Act Like You're in Love {Niall Horan}

Chapter 19: With John

*RECAP: they had like a 1/2 day on the movie set that John came to. This is just later that day.

~Mariah's P.O.V.~

The sounds of so many voices all cluttered and muffled together fill my ears as soon as I step into the bowling alley with John.

We step into the line and just talk. There's still so much that we have to catch up on since we haven't seen each other in 5 or so years.

John tells me about his life in high school. He's actually a bit older than me since I skipped two grades, but he actually skipped one himself.

When we get our bowling shoes, we head over to the end of the alley. There's few enough people here that John and I can have one lane to ourselves, and it isn't very crowded by the end. I'm trying to stay away from too many people. My face has been plastered on way too many magazines lately so quite a few people could recognize me. The last thing I need is paparazzi to come and get more pictures of me and John.

"Here, put your name in," John says after putting his own into the system.

John didn't put his real name in, so I decide not to either. I type in "Sexymofo" and click enter.

The main screen pops up, and John and I burst out laughing at what's on there. I start to laugh loudly again when I look back at our names. The machine takes the first three letters to put on the scoreboard, so it reads "Hav" and then "Sex."

My stomach starts to hurt from laughter and my eyes are getting watery, so I take deep breaths to calm down. John and I look at each other and begin to laugh again, and suddenly a wonderful feeling of happiness fills me. I missed this, and I hadn't laughed with any friend over something so stupid in forever. I didn't have anybody to laugh with when I first moved to New York because I moved away from where my college friends were. When I met One Direction, I had somebody, it's just there hasn't been a moment like this so funny.

I can't stop smiling now, and this just got ten times more fun. The whole game goes that way. I screw up my throws and then just sit there and giggle and then John laughs at my stupidity.

Eventually I decide that maybe laughing so hard isn't a good idea in public. I don't want to attract any attention.

With a nervous feeling now on me, I glance around behind me and to my side. No one is really watching except one guy. It didn't even look like he was watching because he turned his head right after that, but not in a way that looked like he didn't want to be caught watching.

He turned around and headed to the exit. For a split second, I thought it was Niall. Blond hair, sunglasses, those tacky shoes that seem to be popular in the boy world, and a simple t-shirt. But then I remember the far-away face and I don't think it was him.

If it was him looking at me and John, it's a little bothersome. If it was me imagining Niall when he wasn't even on my mind, it's a little bothersome.

I'm not nearly as giggly after that. Consequently, I do a bit better in my game, but it's too late to really fix my sabotaged score.

The scores pop up on the screen above me. John got a 195, which isn't wonderful, but I got an 80 and that makes John's score look a lot better.

We both exchange a smile and a laugh when we see my score and then get our belongings.

"So, should we eat and then go to the arcade?" I ask, pushing the door open. The smell of damp things fills my nostrils and the feeling of dampness settles on my skin.

"Yeah, fine. How about that place over there?" John suggests while pointing out a small café across the street.

"Oh, I like that place!" I comment as we cross the empty street.