[HarryStyles] Pop Meets Hardcore

Six.

“It’s really cool to meet you.” Zayn smiles down at me, my five foot three inch figure significantly shorter than he is, and I return his smile as I look up to meet his eyes, all genuine. “I've listened to your music since the beginning.” I don’t really know what to say to him, and it feels strange to me, not to know how to respond to something like that, it’s not like it’s unusual for me to hear, but coming from him, in front of the four other guys, I feel like I'm in some alternate universe where it’s me and Zayn against the world and my boyfriend.

Blinking, forcing a smile, I shove my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “Thank you, that means a lot to me, to us.” At one point in time, every band becomes one person, and sometimes it’s inevitable, but we’re all working really hard to make sure that we stay a band and not allow one person to become the band. When that happens, it’s quitting time. “Do you have a favorite song?” The atmosphere is thick, especially as Harry stands so close to me, preparing to go outside, all of us, and I can see the paparazzi and fans crowding the door, and the cops in the background waiting to help us get out of here and to the cars.

This is all too much. I mean, cops have to come, for what; to make sure no one mauls us, that’s just great, exactly what I want to involve myself in. “The bonding time here is great, totally awesome, but the sooner we leave, the sooner we’re done with today, so let’s get on it.” I'm pretending to date a pretentious asshole.

Crossing my arms over my chest, keeping a smile on my face like Harry had on his when he snapped at the two of us, all as an act, because we know that people can see us, even if we don’t want them to, I nod my head. “Are you upset that the attention isn't on you? Oh, I'm so sorry Harry, next time I’ll remember who I'm dealing with.” It comes out a lot harsher than I intend it to, and Louis and Niall shift uncomfortably, not knowing how to react to what I just said.

Rolling my eyes, I nod my head in the direction of the door, glancing at Zayn for help, because it seems like the two of us are going to be on the same team. At least I hope so, but then again, I wouldn’t ask him to go against his band member, his best friend, so eventually the guys are going to have to join us because I'm done being the bad one when Harry is the jerk.

“Let’s all just talk for a little while before we go outside. Let’s all say one thing that we want Braelyn to know about us and Braelyn will tell us one thing she wants us to know.” Liam, apparently the Daddy Direction, the responsible one, says, glancing at me from the corner of his eye, waiting for my approval of his suggestion, but I have no idea what they would want to know or what I'm willing to tell them. I'm not into secret sharing, not with people like them anyway, people I don’t know.

Harry shifts his weight onto his left leg next to me, placing his hand on the small of my back, right near the freaking back dimples that I hate so much. “I think that it would only be fair if Braelyn tells each of us something.” Turning my head to look up at him, I roll my eyes, watching as he smirks, and for some reason, it seems like this can actually be fun.

Biting down on my lower lip, I try to stay calm, because this is seriously going to test my acting skills, thank goodness I wanted to be an actress when I was younger, or I would be beating the crap out of Harry by now. Oh, that’s something I can tell them. “One of the reasons they picked me for this, whatever it is, is because when I was younger I wanted to be an actress and took acting lessons. And I watched the iCarly episode; and no offense, really don’t take offense to this, none of you don’t know how to act. So this should be interesting.”

Laughing, Harry nods his head, and I've clearly gotten a few brownie points for insulting his acting skills and not just feeding his ego. I'm not a fake person, and it’s kind of adding up, how he’s a lot calmer and less tense now that he knows I'm not going to lie to him just to make him feel better about himself.

“I didn’t say yes because I wanted to meet you. Although it was enchanting to meet you, Harry, because you’re a charmer. I said yes because I needed a way out of all the rumored relationships I'm in with guys who are almost thirty years old. That’s three things, right? Two more.” I don’t really wait to see their reactions, because it’s clear they really know nothing about me, even Zayn, because his eyes grow wide, and I know that he’s one of the fans that I truly love, the ones who know the music and nothing else, the blind fans, and I love that, I love that he’s only in love with the music, and not our appearances or anything else.

I'm done being tied to Vic Fuentes, who is thirty years old, that’s more than ten years older than I am, simply because we took a picture together and posted it on Instagram. I'm done being tied with Mike because he’s, as much as I love him, he needs to go to rehab. And Austin, I mean seriously, he’s a great idol and all but he’s a pretentious asshole.

Harry slides his hand from my back to my side, pressing his lips against my ear, his breath sending a single shiver down my spine. “I can act, love. You don’t want to date an asshole, I can make you fall in love with your fake boyfriend.”