not do well in strange houses?”

“That wasn’t it at all,” he disagreed. “Actually, it was much better than sleeping in random hotels all over the place, or on the tour bus. It was mostly just the guys keeping me up. We spent the entire night wondering how we just so happened to run into two fans as wonderful as you two, fans who helped us without telling anyone. You realize that if you had told a friend, the entire night could’ve been ruined? Yet you two didn’t say a word, didn’t even think twice about it. You just . . . helped us have a wonderful, normal night. Honestly, I felt like I was just any ordinary twenty year old guy enjoying life.”

“I was just glad to find out that you guys felt the same way about yourselves,” I said, giving him a sheepish smile. “Sometimes, people let fame get to their heads, but you guys haven’t.”

He nodded. “Our families have kept us pretty grounded.”

That was probably the only thing our lives had in common; we both had family that kept our heads on right. Everything else was completely different, but finding one tiny little shred of similarity made me that much more comfortable. I couldn’t really explain it, but as the conversation died, I was able to start it right back up.

“Did you sleep after you guys stopped talking?”

“No,” Niall murmured. “I had too much on my mind after that.”

That was a statement Sparrow said to stir up more conversation with me. She would make vague statements prompting me to ask questions, make the conversation more engaging and two sided, but this time I didn’t ask, even if I was curious.

I decided it was best if I didn’t ask what was on his mind. That wasn’t really my business.

“Well, then you’re definitely right,” I finally said, pulling myself away from those thoughts and into new ones, thoughts I was comfortable with. “We need to get you back so you can sleep and get your head checked out.”

“I’m fine, really,” he assured me, and once again, that damned smile pulled out onto his lips. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll get it checked, but I’m alright. Really.”

“I’ll feel better when a doctor or someone else tells me that.”

Niall rolled his eyes and insisted that I was worrying too much, but we decided not to stick around the alley any longer. Not only was it dangerous, but also, we needed to get off the streets, pronto.

Even though we had to run fifteen or so blocks away from the hotel, we made it there in pretty good time. I had never been more grateful to see Louis and Harry outside, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans, so I couldn’t imagine what it was like to have to deal with fans every single day.

As Niall and I slipped past them, Niall’s face turned towards me with his toboggan back on his head, I couldn’t help but watch Harry and Louis interact. Though there were a lot of squeals and loud screams, they looked genuinely happy to be standing there.

To someone who was on the outside, maybe it wouldn’t seem so great, but maybe to them, having someone that excited to simply see them in person was wonderful.

We scurried inside, but my thoughts remained on the guys and their fans, something I was technically a part of. The media and, well, people portrayed them to be monsters, or people who deserved to be in an insane asylum, but how could people who bring so much joy into these five guys’ lives be monsters? Sure, some step over the line by attending weddings uninvited, or getting too close, but who is anyone else to judge an entire fan base based off of a few fans? More than that, who is anyone else to judge anyone?

Despite the fact that Niall and I had run from them all night, and running from fans was how Sparrow and I met the guys to begin with, I realized that they were probably the reason the guys could work as hard as they were. Almost constant touring, new albums every year . . . it was all because of the fans and their support.

I got pulled away from my thoughts when the elevator door dinged, and Niall and I were the only two to step inside. Most people were fascinated with what was going on in front of the lobby, so they were distracted from the elevator.

Usually, I hated being stuck on an elevator with just me and one other person, but I could say with full sincerity that I didn’t mind being stuck on an elevator with Niall. Even though we didn’t talk, it was comfortable silence as he pulled his toboggan back off and I checked to see if the wound was still bleeding.

It was, and it wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

As the doors opened, Niall sent a text to Louis and Harry, and he pulled me along behind him. Since I didn’t know where his room was, it was my turn to follow.

What we found inside his room when Niall managed to get the door open nearly gave me a heart attack. I think Niall was expecting it, so he didn’t seem so surprised.

Zayn was sitting on the edge of his bed impatiently waiting on Niall to get back while a few other rather large men in suits stood by the window. When they noticed Niall wasn’t alone, two of the men rushed over and pulled me back.

“What the fuck?” Niall practically yelled. “Guys, she’s been with me since last night! If she was gonna hurt me, she woulda done it by now!”

“She could have a camera of some sort,” the man who stayed by the window, I’m guessing a member of their security team, said, his deep voice nearly sending chills down my spine. “We have to make sure she’s clear.”

Niall didn’t seem at all happy with this as he threw his stuff down on the table. “Fuck this. This is bullshit.” He looked over at me with sincere pain in his eyes. “I’m so, so sorry, Em.”

He seemed surprised when I gave him a small smile and shook my head. “They’re just doing their jobs. I understand completely.” First time on this side of it, though.

“What’s this about you getting into it with some guy?” Zayn asked, both eyebrows raised as he stood from the bed.

Niall looked back over at me with a resemblance of a smile on his lips. “Word really does travel fast, doesn’t it?”

As one of the men patted me down and the other used a metal detector on me, I nervously bit down on my lip. “Uh, turns out Sparrow was right. Maybe one day I’ll actually listen.”

“No, Em, you’re not to blame here,” Niall said, and once again, he tried to smile. It seemed to be hard, however, as he watched his security team man handle me. The more he watched, the angrier he got, so he eventually had to just look at Zayn. “Relax, okay? I’m fine. You should see the other guy.”

Zayn scoffed. “You don’t have to act tough.”

“No, really,” Niall scoffed. “I think I broke the lad’s nose, but I’m not sure. We didn’t stick around to find out.”

Zayn didn’t look like he felt any better about all this, but I got some relief as the security team finished and walked back over by the window.

After taking a deep breath, Zayn looked over at me for the first time since we got here. “Are you okay, Emmit?”

I nodded. “I’m fine, but I’m not so sure about Niall.”

Niall shot me a little smirk. “Oh, will you lay off it? I’m fine, Em. Honest.”

“It’s still bleeding, Niall,” I insisted. “I’m not so sure you are. You need to go to the emergency room.”

“We have a doctor on the way,” Zayn informed us both, and while that was a relief for me to hear, Niall didn’t find it to be good news. He actually snorted and began shaking his
bleeding head. “Niall, you may have to have stitches. You can’t expect a head wound to just be left untreated.”

Niall shook his head. “A doctor is gonna tell me to rest, and we’re kinda on tour. I can’t just rest.”

“They’ve already rescheduled the dates for the rest of this week and next,” Zayn said. “We’re all gonna get the rest we need, so stop fighting it. It’s happening.”

Even though Niall wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear this news, he finally pulled out a genuine smile that he sent my way. “Looks like I might be stuck here for a couple weeks.”

“Well, you picked the worst city to get stuck in,” I said, unable to hold back a smirk. “This city is so boring. It’s nickname is just one huge joke. There’s absolutely nothing to do, ever.”

“There’s always karaoke and that diner,” he reminded me through a laugh. “I’d go back there any time. I could sit and eat it all day.”

I laughed. “Definitely.”

About that time, Harry and Louis made their way into Niall’s room. I hadn’t noticed that a door stop had been put just where it wouldn’t click shut, but it was there.

Harry and Louis weren’t alone. Actually, they had two other people with them. One I immediately recognized as Lou Teasdale, but the other was a man I didn’t recognize at all.

Lou gasped as she saw the back of Niall’s head. “Holy shit. What happened?”

“It’s nothing, Lou,” Niall tried to assure her, but as the other man got close to it, we all saw how Niall immediately flinched away.

I rubbed my hands over my face. “I’m horrible.”

“You are not,” Niall murmured, and when I stole a glance at him, he gave me another genuine smile—a pretty big one, too. “I’d say what you’ve endured tonight and are gonna endure tomorrow will make it a fair trade.”

“Lou, I can tell you’re confused,” Harry laughed. “This is Emmit. She’s the one I was telling you about.”

Lou nodded and gave me a smile. “Hi. I’m Lou. Sorry we’re meeting under such horrid circumstances. Maybe next time won’t be so hectic.”

Next time? What had Harry told her?

I knew I must’ve looked as surprised as I felt because Harry saw my face and chuckled under his breath. Lou was oblivious to this as she went into the bathroom and began clearing everything off of the counter, for whatever reason.

It didn’t take long for me to piece everything together. The man that came in with Lou was the doctor, and Lou was here to cut off Niall’s hair so the doctor could stitch him up.

Fans were gonna kill me if they ever found out I was responsible . . . and Daniel if he decided to make a big deal out of this.

The bathroom was quite crowded, but Lou didn’t seem to mind. I tried to stay out of the way backed up into the corner while Zayn, Harry, and Louis stood right behind her, watching as she studied the back of his head to see exactly how she wanted to do it.

I wasn’t paying much attention to her, though. It was hard to do when Niall was watching me through the mirror as he was, those cyan eyes piercing into the depths of my soul. This time, the hint of a smile hanging on his lips wasn’t because he was angry or upset. He was just that deep in his thoughts.

Zayn rolled his eyes after Lou continued peering at the back of his head. “Niall, you really shouldn’t go picking fights with people.”

“He was hurting her,” Niall said. To my delight and dismay, his eyes didn’t move, but the corners of his lips turned up a little more. “I wasn’t gonna let that happen again.”

“Tell us what happened, exactly,” Louis said, now in a serious mode that I hadn’t seen in him since Sparrow tazed Liam. It wasn’t as angry, but the concern for one of his brothers was still there. “If this gets ugly, we need to know so that we can back you both.”

Niall slightly raised one eyebrow. “Should I tell this, or—ow!”

Lou jumped. “Sorry! Sorry. I didn’t mean to actually touch it. Bloody hell, Niall. This is serious. Alright. Emmit, you go ahead with the story. I’m gonna start cutting his hair so we can nurse this wound.”

“I was meeting with Daniel, thinking he was about to leave town, and we were going to dinner when his girlfriend showed up and started calling me a whore,” I said, but I hadn’t realized until I said it out-loud just how painful it was. Though I didn’t mention the details, talking about it was humiliating. “I left before it could get ugly, but he followed me. I had agreed to go somewhere with him after dinner before we went in the restaurant, but I didn’t really think about what he meant. I thought he meant to, like, the airport or something. Anyways, after I left the restaurant, he followed me, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He started telling me he wanted someone exciting and new, and then he started kissing and biting my neck. Then Niall showed up and distracted him, and I kicked him in the balls. Niall pulled me behind him, and things got kinda weird after that. Once Daniel realized who Niall was, he wanted an autograph, and when Niall said no, he threw him into the wall. Niall punched him in the face, and we left.”

Though Niall didn’t really like the story either, the last sentence apparently merited a playful frown—quickly followed by a grimace as Lou got the hair close to the scar, probably the last little bit before the doctor started his handiwork.

“I remember the punch being way sicker than that.”

“Okay, so he really punched him,” I agreed. “The guy did a full spin before falling to the ground. We were chased after that, so I don’t know what happened to him.”

Niall nodded. “That’s how I remember it. If he says anything else, it’s a lie, and I will fight it. I did nothing wrong. I’m not apologizing for what happened.”

Zayn sighed. “You may not have a choice.”

“I think Niall’s right,” Harry input, a frown of his own forming on his delicate face. “If this guy wants to make something out of this, fine. We’ll back Niall and stand behind him . . . as will the entire One Direction fandom. Really, this guy has no chance.”

“But here’s something we didn’t think about,” Louis said. “Emmit is going to be dragged into this world. Can she handle that?”

“I can’t say I know exactly what you mean, but I’m not gonna let Niall go down like this, especially since he was protecting me from my stupid mistake,” I said. It was hard to not think about how this was something I had quite effectively avoided my entire life, but I managed to focus on the present to keep my mind off of it. “Do whatever it takes. I don’t mind.”

“Some have ways of completely twisting things,” Niall warned me, and the cheerfulness from before immediately vanished as reality caught back up with him. “I . . . I don’t think we need to do this. If this turns into anything, I’ll apologize and take care of everything.”

For a few seconds, I didn’t know what to do. Hearing him so willingly decide to ruin his entire reputation like that . . . just so I wouldn’t possibly be in the spotlight for fifteen minutes . . . it was both irritating and kinda flattering. He was willing to do that for me?

Irritation flared above the flattered, however, and I grit my teeth. “I’m not gonna let you do that. You can’t just ruin your reputation like that, especially over my dumbass mistake.”

“I can, and this is what I’m gonna do,” he said, though his eyes narrowed at the mention of my “dumbass mistake” he was so fond of calling something else. “You don’t need your entire life exposed and thrown out for the entire world to read, or whatever life the media decides you need to sell more stories.”

“Honestly, Niall, that part of this isn’t really your decision,” Harry reminded him. “If she wants to put herself out there in the name of your reputation, it’s her choice. And who knows? Maybe this will be good for her.”

“Good for her?” Niall snorted. “Yeah. It’s fucking wonderful having people following you around, waiting on you to fuck up so they can get their damn story.”

I shrugged. “So let them make up their stories. It’s not really gonna change anything. Look, you’re not going down because of my stupid mistake. I won’t let you. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I know what could happen, and I won’t let it. This could ruin . . . everything you’ve worked so hard for, and I couldn’t live with that. If you really don’t want to mention names, say I’m a friend you guys made here in New York. That’s true, right?”

“Of course it is,” Harry said, giving me a large smile as he, too, peered at me through the mirror. “Trust me. If we didn’t like you, we wouldn’t have come with you . . . or stayed with you.”

Louis let out a sigh of relief. “So there we go. We have our solution.”

Lou finished up with the hair around the wound and exited the bathroom. I figured we’d all have to get out when the doctor got in here, so I was ready for it.

The doctor walked into the bathroom and cleared his throat. “I’ll need everyone to leave this room, except the security team. I’m going to give him his stitches, and he’s gonna go to sleep after that. It’ll be easier on us all if you guys go ahead and get out.”

Niall actually turned back towards me so I could actually see his huge smile, not just the reflection. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t forget. Noon, or sooner. No promises that I’ll be up sooner, so I’ll text you when I get up.”

“Sounds good.”

I couldn’t believe he remembered that.

Notes

The lyrics are from Fences by Paramore. :D I love them. <3 And Hayley's blue hair? My favorite hair of hers yet. :)

Anyways . . . here's the next chapter! I spent at least three hours trying to edit the old chapter and make it into this one because I wanted it to be perfect. So I hope that you like it. :) Let me know what you think!