Voir Dire (N.H.)

ten

"Your table Mr. Horan," the waiter said with a gesture as he showed Niall and his date their seats. The table was secluded, but with just enough of a view that a few pap shots could be taken. The kind of shots that would keep the buzz of Niall's budding new romance with his music video star going after their first public appearance.

Niall pulled out the chair for Krystal as she took a seat, taking a moment to flatten out the tight red dress she was wearing before sitting down.

"Fancy place," she noted, gazing around the room uncomfortably as if she wasn't quite sure what to say.

"It is," Niall agreed, joining her in surveying their surroundings. It was a fancy place: white table cloths, tux-claden waiters, bottles of wine that cost more than some people's paychecks. The place exuded celebrity status-but this place wasn't him.

No, if it was up to Niall, his first date would be a chill day watching the Derby game, a beer in hand and his ass firmly planted on his enormous couch. He was a simple man, and simple men didn't enjoy 3 Michelin Star restaurants where your $100 appetizer was barely more than a bite.

But this wasn't a first date Niall planned, nor was it a first date he wanted to be on. But he knew that there would be a lot more where these came from, that was for certain.

"Do you come here often?" Krystal asked, clearly trying to counter the awkward silence that had befallen them.

"It's only the place where I take all my fake girlfriends," Niall joked, and he watched as Krystal's previously nervous face broke into a small smile.

"You're funny," she laughed.

"That's what they always said," Niall replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, like your boyband role?" Krystal asked, taking a sip of the red wine the waiter had now placed in front of each of them.

"Something like that," Niall shrugged, taking a sip himself and hoping that a little bit of expensive alcohol would ease the gross feeling of going out on a fake date.

"Do you miss it? Being in a band?"

"That's a question I get asked a lot," Niall paused trying to think of the right answer.

"I miss parts of it. I miss always having someone else to tour with, someone who understands exactly what you are going through. But there's things I don't miss: like not being able to step foot outside the hotel without being ambushed by a group of screaming fans."

Krystal nodded in understanding. Niall knows that wasn't all of it. His feelings towards the band, and towards that question were much more complicated than that. But those feelings weren't something he shared willingly. Those were things he would only tell to someone he really trusted, someone who really understood him.

"But the fans," she continued, "You still get a lot of them chasing after you right? I mean people were going crazy for you on the red carpet."

"True, there's no real anonymity after your face has been plastered to a few hundred billboard and magazines."

"And here I was excited that my face made a Perez Hilton article," Krystal laughed.

Niall could tell she was still in the honeymoon phase of it all. The part where the celebrity world and all that came with it still felt like a fairytale, a new and exciting adventure. That first taste of fame that makes you feel so utterly important.