5SOS FOREVA xD Mkay, sorry I'm just really obsessed with their new song *.* Enjoy<3

*REMEMBER. THIS IS ALL FOR THE STORY. I AM NOT HATING ON KENDALL c;*

*VOTE. COMMENT. SHARE.* ;)

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Chapter 22 – Valerie’s P.O.V.

          Sickness.

            That’s the only thing I felt as soon as the words left his lips. If I were the reason One Direction were to break up, I’d probably kill myself. Sadly, that’s not exaggerating.

            “Stop the car,” I choked out, my heart pounding against my chest.

            “Valerie, we—“

            “Stop the car!” I said a little firmly, feeling as if I were going to throw up.

            Niall finally obeyed, pulling onto the side of the road. I immediately got out, aware we were parked on the side of the interstate. I gripped my stomach as I started walking back the way we came.

            “Where are you going?” Niall called after me, gently grabbing my wrist to spin me to face him.

            “Niall, if me being around threatens the entire band, why am I here?” I said, tears brimming my eyes. “If Harry can’t be seen in public with me, I’m going home. I’m not going to let the band breakup because of me.”

            Niall’s eyes bored into mine. I went to shimmy out of his grip, but his grip only tightened as he stared at me. “You really do care about us, don’t you?” he asked softly, his eyes holding my watery ones.

            I bit my lower lip to keep from full-out crying as I nodded my head, raking my free hand through my hair.

            “Well, Valerie,” Niall said, a small smile on his lips, “good thing we thought things through.”

            I stared at him in confusion, blinking away the water. “W-What do you mean?”

            Niall shyly smiled at me. “Well, since you can’t be seen in public with Harry, the lads and I urged him to call management out and work out a deal. He doesn’t want to stop seeing you, Valerie, so we made a deal with management…”

            “What?” I asked as he trailed off, my heart pounding in fear.

            Niall gave me another faint smile. “You’re kind of fake dating me now.”

            My eyes widened at the thought. “What do you mean? Niall, you seriously need to work on your explanation skills!”

            Niall chuckled. “If you’re seen in public with me, it’s all right because I’m not dating anyone. Since Harry is supposed to be dating Kendall, management doesn’t want him seen in public with you because it sparks up cheating rumors. So, if you ever hang out with us in public, I kind of have to be there now. Since the other lads have girlfriends, I was really the only option, so I hope I’m not your least favorite,” he smirked.

            “Picking a least favorite is a disgrace,” I said. “Hell, picking a favorite is discrimination.”

            Niall laughed. “So, you’re okay with this fake dating thing?”

            I smiled, trying to hold in my butterflies. “I guess so, but why would you guys do all this just so Harry can hang out with me?”

            “Because Harry is like a brother to us. We want to see him happy, ya know? And believe me, when he got that call from management, he was not happy.”

            “Was he mad?”

            “More like depressed, but you could definitely see some anger in there…”

            I frowned, still trying to process why the boys would go through all this trouble for me. Me of all people, but then my eyes widened in realization.

            Shit.

            I just had to make this a plot twist in my story, didn’t I? Now this is really getting freaky, considering it’s another countless event that’s turned into reality.

            “Are you all right, Val?” Niall asked, his blue eyes shining in concern.

            I plastered a fake smile on my face. “I’m fine.”

            “Good,” Niall smiled. “Now, let’s go to that dinner. By the way, you kind of have to come to a meeting tomorrow with us because of this… well… dating thing.”

            I pursed my lips, nodding as he opened the passenger door for me. I can’t describe my feelings right now. Hell, I’m supposed to be “dating” Niall Horan. How the hell do you even process that? But I still can’t get over how Harry truly cares about me. His best friends are bending over backwards, just so Harry can still see me.

            Talk about having each other’s backs.

            The ride was fairly quiet, but not an awkward quiet. It consisted of a little of Niall explaining what the meeting would be like, also telling me not to worry. He continuously apologized to me about the whole Kendall and Harry issue, but it only made my heart sink further into the floor. I can’t believe people are so desperate for attention that they’re making a teenage boy fake date some girl. It literally disgusts me.

            “Hope you’re a good actress,” Niall commented as we pulled into a parking lot. “You’ve got to act like you don’t have any connection with Harry. Not a love connection.”

            I fairly nodded, gnawing feverishly on my lower lip. Paparazzi was swarming the doorways, telling me the boys were already inside.

            “Hey,” Niall said softly, his hand covering mine soothingly, “it’ll be all right. You can come back to the hotel with us tonight and work things out.”

            Still biting my lip, I nodded slowly. Niall gave me a weak smile, then got out and opened my door. As if they had bat hearing, the paparazzi turned to face us as soon as Niall closed my car door. He placed his hand on the small of my back, leading me towards the building. He informed me to keep my head down and I did so, holding onto his shirt so the vultures wouldn’t snatch me away. At one point they had become so desperate, Niall had to snake his arm around my waist just to keep me near him.

            These people were insane.

            Not to mention the billion questions that were tossed at us. Like me cheating on Harry with Niall. Or Harry cheating on Kendall with me or vise-versa. Constantly asking if I was dating any of the 1D members, but I did as Niall said and kept my mouth shut.

            We entered the restaurant, and I wasn’t all too shocked when I saw two security guards close the door behind us. The place was decently average, not fancy or too shabby. It was soothing atmosphere, one I really needed at this moment. In no time, my eyes locked on the table that held the four boys and one girl; Eleanor Calder herself.

            Niall led me to the table with his hand on the small of my back. Harry’s eyes caught mine and his screamed empathy, pain flashing through them. I still managed to give him a smile as I slid into the seat across from him; Niall sitting next to me.

            “I suppose you told her everything…” Harry trailed off, his voice just above a whisper as you could see the hurt in his eyes.

            Niall nodded. “I did when she tried to walk back home,” he chuckled and I rolled my eyes, nudging him with my elbow.

            After each boy (and Eleanor) greeted me, a conversation sparked between the table. Harry continued to stare down at his menu, his bottom lip tucked in between his teeth. I stared at him, hoping to catch his eye but he never once glanced up at me. Huffing, I slung my foot and hit his boot. He pursed his lips together, clearly trying to ignore me as his eyes stayed glued on the menu.

            Smirking to myself, I bumped his foot with mine again. Harry closed his eyes and I could see him fighting back a smile as he kicked me back. A quiet giggle left my lips as we continued to kick each other, Harry doing his hardest not to look at me or laugh.

            “Valerie, I am not in the mood for a game of footsies,” Harry finally spoke, but his eyes never met mine.

            “Maybe I am,” I sassed, kicking him again.

            Harry bit his lip, hard, to keep from smiling.

            Determined to see that dimpled grin, I nudged him a few more times.

            “Dammit, Valerie,” Harry said, finally breaking out into a laugh as he kicked me back. “I will not let you win this.”

            I grinned widely, finally happy to see the curly haired boy smiling again. We went back and forth multiple more times, being completely immature as we laughed at each other. Harry leaned back in his seat, looking under the table as he aimed, then brought his foot up to nudge my knee.

            “Hey, I have sensitive kneecaps, mister!” I said firmly, laughing slightly as I mimicked his actions.

            “Oi! That was a little too high, woman!” Harry laughed and my cheeks flushed immensely as I realized I almost kicked his… area. “Let’s not break the baby maker, here.”

            “Oh my God,” I blushed, dropping my head in my hands.

            Harry laughed. “I’m just being honest.”

            I shook my head in disbelief, then turned to look back up at him. He was already staring at me, that dimpled smirk stretched on his lips as his emeralds twinkled back at me. I smiled, sheepishly looking down at the menu.

            Harry chuckled slightly, then his eyes fell onto the paper in front of him. The waitress finally came up, taking our orders before scurrying into the kitchen. All my thoughts fled from me as I chatted amongst the group, even having side conversations with Eleanor; girl-to-girl. I liked how we were getting along so swiftly, our laughs entwining with everyone’s.

            But all too soon, the remembrance of not being able to be with Harry in public hit me. He won’t be able to take me to school, or pick me up. He won’t be able to take me out to lunch, or just a simple stroll through the park. All the things we did within the few days of knowing each other have quickly diminished. We can never be that way again, all because of management and Kendall Jenner.