Act Like You're in Love {Niall Horan}

Chapter 16: Awkward

~Mariah's P.O.V.

The clicking of the keys on my laptop fills the room. It ceases when I scroll down, looking all over the page on the screen for John's train. He said he was coming in from Albany, but I don't see a train listed for that anywhere. I do see a train from Central Park to New York City, though, so I guess it was just a mistake.

I take one last glance at the arrival time for the Central Park to NYC train. The estimated time is 7:30p.m., so I have about five minutes before I have to leave. My desk is cool against my skin as I lean my face on it. I'm really tired. Most people don't seem to think that acting would be a hard job, but I'm brain dead. It requires so much concentration to remember exactly how you're supposed to look during the whole scene, and then we just have to do it all over again. That's pretty much the whole day.

I groan, knowing I have to get up. I push my hands against the desk to get the rest of me up, and then I stumble to the door. It's about a five minute drive to the train station, so I get there in no time. I'm a few minutes early, but it's busy. People crowd around, waiting for the train to drop off whoever they're expecting. So many voices are talking at once that it's impossible to make out any conversation as I push my way through the congregation to get a better view. The buzz of voices gets louder as the train pulls in, making a bunch of noise itself.

I scan the doors of the train, looking for a familiar face. A good-looking guy emerges, and as I look closer, I recognize him as John. He's so much taller than I remember, but then again I haven't seen him since the 8th grade. I stick my hand up and wave furiously in an attempt to catch his attention.

"John!" I shout. Even I can barely hear myself it's so loud. He looks around, so I know he heard me. I try again, "John! Over here!"

John's face whips in my direction and lights up in recognition when his eyes land on me. He hops off the train eagerly and shoves through the mob to get to me.

"Hey," he pants. He drops his two bags to give me a hug even though there's hardly enough room for standing

"Hi! You look so different!" I exclaim, putting my hands on his shoulders and giving him a close-up look.

John chuckles. "As do you."

"Well, c'mon, let's get out of this mess," I beckon him.

He grabs his bags effortlessly. I notice then that his light blue, v-neck tee is tight, showing off his toned body. It really is weird, seeing your tiny nerd friend becoming this well-built...man.

Right by the train station is this small burger place, so I lead him out the doors of the train station. The mugginess seeps in right away as we step outside, but it feels fresher than the clamminess of the train station. The burger place is lit up nicely and has a decent amount of customers inside, but thankfully no one is in line. Since it's just burgers, we decide what we want quickly and sit down at a small two-seater in the middle of the restaurant.

"Why are you still wearing your sunglasses?" John questions me.

"Oh, 'cause I don't want people to recognize me."

He looks at me like he's confused for a second, but then he catches on. "Riiiiight, so how's your acting been?"

I smile. "It's really good! I love all the people there and the job itself is really enjoyable for me." I bob my head up and down for a few seconds.

"That's awesome, congratz," John says. He pauses, and then speaks again with a tone of awe. "Wow, you're so different."

"I know," I pout, dragging out the o sound. "We grow up too fast!"