All Grown Up

Niall had taken it above and beyond. He bought my dress, shoes, my jewelry, everything. He even got people to come do my hair and makeup. I felt like such a Princess. I mean, this is what every girl dreams of. Having a guy pamper them and treat them like a Princess. It was amazing.

"Alright, love," Lou said. "I'm all finished with your hair."

I learned when she arrived that she was One Directions hairstylist. She was the sweetest person. She told me all about her daughter, Lux and how fast she was growing up. It was insane how fast kids grew up these days. Absolutely insane. One day they were just babies and the next they were five.

"Thanks, Lou." She grinned, patting my shoulder. "Quite alright, love. Now Francine is going to come do your makeup and nails."

She walked out of the guest room at Niall's place and in walked the other lady. She got to working on my nails. It took her a short amount of time to finish my nails. She was a pro at this you could tell. By the time she was finished with my makeup it was almost time to go. Her and Lou helped me into my dress and shoes. Looking in the mirror, my mouth dropped. I had never been this dolled up in my life.

"Thank you guys," I gushed. "Thank you, so much."

They both grinned, waving me off. We bid each other goodbye and they left. Once I felt I was ready to head downstairs, I grabbed my nude clutch and slipped my phone in it before heading out. As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs Niall was making his way into the foyer. His eyes grew three times in size and his mouth dropped.

"Holy fuck," he mumbled. "You look great, love."

A blush appeared on my cheeks. "Thanks." I bashfully looked down at the floor. "You look nice too."

His cheeks widened in a grin. "Well thank you! Now let's go! I think the car should be here in five minutes." As soon as he said that my phone vibrated in my purse. I got it out and checked it. It was a text from Harry.

Do you want to come over later tonight? I've got a thing, but I'll come get you when it's over.

I couldn't help but laugh. Niall took notice and raised his eyebrows in question. "Harry text me," I answered.

"Ahh," he said. "What'd he say?" Turning my phone around, I showed him. He just scoffed and shook his head. "He's right daft. Never met a bigger twat."

"Niall!" I laughed. "That's so rude!"

He shrugged. "What? It's the truth and you know it!" I nodded. "He's got this massive crush on you and he won't do anything about it. What kind of bloke does that? If I had a crush on a lass that was half as gorgeous as you, I'd be jumping on it. I wouldn't let her get snatched up by some other bloke."

That kid. He could always make me laugh. But he had a point. He had a really good point. If he liked me as much as he said he did then he should've asked me to go to the premiere with him.

"I mean, I asked you to the premiere," he went on. "That idiot should've asked you! He's going to be right pissed when he sees you get in the limo with me." He smirked an evil smirk. Oh Jesus. "I can't wait to see his face."

I just shook my head. He was ridiculous. After he said that a horn sounded from outside. Niall offered me his arm, to which I took with a smile and walked out the front door with him. He made sure to lock it and we made the walk to the gates of his driveway. They opened and closed shortly after we made our way through.

"M'lady," he spoke in an overdone accent with a cheesy bow as he held the door open. "Thank you kind sir." I curtsied and carefully climbed in the sleek, black limo.

"Ana, you look ravishing!" Eleanor gushed. Niall shut the door and the limo took off. At the mention of my name Harry's head snapped up, his phone no longer holding his interest. His eyes scanned the limo. He was sitting toward the front of the limo beside Zayn. Beside Zayn was Liam and his girlfriend, Louis and Eleanor, then me beside El and Niall next to me. When his eyes landed on me they grew in size.

"Ana?"

I ignored him and thanked Eleanor. "Thanks, El. You look gorgeous." I held back an eye roll when Niall snorted and nudged me in the ribs. "You lot clean up pretty nice."

"What're you talking about?" Louis joked. "We always look this nice."

I chuckled. "I didn't know sweats, snapbacks, bro tanks, and Vans were red carpet worthy." He settled for sticking his tongue out at me. I looked to Liam and his girlfriend with a smile. "Hi, I'm Ana," I greeted.

His girlfriend was gorgeous. She had on a short black dress with long dark hair and tan skin. I envied her tan skin. "Hi, I'm Sophia. It's nice to meet you," she greeted back. "Your dress is gorgeous by the way."

"Thanks. This bloke over here bought it for me." I threw a thumb in Niall's direction. "So far, he's a pretty good date." I patted his cheek and went to pinch it, but he shoved me off.

My phone vibrated in my clutch again, but I ignored it. No doubt it was Harry. While everyone started in on a conversation about the premiere I leaned over to Niall. "I thought Liam was dating Danielle?" I whispered in his ear. He lifted his phone and opened a blank text.

They broke up like a month or so ago. Him and Sophia used to date way back then. They met up again and started dating like a few weeks ago.

I nodded. "Oooh, okay."


You would think with being a dancer I would be used to being under the spotlight, but I wasn't. This wasn't your normal spotlight. This was a million different bright flashes going off around you all at once. People were yelling at the boys to look in all directions. It was mental. The start of a headache was beginning to set in.

"Niall, is this your girlfriend?"

"What's your name, love?"

"Niall, your bird is gorgeous! What's her name?"

"How long have you been dating?"

"How'd you meet?"

"Let's get a picture of the happy couple! Look over here, yeah?"

I almost wanted to scream at them. But I didn't. I'm afraid if I opened my mouth I'd puke all over the red carpet beneath my heel clad feet. This was nerve wracking. And it was getting to me. Niall could obviously tell because he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his side, leaning over to whisper in my ear. "Go in the theatre with El, Sophia, and Perrie. We'll be in there in a minute, yeah."

Mouthing a thank you, I turned and followed the three girls into the building. As soon as the cool air hit me I let out a sigh of relief.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." I gripped my clutch, fiddling with the clasp. "I'm fine now."

El wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Don't let it get to you, yeah? They're just a bunch of nosy twats who have nothing better to do then take pictures of famous people for money. You'll get used to it after a few times." I smiled even though it didn't make me feel better. At least she was trying to cheer me up.

"Thanks," I replied. She smiled a toothy grin. "S'not a problem! I wished I had someone to tell me that when I first started dating Louis. I'm doing my good deed." I chuckled at that.

"Well, good deed done. Mark it off your list." She made an imaginary check in the air as we both laughed. It didn't take us very long after that to find our seats. Of course, we had the help of a maitre d or whatever you call the people that help you in theaters. I'm horrible with that stuff. But anywho, we found our seats and I took that as my chance to finally read Harry's text.

You're Niall's date?

Why did you come with Niall?

How'd you find out about our premiere?

I almost scoffed. He actually had the audacity to ask me how I found out about it and why I agreed to come with Niall. He really was daft.

Because Niall asked me to be his date and I agreed.

He actually tells me things.

Maybe if you told people we were dating, we could do actual couple things like go to your movie premiere together.

It's like... you're embarrassed of me or something.

I was jolted from my rapid fire texting by the boys. Niall sat to my left and Harry to my right. Oh joy. Just what I wanted. It was like God hated me. He had it out for me. He legitimately had it out for me. I sent Ian a quick text.

Saaaave meeee!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry flipping through his texts. He must've opened our conversation because I heard him sigh over the buzzing of the crowd. His head snapped up and turned to his left, looking right at me. When I ignored him he went back to scrolling through his phone. As soon as the lights dimmed and the room was dark save for the huge tellie screen, he made his move.

"I'm not embarrassed of you," he whispered in my ear. I turned just as he looked back at the screen. "I don't want to talk about it right now," I whispered back.

"Did you say something?" Niall asked quietly. He leaned forward a little to look at me. I shook my head and shot him a smile. "No. Must be hearing things."

About halfway through the movie I was getting antsy. I had to get up and move or I'd go stir crazy. I mumbled to Niall that I had to use the loo and squeezed my way past him. The loo wasn't a very far walk from the actual theatre room but I bipassed that and headed for what looked like a backdoor. As soon as I was out in the somewhat fresh air, it felt like I could finally breathe. And it was in fact a backdoor, so it was empty of any and all people. Especially fans and people with cameras. I sat on an empty bench after making sure nothing was on the seat. This dress cost more then five months rent for my flat, so I was extra cautious.

The door beside me swung open, making me jump. Looking over, I saw it was Harry who came out. He looked right before looking left and noticing me. He came over and sat down beside me. So close that our legs were touching. I could feel the heat radiating off his body through his trousers and my dress.

"Ana—" He started. I cut him off.

"I don't want to do this here, Harry." That made him sigh. "I just want to sit here for a minute and then go back in and enjoy your guys' film."

He looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. The silence was enough to drive me crazy, so I opened my clutch and grabbed the thing I kept hidden from everyone. My anxiety medicine. I had so many different medicines that I took, that I lost count. My anxiety medicine was one I took religiously. No one knew I took it. No one knew I took anything.

This morning when Niall came to pick me up so I could get ready, I forgot to take it. I just grabbed my purse as he yanked me out of my flat. I didn't have time to take any of my medicine. So I took one anxiety pill and swallowed it dry. Harry went to ask me what they were but I best him to the punch. "I'm going back inside. See you in there." And with that said, I made my way inside, leaving a confused Harry outside.


Go to my place. I have to do some press stuff then I'll be there.

"Where to?"

"Harry's place please," I replied. The boys had one of their security guards take us girls home. I think his name was Preston. I was honestly horrible with names. The girls made small talk with him, but I kept quiet. My anxiety pill had kicked in a while ago and I was mellowed out. So I sat in the back of the SUV and just watched the outside world whiz by. "We're here, love."

"Oh," I spoke. "Thank you." My hand was on the door handle when he stopped me.

"Be careful," he spoke. My brows furrowed. The tone in his voice made me think he wasn't talking about being careful going inside the house. "Harry comes with a lot of baggage; the normal baggage of a famous person and more."

"What?"

He shook his head with a soft chuckle. "I've seen the way you lot look at each other. It isn't hard to tell that you're dating. But just remember that dating a celebrity means you're always in the spotlight. And you get a lot of shit from paparazzi, fans, and reporters. If you can't take it, they'll use it against you and some of the stuff they say can be pretty harsh. Don't let it ruin whatever it is that you and Harry have."

All I could do was nod. My mind was in overdrive as I sat on the couch. The big, pristine, unlived on black leather couch. In the big unlived in living room. This was the most unlived in house I had ever been in. "Babe?"

I jumped. "Huh? What?"

Harry was crouched down in front of me as I sat on his couch. His hands were resting on my knees and he was looking up at me with those green eyes of his. God how I hated his eyes. They always made me forget what I was about to say or what I was thinking or how I was feeling. They had a control over me that drove me crazy. His damn eyes. His eyes! How do two eyeballs have that much power over someone? Is it even possible? Or am I just a weak person?

"I asked why you went to the premiere with Niall," he said. I shrugged, looking down at my lap. "You don't know?"

I shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess the thought of someone even thinking about asking me to something so important to them makes me feel special," I mumbled. "You didn't tell me about your premiere. I had to find out from El and Perrie, and then when I text Niall about it he was as confused as I was that you hadn't mentioned it to me."

He looked deep in thought. But I kept talking. "I like you Harry. I like you a lot, but this... this hiding stuff from people, hiding me from people, makes me feel like a load of rubbish. I mean, what am I supposed to think when my own boyfriend won't take me to his movie premiere, but his best mate will?"

"I just don't want the paparazzi and fans to hurt you," he stated. "They have a way of ruining things quicker then you can think. But—"

"That's not the point," I started. "I don't care what they say, I don't care what they do. All I care about is us. They aren't in this relationship; we are. But you not taking me as your date to your own movie premiere left me thinking that you're embarrassed of me. Like, I'm not good enough or popular enough to be seen with the almighty Harry Styles. You—"

He cut me off with a kiss. His soft, warm lips. God were they heaven. His tongue pushed it's way in my mouth and was pulled out within seconds. He nipped at my bottom lip before pulling away, resting his forehead on mine. "I'm not embarrassed of you," he murmured, lips brushing mine as he spoke. "I'm just not ready to share with the world that I'm dating you."

I'm just not ready to share with the world that I'm dating you. Was that a nice way to say he's embarrassed of me?