Niall’s P.O.V.

Aria and I were currently in the guest room making fun of Taylor Swift’s songs. She had an amazing voice, obviously unaware that I was paying close attention. Her voice was beautiful, just like the rest of her.

“You think Liam’s lonely? We’ve kind of ignored him the whole day.” She laughed, turning the music down.

“Probably.” I replied. “Want to go hang out with him?”

Aria nodded. “I feel kind of bad. He’s done a lot for me, you know?”

I felt a little pathetic, considering the fact that another guy had been there for Aria when I hadn’t.

“You guys are equally amazing to me.” Aria assured, as if she had read my mind. She gave my lips a quick peck, then jumped up and tugged on my arm, struggling to get me up. I stared at her.

“You look good in my hoodie.” I grinned.

“Yeah, yeah.” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “Come on.”

I laughed and followed her to Liam’s room. I was about the barge in with a dramatic entrance, when Aria pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me. She pressed her ear up against the door, and I soon did the same. Liam seemed to be talking to someone, most likely on the phone.

“Come on, Dani.” Liam groaned. “There’s nothing going on.”

Danielle said something that made Liam scoff loudly.

“Danielle! I’m telling you, the only reason Niall came was to get Aria back. I swear, I do not have any feelings for Aria what so ever. She is my friend.”

Aria glanced at me.

“Dani, look, I need you to understand that I would never leave you for someone who I consider my sister. Besides, we’ll figure something out for the baby. I love you so much and you have to trust me.”

Aria seemed calm by the fact that Liam had just said he and Danielle were having a baby, but I yelped. A child? How had he not told me?

“Shut up Niall.” Aria hissed, closing her eyes as she listened. Liam had paused.

“Um, Dani, I’ll uh, call you back later. I’ve got someone waiting for me.” Liam paused, probably to listen to Danielle’s response.

“No, it’s not Aria.” He scoffed. “Or at least, I don’t think it is.”

“Run.” Aria whispered, pulling me by the arm. We power walked as fast as we could back down the hall, but Liam’s door opened before we could make it back to the guest room.

“You two are extremely loud.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Why were you eavesdropping?”

“Liam, why didn’t you tell me you and Danielle were having a baby?” I asked. Liam’s eyes widened and he froze.

“Um…”

“And Aria,” I said, turning to her. “How come you aren’t as surprised as I am?”

“Because I already knew. I was the first to know. And it wasn’t in my place to tell anyone else.” She explained. Liam nodded.

“I was going to tell you lot at the next meeting, to see what management would say, but I guess you found out sooner.” Liam blushed, kicking his feet back and forth on the floor.

“Well, congrats.” I smiled, patting his back. “Now, you’re literally going to be Daddy Direction.”

Liam grinned, but his smile wavered.

“Liam, what’s up with you and Danielle?” Aria asked, leaning against a wall of the hallway.

“There are pictures of Niall coming into this house.” He began. “The picture that got leaked has Niall with a frustrated expression and apparently there’s a caption saying that Niall came to my house because he was mad at me for secretly dating Aria.”

Aria snorted. “Danielle actually believes this? Can’t she tell when bullshit is literally spelled out for her in the magazines?”

“You should clear out everything before rumors get worse,” I suggested. “Make a few tweets.”

“That’s a good idea.” Aria agreed. “I’ll make a tweet as well.”

Liam sighed. “I’m going to take a nap now. Don’t bother me unless someone is dying, alright?”

I laughed. “What if I’m dying of starvation?”

“That’s different,” Liam declared, “because you always seem to be dying of starvation.”

“Can’t blame the fast metabolism, mate.” I shot back with a grin. Liam gave a weak smile and closed his bedroom door.

“So much for hanging out with him.” Aria sighed as we walked downstairs.

I scanned the living room, taking in the new surroundings. I had spent the last day here, entirely in Aria’s room, hanging out with her. I spotted a guitar leaning up against in the corner of the living room. I went for it and took it into my hands, remembering the last time I had picked up a guitar. It had been to hopefully get Aria back, and that hadn’t gone well. I shook the thought away. I had her now, didn’t I?

“Remember the last time you taught me how to play guitar?” Aria acknowledged, sitting on the couch.

“It was it Australia,” I remembered, “I had this mad crush on you and I could barely keep myself together while I was repositioning your fingers.”

Aria laughed. “That, and I also sucked.”

“Want to try again?” I offered, holding the guitar out to her. She nodded and set the base of the guitar down in her lap.

“FYI, I have not practiced at all since then, which means like three months.” She giggled, blushing lightly.

“Come on,” I coaxed, “I’ll help.”

I sat down on the left side of her and put my right arm her back, to help her strum across the strings. My left hand went on top of her left hand, leading her fingers with each separate note she pressed. She could probably feel my racing heartbeat against her back.

“Now, this finger goes here, and that one goes there.” I told her, moving her fingers to the right places to form a simple scale.

“Hey, this is the scale you taught me last time.” She noticed, suddenly beginning to set her fingers in the right places.

“So, you do remember!”

She shrugged. “Yeah, a little.”

“Well, we can work with that.” I laughed. “Now take your thumb and your index finger and press them together to strum against the strings.”

“Like this?” Aria asked, strumming a decent scale.

“Perfect.”

Aria was a quick learner, soon begging me to teach her a real song. I got her started on the first notes of ”What Makes You Beautiful.” I sang the lyrics as Aria played the basic notes, starting to mock the song by flipping her hair obnoxiously. At one point she took her eyes away from the guitar and grinned at the ground like an idiot.

“And that’s what makes you beautiful.” I finished as she strummed the strings wildly for a wacky ending.

“And that is how you play guitar like pro.” She grinned proudly, handing the guitar back to me.
“I am totally better than you, love.” I smirked, setting the guitar down.

“Yeah, right.” She snorted, looking straight into my eyes. “I’m better than you.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” I shrugged. Aria rolled her eyes.

“So,” I began the conversation. “About that phrase that you always tend to use against me when we fight.”

Aria looked confused. “What?”

“You know, how you always tell me that you’re not my girlfriend?”

“Yeah. What about it?” she asked, uninterested. Man, she was slow.

“Aria…”

She looked up, still looking bored. I suddenly felt like she would reject me. No, now I was just thinking crap. Would she really reject me after everything we had been through. We practically acted like a couple, just without the name. It was now or never.

“I was wondering…”

“Spit it out, Ni.” Aria groaned childishly, squirming around. I got up and sat down beside her, turned so we were facing each other.

“Would you slap my face and kick me out if I asked you to be my girlfriend?”

She smirked. “I don’t know, Ni. Would I?”

I groaned. “You’re making this extremely hard right now, Aria.”

“And I’m enjoying it.”

I sighed. “You know what? Just forget I said-“

“Niall. You’re stupid. I most definitely would not slap your face or kick you out of a house that isn’t even mine.”

“Oh. I get it. You would knee me in the crotch instead.” I replied, and I was being completely serious.

“Geez,” Aria muttered. “I’m not that mean.”

I chuckled, cupping her face with both my hands.

“So what do you say?” I asked. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Sure.” Aria smiled. That’s just how she was. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would shout “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and crush her lips to mine. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would answer with a kiss. She was most definitely the kind of girl who answered with “sure” and a shrug, and with a teasing smile. That’s what made her unique.

“Now you can’t use it against me.” I cackled, pulling her into a very tight hug. I leaned us back so we were stretched out on the couch, her lying on top of me with my arms around her waist.

“Took you long enough to ask.” Aria flipped over so we were face to face.

“What can I say? I’m a chicken.”

“That’s cute.” Aria grinned. “Most guys would pretend they’re all strong and buff and hot. But no. You admit that you’re chicken. I appreciate honesty.”

“Shut up Aria.”

“Make me.”

And so I did.


Aria’s P.O.V.

We knew something was wrong when Liam didn’t come out of his room for lunch. When we went up to him room, his door was locked. This was like how I had acted all over again, only the victim was Liam.

“Mate, are going to tell us what’s wrong?” Niall shouted, banging on the door. Liam’s let out a grunt in response.

“Liam, please tell me what’s wrong. I want to help you.” I said, my fore head pressed against the door.

“Fine. Ari, come in.” Liam said, causing Niall to frown.

“It’s okay.” I whispered, pecking his lips. “Just stay out here.”

Niall nodded, and when I turned the door knob, it was no longer locked. Liam was quick. I walked inside and shut the door, my eyes setting on Liam, who was sprawled helplessly on the bed face down.

“What is this about?” I asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

“Danielle.”

“I figured.” I said, playing with a loose string in the duvet. “What happened with her?”

I heard Liam’s breath shudder, like he had been crying.

“You heard the latter part of our conversation, right?”

“Yes.”

“Want to know what the first part of it was?”

“I guess.”

“Danielle’s parents don’t approve of me. They don’t approve of the baby.” He whimpered, flipping over. Yep. He had definitely been crying.

“Aria, they want an abortion.”

We both heard Niall's gasp from outside.

Notes

yayyyy they are officialy a couple.