Chapter 20:
Harry’s POV
I love performing—or, should I say, I usually love performing. I love the rush that you get from the crowd, I love singing my own songs, I love being up on stage, everyone’s attention on you.
But tonight, I couldn’t wait to get offstage. It had been embarrassing enough walking into here as the only guy without a date, and it was worse watching Niall and Nell kiss—it was like they were an item now. And I hated it.
From the moment she got here, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She was in this amazing blue dress that fit her just right, and her hair and her eyes and…everything. Just everything about her.
As I was singing, I couldn’t help but have my mind wander and connect bits of lyrics with her. “And your eyes, irresistible.”
“But you look amazing, standing alone.”
“And let me kiss you.”
I kept thinking about our kiss in the car. I’d never gone so crazy over a girl, especially over a girl who I’d had just one kiss with. Well, perhaps two, but she’s hardly even looked at me since then, so I only consider it one. I saw her dancing with Ed when we had three songs left, and I felt anger swell in me.
God damn it, Harry. You can’t go crazy over this girl. I resolved to find some girl tonight to get my mind off of her. Contrary to what the media constantly says, I do feel bad about using girls. But I just can’t stop. All the other guys have grown up and are mature enough for legitimate relationships, but every time I like a girl I go fuck someone else, and I can’t seem to stop myself from doing it.
We finally finished our set list, and I ran offstage. Simon was going to have a DJ play music the rest of the night, he’d just wanted us to warm up the crowd. I started scanning the room, looking for a girl to take home tonight. I tried to push down the knot of guilt in my stomach, but I couldn’t, so I decided to live with it while I searched the crowd.
I suppose in a sort of karma for the way I was going to use some innocent girl tonight, I caught her eye. She had been dancing with Niall, and it was a slow song. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and she had been scanning the room when she saw me. We looked at each other for almost a full minute when she finally looked away. I told myself to stop being such a dumbass while I dragged myself over to the bar.
I think I’d had four drinks when my judgment became sufficiently clouded. After another one, I looked over to where she’d been.
She was standing alone.
I didn’t think. I didn’t say anything. I just stood up and started walking purposefully towards her. She didn’t notice me until I was seven or eight feet away, but I didn’t stop as she widened her eyes. In one fluid motion, I reached her, wrapped an arm around her waist, leaned in, and kissed her.
It was just as good as I remembered it. She actually kissed me back, surprisingly, for a moment; then she pulled away after too little time. She stood there, eyes wide. All I could think to say was, “I’m sorry, I just had to do that.” Before I walked back to where I’d been sitting.

Nell’s POV
It was nothing. It was a stupid, drunk kiss that I didn’t even enjoy. I told Niall about it as soon as he got back from grabbing us drinks—I liked him a lot, I didn’t want to keep something like that from him—and I watched as his eyes got this murderous glare in them and he clenched his fists. He started to walk over to where Harry was at the bar, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back, eventually talking him down, telling him that it was nothing and Harry was stupid and that I didn’t like him. He had still seemed upset, though, so I told him that we could leave soon.
It wasn’t the kiss that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It was what Harry had said, afterwards. “I had to do that.” What did he mean by that? Harry could get any piece of ass in the city, probably the country, maybe even the world, and he had to kiss me. Me, a seventeen year old nerd who’s almost in a relationship with his best friend.
I didn’t understand.
But I tried to forget about it as I danced a few more dances with Niall. He had calmed down, and before I knew it forty five minutes were gone. I looked over at the bar, but Harry was gone.
“Do you want to leave?” I asked Niall, standing on my toes to speak into his ear.
“Yeah,” He said. He seemed nervous all of a sudden. “Do you, um, want me to drive you home?”
I looked at him and a slight smile played on my lips. “I don’t have to go home, Niall. Unless you want me to.”
He grinned. “Not at all.” He stole one more kiss before taking my hand and leading me towards the exit. We saw Paul standing there, and a car ready to take us away. Before we got into the car, though, I asked Paul in a whisper that Niall couldn’t hear, “Where’s Harry?” I was worried about him. I didn’t want him to do anything stupid.
“He left about forty minutes ago,” was the response, and I nodded, hoping whichever girl he went home with wasn’t riddled with STD’s.
Niall and I got into the car and, as we cuddled up in the backseat, he put his arm around me. I laid my head on his shoulder, and he smiled at me, squeezing my hand.
How on Earth did I manage to find a guy like this?
We got to the flat in about twenty minutes. We didn’t say a word to each other, but I thanked the driver and stepped out of the car. I groaned as my feet hit the ground; six hours in these heels had killed like nothing else.
“What’s wrong, babe?” He asked, frowning. He called me babe, I noticed.
“My feet hurt like Hell.” I said, buzzing the door to the building. I opened the door and trudged over to the elevator; there was no way I was taking the stairs. He followed me, and seemed to ponder what I had said for a moment.
“Well, I guess you’d better not walk, then.” He said, as he very easily scooped me up and held me bridal style while we waited for the lift.
I laughed. “Niall! Put me down!”
“Would you rather walk?” He teased, walking into the lift as the doors opened.
“Okay. Fine. I have no clue how you’re going to be able to hold me all the way to the flat, though, blondie.” I said, clinging to his neck.
The lift doors opened and he stepped out onto his floor. “Well, maybe because you’re really, really light! You obviously haven’t been spending enough time with me. You need to eat more.” He joked. We were at his door, and I tried to step down, as it would be hard for him to unlock the door while he was holding me. He stopped me, though. “Hah. Nope,” he said, fishing for his keys in his pocket and holding me one-handed. Damn. He obviously was a lot more muscular than I’d thought.
Seeing as no one was home to open the door for us (Zayn, Louis, and Liam had all gone to their girlfriends’ flats, and Harry had undoubtedly gone home with a mystery girl), Niall fumbled with the lock for almost a minute before finally managing to open the door. He kicked off his shoes, still carrying me, and pulled me heels off, throwing them on the floor. He ran over to his room and threw me on the bed, jumping on top of me.
Oh my.
He was quite close to me.