Niall
"Do we really have to go to Harry's tonight?" I groan as Lexie gets back into the car. Harry sent us to grab a pizza on the way to his house, I'm sure as a stall so they had time to sneak in a quickie before we got there.
"Unless we want to steal his pizza, yes we do." She says with a carefree laugh. I don't get it. How is she so relaxed?
"I'm ok with that." I admit as I put the car in drive and pull back onto the road.
"C'mon Niall. They invited us over. They want to show us they appreciate our keeping their secret. Let them do that." She urges me.
"I'd rather they show their appreciation by coming clean."
"You know they can't do that." Lexie reminds me.
"I know." I groan in defeat.
I know she's right. When I caught Liv and Harry in bed together I was so done with their shit. They've put me and Lexie and our relationship through too much with their secret affair. I was not going to put up with it anymore. I knew Liam wouldn't like it but he needed to know. Everyone needed to know. Of course, that was before I saw his reaction to seeing Liv at the show. I thought after two weeks of cooling down he would be better. Still not ok but not seething mad at the sight of her either. But it was like no time had passed. He's not even close to being over her. I know if she would've told him, he would've lost it. Liam would've never gone on stage after that. Hell, he probably would've quit the band all together. He would've beat the shit out of Harry. There was no good outcome in sight at the time so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. After that I tried to convince Harry that he and Liv should call it quits. They should wait until their being together won't start world war three. But he refused and acted offended that I would even ask. So now I'm stuck, once again knowing too much for my own good.
"Look, we'll go, eat some pizza, drink a beer, hang out for a little bit. It'll be fine." She says, trying to persuade me.
"It's going to be awkward as fuck." I disagree.
"They're our best friends. Why is it going to be awkward?"
"Because they're fucking each other now. It's different."
"Well we hung out with Liv and Liam when they were fucking each other and it wasn't awkward." She reminds me with a laugh.
"I guess."
"Just relax. It'll be fine. It may even be fun. And if it isn't I'll reward you when we get home. Hell, I'll reward you even if it is fun." She offers, piquing my interest.
"I guess when you put it that way I can't say no now can I?" I ask, finally letting my tense shoulders relax and my lips turn up into a smile as I move my hand to rest on her knee.
"No you can't." She agrees with a satisfied smirk. She won, like always.
As I grab her hand where it's resting on the center console and lace my fingers with hers I feel the empty place where her promise ring used to be. She moved it to her left hand as a place holder since I still haven't given her an engagement ring. I didn't want her to move it at first. It made me feel like she was anxious to get the real one but I don't even have it yet. I'm struggling to pick one out. Nothing seems right. I think at this point I'm going to have to start from scratch and design one myself. It's the only way she's going to get the perfect ring and I refuse to give her anything less than perfect. Unfortunately, that takes time. I was feeling pressured but when I asked her why she moved the ring she explained that it was for her. She wanted a reminder of our engagement whenever she was feeling stressed at work or worried about Liv or anything else that puts her in a negative mood. It made her happy to see a ring on that finger and know that she had me hooked forever. When she put it that way I really couldn't argue.
