Girlfriend For Hire// n.h.

Chapter Nine

Niall wakes with a jolt at the sound of glass breaking. Taking in his surroundings after momentarily being confused, he remembers he's still in the Montgomery residence. Paige sleeps soundly on his chest, and Niall attempts to wriggle from beneath her without much hassle, but to no avail. She stirs slightly, looking at him through squinted, tired eyes.

"What are you doing, Niall?" she asks, her hands finding his and pulling Niall back towards the bed.

"I have to use the bathroom." He quickly comes up with a lie, not wanting to worry her if something were really happening. Paige let's go of his hands, which Niall finds himself wishing she doesn't, and points to the door.

"Make a left, and it's the first door on the right," Paige instructs, giving him a tired smile. "Come back soon." Niall finds comfort in her words, leaning down to kiss her forehead gently.

"Promise," he says, slipping through the door and softly closing it, leaving Paige in the darkness of her old room. Meanwhile, Niall makes his way down the hall, towards the sound he had previously heard.

As he comes closer, he hears the curses of someone, who he presumes dropped the glass in the first place. What he doesn't like to hear, is how dangerously familiar the voice sounds. As Niall creeps to the corner of the hallway, he peeks around, now seeing a face and scene he hoped to never discover together.

Lawrence squats, picking up the broken pieces of a glass cup with a dust pan. On the counter rests a bottle of whiskey, and Lawrence is swearing like a drunk. Niall holds himself back, safe in the darkness of the wall. Running hands through his hair, he tries to come to grips with the situation. Lawrence was a alcoholic?

He slips back into Paige's room, trying to move the picture of Lawrence to the back of his mind, but it's front and center, and a nagging feeling to tell Paige overwhelms him, but Niall bites his tongue, simply getting back into bed with her.

Paige snuggles in close to Niall, and his arms find her waist. But Niall knows that sleep will never come over him, for what he had seen is certainly something he wasn't supposed to.

****

He must fall asleep at some point, because this time when Niall wakes up, Paige us already awake, and making herself busy. She looks at him with kind eyes, gently stroking Niall's face with the slightest touch, and even running her fingers through his hair. When his eyes land on hers, she smiles, stopping her motions for only just a moment.

"Good morning," she whispers. Niall answers with a simple tired smile, and the moment they share is quickly gone as someone calls out to them.

"Niall, Paige, come get breakfast before you leave!" Mabel announces, and although Niall loves laying with Paige here, both of their stomachs get the best of them.

As they sit down, a plate of pancakes in front of each of their seats, Niall's eyes immediately lock on Lawrence. He slumps over his meal, as though tired, but only Niall knows how hard of a night he really had. Paige casts a worried look at her father, but her eyes quickly divert to her breakfast, which she digs into.

"You feeling alright, daddy?" Annabelle asks Lawrence, who puts on a smile for her and nods his head.

"Fine, darling. Just not a lot of sleep last night I guess," he explains, glancing over at Niall, who hasn't taken his eyes off of the man. "Can I help you, son?"

"No, sir. Just... wondering how the pancakes are," he quickly comes up with an excuse, which Lawrence thankfully buys.

"Delicious, as always," Lawrence reassures him, placing his fork down. "I hate to dine and dash, but I'm going to be late for work." With that, he stands up, giving Annabelle's head a kiss, and giving one to Mabel as well as she comes out of the kitchen with another stack of pancakes.

"I'm afraid we've got to get going too, mum. Management's got plans for today," Paige speaks up, her breakfast barely touched as she reaches over to give Annabelle a kiss, and grabs Niall's hand to pull him through the front door.

"Bye!" he exclaims as he's rushed out of the house and into his car, Paige at the wheel. He glances over at her, then back at the house. "Does management really have plans for us?" Niall asks.

"In a way. They do, but not until later. Mr. Edwards said to call him, but I'd rather not do that around my mother. She's not entirely on with this idea, you know. Honestly, I think she feels as though I've subjected myself to prostitution," Paige explains. Niall nearly chokes on his own saliva, giving Paige a double take.

"Did you tell her that was not what your job entitles at all?" he questions, entirely appalled by Mabel's idea of her daughter's intentions with her job.

"Well, yeah. But... we did sleep together," Paige says, turning the ignition to the car and revving up the engine. Placing it into gear, she makes her way down a familiar street, heading for London.

"We were drunk, Paige. That has nothing to do with this whole girlfriend thing," Niall objects, and Paige sighs, her eyes not unlocking from the road.

"I don't know anymore Niall. When I took this job, I thought we'd exchange a few kisses here and there, or a few hugs. I assumed you'd want nothing to do with me when we were home, but... what happened? Why are we so close?" Paige questions, her voice holding exasperation as she grips the steering wheel tighter.

What Niall wants to tell her is that he developed feelings, and he wants her to have done the same. At least, that's what he had to hope for. Honestly, taking a job to be a beard isn't because you're madly in love with the person, because where would that get you in a real relationship, if your fake one was supposed to eventually end?

"Should we call Mr. Edwards?" Niall suggests, trying to change the subject. Paige nods, and Niall pulls out his phone to dial the man's number. Placing the call on speaker, he holds out his hand so that the phone is between him and Paige.

"Ah, good for you to call Mr. Horan," Mr. Edwards greets them.

"You're on speaker, Paige is here too," Niall explains, and he hears Mr. Edwards laugh. It's quite a forced one, too.

"Wonderful! Ms. Montgomery, did you receive your instructions through my text?" he asks her. Paige shakes her head, then realizes he can't see her and answers verbally.

"I haven't been able to check my phone. What are our plans for later?"

"Well, because of the scene you caused," his pause only adds to the guilt that settles into Paige's gaze. "we need to reassure everyone that you and Mr. Horan are, in fact, still in love and going strong. I've scheduled a photo shoot for the two of you, along with an interview from People's magazine. They'll be asking a lot of questions, so Mr. Horan, please allow Ms. Montgomery to speak often," Mr. Edwards explains to them, the two nodding their heads in understanding.

"Will do. What time?" Niall speaks up, feeling odd as he sits in silence while Mr. Edwards and Paige converse.

"Eager, are we Mr. Horan?" Mr. Edwards jokes.

"I guess you could say that," Niall replies, a bit flatly.

"You've got two hours before you both need to head over to the magazine's building and be prepped for your photo shoot. While the are preparing you, they'll most likely be asking questions then. I've requested that you both get your makeup and hair done together, and that's when they can ask questions. Hate to have any con traversal statements from the two of you," Mr. Edwards tells them.

"Got it. I'm sorry, by the way," Paige apologizes, bowing her head a bit.

"I suppose no huge harm done. Just be careful with your emotions, yeah?" Mr. Edwards says.

"Yes, sir," she responds, silence resting over the two of them again as Niall says his final goodbye to the man from management, placing his phone back in his pocket.

****

The silences between them seemed to an awfully often reoccurring thing, and Niall doesn't like it. All the same, they get to the magazine's building just in time, walking in together as a couple and heading their separate ways.

"I think you'd look lovely in a black vest," a designer remarks, holding out a vest towards Niall, who is already dressed in a pair of black pants, shoes, bow tie, and a white button down shirt. Two designers stand and bicker over a jacket versus a vest while another fluffs up Niall's hair and styles it.

"Are you ready for the interview, Mr. Horan?" a woman who introduced herself as Rosalie upon their arrival asks him. "Ms. Montgomery should be coming out right about... now," she finishes, exactly as Paige walks into the room. Niall's jaw drops, and he has to stop himself from drooling over her and she takes a seat besides him to get her hair and makeup done.

Paige is dressed in a beautiful teal gown, quite a good color on her, that is plain with a soft fabric that crosses over her chest and is strapless. The skirt of the gown isn't very long, only down a bit above her knees, but there is silver glitter in an ombre fashion at the bottom, and overall, the dress looks absolutely amazing on her.

"So, I suppose I'll address the question on everyone's mind. Paige, why did you storm out all those nights ago?" Rosalie asks, pen and pad in hand to write down Paige's words. She stays silent for a moment, Niall assuming she has to come up with a pretty good excuse.

"Well, there was a rumor floating around about me. In our relationship, we like to be completely honest with each other about everything." She pauses, grabbing Niall's hand in her own. Paige looks over at him, finishing her explanation, eyes sparkling. "When he confronted me about it, I got so upset... I didn't know what to do. Niall's really amazing at cheering someone up though, and we worked everything out."

"Ah, I see. And Niall, what made you come out in the first place? Hide the relationship for so long?" Rosalie further questions. Niall prepares himself, looking at Paige to encourage him.

"I know the other girls get hate daily, and I just didn't want that for Paige. She always told me she was strong enough, but I never believed her. Paige is also the first serious girlfriend I've had, and well, it was kind of fun having her all to myself for a while. Now, I share her with the world," he jokes, leaning over to peck Paige's cheek sweetly and getting scolded by her makeup artist.

"What do you see in your future? Kids? Marriage?" Niall and Paige laugh, and Paige gives him a look that says she'll handle it.

"We kind of play it day by day. With Niall's new tour and all, you can never really be sure where we'll both be in a matter of months. It's so worth it though, just to have him around for now. No doubt I'll miss him like crazy when he finally leaves," Paige tells her, Rosalie writing furiously on her paper.

"That's what they made Skype and cell phones for, babe," he says, getting everyone to crack a smile.

The questions continue, until finally both Niall and Paige are ready to be photographed together. They are told to stand and look natural, but Paige honestly has no idea what to do. Niall tries his best to lead her, wrapping his arms around her waist and laying his head on her shoulder, both of them smiling as the flash blinds them for merely a few seconds.

They laugh, hug, sway, dance without music, exchange kisses and tease each other, until they're told to pack up and leave, the magazine has everything. Although Paige is reluctant to get out her dress, and Niall is reluctant to see her out the dress, they eventually get kicked out, and head back to Niall's flat.

"Think we fooled'em?" he asks, plopping down on the couch. Paige sits next to him, laying against a pillow.

"I think we did just that," she agrees.

"You hungry?" he questions, getting up to go towards the kitchen. Paige shakes her head, closing her eyes as she rests peacefully on her back.

"For once, no. I had a rough night, and I'd like to take a nap if you don't mind," Paige explains, snuggling into herself as she falls into slumber.

Niall snacks lightly, just staring at Paige until a soft snore escapes her mouth, and he knows for sure that she's asleep. He loves the way she sleeps, cuddled into herself, a small smile formed on her lips as though she's dreaming about something amazing. Niall often wishes that smile is because she's dreaming of him.

Taking a seat next to her on the couch, Niall gently pushes away her bangs out her face, studying every feature as though he could etch it into his brain and never forget the moment he got to see the most beautiful girl in the world in his eyes sleep on his couch, in his home, part of her heart belonging to him. Friend or lover, he supposes.

Without much realization to his actions, Niall leans down, pressing his lips softly to his sleeping companion's. Certainly Paige doesn't kiss him back, but all the same he feels the realness and the passion he simply can not put into their staged kisses.

The smile on Paige's face grows a bit bigger when Niall pulls away. And now, he knows she's definitely dreaming about him. It's the perfect ending of the morning to Niall, the perfect beginning of love as well. Real love, not beard love. If only Paige wasn't so oblivious, and Niall wasn't so cowardly.