Forever & Always - (One Direction, Narry)

Chapter 23: Anniversaries & Kisses

"I can't believe we've been at this for six whole months," Niall muttered to himself, shaking his head with a small smile. He slid a nice black button-up on and began pushing the buttons through their coordinating holes. "Seems like it's been 'bout a week."

Harry nodded, agreeing himself. "I thought we would've started a war with Modest! by now." He chuckled, thinking back to the day Simon had let them know their little plan. Back when he swore he was in love with Louis, when he hated everything and nothing, when he was more against this plan than he was against anything else in the world. "We've come a ways, yeah?"

"Yeah," Niall answered, finally buttoning the very last button. He sat down on the couch and began lacing up his converse just as Liam, Louis, and Zayn walked in. The overwhelming smell of smoke engulfed Harry. He looked up and, to no surprise, saw the three boys, each with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Zayn looked at each of them and then stood beside Harry before blowing out a smooth stream of smoke. "So they're making you go out again?"

Harry nodded. "It's our 'six month anniversary', we sort of have to."

"God," Liam let out a hearty laugh. "I can't even believe you've kept at this dumb game for so long. I'm surprised the fans haven't figured it out yet. Your feelings for each other are about as fake and Nicki Minaj's ass."

Harry suddenly felt inferior, and he hated that feeling. How dare Liam tell him how he feels? Liam doesn't know anything. Of course he doesn't like Niall, but who was he to make assumptions like that?

Wait, Harry thought. Why am I even getting so defensive?

"Have fun on your 'date'." Louis chimed, putting finger-parenthesis around the word date. Harry watched as Louis sent him a mischievous wink before turning and following Zayn out of the door.

Harry shook his head. Ever since Louis found out Harry had special, indescribable feelings for Niall, he's been teasing little things like winks in front of Liam and Zayn. Harry was absolutely petrified that one day, the pair would see and catch on, but Louis kept assuring him they never would. With his luck, though, Harry figured they might.

He shook out his long curls and looked on at Niall, who was already looking at him.

"What?"

"Nothing." Niall smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Harry shook his head again, unable to comprehend the fact that this idiot was not only his best friend, but his boyf- uh...I mean fake boyfriend.

Niall had finally finished getting ready and the couple went out, hand in hand, together.

The dinner had gone relatively well. So far they'd only encountered about three small groups of paparazzi, which they were both thankful for.

They sat and talked and shared food and ate for nearly three hours until they realized it was almost midnight. They would've stayed there longer if the store manager didn't tell them it was time to close for the evening. They mutually agreed that Modest! would probably like it better if they walked home, so there could be some shots of them acting all cute and coupley.

Harry thought about the first day Simon had told them the plan and what the goal was. They were planning on gaining a shit ton of attention just before the release of the fourth album and keep it going to raise sales for the fifth album. It had worked, to Harry's surprise. Their fifth album release is already estimated to be the biggest drop of the year; the presale on iTunes alone was already #1 on Billboard's list.

"Harry, can I try something?"

"Try wha—"

Harry was cut off by Niall's lips pressed against his. He was so shocked, he could barely move. He could've swore he heard camera clicks and snickering, but that was the last thing on his mind. Niall had just kissed him, really kissed him. Although it was brief, no more than a pure second, it was permanently ingrained in Harry's brain.

"What was that for?" he asked Niall, barely able to form words.

Niall shook his head and kept walking, pulling Harry along with him. "Just thought I should do it."

"Wha—" Harry cut himself off. What was that supposed to mean? Did Niall mean that he should do it for the cameras or that he should do it because he was feeling these same feelings for Harry?

"Stop thinking so hard," Niall snapped Harry out of his trance with a laugh. "Just go with it sometimes."

So Harry did.

He didn't think about anything else for the rest of the night. He just let Niall practically drag him home. And that was that.

heeeeeey. i need to apologize to quite a few of you. i am sooooo sorry that i have kept this story on a dry spell for so long. i got super unmotivated and focused on school more than anything and completely disregarded this, even though it's one of my most popular books. thank you for waiting so long and being so patient with me, though. you're all super cute and i love you :)

also, i'm sorry this one is so short. i think the rest of the book will be a little short, too, simply because of my reason before: i'm not motivated. this story was a good idea last year, but now that i'm nearing the end, i have no idea what to do with it. and i don't want to give it away because it's my baby but...idk. i plan on only having a couple more chapters because i want to end everything and start fresh now that my writing style is more mature. but thank you all (some of you) for being so nice and waiting. i appreciate you everyday.