WHEN (A NIALL HORAN A.U)

chapter two ➤ unknown number

➤ ROWEN

"We were driving for hours and it was raining and we were drifting and then suddenly I saw the light."

"You thought you were dying?" Niall asked, eyebrows raised as he watched me with fascination. We'd gone kilometers off of topic.

"No, I saw the McDonald's sign at the rest stop." Niall let out a loud laugh, obviously completely surprised by my story wrap-up.

"You had me going for a minute there. You're quite the story teller, Ms.Lancaster."

"I thought I told you to call me Rowen!" I said, wagging my finger in a playfully scolding way.

"Right, Right, I'm sorry Row-" Niall is cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. Niall's smile slightly falters as he lifts his phone up off the desk, letting out a breath, suddenly looking exhausted.

"An hour already?" He muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
I pouted at that, had it really been an hour already?

I looked over at the clock above the car, 9:25 a.m. I guess time does fly when you're engrossed in a conversation that has absolutely nothing to do with the task at hand.

"I've gotta go, Rowen." Niall said, looking and sounding equally as disappointed as I felt.

"Thank you for giving me this time to interview." I said, offering a smile, "I hope I didn't waste your time too much."

Niall nodded his head lightly, offering a kind smile, "We'll make sure to get back to you if you get the job."

I nodded again, thinking for a moment, before saying, "Can I ask you something, really quick?"
"I really have to go my next app-"
"Is there any way we could keep in contact? I really enjoyed talking to you today."

"Ms.Lancaster, as much as I've enjoyed talking to you, I'm not sure it would be appropriate to talk outside of this, as you are a prospective employee, and it wouldn't be fair to the other applicants."

"How so? We can't be friends?"

"It wouldn't be appropria-"

"Wouldn't be appropriate? Would it kill you to live a bit?"

"No but it could get me fired." Niall said, voice flat and unamused.

"I doubt that, but if you ever want to contact me, you know, in case you can't get me out of your head, my cellphone number is attached to the packet. Good luck with your other interviews Mr.Horan."

I waved to him lightly, disconnecting the call. My mom always said to leave everyone wanting more, and that's exactly what I did.

➤ NIALL 5:53 P.M.

Eight hours later and over ten interviews later, and I was still hung up on Ms.Lancaster, I mean, Rowen. I still haven't figured out what about her I found so god damn appealing. She was some twenty-something stranger with a big mouth and an over-the-top personality. A cute personality, but an over-the-top one.

Why does it matter if her personality is cute or not? God, what was this woman doing to me? We'd had an hour long conversation for gods sake. I keep thinking back to the end of the interview:

"No but it could get me fired." I muttered to her, doing my best to keep my voice flat and unamused, although the idea of keeping in touch with her had my head spinning.

There was just something about her that made me feel something. She was so real, she was funny, down to earth, a great story teller, she was everything I liked in a girl. That I could tell, after an hour long conversation.

"I doubt that, but if you ever want to contact me, you know, if you can't get me out of your head, my cellphone number is attached to the packet. Good luck with your other interviews Mr.Horan." She waved at me, smirking, as she disconnected the call.

Believe me when I say that I tried to be angry, when I say that I wanted to cross her off the list of potentials, but there was just something about her.

It wasn't just her personality that I found appealing either, she was stunning, too. She was hot.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, closing my laptop. I needed to go home, before I did something stupid and skyped her.

But what would be so wrong about that? We were both adults. We were capable of talking without doing anything too compromising.

Right?

Right?

Before I could stop myself, I was shuffling through the endless mountain of resumes and papers, searching for her name.

Not it, not it, not it, not it, where is it? There it is!

Rowen Acacia Lancaster,
256, Shepler Street, New Haven, Connecticut
1-203-668-7325

I licked my lips, should I text her?

What would the damage really be? Would they really fire me if I talked to a potential employee? Those were the two questions I didn't have answers for.

I wanted to talk to her, but did I want to talk to her that bad? Bad enough to risk having to move back home to Ireland? That was the ultimate question.

What would my mom think?

Okay, I'll admit I'm thinking way too hard about this. The only way that this could be a problem is if, hypothetically, we dated and I gave her the job because she was my girlfriend.

What was I saying?

Dating? Girlfriend? Christ, we had an hour long conversation and I was already thinking about dating her. The chances of that happening were so beyond slim, I don't think they'd share the width of a toothpick.

I looked at the clock, 6:28 P.M. 

We're grown adults, we can have a normal conversation without it escalating to job-threatening levels, can't we? Where does it say in the rule book that I can't talk to her? As of right now, she's not employed by LJP. Therefore, no harm, no foul. 

I like those thoughts better. 

Especially when it allowed me to talk to Rowen again. 

God, an hour long conversation and she's already got me thinking about her. What am I going to do after a two hour conversation? I smiled at the thought. For some reason, I was liking the idea of having a long drawn out conversation with her. That was one more thing I liked about her compared to the other people I interviewed: She wasn't afraid to ask me questions. She challenged me when I asked her something she wasn't keen about. 

I reached into my pocket, taking my iPhone out and typing in the passcode.

Opening my messages, I typed the number into the address bar. 

FROM: NIALL HORAN
TO: 1-203-668-7325

You were right, I can't get you out of my head.

DELIVERED 7:10 PM

It's too late to go back now, let's just hope she replies back.