Escort // h.s. au

Bystander

I've been home for about an hour, and all I can do is think about Niall. I can honestly say that I am growing feelings for him, and it's obvious that he is feeling the same way towards me. 

Having to choose between my career and my personal relationships is difficult, but I have never been and will never let myself become the kind of woman who chooses a man over success. If the man can't come with the success, I'll take success first and love second. 

This revelation causes my mind to be at ease slightly, but I am just hoping that this business venture all works out. If it doesn't, I will be sacrificing my career and my personal relationships.

I decide that I need to take a nap, my head swimming of the thoughts provoked by this morning's meeting.

While lying down in my bed, I surf the web on my phone and have to scroll very quickly when I see articles about Harry on Facebook. Then I have another scary thought: soon, these articles will be about not only Harry but me as well. Am I ready to face that? I mean, I suppose I have no choice at this point since everything is signed and official. I decide that maybe surfing isn't the best option, it's only making my head pound even harder. 

Just as I'm finally drifting off to sleep, I hear pounding on my door. I shoot up to a sitting position in my bed, already knowing exactly who it is. "Shit, Louis!" I say. I look in the mirror and am thankful that I don't look too bad. I wasn't really going to try when I went on the date with him, so I just run my fingers through my slightly disheveled hair and wipe some of the smudging from under my eyes away. Spraying some perfume on at the last minute, I grab my purse and slip my shoes on.

Louis' pounding sounds again, this time louder. I hear him say, "Holly, open up! We have a date, remember?" My heart drops. Day one and I'm already breaking the contract. Maybe there's a way I can carry this date out with him without being in public. If anyone sees us, I am in deep trouble.

I swing the door open, trying to make myself look as tired as possible. 

"Hey, Louis, come in," I say, milking the whole 'tired' facade.

He walks into my apartment quickly, sitting down on one of the barstools at the small island in my kitchen.

"So, what do you have planned for us tonight?" I ask, hoping it's something that won't bring a lot of attention to us.

"I was thinking we could go to a festival that's going on downtown," he says shyly. 

I mull this over for a second, but ultimately decide that I might as well just go. There must not have been a press release yet, so I should be good for a day or two. 

I smile at him and we leave. He leads me through the hallway and down the stairs, even opening the car door for me. His car is nowhere near as fancy as Niall's but I have to remember that not everyone's can be. Not everyone owns a multi-million-dollar company and can afford to buy something that looks an awful lot like a Lamborghini. 

He turns on the car, which takes a few tries to start, and we are driving towards the inner quarters of the city. I see the lights of a festival up in the distance, but then he turns right and starts to drive away from the lights.

"What are you doing, Louis?" I ask him cautiously. I don't know what he is planning anymore, but I am praying that we're still going to the festival. 

"I just thought it would be nice to take the long way. Get to talk, just the two of us, a bit more," he says, placing his hand over mine which is resting on my lap. I don't find this movement threatening strangely, even though most of his other actions make me want to run far away.

I think I'm starting to see Louis in a new light. I think he is just an anti-social boy who wants to have friends but doesn't know how to go about it. 

We start talking about our families and our pasts, and I find myself actually enjoying myself. He has a huge family and is really close with them, but he doesn't get to see them a lot because they don't have a lot of money and live in Florida. He was always really quiet and did really well in school and never had many friends because he was so quiet. 

As we keep talking, I find myself understanding his ways more and more. There's something in his eyes and the way that he smiles at me that makes my walls that I had up for this date go down, and I want to know more about him. 

We finally decide that it's time to go to the festival after driving through the suburban areas of the city for about two hours. When I got into Louis' car, I never thought that I would be smiling and even laughing in a few minutes. I didn't expect to not want the night to end, and to genuinely enjoy driving around, no destination, just us with the windows down and belting out with our awful singing voices to all of the songs on the radio.

We park on a side street near the festival and he comes around to my side of the car, opening the door for me. It takes a few tries, the door getting stuck a bit before it finally budges. He has the cutest smile on his face as he tries desperately to get the door open, but when he kicks it in frustration it slowly opens on its own. 

I tease him and we smile as we walk towards the bright lights in front of us. I see a ferris wheel and a bunch of food stands as soon as we walk in, making the most magical picture in front of me. If I were 5 years old I would have almost passed out with excitement.

"Hungry?" he asks, nudging me in the ribs. He obviously noticed my ogling of the funnel cake stand, and I nod with an animation in my eyes. 

He says, "C'mon," and nods his head towards the stand, grabbing my hand and leading me over there. He buys two funnel cakes topped with powdered sugar. I squeal when the worker hands it to me, having to refrain from jumping up and down. I haven't had one in such a long time.

We sit down at a picnic table and scarf down our food, then walk down the aisles at the fair hand in hand, laughing at all of the carnies trying to get us to play their games. Louis stops abruptly, and I get worried for a second.

"What?" I say worriedly.

"I am amazing at that game right there. So I'm going to go over there and kick ass and get you a stuffed animal. Okay?" he says, so cutely. I am taken aback with his newfound confidence, but I sport a big grin on my face as I say, "Okay, if you say so."

He walks up to the booth, and it's the game where you kick the soccer ball and try to get it through the hole without it being blocked by the wooden goalie. I raise my eyebrows at him, surprised that he claims to be amazing at a game that seems to be the hardest at the fair. 

He walks up to the booth with an air of confidence that I find extremely adorable. The carnie places the ball in front of him and he backs up, turning to me and winking before kicking the ball, it flying straight into the hole on the other side of the booth. My eyes widen in shock and I smile and clap. 

"Two more until you get the large prize," the carnie says, pointing to the stuffed lion that is larger than myself and Louis combined. 

"You want that lion, babe?" he asks me, and I shrug. "I know you do," he says to me, reading my mind. "You're right, I do. Now win it for me," I say, challenging him.

He smiles at me before turning back, closing one eye and lining up his body to the goal. He makes it look easy as he sinks both of the balls into the goal on the other side. I can't hide my giddiness as the carnie pulls down the lion and hands it to me. 

I try my best to carry the massive toy but fail miserably, and Louis grins at me and takes the lion, tucking it under one arm and taking my hand in his free one.

We get some popcorn and I find myself throwing little kernels at him when he's not looking, teasingly. He smiles at me and grabs a handful, throwing them back at me. We are all laughs and smiles and happiness as we tease each other, and I can't believe how this night has turned out. It's like nothing can go wrong.

At least, I thought that was how it would end up. Until I turn the corner and bump right into one of the only people I didn't want to see.

Niall.

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(A/N: Yay for updating! I'm sorry it took a while, I'm on vacation now and I have my laptop so I'll update a lot more!)