Something New [n.h.]

chapter ten

"Maybe I should move." Rachael sighed as she talked to Emmie through FaceTime on her laptop.

Emmie's face dropped on the laptop screen and tried not to roll her eyes at her friend who has been going off for almost an hour about what she should do since she is currently unemployed.

Rach held her head between her hands as she wiped her final remaining tears away. She had nothing left to cry out. If anything she had become dehydrated from crying so much.

"But you love London?" Emmie frowned.

"I heard Barcelona was nice." Rachael thought aloud, thinking to herself.

"Rachael." Emmie stated, getting Rachael to focus and be a little more serious in this situation.

"Or maybe Madrid." Rachael spoke aloud again.

"Rachael," Emmie said again, sterner this time. "You don't even know Spanish."

"I know enough," she defended.

"Hola doesn't count."

"I know." She groaned, and then looked back into the webcam at Emmie, "But I can't afford this apartment here, especially since I'm unemployed."

"Stay at Harry's! He has a place in London." Emmie offered.

"Two, to be exact." Harry corrected, always giving his two cents as he entered the conversation and the view of the webcam.

"I'm not living at Harry's place."

Harry nudged Emmie over so he was now on the camera, and he smiled cheekily at Rachael, "C'mon Rach, I owe you from all those times you helped me with math."

"You mean all those times you copied my work?" Rachael corrected

"Tomato, tomahto." Harry shrugged walking away from the webcam.

Rachael rolled her eyes, knowing very well that the only reason Harry passed trigonometry was because of her.

"Ignore him," Emmie shooed him off, and then continued, "But seriously, do you know what you're going to do?" Emmie asked, worried of the answer Rachael might say.

Rachael sighed looking down. She had thought about it nonstop, because this might very well be her only option at this point.

"Maybe I'll move back home-"

"Nope!" Emmie quickly interrupted her, knowing that that was exactly what Rachael was going to say. "You are not moving back home. You have barely been gone a month, and you aren't moving back yet."

"I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling a little homesick."

"Rach," Emmie sighed.

"Emmie," Rachael began, "I am all alone in this big city, I don't know anyone beside Niall, I just lost my job, and I can't afford this flat for another month. Maybe this is all a sign that I should move home."

"It could also be a sign that you just need to work twice as hard to stay, if being in London is really what you want. And I know it's what you want." Emmie explained. "You've never given up on anything that you've wanted before...why now?"

Rachael frowned, knowing that Emmie was right, she just didn't want to give her the satisfaction that she was right. Her eyes wandered around her room, trying to avoid Emmie's knowing stare. And that's when something caught her eye.

It was the envelope that Niall had given her a few days ago. She still had yet to open it. She knew that eventually her curiosity would get the best of her, but she wanted to remain strong.

"You know I'm right," Emmie teased.

"Oh whatever," Rachael said her eyes shifting from the letter back to Emmie. "I'm gonna call it a night Em. I got a lot of thinking to do, I guess."

"Yes, you do. But it should be an easy decision: stay in London."

And with that the FaceTime call ended, leaving Rachael alone in her room with only the temptation of opening that envelope.

Rachael let out a low growl, frustrated with herself before she finally crawled over her bed and grabbed it from her desk.

She held the paper tightly in her hands looking down at it. She couldn't just not open it. He gave it to her for a reason, and she was curious to know what the reason is.

She groaned before ripping the envelope open revealing a few sheets of papers stapled together.

There was a note on the top addressing Rachael which read,

Hey Rach...I finally finished writing that song. You're the first person to read it. I wrote it for you...I hope you like it.

With love,

Ni.

Rachael's eyes already began watering before she even read the rest. The song that Niall had been struggling to write was never about Emmie. It was about Rachael.

She sighed somberly before looking over the words written on the loose leaf pages. It was beautifully written as Rachael imagined how it would sound if it were stripped down: just Niall alone in the studio with his guitar.

But it was the last line of the song that caused Rachael's breathe to get stuck in her throat and her jaw to drop.

I found happiness right under my nose

But I was foolish and let her go.

Rachael was the one who told him to find happiness and never let it go. She was the one who told him that sometimes the best kinds of happiness are the ones that are hidden right in plain sight, right under their nose. Rachael had become a source of happiness for him, and he let her go.