BEST REGARDS (a Niall Horan Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

It was a big day for Nicky Pierce, her first day as an intern at Arthur Records. After 3 years of studying music production at American University, she finally had a chance to see how the real production works.

Greg Arthur was her senior at uni. He met her at the uni's orchestra club and they had a very nice brother-sisterly kind of friendship. A year ago, Greg graduated from the same major and immediately worked at Arthur Records, a record label owned by his father, the legendary Joseph Arthur. When Greg found out that his junior needed a place to do an internship, he was more than delighted to give her a spot as his assistant producer as he knows that Nicky is quite talented and has a good ear for music.

Once Nicky got out of the shower, wore a blouse with a blazer on top and she shoved her legs into her favourite pair of jeans. She wasn't big on makeup so she kept it light and simple with a pastel pink lipstick. Before she forgets, she clips her new ID Card that has her name, picture and the word 'INTERN' on it on her jeans pocket.

The apartment elevator went down and she rode her bicycle to the record label. Greg's office was on the tenth floor. Unfortunately for her, the elevators were under maintenance that day so she had to climb the stairs to the tenth floor.

It was fine for the first three floors but when she started to reach the fourth floor, she was slightly out of breath and almost dead by the tenth floor. She inhaled and exhaled heavily. Sports was never her thing.

Once there, she saw her best friend slash senior Greg, eyeing and laughing at how out of breath she was. Greg was not alone, he was with another guy who appears roughly the same age as him.

"Welcome to your first day as an intern," Greg said in between his laughs.

Nicky sighed heavily, "I was very politely welcomed by around twenty flights of stairs, thank you." She sat herself on a nearby chair.

"It's alright," Greg said, "go catch your breath. It was a good thing I came early. Otherwise, I would have to climb as many stairs as you did."

"So it broke down the minute I was coming?" Nicky asked, slightly annoyed by how harsh reality can be.

"Well, I came at around 7 but stopped by on the 8th floor to say hi to my dad. When I was about to go to this floor, the elevator stopped. So I climbed the stairs too, you know," Greg said.

The guy who was with Greg laughed. "But not nearly as many stairs as she climbed, Greg." He turned to Nicky, "are you okay, love? Shall I get you some water?"

"I'm fine, really, thank you, I brought my own water bottle," Nicky politely declined. Nicky marvelled at how gentle the guy was, unlike Greg.

Greg was looking at his monitor. The guy was sitting at the couch with his guitar, occasionally strumming it. "Oh ya, he's Niall. We will be working on his solo album," Greg introduced Niall, without looking away from his monitor. Typical Greg, once he's in the zone, nothing can take his eyes away from what he was doing.

As soon as Nicky was able to breathe normally again, she got up and shook Niall's hand. "Nicky Pierce, I'm the new intern here."

"Niall Horan, Greg's recording artist," he introduced himself.

Niall Horan? Why does that name sound familiar to Nicky?

"Please tell me you know who he is," Greg said, as if reading her mind.

Nicky didn't want to admit that she doesn't know someone who was supposed to be famous. She had been too busy with all the uni work that she forgot to catch up on the latest artists. "I know him," Nicky sassed.

"Then who is he?" Greg tested her.

She was silent as she was racking her brain for answers. She swore that that name sounds so familiar. But she found nothing. Greg finally took his eyes off the screen. "Nic, he's Niall Horan! A member of arguably one of the biggest boy bands in the world."

This is quite embarrassing for a first day as an intern. She looked at Niall and expected the shocked or disappointed or angry look that his soon to be assistant producer doesn't know who he is. But Niall seems fine, still nice and friendly, which is a shocker for a member of one of the biggest boy bands in the world. It was amazing how humble this person can be. "ONE DIRECTION!" Greg exclaimed.

Nicky finally realized. Yes, One Direction. Her sister Georgina loves that band so much. She would flip if she knew that Nicky was in the same room as one of the members, technically breathing the same air.

"Oh my God," Nicky finally said, covering her mouth, not able to believe how stupid she must seem, "I'm really really sorry. I swore your name and face were so familiar but I couldn't find the name in my brain."

"Reasons," Greg said, looking back at his monitor.

"No seriously, my sister Georgi loves One Direction so much," she said.

"So that's where all the good genes went," Greg said mockingly.

"No problem, love," Niall said, "it's alright. I'd rather have a producer who doesn't know me rather than one who is a crazy fan. It would make it hard to work professionally that way."

"Assistant producer," Greg corrected. Greg's really annoying, Nicky thought. Had she not needed this internship, there is no way she'd be willing to work with this person.

Greg directed Niall to the recording booth to record the songs. Instinctively, Nicky helped control the audio and pitch. The song was good, she thought. It's now up to Greg and her to make the baseline and the music catchy so that it could make its way up to number one charts all around the world.

Niall exited the booth after recording one song. He had recorded three songs with Greg a few days before Nicky started there. "I just finished writing it yesterday," Niall said, "what do you think?"

"I think the song itself is good. Nice sound, nice lyrics, but I think the baseline needed some work," Nicky said.

"I agree, I was struggling with that yesterday but I couldn't find one that matches."

Nicky fiddled with the monitor with headphones on her ear. She tried to make a good baseline for the song. After a few minutes, she found one that sounds pleasant to her ears. "Do you like this?" she said and played her work on the speaker so all three of them can hear.

"Nice," Niall said, "not bad for an intern."

"I only recruit the best," Greg said, not forgetting to take credits. He was suddenly summoned by his father to the 8th floor. He excused himself and told Nicky to work on the rest of the song.

Niall watched Nicky work. "You have talent," Niall complimented her.

"Thanks," she blushed, "they kinda teach us all about it at music school."

"So you're Greg's junior?"

"Yes."

"Are you guys like dating or something?" Niall asked. Nicky's jaw dropped. Isn't it obvious how Greg gets to her nerves sometimes.

"Ewh," Nicky said, "impossible." Niall laughed. Soon, Nicky found herself laughing too. "He's more like a brother to me."

"I see."

"I've been looking for an internship for two months now. Greg was nice enough to give me one when I was struggling."

They worked at the studio till around 4 p.m. After that, Nicky cycled herself back to her flat. Her first day as an intern was quite embarrassing at first, but she was happy she could finally do what she's passionate about, music producing. 

Hi, I've just become a fan recently, so apologies if anything about Niall Horan is mentioned wrong. Please vote and comment, I would love to hear your feedbacks.