PERIPHERY | NH |

TWELVE

Niall

Hunter is in my house.

In my clothes.

Sitting with her legs crossed in the overstuffed armchair that sits in the makeshift studio in my house.

I don't know what prompted me to ask her to come back to my house — knowing that if she agreed there's nothing I would be able to concentrate on other than wanting to feel my lips all over her skin.

Over the last couple of weeks I'd really abandoned all rational thinking and decided if she somehow, some way managed to show that she felt the same way that nothing would be able to hold me back from doing something that I definitely should not do.

We'd been working in here for the last few hours ever since I put her clothes in the dryer — forcing myself not to wonder about if all of her clothes were in my hands when I tossed them in the open dryer with my eyes closed.

Usually when someone new was in my space it gave me wave upon wave of anxiety, but Hunter looked like she belonged here.

I wanted her here.

"But what if you drop the tone down, just a little, and then I can layer over the top?" Looking down at her computer, she plays the clip from something I've just done but has edited it to simulate her thoughts. "I mean, it's just a small change but the idea is promising."

Focused on her computer, my eyes take in the sight of her wavy hair that's fallen over her shoulder and frame her face. "Do you want to try it? Let's do it right now."

Excitedly, she nods as I adjust the equipment in front of me and mess around with the buttons in order to be able to record myself so that she can add the touches she was feeling.

As the background track plays over, I lean forward and sing so that we can get something to work with — my eyes unable to leave Hunter's deep hazel eyes as the music seems to drown out everything around us, the lyrics about a fun and spontaneous relationship some that I'm finding myself more and more interested in trying to find for myself.

Soft cheeks lay nested into the palm of her hand on the arm that's propped up from resting against her knee, every last drop of her attention is on me as I keep going — knowing that there's a smile on my face that spreads wider and wider, wanting to bask in her glow for as long as she'll let me.

Finishing out the phrase with my hands on the bulky headphones on the sides of my head, I resist the urge to groan as Hunter brings her plump bottom lip between her teeth, her smile just as wide as mine, holding my attention for just a split second before giving it all to her mixing software.

"Here. Listen." Hunter had been quiet for a little while, working on what she wanted to execute, the look on her face full of excitement as she pushed the play button. "Tell me what you think."

I think I'm obsessed with you, that's what I fucking think.

I listen to what she's managed to completely alter, everything fitting the small track layout so well that it feels like I can't do anything but look at her in awe. Someone like her should be talked about all over the industry, but I'm selfish and I'm glad she's on my team and nobody else's.

•

"Are you hungry?" A loud clap of thunder from the continuous storm breaks my attention from the comfortable silence we've wedged our way into over the last hour. "I'm pretty sure I've got something I can whip up in the kitchen."

Honestly, I'm not sure if the knot in my stomach was from the nerves that have taken up space or if I actually was hungry but I would happily accept the distraction if Hunter agreed.