Fearless

“Here,” Niall said without any kind of greeting when I walked into Dunkin’ Donuts Wednesday morning.

Confused, I took the paper from his hand and scanned my eyes over it. It was an application. “What?” I breathed, not wanting to believe that he’d actually done that.

But he just grinned at me. “I talked to my boss. We’re not really hiring right now, but she said that because I’m such a good employee and she trusts me, she’d be willing to make an exception. She won’t be able to work as much as me, but it’ll be something.”

I stared at him. “Oh my God, Niall. I can’t…I can’t believe you did this.”

He shrugged. “I figured I’d try to relieve some of your stress.”

Before I could second-guess myself, I leaned over the counter and grabbed the collar of his shirt, connecting his lips to mine. He brought his hand up to cup my face, and he sighed into my mouth once I allowed him access.

“Thank you,” I whispered once I pulled away from him.

“You’re welcome,” he responded, a little out of breath. He pecked me on the lips again before I let go of his shirt and settled back on my flat feet. “Hold on, let me make your coffee.”

As he readied everything, I put the application into my bag, excited as anything to show it to Rachel. She wouldn’t have any excuses to avoid doing the inevitable if I handed the opportunity for her. It was either that, or she would have to take the next trip to Nonny’s.

“There you go,” Niall smiled as he put my coffee down on the counter. I paid him and waved, starting to walk away.

“Wait, Mocha!” he called as my hand landed on the push bar of the door.

I turned to face him to show I was listening.

“Do you think you’d want to go out tonight? Like…as a real date?”

I snickered. “Sure,” I replied.

“My place at seven?”

I nodded and suppressed my smile as I stepped out into the cold air. Finally, winter was starting to settle in for real. From the smell of the air, I knew that snow could start at any day.

I pulled my jacket tighter around my torso and licked my lips, trying to give them the moisture they craved.

Accounting simply couldn’t pass quickly enough.

* * *

“No,” Rachel defied when I put the application on the table in front of her. “Jaz, we can’t do that.”

“Do what? Get you a job?” I argued back. “You need this. And I found you an opportunity.”

“No, you got this from one of your friends that you’ve been hanging out with,” she accused knowingly. “And we can’t do stuff like that. We have to fend for ourselves.”

“I’m sick of fending for ourselves,” I snapped. “It’s time that we start taking help when we need it. And Niall very kindly pulled some strings and got this application for you. The least you can do to thank him is to fill it out.”

“Him?!” Rachel replied with a disgusted tone. “Oh, so that’s what this is all about. You have a crush on him, and you don’t want to hurt his feelings. Is that it?”

“Niall and I are…complicated,” I allowed. “But that’s not the point. The point is that you’re filling out this application because if you don’t, we’re going to get evicted. Now do it so that I can give it back to Niall tonight.”

“You’re going out with him?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalantly, but I could tell that she was kind of hurt.

“Yeah, I am. So please fill out the application before I see him.”

I watched her for a second, saw her staring at the application, fighting with herself over saving her pride and seizing an opportunity for success.

After about three minutes, she sighed, picked up a pen, and started to fill in the information.

I bit my lip to hide my smile as I slipped into my room, closing the door softly behind me so she wouldn’t know that I had kind of been spying on her.

I stared into my closet, weighing my options of what I had to wear, before realizing that I wasn’t really sure where we were going, and so I wasn’t really positive how dressy I was supposed to be.

Getting to my feet, I made my way closer to the closet to have a better look. It took me about ten minutes to come to a decision, but I finally chose a simple, triangle-shaped black skirt that would hit just above my knee, a dressy pink tank top, and a brown cardigan to wear over it.

After I laid out my clothes, I sat down at my desk and got to work, knowing that the day would go by like a snail if I allowed myself to have an idle mind.

* * *

Rachel was sleeping when I went to leave for Niall’s. I tiptoed around her and stole the slip of paper off the table.

I sighed in relief when I saw the thing had been filled out in its entirety. No matter how much Rachel wanted to pretend that everything was alright, she knew in her heart of hearts that they wouldn’t be much longer. I appreciated the fact that she was willing to accept the truth.

I slipped the application into my bag and headed out the door, knowing that I had just enough time to get to Niall’s house at seven o’clock, and there was no room to dilly-dally.

The second I stepped outside, I figured out I definitely should have worn tights. Although it had been cold earlier, it was downright frigid now that the sun had gone down.

Trying to ignore the goosebumps that popped up all over my body, I trudged on, shivering a little more every time the wind picked up a bit.

When I finally reached Niall’s dorm building, my teeth were chattering, my nose felt frozen, and I was almost positive that my lips were blue.

Here, I texted Niall. It took me about ten minutes to do so, since I had no feeling in my fingers, but I did my best.

Niall came down a couple minutes later. The second he saw me, he laughed. “We’ll get some take away delivered,” he assured me, giving me his card to slide so I could go through the security protection.

He wrapped his arm around me, using his other hand to rub my upper arm, trying his hardest to get some warm blood flowing through my body.

“Maybe next time you’ll dress a little more appropriately for the weather, huh?” Niall teased as he worked to unlock the door to his dorm room.

“Maybe,” I agreed with a smirk.