Blind date (n.s)

23

Harry looked at me for a moment and took a sip of his drink. The flashing coloured lights from the disco turned him pink, green, yellow and blue in turn.

"Are you ok?", he asked.

"What makes you think I am not ok?"

"Well, tell me to butt out if you like, but I don't think that feller was the one for you. The one you had a fight with a few weeks back, you know? I wanted to talk to you but I don't even have your las name or phone number or anything and you didn't come here in a while... I was getting worried about you but you handeled him all right." He puffed out a breath. "The same thing goes for today. I have to admit that I was scared your friend would hurt you."He gave me a rather shy smile. "You were cool, much harder than me!"

I couldn't help but smile. Knowing that Harry had managed to notice me both times while four or five younger girls were throwing themselves at him made me happy.

"Yeah, I am okay", I said. "You know how when you build something up in your mind and it gets to be so big that you think you'll never get over it, and then something happens, like a pin bursting a bollon, and the thing that was worrying you has suddenly gone and you don't know why you let it bother you for so long in the first place?"

Harry frowned and smiled at the same time.

"No, to be honest", he said.

I laughed and thought for a moment.

"Seeing Luke, the guy you saved me from, made me realise that I'm not the person I thought I was. I'm stronger than I thought and happier than I realised. The past isn't as important as I thought it was because I had already moved on and grown up- without even realising it. Funny really", I said.

I sounded much calmer than I felt, but all I wanted right then was a Barcadi Breezer and to talk to Harry. The sound of his voice made me feel happy.

"I'm glad for you, Niall", Harry said. "You deserve to be happy."

We watched the dance foor for a second. Julia had her arms around Zayn's neck and looked like she was hoping to pin him to the nearest wall with her tongue.

"Do you want to hear something really funny?", he said.

I looked into his green eyes.

"Go on", I said smiling.

"You know when you came in the other night to meet John Smith?"

"That's not funny", I said, even though it was.

"No", Harry took a deep breath. "What's funny is that I was John Smith."

I blinked at him. Even with him standing so close the music was too loud because I thought he'd said...

"What?", I asked him.

"I was John Smith", he said again. He really had said it.

"Louis and Julia told me you were using this dating website and I thought... Well, I've been meaning to ask you out for a while now. I asked Louis if he thought you'd go for it. He said you only went out with fellers off this website. We've got a computer out the back so I logged on one day. Saw your photo and details and... well, I registered. but then I thought if you saw my name you'd think I was a real weirdo for not asking you out face to face." harry looked at his boots before looking up again at me. "So I named myself after a pint of bitter. I've got to be honest, Niall. I didn't think it through. By the time you turned up that night I knew that if I told you John Smith was me I would have blown it for good."