I made it home much sooner than I thought I would. I hardly remembered making it to my Audi or the drive itself but I did notice Louis' Porsche still in the driveway where it was when I left.

I didn't take the time to let that sink in though as I rushed into the house.

My cell had been buzzing the whole drive and I was sure Niall was on his way also so I knew I had very little time to explain to Aria what was going on but I was determined to let her know.

I had to.

As soon as I entered my home the sound of multiple giggles reached my ears as well as the sound of my best friend making some stupid joke to cause the laughter.

For a moment everything was forgotten when I rounded the corner into my lounge where Aria sat on the floor with a happily clapping Jamie in her lap and Darcy tucked under her arm. Louis sat in front of them wildly waving his arms around in some ridiculous retelling of an event that I was positive never happened.

Despite everything I couldn't help the smile tugging on my lips at the sight of them.

I was frozen watching them, all happy and smiling. It was a wonderful scene, but even as I grinned I knew I was going to have to ruin it because I only had so much time before Niall showed up and I would be unable to speak to Aria alone.

Taking a few more steps into the room I cleared my throat causing everyone to look my way.

Darcy was the first to react as she jumped to her feet and rushed to hug my legs.

"Daddy!"

I reached down to pick her up and cuddled her before looking over her shoulder at Aria and Louis who both had matching expressions of confusion.

"Bad date, mate?" Louis asked, still staring at me in question. "You haven't been gone an hour."

My eyes drifted form him to Aria.

"Erm... yea. Aria can I speak to you for a moment?"

She didn't respond right away, her gaze shifting from me to Louis and back again. "Sur-sure. Is something wrong?"

I shook my head and gave her a pleading look hoping she would understand that I really had to speak to her urgently.

"Um... Lou do you mind?" She said as she cautiously stood up with Jamie before holding him out to Louis who gladly took the smiling baby.

Aria returned her inquisitive stare to me. I looked at my daughter while placing her back on her feet. "Darcy, love, go with Uncle Lou."

She nodded and skipped off after Louis who held his hand out for her as he exited the lounge, sending us a final look over his shoulder as he did.

As soon as the three were out of the room I felt the weight of the world back on me.

Here Aria was, happy, smiling and giggling and I was about to upset her. I was about to tell her something she probably never saw coming.

Again I had the feeling of not telling her but I knew that not telling her would be worse in the long run.

"Harry?" She urged on.

"Right..." I pulled myself back into the moment with a deep sigh. "Aria, I need you to listen to everything I am about to say, alright? I just... I hate that I have to tell you... I hate that it's even happening but you have to know..."

"Jesus Harry what could it possibly be? I've never heard you talk so fast." She nervously chuckled out.

She had no idea.

My hand shot up the back of my neck as I looked down searching my head for the right way to phrase what I needed to say.

"I erm... saw Niall tonight."

Aria's brow furrowed her head tilting to the said in a silent plea for me to go on.

"He was with someone else.... like..." I looked up at her, if I was going to break her heart the least I could do was look her in the eyes while I did it. "...on a date."

I saw a spark of recognition in her green eyes as her head tilted back and her worried expression evened out. "Harry I don't think-"

"I know what I saw Aria." I cut her off. I didn't like the feeling that I got at the thought of her not believing me. She had to, I was telling the truth.

She opened her mouth to speak again, her brow once again furrowing but I cut her off.

"It was Kendra, Aria. He was on a date with her and he kissed her."

There was a new despite urgency in me now. I was determined for her to believe me.

I knew there were a thousand other ways I could have phrased that, a thousand less hurtful ways, but I couldn't think of any of them at the moment. All I could think of was the need to tell her and for her to know, and honesty was the best way to go. Besides no amount of sugar coating in the world could make something like this hurt less.

And again Aria opened her mouth to speak but this time my front door opening in a rush was what stopped her mid word.

"HARRY! Damn it! Let me explain!" Niall shouted as he entered the room in a hurry only to stop in his tracks as soon as he saw me speaking to Aria.

Her questioning eyes shifted to him with a slight raise of her shoulders. "What the hell is going on Niall?"

Niall sighed and shook out his hair before looking down at his feet.

Before he spoke he looked up at me and then back at Aria.

He was going to tell her. He was going to admit to what I had seen.

I looked to Aria who had her eyes glued to Niall.

She was going to have her heart broken right in front of me.

My hand itched to reach out to her and hold her while she received the news. I wanted to let her know that I was there but I couldn't make myself move, I couldn't force myself to interrupt this.

And then I heard Niall speak and I froze for a completely different reason.

"Harry thinks you and I are dating and he has it set in his mind that I was cheating on you."

I whipped my head around so fast to look at him I was sure I would need to see a doctor in the morning.

He looked at me with a worn out expression. "I was trying to tell you but you rushed out of there so fucking fast I couldn't catch up."

To say I wasn't expecting this would be an understatement. "But... you... you two...you kissed her." I said pointing at Aria.

Aria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yea he does that... I'm still trying to figure out why?"

At that Niall looked a bit sheepish as a vivid red tinted his cheeks. "Sorry babe. I was... erm... just... you know..."

"No. I don't?" She said pursing her lips. Obviously she still wasn't happy with him about it.

I looked between the two but as soon as I caught Niall's eyes, I knew... I knew that the kiss I had seen was for my benefit.

He had done it to make me jealous.

I decided to take some pity on him, mostly because I realized that he knew my secret and I wasn't sure if I was ready for Aria to know it just yet, least of all like this, and his answer would surely give me away.

Shifting her attention back to me I asked, "So you knew about Niall and Kendra?"

Again she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Who do you think set them up?"

"But you went to his after the fundraising event. You didn't come back until the next day? Nothing happened?"

I was really just trying to piece the bits of information I had together. I felt so lost and foolish. I was sure the overwhelming embarrassment I felt was tinting my cheeks the same why Niall's was tinting his.

Here I was thinking Aria was being cheated on by one of my best friends, someone I should have known would never do something like that, and I was so ready to overlook that. To overlook what I knew my friend was like.

"Erm... well...." Aria's arms dropped from their position across her chest and if possible Niall's cheeks reddened even more. "You see... that night...."

"I did kissed Aria that night." Niall provided seeing as Aria was struggling with her words. As soon as Niall spoke though Aria's eyes shot up to me taking in my reaction with worry.

She looked like she desperately wanted to make sure I wouldn't hate her.

I bit my lip in confusion but didn't say anything as Niall continued to speak. I didn't like the idea of him kissing her but clearly something didn't work out. As much as I didn't want to ear about it, I needed to know what happened.

"I was lonely and I thought I liked Aria... but she erm..."

"I shot him down." She clarified, a bit of confidence in her tone that made me crack a small smile.

Niall smiled slightly and an almost unnoticeable nod was shared between the two. I would have asked about it but it was so subtle I wasn't really sure I had seen anything at all and I wasn't really ready to embarrass myself any more by asking about something that may not have even happened.

So I ignored it.

"Yes... That. And so we got to talking." Niall carried on after a few beats of silence.

"He told me that he just wanted to meet someone who wouldn't scream in his face or fan girl over him and I told him about Kendra. They've been dating ever since."

Everything made a bit more sense now.

I still felt infinitely stupid for my reaction but I understood a lot more now.

And I felt an odd but familiar flutter in my chest as the implications of what this all meant sunk in.
Aria was single.

Aria was NOT with Niall.

I didn't have to feel bad about my feelings towards her.

She was available.

I could have her.

As I looked at her, her eyes searching mine looking for my understanding, I realized that this was a much better turn of events then I could have imagined.

I didn't realize I was smiling until I saw Aria mirror her own smile back at me causing my heart to flutter again but this time it was a welcome feeling and not followed but guilt because now I could feel it.

Game on.

She wasn't going to know what hit her.

Notes

Ahhhh.... Nari is not a thing!!! Who saw that coming? Anyway let me know what you think. <3