Diana

Eight
Niall’s P.O.V.
I was still in shock about Diana having cut in the past. But when Liam came in I knew he needed to talk to me about something serious. When we got to the hall I was surprised to find Harry and Zayn were there too. Harry was on his phone, texting. “Louis needs an excuse to come to the hall,” He announced, looking up from his text. “Why are we out here?” I asked. No one responded. I looked at Liam expectantly but he didn’t spill. “Tell Lou to say he left something in our room,” Zayn told Harry. I was getting a bit mad now that they all seemed to know what was going on but I didn’t, “Liam…?” I prompted. “Wait,” He told me. “Louis is coming,” Harry said. A few moments later Louis appeared. “Liam,” I was getting annoyed now, “why are we here?” He took a deep breath then spoke bluntly, “Niall, Diana’s probably about six years younger than you. You realize how much hate you two are going to get over that?” Liam had just confirmed something that had been at the back of my mind ever since I’d realized I liked Diana. I glanced at the other lads for help. They all seemed to agree with Liam. “’Age is just a number’” I quoted Harry. Maybe I could get him on my side about this. No such luck. “Niall, don’t take that out of context!” Harry interjected, “The rest is ‘maturity is a choice’. I was saying that it didn’t matter how old you we’re, you could still be immature. You two have the same level of maturity but she’s way too young for you!” He was almost yelling now. “Harry,” Zayn stopped him, “We’re in the hall for a reason. Keep it down.” I dropped my gaze to my feet, “So what should I do?” My voice was dangerously quiet, though it shook with anger, “Throw her out on the street? She has nowhere else to go!” There was a small gap of silence until Louis spoke up, “Maybe just keep her out of the public eye. That’s what I’ve had to try and do with Eleanor…” He trailed off. I didn’t want to be mad at the lads, but I couldn’t break up with Diana. I pursed my lips, “I’m gonna go back to my room now.” But Harry grabbed my arm, “Have you seen the hate she’s already getting?” Hate? She was already getting hate? Why did I follow her? Now everyone knew she was the right Diana! Why did we even make her accounts? Maybe it would be better to split with her. I pulled free of Harry and hurried toward my room. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath just before I got there. I walked head-on into the door frame. I recovered as quickly as I could and slipped inside. Diana wasn’t in the kitchen or by the couch. I went to check our room, hot tears threatening to spill. Break up or not? I wondered.

Diana’s P.O.V.
When Liam asked for Niall in the hall I wasn’t too suspicious at first. When Louis said he was going to the other room was when I got wary. I waited for just a moment after he left then put my ear against the door to hopefully hear what was going on. At first I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then someone started getting louder. It sounded like Harry. I thought he’d said something about maturity but I wasn’t sure. The next part was loud and clear though, “But she’s way too young for you!” The words rang through my ears over and over. He was clearly talking to Niall about me. Niall would agree with them for sure. I didn’t know how old I was, but I knew he was a lot older than me. I wondered over to my bed, dazed. I wanted to just go to sleep, or maybe wake up from this nightmare. But I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to cry. But no tears came, only emptiness. Harry’s words were stuck on repeat in my head. I kept imagining Niall’s response. He probably agreed with his friends. I hadn’t heard Niall come back from the hall until he opened the bedroom door. I pretended to be asleep. He sat down on the edge of the bed and did nothing for a few seconds. I felt his eyes watching me. He started shaking a bit then I heard a muffled sob break loose. I forgot to be mad, or annoyed, or upset with him. I only felt the need to comfort him. I sat up and hugged him from behind. He stiffened up a bit at first, and then relaxed into my arms. “You were awake. You heard… In the hall…?” He asked, almost afraid of the answer. “Yes,” I admitted, “Some of it.” He twisted around to hold me, “Oh, Diana, I’m so sorry.”

Niall’s P.O.V.
When I got into Diana’s room I sat down on the edge of her bed. She seemed to be asleep. Now that I was somewhat alone I felt free to let my tears fall. Almost immediately I felt the bed shift and she was hugging me. I become rigid. I didn’t deserve that. I’d just been considering splitting with her. Then I realized she must have been awake the whole time. She was probably faking sleeping because she’d heard our conversation in the hall. Yet she still loved me enough to hug me. I unstiffened into her.

Diana’s P.O.V.
Niall looked right into my eyes, “I’d never split with you because of age. You could be 18 or something, anyway.” I chucked weakly, “We both know I’m not 18.” Niall twirled a lock of his hair between his thumb and forefinger. “Did you hear the part about the hate?” He asked. “No,” I answered truthfully, “What about hate?” Niall sighed. “Apparently a lot of people, who’ve never met you, decided they hate you.” There was an awkward pause then Niall reached for his phone. “I’ll go read what they’re saying then tell them off for it.” He sounded determined. But I was sure some of that hate was to him. I wasn’t going to let him read it alone, “No, some of it’s about me,” I fathomed, “I’ve got a right to see it!” Niall responded flatly, “No.” I wanted to see what they were saying! “Yes,” I said just as pointblank. “No,” Niall repeated, “I don’t want you seeing it. It can be awful.” I looked pointedly at his phone and waited for him to unlock it. He held his phone tighter, “No, Diana. I’ll tell you what they’re saying.” I continued glowering at his blank phone, “I want to see it, Ni!” I felt his chest rise and fall next to me in a silent laugh. “What?” I asked. He grinned down at me, “Ni? Is that your new nickname for me?” I’d been calling him that in my head ever since he’d left me at the hospital. “Yes,” I decided, then realized he’d made me stop asking to see the hate, “But don’t try to change the subject! I want to see what people are saying about me.”He sighed, “I’m not going to get you to forget about it, am I?” I smiled mischievously, “Nope.” He rolled his eyes, “Okay then, I guess you can see the hate. But remember, these are people who’ve never met you before. They don’t know how amazing you are. Most of them are probably jealous.” He was being super serious and cute again! I zoned out a bit. I got butterflies in my stomach just looking at him. I snapped out of it. He was saying, “No matter what they say, you’re still my princess.” I nodded. He unlocked his phone, “Twitter or Instagram first?” I tapped his Twitter app to open it. I was shocked to find Directioners had not one, nor two, but three things trending worldwide. The number one was Niana. The number two, #DianaTooYoung, and number three, #NianaOTP. I knew when Niall read the second one because I head a sharp intake of breath. “Maybe we should just go to sleep…?” He suggested. In response, I tapped ‘Niana’. There were a few not so nice posts… OK maybe not just a few. I was being called, um… a lot of bad stuff… And there was some PhotoShopping of me. I felt hot tears rush to my eyes. But I couldn’t let Niall see me cry yet. He wouldn’t let me read any more. I tried to concentrate on the pleasant posts, ‘Diana seems nice. She has a really cool personality from what I saw,’ was one. Another, ‘We need to stop chasing away the boys’ gfs!! It’s their choice!’ On the other hand, for every post like that, there were at least two more that were on the other side. There seemed to be massive fights over weather I deserved Niall or not in the comments of a lot of posts. Niall stroked my hair comfortingly as he scrolled through the posts, liking the enjoyable ones. “You realize you’re going to cause massive fangirling because of that?” I pointed out. He pulled me closer to him, “Good. Now they’ll know to be nice to you.” He clicked #DianaTooYoung and turned the phone screen away from me. “Hey!” I interjected, “Let me see it,” I gave him my best puppy face. “Oh, okay!” He laughed and let me see it. His face turned somber when he read the first post though. It turned out to only be a taste of everything else. After about three minutes of awful posts, we found the worst. ‘Diana is a’- Well, I’m not going to use the word because after this event, I vowed never to use it. But it wasn’t an enjoyable thing to be called. The post went on to call me numerous other nasty things and ended up getting so long it was continued in the comments. It claimed I only liked Niall because he was famous and that I was way too young for him. The part that really hit me though, more than anything else was the nerve they had to say that I was ‘faking losing memories’ and that I ‘only did it to get to niall’. The tears that had brimmed in my eyes flowed over. I started shaking uncontrollably. Niall dropped his phone on the bed. “None of that is true, Diana,” he hugged me tighter. “And don’t think for a second that I believe that part about the memories. I believe you. Unless you’re an amazing actress then I don’t think you could contain your fangirling at the sight of me.” He mockingly posed as a model. A small laugh escaped me which caused me to hiccup. So I laughed at Niall and a dozen other silly things he said and did, and hiccupped and cried into Niall’s shoulder. By the time I’d finished sobbing and hiccupping, I was a mess. I was glad I hadn’t worn any makeup. By then it would have been all over everything. Niall ran his hand up and down my spine. “You ready for ‘NianaOTP’?” He asked. I lifted my head up and nodded. He silently picked up his phone and found the hashtag. He hesitated and stared at the screen without really seeing it. I waved my hand in front of his face, “Niaaalll…” He snapped out of it, “Sorry, I was thinking…” He paused as if making a final decision, “I’m gonna tweet something about all this hate… Most of them will listen to me.” He didn’t let me see what he was typing until he was done. It said, ‘What’s with all this hate ? I love Diana . You should too ! And if you don’t then keep it to yourself !’ I hugged him, “Thanks, Niall.” Niall tweeted it and replied to me, “Don’t call me that. I like Ni better.” He smiled proudly. “Okay, Ni.” I laughed.
Niall and I went through posts for an hour and liked every single one and even followed a few Directioners. Then we went on from my account and liked and followed even more. I was so touched that people from the other side of the world who had never met me were willing to stand up for me and say nice things about me.

Notes

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