Niall's POV
I was sat in class on that next Monday. With around five subjects worth of homework that I was going to have to complete that night and the lingering thoughts of what Louis and Jade were saying about me and Harry, it was safe to say that I was exhausted.
The teacher droned on, either not noticing or not caring that I seemed to be the only person who had any idea of what he was talking about.
I could feel my thoughts beginning to drift away and I found myself beginning to think of Harry. It was rather weird because I never thought of Harry outside of our casual sex, so I had no idea of what could be drawing my sudden interest.
I looked up to see that the teacher was now focused on what he was writing on the whiteboard, his back was facing the class, so I deemed it safe enough to place my pen down and completely lose focus.
Instead of the hostile thoughts I usually had of Harry, I began to wonder what he was doing at that exact moment. Why was I thinking of Harry like this? I wasn't supposed to care about what he was doing, he was only a fake boyfriend.
~
"Niall! Get ready, we have to leave in one hour," mum called up the stairs, making me wish I had both earphones in to prevent myself from hearing her. I really didn't want to go anywhere with my parents, knowing that I was going to be surrounded by several copies of my parents for the entire evening.
I heard her heels getting louder as she walked up the stairs and stopped right outside the door, before she opened it to give me a stern look.
"Actually, I had plans to hang out with Harry today."
That was a lie. I wasn't even sure if he was free or not at that moment but I would say anything to get out of what my parents wanted me to do. Even lying about seeing my annoying fake boyfriend.
"I mean, I guess he could come with me. We are in a serious relationship after all," I tried not to smirk at her annoyed expression.
"Your father and I want to appear professional. We can't do that with you trying to flaunt your improper behaviour in front of everyone," she replied stiffly, looking at me with a displeased expression.
"Well, you're always complaining about having to bring me alone. At least now I'll have a partner with me," I continued.
I could tell that she was going to keep protesting. She wasn't exactly the only one who didn't want to spend the evening with Harry but at least I would be at least somewhat amused.
"I'm going to talk about him anyway. I wonder how everyone's going to react when I tell them all about how I have a loving boyfriend now," I shrug.
She bit her lip, seeming to be a combination of frustrated and scared. Perfect.
"I promise. We'll behave ourselves," I spoke, almost taunting her.
She let out an angry sigh, muttering a 'fine' under her breath and exiting my room. Letting out a quiet laugh, I picked up my phone and typed in my password, which I had added after learning my lesson about Louis being a snoop without boundaries, before sending a text to Harry.
To Harry:
My parents are making me go to some work event thing. You're coming with me.
It didn't take him too long to respond to my message.
From Harry:
Oh, really? And if I say no?
To Harry:
You're my 'boyfriend' remember? A deal's a deal, Styles.
I texted Harry the details about when to come, before I locked my phone and threw it on my bed and proceeded to get ready for what may be one of the longest nights of my life.
~
Soon enough, Harry arrived. Instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking and risking one of my parents opening the door, he sent me a text to let me know he was there. As I had been ready to leave for a while before he texted, I exited my room and headed down the stairs before I opened the door.
For the whole eleven years I had known Harry, I never knew just how good he looked in a suit. I thought he was hot as he was but he looked so much better in a suit.
"You look so adorable," he teased, sending that smirk that made me want to kill him.
"Shut up," I let out, my voice almost coming out as a growl, which did nothing but further amuse him.
"I'm your boyfriend, aren't I? I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to compliment you," he continued to taunt, my eyes narrowing.
"I'm so tempted to punch you right now," I muttered.
"So threatening. This is what you wanted, right? A deal's a deal, Horan," he continued.
"Don't throw my words back in my face, Styles."
"God, you just keep getting cuter. You know, I'm so happy that you asked me out because now I can say whatever I want and you can't stop me."
"Harry," I warned him, feeling myself getting annoyed. He'd only been here for two minutes, that's a new record.
"You owe me, Niall. I'm taking time out of my life to pretend to date you. I think this is a fair trade, don't you?" he said teasingly.
I could hear my parents behind me, I could guess that we were in their view because Harry leaned forward and slotted his lips against mine before I could reply.
"Niall, hurry up. Tell your friend to get in the car," my father spoke up, causing Harry and I to break apart.
Harry, obviously sensing the underlying bitterness in my facial expression, shot me an amused look, his hand moving down to grab mine. My parents looked at us with disgusted looks but I didn't even look at them any longer than that, I simply just gripped Harry's hand just as tightly.
I opened the door to my father's car and slipped into the back seat, Harry getting in behind me. I was well aware of that position making it easy for Harry to look at my butt.
"Those pants make your arse look amazing," Harry whispered as sat down next to me.
"Shut up," I hissed quietly, thankful that I didn't blush, knowing it would only cause him to continue with the teasing.
He laughed, placing his hand on my inner thigh and squeezing it lightly.
"I'm only telling the truth, baby."
~
The drive there was honestly one of the most awkward things ever. With my parents constantly looking back at us and Harry continuously trying to touch me in some inappropriate way, I was just about ready to open the car door and jump out before we could even stop. I felt like crying out of pure happiness when the car was parked and I had never felt so thankful to be at one of these stupid dinners.
I followed my parents inside, Harry trailing behind me. He had thankfully stopped teasing me long enough for us to enter the large room. I was immediately met with the sight of people that were exactly like my parents. Most of them being around my parent's age but there were some that were around my age, not that they were any less arrogant than the older ones.
My eyes trailed towards a few girls that my parents had set me up with in the past. They all gave me the same, dirty look when they noticed me. I couldn't understand why they all held a grudge over me, it wasn't exactly my fault that I wasn't interested in them.
"I see you're really popular with the girls here," Harry murmured beside me, obviously noticing the looks I was receiving.
"Well, not everyone has the entire female population eating out of their arse like you do, Styles," I rolled my eyes.
He hummed, his hand that was previously resting on my waist slipped lower to rest on my butt, bringing his face closer to me until I could feel his breath on my ear.
"Shame it's not the girls I'm really interested in," he whispered and I couldn't help but shiver.
~
"Hey, Niall," I nearly groaned out loud before I even looked up to see who was talking.
I turned around to see Angie, also known as my potential girlfriend number three. My parents tried to set me up with her the previous year. I was generally the kind of person that tried to get to know a person before calling them names but I knew she was a bitch from the minute she walked into my house.
"Uh, hey," I said, hoping that my tone would hint for her to leave.
Sadly she didn't, and leaned in to kiss my cheek softly. Thankfully, Harry was paying attention, so he cleared his throat, making her turn to look at him.
"Who's your friend, Niall?" she asked, her eyes taking in his whole body before giving him a smirk, and it didn't take a genius to know what she was thinking.
"This is Harry. My boyfriend," I replied, not even looking at her.
Her eyes shifted from him to look back into mine, disgust evident in the hazel irises. She cleared her throat, a soft smile gracing her red painted lips, unsuccessfully concealing her previous feelings.
"I didn't know you were...one of those," she spoke, trying to cover her shock but I could easily see right through her.
Coincidentally, I never had the opportunity to tell her the real reason why I wasn't interested in her. She refused to speak to me as soon as I said that I didn't want a relationship with her. She'd stormed out of my house right after.
"If by 'one of those' you mean gay, I'm sorry to tell you but I've known I was gay since I was thirteen years old. Which is the only reason my parents forced me to go out with you," I rolled my eyes.
She huffed and walked off, leaving us alone.
"She was a lovely girl, Niall. I'll never understand what made you let her go for someone else," mum said, throwing Harry an obvious look.
Perhaps it was because she's a manipulative and spoiled bitch. Oh, and because I was gay.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Harry, come with me," I said, standing up and pulling a rather confused Harry with me.
As soon as the door was shut, my lips immediately crashed against Harry's in a rushed and forceful manner, my hands gripping his curls and soft groans leaving my lips.
"Ni, what are you doing?" he asked, pulling away to look at me curiously.
"Does it matter?" I replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Niall, I'm not going to have sex with you to piss your parents off," he said softly.
"Isn't that what we've been doing this entire time?" I questioned, taking another step closer to him.
"You're better than this," he murmured, his hands moving to my shoulders and gently pushing me back.
Why did he care all of a sudden? Harry was never the person to turn down having sex, so what was with this sudden change in attitude?
"Why do you suddenly care?" I questioned with a frown, wondering why Harry hadn't done what he usually did.
He didn't give me an answer. He simply shrugged with this nonchalant expression on his face.
"You're being awfully nice to me," I commented, cocking my head to the side in confusion.
He offered me a tight smile, his lips drawn in a thin line. I expected it to feel a lot more awkward than it actually was.
"For the record, you aren't as annoying when you act like this," I smiled at him softly, before turning around and exiting the bathroom.
What the fuck was that?
I wasn't supposed to be nice to Harry. I hated him and I shouldn't be saying things like that to him. I should have insulted him, I wasn't supposed to compliment him. Although in my defence, he was the one who began acting nice first, I was only reciprocating.
I immediately thought of what Louis and Jade were saying about liking Harry. I wondered if they were right and I was starting to like Harry.
I internally scoffed, dismissing that thought immediately. Just because I was nice to him this one time, it didn't mean that I liked him. It just meant that maybe Harry and I were acting a little bit more mature about this unexplained hatred that we had for each other.
~
"Niall, this is Jesy. Jesy, this is Niall," Jade introduced.
I hadn't ever met Jade's friend before but I had heard so much about her that I felt like I had. Of course, I was kind of nervous, considering she seemed to be another version of Jade but I knew the alternative to going out with them would be staying home and studying, so I dealt with it.
"Hey," I said, feeling almost nervous under Jesy's bright gaze. She had that sort of look that seemed friendly but there was also something about her that seemed rather intimidating.
"You're right, Jade. He is cute," Jesy said and I couldn't help but blush.
"Careful, Jes. He doesn't like it when people call him cute," Jade teased, grinning when I gave her a dirty look. "Of course, unless it's Harry."
"Jade," I hissed, watching the shorter girl break into laughter.
"It's okay, Niall. Jesy already knows about your relationship. You have nothing to hide," she replied, sinking down onto her couch beside Jesy.
"I-- It's not a relationship. And do you two not have anything else to talk about besides stupid rumours about me?"
"Ni, it's fine. She's not going to judge but I had to tell her. You know I need to discuss stupid shit that you do with other people," she defended.
I sighed, wishing now more than ever before that I hadn't told Jade anything about Harry.
"If it makes you feel any better, I've been told that I give good advice," Jesy piped up.
I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but Jesy seemed almost guilty. It was shocking because I didn't think someone as close to Jade as she was could even be capable of such an emotion.
"Thanks but I don't really need any advice. I don't know what shit she's told you but everything's fine," I told her.
Jade scoffed, seemingly unbothered by the glare I gave her.
"Are you sure about that, Nialler?" Jade asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Please never call me that ever again," I said, grimacing a little at the nickname and the flashbacks that it brought.
"Why? Is that nickname strictly for your boyfriend?" she smirked.
"One, he isn't my real boyfriend--"
Jade scoffed, making me glare at her.
"Two, that horrible nickname just so happens to be the same one people called me about five years ago. And I would rather not talk about it," I frowned.
"Okay, fine. I won't call you that again if you admit that you like Harry," she grinned.
"But that would be lying and I was raised to always tell the truth," I smirked.
"You were also raised to be straight and look at how that turned out," she retorted, raising her eyebrow.
Jesy let out a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.
"You've got an attitude today," I commented.
"Stop changing the subject, Horan."
"Stop asking me dumb questions, Thirlwall."
"Just admit that you like him and I'll leave you alone."
"Okay, maybe I like him a little bit," I sighed.
"I knew it. When's the wedding?"
"There isn't going to be a wedding. Just because I have a small crush on him, it doesn't mean that I'm suddenly in love with him. I don't know what these feelings are and I'm probably just confused at his sudden switch of behaviour. These feelings are temporary and won't develop into anything more serious," I insisted.
She scoffed again.
"Jade, please. I'm confused right now," I sighed.
"What's wrong? You like him, that's good."
"Not really."
"See, Jes. This is what I was talking about," Jade turned to Jesy, who seemed to be watching us with a mixture of amusement and confusion.
"Niall, there really isn't anything wrong with liking him. From the sounds of it, your feelings might actually improve your situation," Jesy said.
"That's what I've been saying this whole time. You should be happy that you want to sort things out rather than hating him for some petty reason that you can't even remember," Jade interjected.
"Well, even if I didn't hate him, he hates me. No amount of compliments or being nice is going to change that. He will always hate me," I told her.
"We'll see about that, Nialler."