under my skin || n.h. au

five: screaming on the inside

When Brooklyn receives a text message from Louis asking her if she'd like to get coffee with him, she has to reread it a few times. As far as she knows, he's not one to wake up early in the morning. He goes to sleep late and he wakes up late too. She knows that because sometimes he'd text her 'good morning' and it's 12 in the afternoon.

Brooklyn doesn't respond to his text straightaway as she decides to take a shower first. She checks her phone once again after that to see if the text message is still there and when it is, she types a reply: Sure. Why not?

Beck is still asleep when Brooklyn steps out of her room, all dressed for work – she may have put on a little effort to look extra good this morning.

Beck must have gotten home late last night because she's pretty sure she heard his footsteps coming in at around 2 in the morning – she didn't check if it really was him because she was too afraid to leave her bed. She hopes it's him because the thought of this flat possibly being haunted sends shivers down her spine.

Curse the stupid horror movie she watched last night before she went to bed. She still doesn't know why she thought it's a good idea to watch the movie alone – well, she's not really alone because she texted Niall whilst she watched it since he's the one who recommended the movie to her. Her texts were filled with exclamation marks and words written in capital letters – she's sure she was Niall's main source of entertainment last night. The last text she sent to him was a few rows of the middle finger emoji. He responded with three laughing emojis.

Once she's out of her flat building, Brooklyn sends a text message to Louis, telling him that she's on her way to the coffee shop, to which he replies with a picture of him holding a cup of coffee. He looks so sleepy, his eyes so heavy and she can tell that he's not a morning person.

When Brooklyn reaches the coffee shop, Louis waves at her and she makes her way to him, pulling out a chair to sit. "Morning," she greets him.

"Morning," he responds along with a poor attempt at smiling. Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at him and he groans. "I don't know how you people wake up early every morning. Mad respect for you."

Brooklyn lets out a laugh; he wasn't kidding when he said that he isn't a morning person. "You'd get used to it eventually."

He looks at her to see if she's joking and when she simply shrugs, he shakes his head. The thought of him getting used to waking up so early in the morning doesn't sit right in his head.

"Anyway, I bought black coffee for you," he states as he hands her the paper cup. "Dunno what you usually drink so."

Taking the cup from him, she smiles. "Black coffee sounds good. Thank you."

He flashes her a bright smile, one that doesn't look forced like earlier, and he asks, "D'you wanna go for a walk?"

Brooklyn looks out the window, at the people passing by. She prefers staying in the café where it's warmer, but she finds herself nodding, "Yeah."

Louis pushes the chair back and holds out his hand for Brooklyn to take. She hesitates, looking at it for a couple of seconds before she eventually places her hand in his. With her other free hand, she picks up the coffee cup and he leads her out of the coffee shop. The cold wind nips at her skin as soon as they're out so she brings the cup up to her lips, blows off the steam and takes a sip.

She immediately regrets it.

The coffee tastes bad that she starts coughing when it hits her throat. It isn't as bad as the one Beck made for her, there's no salt in this one, but it's not good. It's too sweet like someone accidentally spilled ten spoons of sugar in it and instead of making a new one, it's given to her.