"Jess, why do you always insist on doing that?"
Niall's voice averted my gaze, and I paused chewing to raise an eyebrow at my blonde- headed boyfriend.
"What?"
"You know what. You always eat only half of the cheese sticks."
"Oh, that." I shrugged mildly and took another one. Niall sighed and picked the half eaten one up and finished it off. "You can't be mad at me."
Niall raised an eyebrow. "Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Why can't I?"
I smirked knowingly. "Because you love me."
Niall narrowed his eyes, though he couldn't hold back his grin from my factual statement. I knew he couldn't stay angry or even annoyed with me, so I wasn't surprised when he sighed in defeat and leaned over to press a fond kiss to my cheek.
"You're right." He cooed. "I can't ever stay mad at you. You're too adorable."
My cheeks flushed, and I rolled my eyes. "I'm not adorable."
"Yes you are." Niall playfully poked me on the hip, and I bit my lip to stifle a giggle; he knew that I was ticklish nearly everywhere on my body, and he normally took that piece of knowledge and used it for his own advantage.
"No," I scooted closer and poked his cheek. "You're - "
"Jesus, guys, can you quit showing PDA? Y'all are going to make me hurl."
"Denise!" I instantly moved a small distance from Niall and beamed up at my younger sister. There was a curly headed boy at her side, and I could only assume that he was the boyfriend she had been telling me about.
"Hi, Niall," Demise said as she sat in front of us in the booth. The curly headed male sat next to her, and I smiled warmly at him, though I was really trying hard to remember his name.
What was it? Something like Jerry...
"Hey, Denise." Niall said. "And hey, it's nice to meet you." He extended his hand to the quiet curly headed male, and the two shook hands.
"Oh, this is Harry." Denise said, briefly meeting my gaze. That's what his name was - Harry.
"Hi, Harry." I said, directly meeting his green-eyed gaze and tilted my head. Denise was giving me a look, knowing exactly what I was doing. "Have you ever had your toenails painted?"
"Jess?" Niall asked next to me.
"Jess, don't," Denise protested, but I ignored them both and kept my gaze focused on Harry: my newest victim.
Well hey, that's the price you pay if you want to date my baby sister.
"Shut up, both of you," I shushed them. "Let him answer." I nodded at Harry, prompting him to answer my question.
Harry was nice looking. He was attractive - quite attractive, actually. My sister had a knack for dating weirdos, so to say I was shocked to see Mr. Good-looking was an understatement.
I was waiting to see him squirm from my question - I wanted to see if he was shy or outgoing. Some guys wouldn't know what to say; some would start laughing, laughter being their last resort. This was all a social experiment; my sister thought I was trying to be weird, but really, there was a point to my question - an underlining purpose.
However, Harry was a special case.
He didn't laugh, and he didn't squirm (much to my displeasure).
Instead, he smiled this dimpled grin, kept eye contact with me, and replied, "No, I can't ever say I have."
I was impressed. He didn't stutter, and he didn't once break our gaze. I tried to maintain my composure and glanced at Niall, who was watching me with a raised eyebrow.
Finally, Niall sighed in exasperation and said, "Jess, stop being weird."
Denise's cheeks were flushed, and she didn't quite know what to say. My sister was shy, and she always got incredibly shy when I first met her boyfriend. But I didn't think she had to worry; see, she worried that my so called weirdness would chase off these boys (which, I won't lie, has happened before), but I didn't think I scared Harry off.
Yet.
"I'm not being weird," I told Niall, rolling my eyes and breaking eye contact with Harry. "I just asked a simple question. I'm sure he's been asking that before, right Harry?"
His eyes were still on me, and he was leaning back in the booth; he smiled half heartedly in amusement. "No. You're the only one who's ever asked me that."
"But hey, at least I'm not asking you about any sexual diseases, and if you do have any then - "
" - Jess!" Niall and Denise cut me off; Denise was glaring at me, and Niall was rubbing his forehead, stifling a grin. I giggled.
"You guys are prudes," I said.
"No," Denise said. "You just don't have a filter."
"I say we just order our food already." Niall said. "To make this whole thing less awkward."
"Ah," I said with a grin, "it's only awkward if you make it awkward."
"Well this is awkward," Denise said, glancing timidly at Harry as if gauging his reaction. I was a bit shocked to see his eyes still trained on me, that half hearted grin still tugging at his lips.
"Well, you know what, I don't let just anyone date my baby sister." I told Harry, meeting his gaze again boldly. "So if you can handle being around me, then you have my permission to date her."
"Oh god," Denise buried her face in her hands, smart girl. Niall simply looked the other way.
Harry raised an eyebrow, "So I need your permission to date your sister?"
"Yup."
"I thought it was the father who was entitled to that."
"Nope. Our father's an asshole, and we haven't seen him since we were kids, so I'm obtaining that right." I declared, returning his raised eyebrow with a smirk.
"Where did our waiter go?" Niall muttered, desperate to ease the awkwardness.
"But luckily for you," I continued to Harry. "I think you're okay to date my sister, as long as you're not some psychopath."
At this, he chuckled. It was a husky, hearty chuckle, and it was like he had some kind of inside joke from this. I was joking, of course, but it wasn't one of those things that you'd laugh aloud at. But Harry did.
"We'll see about that." He said.
