Another World

Chapter 9

The clock in almost 5 when I finally get back to the apartment. I accidentally took the wrong train on my way home from Railroad Records, and it took me a while to get back on the right one. Liam is already laying on the couch when I walk through the door. I kick of my shoes and plops down next to him with a deep sigh.

"Long day?" He ask and gives me a little pat on my knee.

"Yeah. Took the wrong train aswell." I admitt.

"Ah, I see." Liam says. "I did the same thing my first week here." He chuckles.

"Yeah? You don't take your car to work?" I ask him.

I know he brought his car with him to London.

"Nah, London traffic is terrible. The train is much faster." Liam explains. "But how was work, and what do you think about Lou?"

"It was really good!" I say and my mood changes to the better, thinking about it. "The place is massive and so fancy and they have tons of certified albums and the main studio i ridiculous!" I go on.

"Wow, Niall! That's brilliant!" Liam says and sounds almost as excited as me. "I've only ever been in the lobby and it looks very fancy."

"It is! They even have a receptionist!" I say.

"Oh yeah, was it Oscar or the girl there today?" Liam asks me.

"Oscar." I say, surprised that Liam knew his name. "Do you know him?" I ask a bit curious.

"We've met before when I have been visiting Louis, they go out for drinks sometimes." He explains. "And I've seen him at Railroads once as well."

I remember that Oscar looked like he was about our age, so I guess that makes four of us at the company. Oscar, Louis, me and Mr. Party pants.

"What are you thinking about, mate?" Liam asks me. He must have seen the resentment on my face thinking about the last one.

"Um, nothing." I say and give him a small smile, not feeling like sharing the one bad thing about my day. "I'm just very hungry, how 'bout some dinner?"

Liam and I make dinner together and eat in front of the TV as usual. This apartment actually has a dining table, but we both prefer the couch. We watch a couple episodes of Casa del Papel before we get ready for bed. When it is my turn to use the bathroom, I take my time putting my hygiene products on the shelf Liam cleared for me. As much as I try to avoid it, my mind keeps going back to the curly guy in the copy room. Why was he so rude to me? And will I see him again tomorrow? I hope not. I try to force my mind to forget his face, but the burning green eyes seems to be burned into my eyelids. Every time I close my eyes, they are staring into mine.

I do not sleep very well that night, I twist and turn in my bed until i finally fall asleep. My thoughts is racing uncontrollable in my mind and mixes with incoherent dreams. When my alarm rings in the morning I am still very tired. I wonder if I am ever going to get used to waking up this early, at home I never start work until noon. That is probably the best thing about working at a cinema. However, this new job is worth all the early mornings in the world.

With a big yawn, I get out of bed and walk over to my dresser to choose an outfit for the day. I go with a pair of navy blue chinos and a button up shirt with folded up sleeves. After a few minutes of consideration, I decide to wear my glasses today. I am not confident enough to wear them every day, but Trish thinks they look really good on me.

--

The commute to work goes without a hitch, and I get there safe in time. It is a good think I start work at 9 instead of 7 when there is the biggest rush. The morning is cool and the trees I pass has started to change color. London in the fall is really beautiful, when it is not raining there is.

Oscar is working the front disk again today, and he greets me when I walk inside. This time I do not wait for Louis in the lobby, I go directly to his office that the showed me yesterday. I knock on his door, not sure if it would be OK for me to just walk inside.

"COME IIIN!" I hear Louis practically roaring from the other side of the door.

I walk in and fins him sitting laid back on his office chair with his feet resting on the desk.

"Isn't it my favorite Irish man?" Louis greets me with a wide smile.

I chuckle, not sure how to answer his exuberant welcoming.

"Take a seat!" He exclaims and points to the chair in front of him.

"I have exciting news." Louis says when I am sitting down.

"Oh, yeah?" I say, wondering what that can be.

"The company just signed a new up-and-coming artist this week, and he will be coming in here today for a meeting regarding his first single." Louis tells me with excitement. "He is a 27 year old guy from Bradford. He looks like a bad ass but has a voice like an angel!"

"Wow, that sounds great." I say. "And he's unsigned?"

"Up until now he was." Louis answers. "Apparently he was scouted by another record before, but a fall out between them was the end of it." He explains.

I nod understandingly.

"Anyway, he will be here any moment now and you'll have the chance to meet him yourself." Louis says and sits up straight in his chair, probably to look a little bit more professional in front of our new client.

The new artist joins us a few minutes later, accompanied by his manager. The so called "Bradford bad boy" introduces himself as Zayn Malik, and takes a seat on the chair next to mine. He has olive toned skin, black hair and a lot of tattoos, but the thing that stands out most about Zayn is his eyes. They are brown, almost gold, peering through rows of long, black eyelashes. It gives his appearance a mystique that is very
intriguing.

The meeting goes well, and we spend a good 2 hours discussing the next steps in his career. Louis plays him a couple of demos and Zayn comes with suggestions on how he wants to improve them. Tomorrow we will sit down with the songwriter and adjust the chosen song to fit Zayn, and then we will start recording his first single. This first step is basically brainstorming ideas and coming up with a plan for how to work with the artist. Zayn has a lot of inputs and ideas on his own, but Louis is very professional and skilled, and assures Zayn to trust the process. I, on the other hand, is just thrilled to be working on this team. This is going to be so much fun and educational, and I can not wait to start the recording.

The meeting eventually comes to an end, and Louis offers to buy all of us Lunch. Zayn ans his manager agrees and Louis suggests a Restaurant a few blocks away that I obviously have never heard of before. It turns out to be a pretty fancy one and the food is amazing.

After lunch I help Louis with some paper work and sit in on a few more meetings. The day goes by pretty fast since there is so much work to do. I am a little bit nervous that I might run into that Harry guy when Louis sends me to the copy room, but luckily I do not see him all day. Maybe he is out scouting for artists to insult.