under my skin || n.h. au

twelve: you got into my head

It's a dream – that's the first thought that pops into Brooklyn's head when she opens her eyes the next morning. She is sure of that because there's no way last night was real. She wouldn't say she's a pessimist, but it's impossible for so many good things to happen to a person in one night especially to someone like her.

So the only explanation she can think of is that everything that happened a few hours ago didn't happen.

Brooklyn blindly reaches for her mobile phone that's on the nightstand to check on the time – her alarm hasn't rung yet, which is strange because she feels like she's gotten enough sleep – and she's surprised to see a couple of text messages from Niall. She blinks her eyes once, twice, to make sure she isn't imagining them. When the texts are still there, she opens them.

I forgot to tell you that I had a good time with you soooo I had a good time with you, Cooper .

Oh shit didnt realise its late ,sorry !

Now she has proof that last night did happen. Staring at the screen of her phone, Brooklyn tries to wrap her head around that.

The date happened and so did the kiss. Brooklyn still can't believe that she and Niall kissed last night – twice. She finds it even harder to believe that she initiated the first kiss. She becomes fearless when she's with him, taking surprisingly bold risks like doing so is a walk in the park. And now she's about to take another risk.

Glad to know that. Was worried the kiss made you change your mind.

After sending the rather risky text and turning off her alarm, Brooklyn puts down her phone and makes her way to the bathroom. When she stands in front of the mirror, she's taken aback by the reflection she sees in the mirror. She has a huge smile adorning her lips, which is a rare sight because as much as she loves her job, she's never woken up with a massive smile on her face and butterflies in her stomach.

It hits Brooklyn that she's both nervous and excited to go to work – that's a puzzling combination. When she steps under the shower, questions after questions start flooding her mind.

She ignores most of them, except for one: will things be different at work? She hopes not because she likes how things are between them – the constant teasing, the ridiculous jokes and most of all, the meaningless conversations they share whilst they're doing their work. She didn't know how much she values them until the prospect of losing them is in sight.

Before she knows it, Brooklyn ends up making up scenarios and overthinking things whilst she's getting ready for work. It's hard not to because she and Niall have just entered an unfamiliar territory, a territory that they have been avoiding these past few years, and whilst that thought terrifies her, she has a feeling that it'll be worth it.

Besides, worrying about it is beginning to tire her. Maybe it's time for her to just go with the flow, see where this thing with Niall will take her – she owes that to herself especially since she spent years repressing her feelings for him. She doesn't want to spend the rest of her life thinking of the what-ifs.

Brooklyn's the first one to get into the lift and she presses the button to keep the door open whilst she waits for other people to file into the lift. She smiles at everyone who makes eye contact with her, something that she hardly does because her eyes were always glued on the screen of her phone. In her defence, she didn't do that on purpose because she's usually checking on her emails to make sure that she didn't miss any.

Once she's sure that no one is going to come barging into the lift, Brooklyn pulls her finger away from the button. That's when someone suddenly slips inside, a couple of seconds before the door closes.