You and I | Harry Styles/1D Fanfic

Three.

I was shitting myself. I never shit myself. Nerves just never affect me usually. But I can say in all honesty that as I stepped foot into that twenty-two storey office building on Monday morning, I was shitting myself. Zoe had nearly cried when I'd left her to drive to work earlier. She didn't have class till this afternoon but she'd insisted on getting up early to help me with my hair and make up. I don't know why she bothered to be honest. She knew I wasn't going to let her put anything more than mascara and eyeliner on my face and that any hairstyle she did for me would inevitably get ruined due to my incredibly bad habit of running my fingers through my wild lion mane hair, but still it was sweet of her. She'd looked like a proud mother when she'd seen me all ready to go in my white pant suit and baby blue heels. I think she was especially proud of the heels. I rarely wear anything with colour, basically all of my clothes are either white, grey or black – mainly black – so it was a special moment for her.

I signed in with the woman at reception, who was uncomfortably smiley, and then made my way to the twenty-second floor. I stood in the empty lift watching the numbers light up as we ascended. Wow, the top floor? My boss must be right up there with the big dogs of the company. Mel, my uncle's wife, worked at the American branch of the company. I didn't know her all too well but I still wished that she was going to be my boss here instead of this Emmie woman.

When the doors opened on floor number twenty-two, I was met with another reception desk. Thankfully this one had a guy sat behind it and he didn't look anywhere near as 'peppy' as the woman from downstairs. He introduced himself as Gareth and smiled at me when I told him who I was and what I was here for.

"You are going to have such a great time working at Icon Management," he said to me. "Everyone who's here wants to be here so it's such a relaxed environment." He looked my pant suit up and down. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" He laughed at my bluntness.

"Nothing, you just don't need to be so overdressed." I looked down at my outfit and then glanced over at his grey Ralph Lauren jumper. I couldn't see beneath the desk but I would've bet any money that he was wearing jeans too.

"I still look hot, so, whatever," I shrugged. I could wear what I wanted.

"Yes you do." My eyebrow shot up again as I looked at Gareth. He gave me a quick wink and then burst into laughter. "Don't worry hun, I'm gay. Gay and just stating a fact." I grinned at him. I could tell that me and Gareth were going to get along just fine. "Emmie is just in a meeting at the moment. We're signing a new group and they've overrun a little. She should be out any minute now, just take a seat by the boardroom. It's round the corner and down the corridor to your left" I smiled a quick thanks to Gareth before walking round the corner to find a seat.

'Any minute now' quickly turned into twenty minutes and by the time Emmie emerged from the boardroom I had reached a top score of 45 on the Facebook messenger basketball game. I stood up quickly and Emmie approached me straight away.

"Oh you must be Taylor! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting," she apologised. Emmie was younger than I'd expected, about mid to late thirties, and quite pretty in a corporate kind of way. She was wearing a stripy blouse and black knee-length skirt with her glasses perched on her head. Very Mrs Robinson...

"Don't worry, it's not a problem at all," I tried to reassure her. "Gareth told me you were having a really important meeting so I completely understand." Emmie nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Oh yes, you've come at a very exciting time. We've just signed a new group who were having trouble with their previous management. They'll be around quite a bit over the next few weeks while everything is getting settled so don't worry you won't be the only new face around here. They're coming out now, I'll introduce you to them." I bent down to pick up my bag from underneath my seat just as I heard murmured voices coming from the boardroom behind her.

"So is that everything for today then, Emmie?" a voice called out. I looped my bag over my forearm as I processed the accent. The voice sounded really familiar. I straightened myself up ready to meet the new group. Then I froze I stared at the blonde head that had appeared at the entrance to the boardroom. No way. Emmie took a step toward me and beckoned the guy to follow. He approached me with the widest smile on his face.

"Niall, this is Taylor," Emmie said warmly. "Taylor, this is Niall." Niall reached out a hand towards me. I blinked at it for a few seconds before realising that I was meant to shake it.

"Hey, it's nice to meet ya," Niall greeted me in his warm Irish lilt. I found myself smiling back without even meaning to. He just had such an openness about him that I immediately liked.

"It's nice to meet you too, Niall."

"Ahh, and here are the rest of them," I heard Emmie say. I broke my gaze from Niall just in time to see three more figures appear from inside the boardroom. Emmie introduced them all to me as they came, as if I didn't already know who they were. Liam came out next, followed by Louis. I said a quick hello to them both. They were in the middle of a conversation between themselves so didn't pay as much attention to me as Niall but they were nice enough. Last to emerge was Harry. He was on his phone as he came out, presumably checking something on his calendar. He was asking Emmie about some next meeting or other when she interrupted him to introduce me.

"Harry, this is our new intern, Taylor." Harry glanced up at me, looking friendly but somewhat unconcerned. Then he saw my face and his expression seemed to change. His eyes widened a little and his expression changed from surprised to annoyed before settling on what can only be described as dangerously charming. I reached out a hand to greet him.

"Nice to meet you," I said, trying to keep the shock and disbelief out of my voice. Harry took me by surprise when he took my hand and brought it to his lips, giving it a gentle kiss.

"Nice to meet you too, Taylor."