Firewall {One Direction a.u.}

Chapter 18

It's now the day after Louis, Harry, Niall and I played soccer and I am beat. I haven't had to exercise that much in a while so here I am, sitting in a homemade ice bath. I went to the convenience store around the corner from my apartment 30 minutes ago and got six large bags of ice. Excessive, I know, but my legs are killing me and I need some sort of relief for tonight.

Unfortunately, tonight I have to go and be social again. I promised Brian I would finally meet his family and go to karaoke with them. I don't ever sing. I can carry a tune decently, but I'm not quitting my day job to go on a world tour anytime soon. Also, Brian hasn't told me if it was private rooms or just one big karaoke bar. From my assumption, it's just a karaoke bar and at some point he will force me to go on stage with him. This means that I will need to be liquored up so I don't remember embarrassing myself.

My phone stops playing music and starts ringing. I see that it's my grandma and realize I neglected to call her back a week or so ago after she left a message. I take a deep breath and answer the phone.

"Hey grandma." I say with a smile, hoping that it would travel through the line.

"Don't you 'hey grandma' me young lady. You did not call me after you said you would. You scared me!"

I laugh while I roll my eyes, "Oh please, don't be so dramatic, gram. You know I can handle myself."

"I know, honey, I just worry." Her voice stops being joking and I can tell there is genuine concern behind it.

"I'm sorry, grandma. I really did forget, I'm not ignoring you like I used to do." This causes her to let out a slight laugh. "I have just been so busy lately with work and," I stop myself before I mention Harry. She would eat that up and I can't let her have false hope for me.

"And?" She questions me, trying to get me to finish my sentence.

"My friends." I decide to go with. "I made some friends at the office and I'm actually going out with one tonight.

"Is he cute?"

"For you he is." I laugh, "His name is Brian, he is around 70 to 75 years old and is just the security guard for the building I work in. I am going out with his family which include his grandchildren. He says I will get along with them very well and he wants me to date his grandson which is funny."

She laughs as well. "It's not that funny darling, us old people know when a match will work out or not."

I groan in response. "Grandma, please, I am 22 years old. I do not need a boyfriend or a serious relationship yet."

"You'll want one soon enough, Morgan, then you'll regret this time where you could have one."

"Can we please talk about something else?" I throw my head back on the tub, letting it hang over the side.

"How is work going?"

This made me smile wide because I can tell her about my accomplishments. "I got promoted and actually became an executive for the company! It's because I have my Cybersecurity major and no one else has the background in it so the boss is trusting me with it. I am so excited and relieved because IT was so boring! I get paid more and am actually in the midst of an investigation. I think I know who is taking the money, but I can't be too sure so I'm going to have to keep waiting to see, plus the boss won't believe me if I tell him."

"Honey, that sounds incredible!" My grandma says enthusiastically. "I am so proud of you and so happy to hear that you are enjoying what you do now. You know, if you love what you do-"

"You never work a day in your life." I finish the quote. "Yes grandma, I know. This still feels like work though because it's super stressful."

"Well just take a deep breath and catch your breath every once in a while. Sometimes you need a break and that's okay."