PERIPHERY | NH |

THIRTY TWO

Hunter

"Niall, stop it."

Placing my palm on his thigh, His blue eyes look up from his phone to find mine.

"What did I do?"

Running my thumb back and forth, I laugh. "You're bouncing your leg so hard that this car is about to make me seasick."

"Sorry... I'm just still so nervous." He locks his phone and puts it in his pocket. "Like, I know this won't be a bad thing but there is always an idea of it going badly in my mind."

I take his hand in mine as he looks at me. "Babe, I promise it won't."

Leaning forward, Niall finds my lips with his own in a chaste kiss before pulling away. "I love you."

"Love you, too." I pat his leg as I feel the car come to a stop before reaching for my bag on the floor. "Now let's do this, yeah?"

Even though Niall technically didn't announce that he was going to be anywhere, that doesn't stop a few photographers that have been waiting outside of the radio station from taking his picture and calling out his name. Without stopping, we follow a security guard through the door and down a long hallway. Thankfully it's not just us, but Niall's management is here as well. It takes a few turns in the building until we finally seem to make it into a green room.

I listen intently as someone comes in and gives the entire rundown of the show and what to expect, trying to hide my own excitement for this moment.

Of course I was excited for Niall... But I was also excited for me.

Working with someone on bringing their own creative visions to life was something that I feel like I never got used to being a part of. You meet someone and you see every single way that their mind works, day in and day out. It's not easy taking whatever your creative outlet is and making it readily available to the world.

There are days where everything just falls into place and makes sense, but there are also days where you work for hours and nothing goes right and you trash whatever progress you've made just do it all over again the next day.

Being a part of that process and knowing that someone would trust you enough to help them make those visions come to life is one of the greatest feelings I've ever known.

When I hear the final product of something I've done, it takes me back to that little girl who was always told that she wasn't creative enough — that she wasn't going to make anyone happy if she stayed inside with all of her music and her books.

People forget that not everyone finds themselves the same ways, making it seem like it's impossible to be who you really want to be when you find yourself too busy trying to fit into the mold crafted by someone else.

That's what making music does for me.

It reminds me that I am a part of something greater and that the girl that was told so many nasty things is so much more than the vicious words she used to choose to believe.

When it came to Niall, I'd spent so much time with him at this point that I realized seeing him doing press and talking with other people about himself was the side of him that I hadn't really gotten to see in person. After talking with the employee for a little bit, they informed us that they would come and get Niall whenever they were ready.

"Are you ready?" Will looked at Niall from where he was seated on the small couch. "Pretty excited about how you're choosing to release all of this."

Blowing out a long breath, Niall reaches for my hand before pulling me in front of him and wrapping his arms around me. "I know. The whole element of surprise thing seems fun."