enamoured [njh]

twenty three

Barbara and Niall are now very close with each other. They both started to opened up about their past, their family and their feelings. They hang out almost every day, in Barbara's apartement or Niall's condo.

"Wanna know something funny?" she said.

Niall looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"...Nevermind." she let out a laugh. She turned around, and started walking away from Niall.

He curled a simple knowing smile, took a few steps forward just to grab her arms and spun her around. "Barbara." he said. She still has the same cheeky smile on her face. "Tell me." Niall said again.

"Your face." she said, trying not to laugh.

"My face?" his forehead was knitted, but she smiled, and said, "Masterpiece..." she paused to laugh. "...of art."

A realization hit him and he let go of his grip on Barbara's arms. "Son of a..." he said while running through his condo. "Tommo!!" he yelled, his footsteps thumping on the wooden floor. "Who do you think you are?! You you drew a cock on my face, ye' little piece of shit."

"Go go go!" Barbara said to Louis who has been hiding behind the kitchen counter.

Louis stormed out from his hiding place and ran towards the door. "See you on rehearsal buddy! Don't be late!!"

"Don't you dare!" Niall yelled again from his bedroom, trying to prevent Louis from leaving. But it was too late, he's already gone with his car.

"I'll kick his ass." he said as he threw himself on the sofa next to Barbara.

She could only laugh at him. She loved Niall and Louis' bromance. All banter, all that. "It's not my fault that you're such a heavy sleeper." she playfully nudged him on his arms.

"Yeah, yeah." he rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of heavy..." she got up from her seat. "I need to go to work."

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, i still have fittings to do for the fashion show." she said with a simple smile.

Niall knew how much the show means to her since she couldn't stop talking about it. He felt happy for her, and for him, because he gets to see her walking for Victoria Secret.

"God, i am nervous." she sighed and plopped back onto the sofa. "You know, i've tried 3 outfits already the other day, and i'm not sure they found the one for me."

Niall put his hand on her knee. "Don't worry, those 3 outfits are probably so good on you they can't decide which one's the best."

She sighed and covered her face with her hands. "I don't know."

"What if... the wings' too heavy for me? Or what if i don't like the whole outfit? Like, what if they put me into a ridiculous outfit? I have to wear what they want me to wear.." Niall's hand was still on her knee, he was constantly rubbing it softly with his hands. "What if i fell down on the runway? What if i tripped?" she started rambling and rambling. Niall was concerned, he thought Barbara was having a panic attack. "Oh my god, the whole world is gonna watch and they're gonna think i'm such a bad model. Or.. or what if i started gaining weight and the they decided to kick me out of the line up??" Niall now tried to calm her down but she still talking and talking with her breath being unsteady. "And you know that they zoomed in on every angle of your body, right? Although it was meant to show the lingerie, but still, my body..." Niall did the most unexpected thing for him. He kissed her. To stop her from worrying too much. To stop her from her panic attack and anxiety. It wasn't romantic. She flinched at first, she was taken aback for sure. But then it did make her calm down a little bit, at least for now.

But Niall pulled back, trying to see her reaction on this. But all he saw was an angel with a broken wing, she has flaws, but that makes her even beautiful that she already was. So his eyes searched for an approval in hers, and when she made a small nod, he licked his lips and leaned in for another kiss.