Picked [Narry]

c. fifteen

[ wow, are we only on fifteen?

i know updates have been slow, but i was stuck on this chapter a long time so the next on should (hopefully) come out sooner.

this is a pretty short chapter, oops. ]

It took Harry a second or two to register what just happened, but as soon as he did, he immediately pulled away, shocked and breathless.

Niall looked equally as shocked. His face turned completely red, burning in embarrassment and shame. His lips were wet and hurt from trying to kiss Harry so hard. He looked down, trying to avoid Harry's eyes.

"Uh..." That was the only thing Harry managed to get out. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, staring at Niall in disbelief.

Did that really just happen?

"We should... Go in, probably," Harry said after a long, terrible moment of silence.

"Y-yeah," Niall whispered shakily.

"Eh... Yeah, alright," Harry tried to say something to make the situation less awkward but absolutely nothing came to his mind. He quickly rushed to the door to avoid saying or doing anything he'd regret, but it swung open before he could reach it.

"Hello! I'm sorry, but I heard you guys pull up and I just had to ask you how the date went!" The cheery voice of Josh filled the tense air and Niall was kind of grateful for the butler at the moment.

"It went great. Can you go run a bath for me?" Harry practically waved Josh off, who blinked in confusion but rushed away to prepare a bath for Harry. Harry followed after Josh, keeping his head down.

Niall lingered outside a little bit longer. It was starting to sink in that he had just kissed Harry. Should he even count it as a kiss? It was more like forcefully putting his lips against Harry's.

He finally walked into the house, the familiar sent hitting him. The house (well, he should probably refer to it as a mansion) stopped feeling like just a place he was living a few days ago and started feeling more like home. It was crazy, everything that had happened in the past month.

Niall looked at the ground, bending over to pick up the magazine that was on the floor. For whatever reason, the maids hadn't cleaned it up yet. Harry was on the cover of it, with some stupid quote of his about love that he probably never said underneath his picture.

There was something about how Harry looked in photos that always surprised Niall. Harry was the most gorgeous being Niall had ever seen, and there were nearly no flaws on his face (except for the little scar next to his eye and the rare pimples).

However, in pictures, Harry just looked so fake. Niall had never seen Harry in real life before the Picking ceremony and therefore thought Harry just looked normal, but now he looked almost plastic-like.

"Sir, do you want me to take care of that?" A maid asked, shaking Niall out of his thoughts. He politely shook his head and smiled to her. He'd read it later when he was bored.

Niall made his way up to the bedroom, receiving a few stares from maids. They must've taken in Harry's looks or rushed attitude. He sighed to himself, wondering how he would get out of this mess.

Josh was standing in the bedroom when Niall arrived, dusting off a few pictures on the walls. He turned to Niall who practically threw himself on the bed.

"Mr. Horan, I know this may seem a little bit intrusive, but might I ask what happened? Did something go wrong?" Josh asked gently, taking a seat next to Niall on the bed.