The Girl Next Door

Make 'Em Believe

“I still love you.” Those words echoed around my head the entire trip to the UK. They wouldn’t leave me alone, and this time there wasn’t any old lady to keep me grounded.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

After Charlie confessed his ‘undying love’ for me, I just ran away. Again. So much for staying friends.

As soon as I came back to London, Harry was waiting for me.

“Looks like your friend is here.” Mom said before I facepalmed myself.

I walked to him. “What is it, Styles?”

“What were you thinking?!” he ran towards me with his hands in the air.

I raised my eyebrow. “I wasn’t?”

“Carter, this isn’t the kind of thing you should joke about.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

He put his hands on his head and turned around. “People saw you and whoever you were with the other day.“

“Charlie?”

“I don’t care who he is. The point is, people saw you together and it’s not good for ‘us’. Management said it would be the best if we would represent him as your… cousin.” He was waiting for my reaction. “Which means, we have to tell him.”

If he wasn’t standing so damn far away from me, he would be dead.

I clenched my fists. “Is that all?”

He took a safe step back. “…And Management thinks it would be wise to tell your mother that you have a ‘boyfriend’.”

Before I could reach any sharp object, he took my hand and rushed me to my house. He rang the bell and pulled me closer. “Behave.”

My mom opened the door visibly confused while Harry smiled. He kicked my leg with his as a sign I should speak.

I coughed, “Mom, this is Harry.” He took her hand as the ‘gentleman’ he is, and kissed it. I rolled my eyes and continued. “He’s my-” I swallowed a lump. “-boyfriend.”

If every little bit of hate I felt towards Harry and his stupid management was a drop, I could fill up an entire ocean. He put his arm around me as we both smiled in the most unnatural way.

“Would you like to come in, Harry?”

“Mom, you don’t have to-“ I protested.

“I’d love to.” I silently let a cry out of my mouth and followed them to the big living room. We sat at the sofa and started talking. Mom found out Harry’s in a world famous boyband. She found out a fairly honest story of how we met. But she didn’t find out that this is all pretend.

Later that night, I was forced to face Charlie again. Harry and I were sitting on the porch as I was listening to the never ending phone beeps. When Charlie finally picked up, I was left petrified.

“Hello, Charlie?”

“Carter?”

“Charlie, I’m sorry for what happened, but there’s something I need to tell you…” I looked at Harry who gave me a thumbs up. “There is something you should know about Harry and me. Things aren’t… what they seem to be. You see, he and I aren’t really dating. Long story short, I’m just covering up for him and his real girlfriend.”

“Why does that concern me?”

“People saw you and me together the other day, and that’s not good for publicity, so it would be for the best if you’re represented as my…”, I bit my lip, “…cousin.”