*Niall's POV*
I sat at the red light admiring the beautiful dark-skinned girl who sat in the passengers seat. I couldn't believe I could finally call her my girlfriend after a week and a half of trying to win her affection.
I mentally scolded myself for almost letting her go. That would have been bad for the both of us. I'd never seen anything so heartbreaking as when I walked into Julia's apartment and observed her tear-stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes.
The fact that I was the reason behind it broke me to pieces. I never meant to hurt her, I honestly didn't even think she cared that much about me.
But now that I know she does, I can't let her go. She means too much to me and I knew that she would from the minute I first held her in my arms. Her unconscious body gave me goosebumps and all I could think of was that I needed to save her.
I wanted to be her hero.
The comparison of that day to this one made me happy beyond words. Never in my life did I imagine that I would fall for someone so hard.
"Julia?" I said to get her attention.
"Yeah?" she asked looking at me with her chocolate brown eyes.
"Do you want to come to London with me for the Brit awards? They're Sunday and I thought maybe you'd like to go home for the weekend," I asked. I knew she would. She'd told me several times about how much she missed her family.
"I would love too!" she exclaimed giving me the reaction that I was hoping for.
"Great, I'll get everything set up," I said, mostly to myself.
Julia nodded and returned her focus back to the world outside of the window.
My phone vibrated in my cup holder and Julia turned to see what the noise was about.
"Can you see who it is?" I asked her not taking my eyes off if the road.
"Modest?" she answered but it came out as more of a question. "Who is that?" she questioned.
"My management," I said.
"Oh," she said handing me my phone.
"Hello?" I asked answering the phone. Nothing was ever good when management called.
"Niall, we've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with a certain girl recently," Harvey, the CEO, stated.
"Yeah," I pressed for him to continue.
"And we don't think you should keep doing that," he said. I knew I was in no position to argue but I was going to stand up for my girl.
"Why not? I'm home I can do what I want," I snapped.
"No, you can't. Now, as you know, you're going to the Brit awards this weekend and we want you to take Barbara," he said.
"No way, if I take anyone it'll be my girlfriend," I said. Julia looked at me, now aware that she was the object of my conversation.
"Please don't make this harder than it needs to be, you're taking Barbara and you'll also be spending time with her this week. She'll be out there tomorrow, I'm sure you two will have a great time," Harvey assured me in a harsh tone.
I groaned as I hung up the phone and tossed it back into the cup holder.
"Is everything alright?" Julia inquired. She knit her eyebrows together in the cute way she always did when she was concerned, confused, or inquisitive.
"Uh, no," I said looking for the words to tell her as I pulled up to the parking lot of her small flat.
"What's wrong? she asked.
"They want me to go to the awards with Barbara," I confessed.
"What? Who's Barbara and why can't you choose who you go with?" she interrogated.
"Barbara is a girl I met a few months ago, she's basically a beard," I tried to explain.
"And you have to take her?" she questioned. I knew she wasn't happy about this.
I just nodded and ran a hand through my hair.
"And they want me to be seen with her this week so people think we're dating," I told her as we walked into her apartment.
Julia took a seat on her couch and thought about what I was saying to her. She looked upset.
"What are you thinking?" It was my turn to ask the questions.
"I know I'm overreacting but it just seems like you keep trying to push me away and then you take me back just so you can play with my feelings," she admitted.
Ouch, at least she was honest.
"Why would I do that? I'm not trying to hurt you, I swear, this kind of stuff happens all the time. I promise she means nothing to me.
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry, I'm just paranoid," she said walking closer to me.
"Why?" I asked opening my arms for her. She accepted my offer and leaned against my chest as I caressed her in my arms.
"Well, when I was in grade school, there were these boys who would make bets with each other to see if they could get girls to have feelings for them and if they did they would just brake her. I was one of those girls," she told me.
"I'm not like that, if you're hurting so am I, I really care about you Julia," I said to her.
"I know and I care about you too but sometimes all I can think about is not getting hurt," she said.
My heart went out to her. How could someone even think about mistreating her? She was perfect in everyday possible whether she saw it or not.
"Don't worry about that, I will do everything I can not to hurt you," I said into the unruly mess of curls that lay atop her head.
We stayed that way for a while, with her sitting on my lap as my arms rested around her waist.
Julia broke the sweet silence that had fallen over the room. I didn't mind, I would have much rather heard her voice.
"Will you play that song for me?" She asked.
"Yes of course," I said shifting her ever so slightly to retrieve my phone from my pocket.
I listened as the intro began and watched as Julia closed her eyes to enjoy the song.
Her song.
{Hey sorry for the wait! I hope you like the new cover, though I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that I only got three entries. Happy Valentines Day <3 Thanks for reading, I love you all!}
