corporate affairs [Niall Horan AU]

T H I R T Y O N E

{in case you forgot, el and zayn are on holiday with squad, niall just jumped onto marks yacht, and our girl is currently freakin out at the bottom of a pool and that's what you missed on glee}

T H I R T Y   O N E

Falling in love with Niall had been a storm. A few unsure droplets of rain that appeared randomly at the beginning, just a flicker of a distant something. When his hand would brush mine as I gave him his morning coffee, the way he would laugh and then slide his eyes over to me. It then became steadier, the rain started falling in constant little rhythmic sheets, late nights at the office, little social events where his hand would find itself on the small of my back.

Then the thunder started. Low rumblings that sounded like a distant pack of rhinos in the sky. Suddenly I was his pretend fiancee, and we were dancing and kissing and ignoring the trouble ahead. The rain was everywhere, inescapable. That's when I started to know I was in love, when I started to have my own little rain cloud above my head that followed me everywhere, each patter of rain reminding me who my heart beat for. I was uncontrollable in my love. I was reckless and mindless, unable to think about anything but when I could get more of him. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.

When the lightning started, I was too far gone to realize that those distant rumblings had been warnings from above. It wasn't until those intense streaks of lightning that I realized the danger in him, his careless tendencies that only seemed to make marks on my heart. The rain was still pouring, but then it was drowning me, leaving me trapped between the thunder and the lightning.

There had been only way to stop the storm, and that was to flee. But now here's the storm again, bottled up in a beautiful Armani suit and reeking of Clive Christian. As I come back to the top of the water, I can feel all those cracks of lightning and the shuddering thunder inside me, my heart hammering against my ribcage.

"Towel please," I ask Calinda, who has her hand on her chest like she's close to a heart attack.

She reaches over and grabs a neatly folded towel, handing it to me. I wrap it around my shoulders and climb up the pool's side ladder, feeling everyone's eyes on me. I want to slap him, kiss him, curse him, jump him right there, but most of all I want him to go away, to take the storm with him and let me be.

I stride towards him, which seems to make him shrink a little. That notion alone, seeing Niall shrink because of me makes me feel more confident, even though I still feel overwhelmingly like a deer caught in headlights. I stop a few feet from him, knowing that coming any closer to him will make me lose my train of thought. 

I try not to look at his eyes too much. "Why are you here?" I ask.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" His voice lowers a notch. "Privately." 

"No. Now answer my question, please." 

He looks around, as if nervous. "I thought the answer would be obvious."

My eyebrows knit together as I briefly glance at the faces of my friends. "Well, it isn't to me." 

He swallows, meeting my eyes. I tell myself to look away. "For you," he answers hoarsely. "I'm here for you."

About three months too late, I sneer inside my head. I say nothing in response, and instead ask him how long he's planning to stay. 

"I'm joining you. On this trip."

"So the whole time, or I guess until Gillian or some partner or associate calls you away?" 

"Elouise," he murmurs softly, a look of pain flashing across his face, briefly. It catches me off guard and I hesitate. He'd always been so expressionless and collected, the glimpse at his inner workings sends me reeling. I take a deep breath, reminding myself of all the nights I laid in bed brimming with pain and wishing he would call.