Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Eighty-Three

Olivia Allen

"Good morning," Niall said in his raspy morning voice as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me.

I held my arms on top of his, trying not to spill my coffee, and laughed at his playfulness as he placed kisses on the side of my face.

My dad let out an uncomfortable cough from behind his coffee mug. I had forgotten he was there.

"Sorry." Niall cleared his throat nervously and dropped his arms. "Didn't see ya there."

I don't even care anymore. I want to enjoy every bit of Niall's sweetness. We'll be married by the end of the year so my dad can get over it.

He went back to the family room to keep watching the news with my mom. The second he was gone I turned towards Niall and let out a laugh at his blush.

"You never learn," I said. I kissed him and he wrapped me in another hug.

"Easy, easy," Harry joked as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a mug from the cabinet. "Cool it please."

Niall and I laughed at him but quit with the affections.

I don't know if I'm still mad at Harry. Niall and I talked about it last night and Niall told me I should lay off him. He said Harry seems pretty torn up like he really does like Grace. He masks it well though.

"Morning, Harry."

We joined my parents in the family room. My last full day at home was yesterday and we spent it hanging by the pool. Now I'm all packed and I leave for New York in a few hours. Niall is helping me move even though we shipped most of the boxes. Then he's going back home for awhile. He's going to spend some time in London with friends and some time at home in Mullingar with his parents. Maura and Chris left the Monday after my graduation.

I really don't know what he's going to do with all his time off and neither does he. But he can't just hang in New York until the wedding because it's months away and I'll be working every day.

...

Two months later

"Did you get that coffee refill?"

"It's on your desk."

"And the notes for the B block?"

"Right here," I said as I handed Steve a file. He's one of the hosts of the morning show I work at.

"Thanks, kid." I hope the word kid is used as somewhat of a term of endearment. It's sure used frequently around here. I'd like to be called Olivia just a little more frequently.

"Five minutes," someone with a headset yelled. It's nearly six so the show is about to start. My hours are kind of ridiculous but I've gotten used to it.

I get up before four to take a shower then I grab a bunch of coffees on my way and make it to the studio by five. That gives me time to finish helping the hosts prep. The morning show runs for three hours from six to nine. Afterwards I start prepping for the next day but there's not a lot I can do until more newsworthy things happen. In the evening I go over all the new stories from the day and help compress it into talking points for tomorrow morning's show. Then I go to bed by nine if possible to start it all again the next day. So my job basically starts really early and goes late but I have a chunk of the afternoon off. It's weird.

I truly thought I'd love it more than I do. It's now July and I am still lukewarm about it. It's alright but I just see these people with families working insane hours and I would never want to do that. I thought it would be the coolest job but I wouldn't want something so demanding of my time if I had kids at home and it took away from them.