Chasing Pavements - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter 23: Bulletproof

Niall plopped down on the couch next to Harry. “Is it filming?” He looked down at the laptop, squinting at the screen. They were doing a Twitcam together just for the hell of it. Well, Harry was. Niall had other plans for it. Seeing the green light at the top of the screen and that they were filming, he smiled before raising a hand. “We’ve got viewers!”

Harry chuckled at Niall before waving. “Hi!” 

“I’m hungry,” Niall announced.

Harry’s chuckled turned into a laugh. “You’re always hungry.”

Niall’s eyes traveled up past the screen to the kitchen. He could just barely hear Becca and Bree giggling in the kitchen. He didn’t want to spring his surprise on the fans so suddenly, but he figured going against management should be done like a bandaid. Quickly with minimal pain. He had thought about it since the last Twitcam. Niall knew he needed to clearly draw a line between things they could and couldn’t control. His relationship was not something they could control. They would just have to deal with it, especially since he was about to announce having a girlfriend for the past month. He’d probably get an earful once management found out, but he was sick of feeling like he was letting her down. Management said that she would have to get over it. She wasn’t going to have to. Not if he had something to say about it. 

He excused himself to go into the kitchen. Becca sat at the little table with Bree. He smiled over at the girls and grabbed a bag of cookies from the cabinet. Starting for the kitchen, he stopped and looked over at his girlfriend. He debated just pulling her into the living room with him, but that wasn’t the way to do it. If he had his way, they would have gone public at like a dinner or something. Some event where Becca could wear something really pretty, but management forced his hand. That’s how he chose to see it. He would rather do it differently. Going back into the living room, he sat next to Harry. He held the bag out for the curly haired boy, who gave him a strange look before taking a few cookies. 

“Does anyone have any questions for Niall?” Harry asked. 

The blonde boy wasn’t paying attention. He looked around for a bottle of water. Of course, he’d forget to grab one. “Can someone please bring me something to drink?”

He and Harry could hear Becca and Bree whispering amongst themselves. Niall swore he heard Becca mention something about her being nonexistent and Bree should do it. A very visible frown covered his face. She wasn’t supposed to think that; not when it came to him. The way she said it too was so sad. Just a hint of disdain in the word let him know he definitely needed to change something about them. Going public was it. 

“Why don’t you two just join us instead of fighting back there?” Niall laughed. 

The two girls looked over at him with shock written all over their faces. Becca just shook her head while Bree tried to back out of view. Harry laughed but agree with Niall it would make things less awkward; at least not make them feel so left out. After a few minutes and a slightly too intense stare down, Becca grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge for Niall, grabbed Bree’s hand, and  led the blonde girl into the living room. She handed Niall the bottle, but when she tried to sit on the other side of Harry, Niall pulled her down next to him. 

He nudged her. “Say hi to the fans, Becca.” 

She gave the laptop an uneasy look. Raising a hand, she gave an awkward wave to the green light. “Hi.” 

“Oh! People on Twitter already asking about the redhead,” Harry laughed as he scrolled through his Twitter feed.

“What about her?” Niall asked. 

“@JuneLahves1D wants to know who she is,” Bree read over Harry’s shoulder. As awkward as Bree was actually acting, she had already taken to wrapping her arms around Harry’s and resting her head on his shoulder.