I really hated these things.

I hated having to pretend to like these people.

The only saving grace to this whole night was that my mates were here, even if they were all engrossed in their dates, and Niall had yet to arrive with his mystery date.

I glanced over at Lou who stuck her tongue out at my serious face.

I leaned in closer to her so she could hear me over the others speaking. "Thank you for coming here with me."

She beamed at me and waved me off.

The truth was my original plan was to come on my own, thinking at the very least Niall would be solo with me but alas my Irish friend managed to find himself a date and I wasn't about to be the only one here on my own.

I asked my friend Cara and up until last night all was set. Then I got a call from her canceling because she was called in to replace someone at a shoot.

You would think that being who I am I would be able to find a date in a hurry but every single female friend of mine was already doing something. So I ran to Lou and practically begged her, and Tom, to be my ‘date' for the night. At that point my options were her or Nick Grimshaw. I would have even asked Aria if she wasn't already doing something.

Lou agreed but I would be doing some babysitting in the near future.

Maybe I could convince Aria to do that for me.

I wondered what she was doing just now. She had asked for the night off and I was slightly curious what for.

Did she have a date?

As much as I didn't want to admit it, the thought irked me a bit.

I wondered if she would be home by the time I got back. I prayed she was home by the time I got back.

"Hello." Niall interrupted my thoughts as he slung his arm over my shoulder and beamed at the others.

I looked at him then behind him looking for his mystery date. There was no one and it bothered me that he had lied. I could have saved myself all the trouble.

"Where's you're date?" Eleanor asked with a suspicious twinkle in her eye that made me believe she knew more about his date then the rest of us.

If possible Niall's grin got bigger and I was sure he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes before nodding his head towards the toilets.

"She'll be here in a moment."

I furrowed my brow, who in the world could he have gotten to be his date?

And then I saw her.

My initial reaction was a jaw drop as I watched her slink towards us in that damn dress that made my mouth water. It hugged every single inch of her body is such an alluring way, it was unfair.

But shortly after irritation and anger set in.

"Well lookie here. Seems Horan has found himself quite the date." Louis' happy voice sounded just as Aria slid in next to Niall.

She looked around the small group, purposely avoiding eye contact with me.

"Whoa Ari you look great." Liam complemented before introducing Danielle. I watched on quietly as she was introducing to the others she didn't know.

"Hi, I'm Lou." Lou said from beside me when I still hadn't said anything.

"Oh... um, nice to meet you Lou. You must be Harry's date then. Are you two..."

She trailed off as the others in the group started to chuckle. Niall leaned in to speak into her ear as she looked from me to Lou, the first time she had actually looked at me since arriving in our little group.

"Lou is just a friend, she's our stylist. She actually has a boyfriend." Niall then pulled away to look at me. "No offense to Lou," She waved him off and smiled. "But What happened to your actual date mate?"

I cringed. I didn't want to have to admit I had been ditched, epically not in front of Aria.

"Um. Cara had some things to do."

"So it was Cara." Louis said with a grin before turning to Zayn. "I owe you."

Leave it to those two to bet on who I would bring.

After that everyone else seemed to fall back into the conversation they had been having before but I was completely focused on Aria.

She did look amazing but that was all overshadowed by the sense of betrayal I felt and to be honest I wasn't sure if it was aimed at Aria or Niall.

Probably sensing my eyes on her Aria glanced up through her lashes and bit her lip before leaning in towards Niall and nodding towards the bar.

He smiled at her before dropping his arm from around her and letting her walk away.

I watched her reach the bar before excusing myself, ignoring the warning look Niall was sending me.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Aria looked genuinely startled by my tone.

I wasted no time grabbing onto her arm and leading her away from prying eyes.

"You said you needed the night off, not that you needed the night off to date Niall!" I hissed.

"I'm not dating Niall." She hissed back at me. "I told him I'd come with him as a friend. It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal. People are going to start to speculate when they see you two together."

I hated to admit how much I would loath they idea of her being linked to Niall. It made me feel odd and uncomfortable. I had no idea why.

"Why do you even care Harry? I know we're just friends, what does it matter to you? Clearly Niall doesn't care what people think or he wouldn't have asked me to come."

I had no good argument for that. Why did I care so much?

But I wasn't willing to let her win, so I hit her with a low blow.

"Because you're my nanny." I spat the word out like it was dirty. "Do you know how ridiculous this is?"

There was a moment where she just stared at me before squeezing her lips tightly together and narrowing her eyes at me.

"Fuck you Harry."

And she spun on her heels and walked back to Niall as if nothing happened.

I knew I had offended her, and honestly I had no idea why I even said it, it just flew out.

I took a minute to compose myself before joining the group again but not without sending Aria a glare as I did.

Again the conversation went on around us but both Aria and I were locked in a silent battle.

If looks could kill I was sure we both would have murdered each other a hundred times over already.

Every time Niall's arm would wrap around her shoulder or her waist I would glare at it until Aria would become so uncomfortable under the heated stare that she would casually step out of it.

I was a bit confused with all the conflicting feeling rushing through me at once but one thing I knew for sure. I did not like her and Niall together. It just seemed... wrong.

"So Aria, how do you know the boys?" Lou asked after a small lull in the conversation.

Aria looked to Niall, probably wondering if Lou was one of the people in on my biggest secret but I beat him to the punch.

"She's Darcy's nanny." I said quietly so only the people in the small circle we were in could hear. Again I said the word like it was a curse.

Aria's eyes shot up to me, anger burning in them, clearly catching the vengeance in my words.

"Oh." Lou said, looking from me to Aria. I was sure she was wondering where the sudden tension came from, up until that moment it had been contained to just Aria and I but now I was sure the whole room could feel it.

"She's also a good friend of mine." Niall saved, sending his own glare my way.

"Good friend? Is that what we're calling it?" I scoffed.

In that moment everyone else faded into the background, although I didn't miss the wide eyed look of disbelief Louis sent my way.

"What's that supposed to mean mate?" Niall asked turning to face me dead on as he tilted his head in a challenging way.

I would take that challenge.

"Oh well you know, I can never seem to find my nanny when your around Horan. I wouldn't put it past you two to be screwing on my kitchen table when I'm not looking."

It was uncalled for, even I knew that, but something about seeing the two of them together made me a bit irrational.

"Well that escalated quickly." I managed to hear Zayn comment from behind me.

As I looked back at Niall I was almost positive he was going to hit me and then Aria stood in front of him.

"Forget it Niall." She looked over her shoulder at me in disgusted. "He's not worth it."

If anything that just egged me on more.

"Tell me Niall is she a leather or lace girl." I sneered, making this so much worse than it needed to be. In the back of my mind I was cursing myself for having the drinks I had before Niall and Aria had arrived. Maybe if I was completely sober I wouldn't have the nerve to say the things I was saying now.

But that thought didn't stop me from leaning down to Aria's ear and winking at Niall as I spoke. "My bet's on leather."

Again I was sure Niall was going to hit me and again Aria stopped him, but only because she slapped me first.

"You are a fucking ass hole Styles."

She quickly spun on her heels and froze. Throughout our whole show, people had been turning to look and now almost everyone around us was staring at her.

I could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest before she turned to everyone else with down cast eyes that looked much glassier then when she last faced us. "Sorry."

And then she was rushing out of the room. Niall clenched his jaw, probably debating whether or not to hit me with all these people watching. He must have decided that following Aria was much more important though because with one final glare he set off after her.

"HARRY!"

I turned to look at Lou who was staring at me wide eyed. All around the group I could see my friends sending me disbelieving looks.

Eleanor shook her head before whispering something to Louis and walking away in the same direction Niall and Aria had just left.

"You were out of line." Liam finally spoke.

I had nothing to say. I had no words to defend myself or explain why I had done it. In truth I had no idea other than the bubbling anger I felt when I saw her with Niall.

I raked my hand through my curls and sighed. I had definitely messed up. Just when I had fixed things with Aria I went and pushed myself back to square one because I couldn't control my confusing feelings.

I glanced over my shoulder at the exit, wondering if I should go apologize now or wait until I was home.

Would she even be home?

That thought sent new waves of boiling anger through me. And for the first time I realized, I wasn't sure if I was angry that she was with Niall or if I was upset that Niall was with her.

I couldn't imagine I would make things better by waiting around while my friends gave me disappointed looks, and I didn't like the idea of Niall and Aria alone.

Without much more thought I was striding across the room, ignoring the glances people where giving me, and out the door.

Notes

Hey kiddies let me know what you guys think. Thanks for reading