Strictly Professional.

Penny was standing in the bathroom of the arena, her eyes looking down at the sink as she thought about the mess she’d gotten herself into. “Okay, pull yourself together Penelope. It’s just a crush, you’re with Harry…more or less... Sure there was that thing online about him and Taylor being back together and he had been a little distant there for a minute…. And not to mention the way that Niall makes you laugh almost constantly and that little bit of green that frames his pupil… Snap out of it!” She rambled to herself; if anyone had walked in they would have thought she was mental. She blinked a few times in the mirror, washing her hands, grabbing a paper towel to dry them, and she was walking out the door and back to the green room to do Harry’s hair. Niall was strumming his guitar in the room as soon as Penny walked in, he didn’t even acknowledge her. Instead he and Liam were doing an acoustic version of “Riding Solo” By Jason Derulo. It sounded sick. Penny finally spotted Harry, he was sitting in a chair looking down at his phone.
“Texting your girlfriend?” She said as she leaned down to kiss his cheek.
He laughed, closing the phone quickly, and placing it in his pocket. She decided it was definitely sketchy, but maybe he was just having a private moment with his mom or something. She watched as he turned to face her, pulling her in for a quick peck on the lips before running his hands through the mop on his head.
“Nope. Just perusing the internet. Tumblr actually, which is why I put it away. That site can go from puppies to porn in about a second.” He said with a chuckle and returned to have his back to her so she could work her hair magic.
Of course he was, she was just putting her guilt for the feelings about Niall on him. Classic cheater motive, fuck she needed to work on that. She laughed with him, nodding in agreement.
“I know, try having your abuela looking over your shoulder. It’s like nope, gotta close this.” She was combing through his hair now, getting it detangled from his day. Harry’s face was glowing, there was something about the way he was staring at her reflection that gave Penny butterflies. He was the one. Definitely the one.
“You know, I like the way you look when you’re concentrated on making me look good for hundreds of screaming girls.” He smirked.
Penny glared, knowing exactly what he was playing at. “Are you trying to make me jealous Harry?” She tugged on his hair, pulling it playfully. That got a laugh out of the boy.
“You know me so well love. Have you ever thought of doing this professionally? You know, getting a real job.” He continued teasing the girl, someone was feeling feisty.
“Hey hey, you’re not funny. Don’t think I won’t send you out on that stage with a black eye.” She threatened, her fingers now smoothing a small amount of gel into his roots. “Or perhaps I’ll suggest a hair washing? What would the girls say when your majesty, Harry Styles, walked out on stage looking like our favorite little Irish lad? Hmm?” She said as she took the comb back, combing his hair into a swoosh he’d most definitely mess up as soon as she was done.
“Oh, them’s fightin’ words, you’re getting me all excited down here.” He leaned his head back, giving her a wink as he ran his enormous palm over his crotch. She slapped his shoulder playfully, walking around and leaning against the makeup counter.
“You’re gross. Get out of my chair.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes at him.
“You’ll miss me.” He said as he stood, his lips hovering above hers, teasing her with what she wanted more than anything.
He didn’t say anything else and he was walking away now, looking back once to give her a grin.

“My turn, is it?” She heard Louis say as he cut off her sight of Harry. She frowned slightly, not ready to lose sight of her love.
“Jeez, good to see you too Penny.” Louis said as he sat in the chair.
“Shut up, you just surprised me.” She said honestly, grabbing a spray bottle to start working on Louis’ hair. He needed a trim.
“So, how’s Mauri?” He asked with a little perk to his voice.
Almost a year ago Mauri and Louis had met, they hit it off immediately, but their love affair was short lived. Basically, Mauri met a male model who was more present in her life and she basically stopped talking to Louis. Which is crazy, because he’s a fucking god among … well girls. They split amicably, yet she could tell Louis still thought about her. Much more than Mauri thought of him, she hated to admit.
“She is okay, working a lot. She moved to Los Angeles and she’s travelling a lot for shoots. She’s kind of blowing up.” She answered honestly, combing and trimming as she spoke.
“Is she coming out to any shows? I know we’ll be in California at some point.” He inquired.
Penny gave him a smile, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Yeah, I think she’ll come to a few actually. She said she wants to see you.” Penny lied, damn it. She just didn’t want to hurt the boy. He had a rough time, lots of negative publicity, almost as bad as Harry had it. He was as sweet as they came though and she really liked him, even if he did make smart ass remarks about ninety-eight percent of the time.
“Okay, gonna blow you now.” She said with a wink, picking up the blow dryer and finishing up his hair.
His expression turned from complacent to shock. Laughing when he realized what she meant.

She only had to do Louis and Harry’s hair. The others had been with Lou, which was honestly a relief. Penny didn’t really want to delve her hands into those blonde locks at the moment.
She was packing up her stuff, getting her area all cleaned up and humming along to some random song that was stuck in her head when she felt someone’s hand on her arm. She jumped slightly and turned to see, you guessed it, Niall standing there with a puppy dog look on his face.
“You’ve been acting weird. What happened?” He asked, his eyes making her feel some kind of way and that frown on his face breaking her heart. She didn’t think she’d acted differently, but obviously she had.
“What do you mean? Nothing happened. I’m not acting weird, why would you say that?” She said, averting her eyes back down to the floor. Hair, she should sweep. She grabbed the broom and began sweeping the hair into a pile, Niall still standing there.
“You won’t even talk to me or even look at me.” He grabbed the broom from her, his free hand touching her chin and pulling her gaze up to his. She couldn’t ignore him now.
“I don’t know, it’s just…I read your message with Louis…” She finally said, her eyes wanting desperately to look away from him, but he looked away first. She could see the pink rising in his cheeks. Damn.
“Oh…” His voice was barely above a whisper, she should have just kept quiet.
“I mean, I didn’t read a lot of it and I don’t even really know what you two were talking about. I just assumed you really liked…” She bit her lip, looking around the room for someone random to insert into the conversation. “Taylor. Swift, I mean that is who you two were talking about, right?” She tried.
Niall arched a brow at her, a crooked smile creeping upon his lips. “Yeah, exactly.” He said. She knew it was a lie. He knew it was a lie.
“So, we’re cool? No weird, okay?” She offered, taking his hand into hers and giving it a squeeze while mentally swatting those pesky butterflies from her stomach.
“We’re cool.” He agreed, squeezing her hand in return. “Okay, I’m going to go make some girls happy now. Can’t make the pussy wait…” He said with a wink, turning to walk off toward the meet and greet. Penny stifled a laugh, he used humor to deal with everything, and she wasn’t surprised it was being used in this situation either.
“Knock ‘em out the box, Niall!” She yelled after him, grabbing the broom from where he’d left it and going back to cleaning.

Notes

What'd you think? Niall is pretty stinkin' cute and do you think Harry is hiding something?