Something New [n.h.]

chapter six

Walking into work Niall felt as though he needed to address the situation that occured the other night. It was looming over the both Rachael and Niall for the past day but neither of them knew how to address it. But they both knew that they had to eventually.

Of course, bringing it up at the workplace would make everything worse. It was definitely not the time, nor the place, but Niall needed to say something.

As he continued walking toward Rachael's desk with a balloon in his hand, he contemplated what he would say when he saw her.

And then he saw her, working diligently on something on her computer. The phone was being held up to her ear with her shoulder and head as she continued nodding and listening and typing on the computer. She looked so busy and concentrated deeply in her work. That is until she saw Niall walking up to her with a balloon in her hand.

Her eyebrows furrowed at him, as she slowly found herself becoming distracted from what the woman was saying on the phone. Her head lifting from her computer screen as she shook her head subtly at Niall in utter confusion.

Niall then realized how awful of a time this was, a little too late, and quickly turned on his heel he began walking in the other direction, feeling his cheeks heat up from embarrassment. He cringed to himself as he scurried down the hallway.

"Ms. Lynn, are you there?" The woman on the other line spoke.

"Yes- yes I'm here," Rachael nodded, "I will put that in his planner, and begin writing up the press release."

"Beautiful, we'll talk later."

"Yes, talk soon." Rachael said and then hung up the phone.

She sat up from her desk and quickly followed where Niall had run off to.

Mumbling under her breath as she walked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulder and quickly turning him around to face her.

"Rach," he said trying to sound like he wasn't expecting her, but he couldn't hide it in his voice. He knew that she would be chasing him down in no time. Especially after seeing him with a "good job" balloon in his hands.

"Hey Niall," she said not trying to pretend that the balloon wasn't there. "Who's the balloon for?" She asked tilted her head to the side in a condescending way. Both of them already knew the answer.

"Uh...you?" Niall said, though it came out sounding like a question. He knew he couldn't lie to her.

"'Good job'? For what? Having sex with you?"

"Yeah. You did a good job, so...I thought you deserved a balloon." Niall said slowly, cringing to himself as he began to realize how stupid of him this was.

Rachael's eyes widened as she looked in complete disbelief at Niall. She let out a sigh and then said, "This isn't real," before grabbing his arm and pulling him into the bathroom where they could talk in private. 

No one could hear anything about the two of them hooking up. If anyone caught wind of it, Rachael's job would be ripped away from her.

"Niall," she began, and then pointed directly at the balloon, "This can't happen. The balloon, you and I, everything. It can't happen."

"Rach c'mon we just had some fun," Niall shrugged it off.

"Niall we had fun at a bar the other night and my job was threatened." Rachael reminded him, "I can't have my job on the line, Ni."

Niall frowned realizing how much danger he was putting Rachael in. As much as he didn't want to forget about last night, he knew it was what's best for the both of them. He just had to convince himself of that.

"You're right. Last night was a mistake." Niall stated.

Rachael looked almost taken aback as she shook her head frantically, "What? No Niall, I don't regret it. I just think it would be best if we acted like it didn't happen. Not only for my job, but for our friendship." She explained. "I don't want things to be weird between us like...bringing a balloon in to work after I had sex with you to say that I did a good job..."

Niall chuckled and nodded his head, "I agree Rach. I respect you a lot as a publicist, but more importantly as a friend. So let's just keep things professional from now on." Niall reached his hand out for her to shake, as if they just finished a business deal.

"Professional sounds good." Rachael nodded in agreement and shook Niall's hand.

"Great doing business with you, Ms. Lynn." Niall said knowing that by saying her last name he was getting under her skin.

"You as well, Mr. Horan."

Niall cringed slightly before pulling his hands away and suggested, "But that doesn't mean we still can't watch the football game later, what do you say Rach?"

"Oh you mean the game where Nottingham Forest is going to destroy Derby County?"

Niall shook his head, "I think you're thinking of a different game, because tonight is when Derby County is going to destroy Nottingham Forest."

"Bet." Rachael took a step forward.

"You're on." Niall copied her movement, moving closer to her.

"See you at 6." She smirked.

"I'll bring the pizza."