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To say that Harry and Niall had become close, was a huge understatement. Niall had been in America for five years now, and he and Harry had been friends for, well, five years. Harry was Niall’s best friend, something he thought he had lost when he moved here. But the more they had hung out that summer, the more they learned about each other. And Niall found the number of similarities between them surprising. They both had older siblings and they were both being raised by single mothers. They both really liked sports, although Niall quickly learned that Harry was pretty terrible at a lot of them. As Harry’s mom put it, it was like they were destined to meet and be friends, and Niall couldn’t help but to agree.
~
Niall loved the summer. Summer meant hot days and sweet summer treats. It also meant no school, which meant Niall could hang out with his best friend. Though, when said best friend thought it was a great idea to wake Niall up at nine in the morning, well that was one thing Niall did hate. And in this moment, for some reason unknown to Niall, Harry was jumping on his bed, screaming in his ear. “Since I’m twelve, do you think I’d go to jail for murder?” Niall mumbled into his pillow.
Harry stopped for a moment, confused by Niall’s question. “I’m not sure, Ni. Why?”
“Because I’m seriously considering killing you if you don’t leave me alone.”
“But, NIall. It’s a great day. We have to get up and embrace it.”
“I’d rather embrace my bed if you don’t mind.” NIall turned over away from Harry hoping the curly haired boy would leave him alone.
He didn’t.
“Niall James Horan, get out of this bed right now. You promised we’d play video games.”
Niall could hear the pout in Harry’s voice, and as much as he’d hate to admit, Harry’s stupid pouting face was a weakness for anyone. But Niall was tired and didn’t want to give up too easily. “And we will, Harry, but can’t we do it a little later?”
Niall could tell Harry was thinking by the silence that met him. He even thought that he had actually gotten through to him. But of course he should have know his best friend better. Harry was silent alright, but that’s because he had left the room only to return with a glass of water. “Harry, no.”
“Harry, yes.”
Niall couldn’t say he was surprised that his best friend dumped water on him. Harry was filled of crazy ideas that only he thought were great. But still, this was a new one, even for Harry. So, yes. Of course Niall flipped. But only a little. “Oh my GOD! Harry, what’s wrong with you? Now I’m all wet!”
“Oops. I guess that means you have to get up and change now.” Niall was convinced that no twelve year old should be that good at making such devilish grins. Especially Harry.
~
Another similarity that Niall quickly found they had, was there love for video games. Usually they played FIFA, but sometime they would change it up with something new. By now it was almost tradition for them to spend most of their summer either playing various sports together outside, or play them in a video game. What Niall didn’t understand was why they had to wake up so early to do it. However, constantly beating Harry’s butt in all the games was a pretty good form of payback, if you asked him. “Wow, Harold, I believe you just keep getting better and better every summer.”
“Screw you, Nigel.” Tossing the controller on the sofa beside him, but instantly picking it up to place it gently on the table, because he was Harry, he laid back on the sofa and glared at NIall.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’re the one that woke me up early to play. You can’t be mad when I beat you.”
“I was hoping you’d still be sleepy and then maybe you wouldn’t do your best.”
Niall jumped up and pushed Harry slightly. “You cheater! You woke me up at nine in the morning, because you thought you’d be able to beat me. I can’t believe you.” Niall laughed softly as Harry sat back up straight.
“Yeah, well, it didn’t even work. So, forget it.” Before Niall could respond back, Harry’s phone vibrated from it’s place on the table. Harry grabbed it and checked it quickly before mumbling something Niall couldn’t understand and stuffed it in his back pocket.
“You alright there? Get some devastating news or somethin?” Niall joked.
“Haha. So very funny. But no. Just some girl.”
“A girl?” Why was a girl texting Harry? For some reason, Niall found himself uneasy. Niall wasn’t stupid. He was aware of all the talk about how “hot” the girls found Harry, but Harry actually texting one of them left a weird feeling in Niall’s stomach. A weird feeling he couldn’t exactly explain. And even though it didn’t feel right, he found himself asking, “Who is she?”
“You know Becca, right? Well, she told Sophia that she had a crush on me and wanted to kiss me, so Sophia got my number from Liam and gave it to Becca and now she’s texting me.”
“Oh, okay.” And there was that weird feeling again. And again Niall was going to ask a question he really didn’t want the answer to.“So, do you wanna kiss her, too?”
“Well, Liam says I should. Something about being twelve now and I needed to kiss a girl. I don’t know. I wasn’t really listening.”
“But do you want to kiss her?”
“Uh, not really. I don’t really like her like that. Anyway, I’m not really worried about kissing anyone right now. I mean, I’m too young, I can’t be tied down to someone like that. And if I was dating someone, who would hang out with you?” Harry’s giggle eased Niall a little. But he still felt an uneasiness that he couldn’t explain. So what if Harry got to kiss a girl or if some girl got to kiss Har-, Oh. Oh God. Suddenly the feeling in Niall’s stomach made sense. But the truth made him even more nervous. There was a name for Niall’s uneasiness.
NIall Horan, meet Jealousy.