☆ 15: Expiration Date ★
I take out a six plates from the cabinet and place them on the counter next to the freshly cooked buttermilk pancakes. The smell of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and pancakes fill the tour bus kitchen, which was fairly small, but since none of the boys were up yet, I had all the room in the world to make a decent breakfast for the boys.
Luckily, living with Aunt Julia, I manage to pick up a few things about cooking.
Since I woke up early this morning, rather than sitting around doing nothing, I decided to cook the boys a nice breakfast. Not only for their benefit, but for mine. I always helped Aunt Julia in the kitchen whenever I had something on my mind, and this morning is no different.
All night I kept replaying yesterday's events in my head. The Pairry sign, the fan kissing Harry, my conversation with Liam, my run in with the nosy fans. All of that was just in the first day of the tour. Now I don't even know what to expect anymore.
"Do I smell food?" Niall asks as he came into view. His blonde hair was sticking up in all directions and his blue eyes were still drowsy. Niall takes a quick sniff at the air in front of him before his eyes snap open. "It is! It's real food."
I take a plate from the stack that I had set out earlier and hand it to him. "Help yourself."
"You're an angel, Paige! An angel," he says excitedly as he takes the plate and begins piling on a mountain of scrambled eggs, four strips of bacon, two biscuits, and three pancakes.
"You know, Niall," I say as I pour myself a cup of coffee. "You do have band members that'd like to eat as well."
Niall is just about to put another scoop of eggs onto his plate when he stops. "But, I got here first." He complains. "Isn't this first come first serve?"
"Well it's not really fair if the boys are competing against you," I point out with a chuckle. "I mean, you do have a knack for sniffing out food."
"It's a gift," he shrugs as if I was complementing him, which I'm sure he thinks I am. "Fine, I'll put some back."
Niall begrudgingly tosses back a strip of bacon, half a biscuit, and a small spoonful of eggs. I'm about to point out that he hardly put anything back, but I figured that I shouldn't try to push my luck. Getting Niall to put back his food is a prize all on it's own.
"So, why'd you decide to cook us a buffet?" Niall asks in-between bites.
I slowly stir cream and sugar into my coffee, before answering him. "I don't know. I guess, I was just in the mood to cook."
"Well, whenever you feel the urge to cook," Niall tells me with a goofy, pancake filled smile, "Please, don't hesitate to bake me a cake or something."
I chuckle. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."
I hear foot steps coming down from the hallway of the bus. I turn in my seat and find Harry standing in nothing but a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. He was scratching his head, still overcome with drowsiness. I had to admit, he wore bed head well.
"Mornin', Harry," Niall greets. "Paige made us breakfast."
"I see that," Harry says in a raspy voice. He stops and looks at the counter, which was full of the breakfast I had just finished preparing. He examines every single dish I had made, before turning around and pulling out a banana from the bowl next to the fridge.
"You're not going to eat any?" I ask, a bit defensively. I know I shouldn't feel hurt that he didn't want to eat the breakfast I made, considering I didn't only make it for him, but come on! He could at least take a freaking piece of bacon to show some gratitude.
"I'm not that hungry," he says simply as he begins peeling his banana.
Moments like this is when I wish I could just throw a plate at Harry and be done with everything. However, this isn't The Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner show. I actually have to deal with my problems the mature way, although I'd much rather drop a boulder on Harry right now.
"Can I have his share, then?" Niall asks, already getting up to refill his plate.
"Go for it," I say to Niall with a shrug. "At least someone appreciates my hard work."
Yes, I added that for Harry's benefit and by the way Harry glared at me, I could tell that he knew that was aimed at him.
Suddenly, three sets of footsteps came running into the front area of the tour bus. Louis, Liam, and Zayn were all still dressed in their pajama's and Liam was carrying a laptop.
"Paige!" Louis shouts. "Code Black!"
"Louis, I seriously think you need to give me a list with these codes." I say curiously, turning in my seat to get a good look at them. "What's a Code Black?"
"Look for yourself," Zayn says pointing to Liam's laptop.
"You need to see this," Liam says as he moves my coffee to the side to make room for his laptop. YouTube was opened up on the browser. All the boys gather around the laptop, including Harry who was still munching on the banana.
"Oh, god," I say as my eyes settle on the video that was up.
"Paige Carter is a Prude" is the title of the video and just by that, I don't want to watch it. My eyes drift downward to the amount of views and the second I find it, I wish I didn't look. Already over four million views. Why? Why would anyone even bother reading this?
Liam presses the play button and I soon recognize it. It must've been the video that the two girls that I ran into last night were taping. I couldn't breathe as I watch myself on screen, begrudgingly trying to keep my cool. You could easily spot my blush as the girls behind the camera asked me about Harry and his sexual abilities.
Just watching the video made me blush again. It was like watching an instant replay of what happened. The questions, me getting mad, the text from Niall, me saying goodbye. That was all replaying right in front of me.
When I watch the on-screen Paige walk away from the camera in a hurry, I expect the video to end. However, that didn't happen.
The video kept playing.
A couple of seconds after I stalked off, the blonde turned the camera so we can see her and her ponytailed friend.
"That's Harry Styles new girlfriend?" The blonde says in a disgusted voice. "I don't even think she's slept with him yet."
"No wonder he kept her a secret," The ponytailed girl answers.
"I would too. She's a Prude," The blonde says, rolling her eyes. "Harry won't put up with her long."
"I give the relationship two days. Harry'll dump her so quick," The brunette adds with the blonde nodding in agreement.
"How long do you guys think Pairry will last?" The blonde asks, directing her comment to everyone watching. "Leave us a comment below and don't forget to subscribe to our page for other inside scoops on the One Direction boys."
Several seconds after she says that the video ends.
I continue staring at the computer screen, which was now just links to similar videos. I can't believe it. Who did these girls think they were? A One Direction Dectectives? How did I even manage to get myself into this? It was barely the first concert and I've already managed to put an expiration date on my fake relationship. What did Harry think of this video? What did the rest of the boys think? Did they agree? Was this all a mistake?
"What is everyone else saying?" I manage to ask.
Liam and Zayn share a sad look before Liam reaches forward and clicks one of the opened tabs. A new screen pops up to what looks to be an online blog. My eyes immediately found the title; "Paige Cater; Too Innocent!" I didn't even want to read what came after that.
Did these people have nothing better to do?
Curiosity got the best of me and I open up the last tab, revealing a webpage with a large ticker. At the top of the ticker where the words "Countdown to the End of Pairry". Under the main ticker was several smaller one's, what I'm guessing is other people's guesses a to how long Harry and I will last.
Well, at least I know what Louis meant by Code Black. That was just a simple way of saying "Hey, there is a good chance that everything is screwed up, so you and Harry might be done."
I reach forward and close the laptop, not wanting to see anymore. "I can't believe it. All because of one video?"
"I, for one, think that girl's ponytail was tied a little too tight," Louis says.
"Yeah, they were out of line asking those questions," Liam adds, nodding his head.
"Yeah, Paige, don't worry about them. Or anyone else for that matter," Zayn says as he pats my back reassuringly. "Blogs are rubbish anyways."
"Eleanor and Danielle get those kinds of videos all the time," Niall adds. "It's just because they are jealous. They want to ruin yours and Harry relationsh-"
"No," I say cutting Niall off.
"What?" Louis asks confused.
"No, that's not it." I say, trying to clarify what I meant. "I pretty much just put an expiration date on this whole fake girlfriend thing. I'm giving everything away. If those girls could see that I'm clearly not right for Harry, then everyone else can, too. It's only a matter of time before everyone else starts questioning our relationship. By then, I'll be fired."
The boys fall silent, taking in what I had to say. I force myself to look at each of them, trying hard to figure out what was going on in their heads. When my eyes met Harry's, I can't look away. His deep green eyes held so much behind them that I couldn't tell what he was thinking. For all I know, he could be happy that this was happening. I mean, he was never fond of me getting paid to be his fake girlfriend anyway.
"Paige," Liam finally says. "What the fans say and what actually happens are two different things. You have gossip and then the truth."
"Yeah, but what happens when their gossip is the truth?" I ask, getting up from my chair. "I mean, what happens when people look into our relationship? They'll find that it's based on nothing but lies."
"And money," Harry adds. Everyone shoots him a glare and he puts up his hands defensively. "Whoa, sorry."
I shake my head. "No, you're right. This is a job for me and when Vincent sees all this, I'll be fired."
Before the words can even leave my mouth, my phone starts vibrating widely on the counter. I stare at it in horror. Please be Dylan messaging me back, I pray silently to myself. However, I knew that was out of the question when the phone keeps buzzing.
Louis gets up and walks over to where my phone is and looks at the screen. "It's Vincent."
"Great," I say running my hands through my hair. "I can't talk to him."
"Okay, I'll do it for you," Liam offers, but before I can even turn him down, Louis was answering the phone.
"Paige Carter's phone, Louis speaking," he says in a pleasant tone. "She can't come to the phone right now. May I take a message?"
My eyes widen as I see Louis walk around the kitchen with my phone pressed to his ear. "Louis, gi-"
He holds up a finger to silence me and then says. "And would that be before or after the concert?" Louis pauses as he nods his head. "Okay, and this will be in New York? Alright. I'll be sure to tell her you called." Louis pauses one more time and smiles. "Yes, I'll tell Harry, too. Have a nice day."
The moment Louis hangs up the phone, I begin blurting out questions. "What the heck, Louis? What did he say? Am I fired? Do I need to call him back? Oh, god."
Louis laughs as he puts both hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me. "Whoa, slow it down, Paige. No, of course you're not fired. You're mad for thinking that."
I let out a huge sigh of relief. "Okay, then what did he want?"
"Well, One Direction now has a Radio Interview before our concert tonight. Vincent says that the station will give Harry a chance to clear things up." Louis informs us.
I nod my head. This sounded good to me. If anyone could clear up any rumors about Harry dumping me, it was Harry Styles himself.
Then, something hit me.
"Wait, what about New York? You mentioned something about that?"
A devious smile spreads across Louis' face. "Well, after our New York concert, we have a day off. Vincent says that Harry made a promise to use that day for something specific."
I immediately look at Harry the moment Louis stops explaining, a look of understanding was spread across his face.
"What does that mean?" Zayn asks curiously.
"Harry?" Louis asks smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Care to elaborate?"
Harry sighs deeply. "That's mine and Paige's first date."
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A/N:
Short chapter, I know :( But, the next two chapters will consist of the interview and Paige and Harry's first date! Yay! :D
I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this chapter... BUT since i got over 15 votes for the last chapter, I decided to post early! YAY! Thanks you guys! :D Maybe if you guys do it again, i'll post CH 16 early too! :D
So, vote for Niall for eating Piage's breakfast when Harry wouldn't? YES? :D
------> Niall in the side... He loves his food! :D
Speaking of Niall, i've been putting together a new story... and yes! It'll be a Niall story, so be on the look out! I'll post it once I have a couple of chapters pre-written!
THANK YOU ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE FOR READING AND COMMENTING AND FANNING AND VOTING!!! :D