Worth the Pain

Part 4

A week passes quickly and Armani has been in such a bubbly mood since she met Niall.  They’ve been texting every day since she gave him her number, but she won’t get to see him for days still.  She wishes he would just ask her out already. 

         Her mum has to make an errand to the store, so Armani decides to tag along.  She has nothing better to do.  Whilst looking around aimlessly in the store, she walks past a magazine with 1D on the cover.  She sees it out of her peripheral vision and starts to walk backwards toward it.  She looks the cover over, biting her lip at how attractive Niall looks.  She raises an eyebrow at the words “Niall Horan new love interest?”  Now she’s interested.  She quickly flips the magazine open fumbling with the pages trying to find the right one.  When she finds the article, she scans through all the words until she sees Niall’s name; then she reads more carefully.  “…Cutie, Niall Horan was distracted by something.  Could it be a girl?  We’ll find out and get you the scoop!”  A girl?  She thinks.  What girl?  Could it be me?  Who else could it be?  She replays that thought in her mind.  Who else COULD it be?  She racks her brain, trying to figure it out.  Her mum taps her to let her know its time to go.

         “Wait, mum.”  She stops her “I want to buy this..”

         “A One Direction magazine?”  Her mum looks puzzled “What do you need with that?  Your mum’s their hairdresser.”

         “I- I just do.  Can I get it?”  She wants to take it home and search for more clues as to who this mystery woman can be.

         “I’m sure.  Hand it over.”  Her mum replies, taking the magazine from her hands.

~/~/~

         Liam finds Niall sitting on his bunk, texting, as usual.  “Nialler.”  He calls to him.

         Niall doesn’t look up from his phone.  He get distracted really easily, but when he’s texting Armani, almost nothing can get his attention.

         “Nialler…”  Liam says again, this time getting annoyed.  Still he receives no answer “Niall!”  He snatches the phone away.

         “What?!”  Niall exclaims reaching for his phone. 

         Liam holds it out of his reach so he can speak to him without interruption  “Niall, I was thinking maybe you and Armani would like to join me and Dani on our date toight.  I think it would be fun.”

         “Yeah, I’m up for it!  I’ve been wanting to ask her out, but I couldn’t think of how.”

         “Well the, here’s your opportunity, mate.  We’ve got reservations at Cecconi’s in Mayfair at 8:00.”  Liam hands Niall his phone and leaves him with that. 

         Niall calls Armani to invite her, then he heads up stairs and pulls out his black suit and button up shirt from Jack Wills.  He thinks about adding a tie, but decides against it.  He hates ties.  He’d much rather be wearing his loose fitting jeans and a tank top. 

~/~/~

         When Armani receives the call from Niall her heart starts to flutter.  It’s the first time he’s called her.  After he tells her about the date, they engage in friendly banter and small talk for a while.  Then she tells him she has to hang up to pick something out to wear.  She goes through her closet and picks out several of her favorite dresses and lays them across her bed.  She picks up the first one and holds it against her body in front of a full-length mirror.  She twirls around a bit to see how she likes it.  She follows the same routine with all the dresses until she ends up with clothes all over her bedroom floor. 

         “None of this stuff will do!”  She shouts about to give up, when she notices a little black dress hanging in the back of her closet.  She makes her way towards it.  She models it in front of her mirror.  “This is the one.”  She says content with her decision.  It’s just a short black dress with lace up the neck.  It’s simple, but it’s perfect. 

         Now for accessories!  She goes for a pair of silver pumps to spice up her dress.  She doesn’t wear a necklace because she doesn’t want to take away from the lace, but she picks out a simple diamond bracelet and matching earrings.  She adds her shiny sliver clutch purse to finish the look.

         She does her make up, careful to pay attention to every detail.  She decides to go for a more natural look, but she applies a bold red lipstick.  When her make up is done, She curls her hair.  Then she tussles the curls to make them look more laid back.  The whole process takes her a little over an hour and a half, but it’s worth it because Niall rings the doorbell and her mum calls for her as she opens the door, and as Niall watches her coming down the stairwell, it’s like slow motion.  He stands in awe of her beauty.  When she sees the way he’s looking at her, she smiles at the ground and her cheeks begin to burn red. 

         She reaches the bottom of the stairs and he says “You look incredible.” 

         Armani blushes and returns his compliment “You clean up pretty nicely too.”