I was sat next to Niall on the back seat of an armoured car. Mark was driving the car today, which kind of put a lid on my restlessness. At least he knew what was going on.
I noticed Niall staring at me for a fair duration of the ride, but whenever I caught his stare he quickly looked away.
" What's up?" I asked when I caught him looking at me for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes and our eyes finally met.
Niall's cheeks flushed a soft pink colour. " I just think you look beautiful."
I felt my cheeks redden as well, which probably wasn't visible through all the layers of make-up. Thank the Lord.
" I can't believe those words came out of your mouth," I replied, my voice airy and somewhat normal. Niall started laughing but didn't say anything.
" You look good, too," I said, breaking the silence that had fallen.
I noticed Mark's grin in the rear-view mirror. I flashed him an ugly face when our eyes met. He wobbled his eyebrows to which I let my eyes roll.
Niall did look amazing. Frankly, I hadn't been able to imagine Niall looking that good. But, with that tailored suit and shiny shoes, he really looked the part.
I clamped my hand around the clutch my stylists had matched with my outfit. Inside, was my loaded gun, safely put away. Underneath the skirts of my dress, clamped between my leg and a garter was my other gun. I'd never carried a gun like that, and I could only pray the garter would stay put.
We arrived at the O2 stadium, which they transformed into a real exclusive gathering. There was a red carpet leading all the way from the cars to the doors. Behind them were big walls with the MTV awards logo plastered all over it. On the side without the large walls, press and other visitors were lined up to catch a glimpse of any celebrity. The whole carpet was lit up with gigantic construction lamps.
It took a while until our car arrived at the red carpet entrance. I wore an invisible in-ear piece and waited until we got a go by our eyes on site.
" You're up, Fulton," Someone said. It was the same voice that's been on one of the roofs outside the radio stations a few days ago. I turned to Mark and gave him a quick nod.
Mark got out of the car to open the door for us.
" Well, let's descend to the first tier of Hell," I mumbled. Niall had caught it and laughed at my remark as he got out of the car. He held out his hand to help me out.
" How gallant," I remarked. I took it and stood next to him in a matter of seconds. Niall smirked. " You're showering compliments today, Mer. You're throwing me off."
Niall took my hand, and I squeezed it for a second. " Where's your protective gear underneath that thing?" Niall asked and I noticed how his eyes were stuck twenty centimeters below my face. With a finger, I lifted his chin.
" My eyes are here, not there. Second, it's called a dress. Third, I don't have any protective gear. I went commando today." Niall's cheeks immediately turned a hot pink colour as he looked away. I couldn't help but laugh.
" Well, cowboy, lead the way."
Niall kept me close as we walked on to the red carpet. I hated these kinds of things. If it were up to me, I'd turn the other way and bolt. Unfortunately, I couldn't so I tried to suppress it as well as I could.
We caught the eye of the press quite quickly. Or perhaps it was just Niall holding hands with an unknown woman. Their lenses moved to us, and so did their flashes that blinded me right away.
Niall dropped my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist. I leaned towards him and flashed the press a smile that I could only hope wasn't anything close to feral.
They started shouting questions at Niall, one of which was if he wanted to kiss me. Niall looked at me and a quick glance at my warning eyes, he decided not to push through with that idea. Instead, he grabbed my hand and put a kiss on it. He put a step aside and yelled, " Saide Iverson everyone!" He let go of my hand and put a step aside so the press could take pictures of me.
I tried to keep my smile going. With my name chanted like that, I couldn't possibly stay anonymous. Lovely.
After a few seconds, I was done, and hurried back to Niall's side and hugged him. " You will have to pay for that," I whispered in his ear with as much hatred resounding through my voice as I could master. Niall couldn't help but laugh even more.
After Niall did a few interviews and I just stayed out of the eye of the cameras, we went inside. They had put a lot of effort into making this whole arena look amazing, I noticed as I let my eyes wander around the room.
" Well, if you had to rate your first red carpet experience, what would you rate it?" Niall asked.
I shook my head. " A solid one, I'd say. It's like you're being surrounded by hungry wolfs or piranhas. I marvel at how easily you roll through it, not flinching or holding back at all.."
" I think you did better than a one. I'd give it a seven. I mean, you did great, as you always do," he said as if everything I did went with ease. I pulled up my eyebrows.
" I'm not sure whether I should believe you. This is is completely out of my comfort zone."
We walked inside the arena towards our designated seats, which were located in the midst of all celebrities. Of course.
" Mrs. and Mrs. Horan," Niall read aloud when we arrived at the second row of the front. He pointed at two chairs with the little papers attached to them. One of them even had Niall's face on it.
" We're not even a real couple, let alone married," I muttered. Niall heard it and nodded. His face twisted slightly which no one else would've caught but me. Was he hurt with what I said? It was the truth, after all.
Niall let me go first, where I had to pass several celebrities I'd only ever seen before on tv. I could feel Niall's warm hands in my sides, while I kept repeating apologies like a true, sophisticated Brit.
We finally reached our seats, in the midst of all the award show terror. Niall dropped into the seat next to mine and smiled, his hurt face gone. I smiled back at him as I hoped he hadn't taken it the wrong way.