Under My Skin

When Oliver and Nadine show up at her flat unannounced, Brooklyn straightaway knows that they have found out about her breakup. Niall must have told Beck about it and Beck must have passed on the news to their siblings.

They have a sorry look on their faces when Brooklyn opens the door. She hasn’t seen that look since she was in her second year of uni and her high school boyfriend had just dumped her through a bloody text message.

This time, however, instead of questioning her about Louis the moment they show up, they decide to ignore the elephant in the room. They talk about anything and everything whilst they prepare and eat their lunch together, completely avoiding the one topic she knows they so badly want to discuss. She knows her siblings that well.

“C’mon, out with it,” Brooklyn announces once she’s got coffee and food in her stomach.

Nadine and Beck share a look of shock before eventually her sister speaks up, “You and Louis are over? For real?”

“For real,” Brooklyn answers with a nod, keeping a smile on her face. She doesn’t have to do that, not in front of her siblings, but she does it anyway.

“He initiated it?” Nadine asks as a follow up question.

“Yeah.”

Brooklyn has to fight the urge to wince at the reminder of what happened yesterday because although she likes to think that she’s completely okay, she’s just, well, okay. Breakups suck. And it sucks even more because she didn’t anticipate it; it came out of nowhere and although she sensed that something’s off between her and Louis, she didn’t expect a breakup.

“But why?”

So Brooklyn tells her siblings everything that Louis said to her – not words by words, but the gist of it. And when she’s finished recalling the breakup speech, everyone is quiet. Including Nadine who had plenty of questions earlier.

“It’s his loss,” Oliver says, breaking the silence, as he gets up from the chair and takes his plate to the sink to wash it. At least someone knows how to do the dishes.

Seeing that he’s washing the dishes, Nadine decides to take her plate to the sink as well so he’d wash it for her – that earns her a glare, one that she responds with a grin.

“So, what’s Niall doing with you?” Beck asks, finally finding his voice. He arches an eyebrow at his twin sister, who immediately rolls her eyes in annoyance.

“He walked me home, that’s it.”

Beck was conveniently around when Brooklyn returned home last night. And he was kind enough to open the door for them – he usually let Brooklyn struggle with the key – invite Niall inside and offer him a drink. Brooklyn went straight to her room and stayed in there until she was sure Niall has left.

“That’s awfully nice of him, don’t you think?”

Brooklyn knows what Beck is hinting at. So, she shoots down the idea quickly before it can bloom into something else. “He’s seeing someone else, fyi.”

“What? Noooo,” Nadine cries out dramatically as she sidles up to Brooklyn who has a frown fixed between her brows. “Are you sure he’s not just saying he’s seeing someone cos he wanted to make you jealous?”

“Why’d he do that?” She crinkles her nose at that suggestion. Niall’s not that type of person, Brooklyn is sure of that. He’s not the kind to spread lies, especially for the reason Nadine has just mentioned.

“Because he likes you?” Nadine offers her an answer, one that makes her heart skips a beat. Which she thinks is very ridiculous.

Although Brooklyn doesn’t need another answer, Beck decides to share his as well: “Because he wants to see how you’d react if he’s with someone?”

Nadine continues with a, “And again, because he wants to make you jealous?”

Brooklyn shakes her head, dismissing those ideas. There’s no way Niall likes her or he wants to see how she’d react or he wants to make her jealous – none of those makes any sense.

“He wouldn’t do that,” she says. Nadine and Beck roll their eyes. When Oliver returns to the table, Brooklyn turns to him for a backup – she knows she can always count on her older brother. He’s wiser than her younger siblings. “You’re with me on this one, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Oliver nods in agreement. “Guys are always straightforward. If he likes you, he likes you and he’ll show it to you. Why’d waste time on mind games?”

Brooklyn points at her older brother as her eyes dart from Beck to Nadine. She knows Oliver would support her. “You heard him.”

“You’re always on her side!” Nadine exclaims with a frown, groaning when Oliver reaches out and ruffles her hair. She slaps his hand away and continues to pout, fitting in the role as the youngest sibling quite perfectly.

“Think ‘bout it, Bee, he was on a date but he went to see you as soon as he found out,” Beck tries to reason to her, still as relentless as ever. Brooklyn doesn’t know what he and Nadine are trying to accomplish from this conversation. When they showed up at her flat earlier, she didn’t think she’d be questioned about Niall.

“He knew I needed someone to talk to and he was there for me as a friend,” Brooklyn finalises, making sure to put an emphasis on the last three words. There are two things that Beck and Nadine share in common and they are their persistence and stubbornness. “You two read too much into this. If there’s one thing I learned about guys is that it’s never that deep when it comes to them.”

Both Nadine and Beck open their mouths to disagree, but Oliver stops them with a sharp look before they can say a word. Brooklyn has never been more grateful.

A sigh leaving Nadine’s mouth indicates that she’s given up. Placing a hand on her sister’s forearm, she asks, “So, you’re okay?”

Brooklyn nods, “Yeah.”

“If you want to cry, we’re here.”

“I’m not gonna cry,” she tells her siblings with confidence – sure her heart feels heavy, but it’s not the kind of heaviness that can bring her to tears. None of them looks convinced so she adds, “This breakup’s nothing like the one with Jason okay? It’s not a five years relationship being thrown away through a text.”

After all these years, Brooklyn still feels bitter about Jason. She’s not consumed by the bitterness like she used to be, but still. How someone could end a relationship – let alone a five years relationship – through a text is beyond Brooklyn. But then again, she’s not surprised because there are worse ways to be dumped. Jason should be glad that he’s not around because the old Brooklyn wouldn’t have thought twice before she went over to his house and dump hot coffee all over his head.

“Well, I’m happy that you’re okay,” Nadine pats Brooklyn’s hand before making her way to the fridge. As she stands in front of the fridge, a thought pops into her head. She turns to look at Brooklyn, “Y’know, I just realised something about you, Bee.”

“What?” Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at Nadine. “That my love life is pathetic?”

“Nah,” Nadine shakes her head. “Yours isn’t as pathetic as Beck’s and Ollie’s.”

At that, both Beck and Oliver share the same expression: offended and embarrassed.

“My love life’s not pathetic,” Beck defends himself. “I’m taking a break from the dating world.”

Instead of defending himself as well, Oliver remains silent. Brooklyn finds that somewhat suspicious but since she’s curious about what Nadine has to say, she lets that slide. She can interrogate her brother later.

“I just realised that you have a thing for Irish men,” Nadine points out as she takes out a bottle of water from the fridge. Making her way back to the table, she takes a seat next to her sister and continues, “Jason’s dad’s Irish which makes him, uh, half Irish, I think? And you know who else is Irish?”

“Colin Farrell,” Brooklyn blurts out. It’s the second name that pops into her mind, but she refuses to voice out the first one, refuses to give Nadine the satisfaction of being right.

“Niall Horan,” Beck corrects her. Nadine grins and high-fives her brother. “And remember that kid you had a huge crush on when we’re fifteen?” Brooklyn remembers that boy. He was the reason why she always went to the grocery store even when she didn’t need to buy anything – she just wanted to see him whilst he bagged the customers’ groceries.” Pretty sure he’s half Irish too.”

Brooklyn shakes her head. There’s no way the boy she had a crush on was half Irish. Beck was only saying that to strengthen Nadine’s point.

“That’s ridiculous,” Brooklyn scoffs. “I wouldn’t like someone just because they’re Irish. If I like someone it’s because of their personality.”

“Care to explain?” Nadine challenges.

Brooklyn looks at Oliver, hoping that he’ll back her up again this time, but he simply shrugs. She lets out a sigh. “Well, uh, let’s start with a sense of humour,” Brooklyn begins. It feels as if she’s writing an article about the personalities girls should look for in their partners. “If someone has a great sense of humour, they’ll automatically become more attractive. I mean, who doesn’t like the person that can make them laugh?”

“I agree,” Nadine interjects with a nod.

Smiling, she continues. “And I’d also like that person if he can make me feel comfortable ‘round him – that’s really important. You don’t want to be with someone that makes you feel like you can’t say what’s on your mind or worse, you can’t even eat in front of him.”

Brooklyn finds it horrifying how there are people out there who don’t feel comfortable eating in front of their partners. The point of being in relationship – apart from the fact that the both of you like each other, that is – is to be with someone you’re completely comfortable with.

“And lastly, I think I’d like someone if he’s understanding and supportive. I don’t need a guy telling me what I can or can’t do, but instead I need a guy who’d push me to do whatever it is that I want – unless it’s a bad thing,” Brooklyn ends her explanation with that. For a moment, she feels like she’s sitting in front of three interviewers whilst they’re trying to debate whether her answers are good enough or not. She looks at her siblings, all of them sharing the same expression. “What?”

Beck is the first one to break the silence, “I don’t know about you, Bee, but I feel like you just described Niall.”

Brooklyn could’ve sworn that she had no one in her mind when she was saying those things. There are certainly no images of Niall, she’s sure of that. But now that Beck has mentioned it, his face appears in her head.

“You know what, I agree with you,” Oliver says, shocking everyone because it’s not often that he agrees with Beck. “It does sound like Niall.”

“See?” Beck grins, pleased with himself, pleased with the observation he made.

“That doesn’t mean I was describing him,” Brooklyn counters, shaking her head. She can’t believe Oliver has joined the other side. “There are many guys out there who are funny, understanding and supportive.”

“Name one,” Beck dares her. He has a smug grin on his lips and she wishes so badly she can wipe it off. She knows she can if she’s able to come up with a name, one that doesn’t start with N and end with N.

So Brooklyn tries to think of one name and of course, the name that pops into her head is: Niall Horan. How convenient.

“I can’t think of one right now,” Brooklyn replies before she gets up from her seat and moves to the living room. She refuses to think about it, but she knows sooner or later she’ll have to realise that she’s screwed.



“Bee, I told you, you don’t have to return my shirt,” is the first thing Niall says when he arrives at his desk – on time.

Brooklyn removes her gaze from the screen of her mobile phone and says, “And I told you that I’d give it back to you in two days.”

Picking up the shirt, he sniffs it. Good thing she sprayed Beck’s perfume on it before she left this morning.

“What? You don’t think I’d wash it?” Brooklyn questions with a kink of an eyebrow. Niall responds with a shrug. “I’m not disgusting, y’know.”

Niall lets out a chuckle as he puts away the shirt. He takes a seat, then, and leans forward until his front meets the desk. “So, how are you?” He asks in a hushed tone.

“I’m good, thank you for asking,” Brooklyn replies, returning her gaze to the screen of her phone. She’s mindlessly scrolling through her Instagram feed that is filled with people talking about how much they dread Monday morning. If she hates her job, she would’ve agreed with them.

“Heard anything from Louis?” Niall quizzes. Brooklyn shakes her head. “Same.”

“He’s been busy, I think,” Brooklyn says as she shows Louis’ Instagram photo to Niall, who has to squint his eyes to take a look at it – it’s a picture of him in bed with a caption stating that he’ll have to wake up early for a morning shoot tomorrow. He also mentions that his schedule is full for the day.

“Looks like he’s keeping himself busy,” Niall remarks. Brooklyn nods, agreeing with him because it does seem like he’s keeping himself busy, which is good for him. “So, you’re really okay?”

“I am,” Brooklyn reassures him.

“Good,” he grins. He leans back and continues, “Because Dean’s gonna announce whose article is chosen for the special issue today.”

Brooklyn’s eyes widen and she pulls up her calendar to check out the date. It has completely slipped her mind that today’s the day. She thought they’d have another one week – surely she’s not the only one who’s forgotten about it? But when Harry makes his way to their desks, followed by Suki, she knows they must have remembered it as well.

“Good luck, Niall,” Harry says as he pats Niall’s back.

“Thanks, H,” Niall replies.

Shooting Brooklyn a smile, Harry wishes her luck as well. “As much as I want Niall to win the bet, I know how much it’d mean to you to get your article published on the special issue.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Brooklyn tells him. It really would mean a lot to get her article chosen but seeing that she’s competing with not only Niall – there are several other people who submitted their articles to Mr Storm to be published – she knows her chances to win are slim. But she’d like to keep an open mind. “Imagine how much money I could save up if I don’t have to spend it on coffee for a year?”

Niall rolls his eyes. “Imagine how much fun you would have if you go on a date with me?”

“You know, Ni, you can always ask her out on a date,” Suki suggests, wriggling her eyebrows at him. Both Niall and Brooklyn’s eyes widen. Their reactions earn laughter from Suki and Harry.

“Suki’s right.” Of course he takes Suki’s side, Brooklyn’s not surprised.

Niall coughs into his fist to avoid the awkwardness whilst Brooklyn stares at her desk. After a few seconds have passed, Niall puts on a smile and says, “Where’s the fun in that?” Suki and Harry share a look, nodding and shrugging at the same time. “A bet makes everything fun.”

Before Brooklyn can open her mouth to argue with him, Mr Storm steps out of the elevator. She straightens up, rubs her palms against her thighs and keeps her eyes fixed on him as he greets those who greet him first. Finally, he reaches their desks, his eyes darting from Niall to Harry to Suki and finally to her. She sucks in a breath.

“Amazing job on the article, Brooklyn, I enjoyed reading it,” he mentions. She feels a smile tugging at her lips and happiness blooming across her chest. Mr Storm turns to Niall then and says, “Congratulations, Niall. Your article is going to be published in the special issue. You should be proud.”

He walks away after making that announcement, leaving everyone else dumbfounded. Those who heard the news come over to Niall’s desk to congratulate him.

“Congrats, mate,” Harry says once people have left Niall’s desk. “Looks like you won the bet.”

Instead of gloating about his win, Niall is looking at nothing in particular. He has a blank look on his face – Brooklyn thought he would look happier. She expects a smug grin to make its way to Niall’s lips any seconds from now, but he continues to stare blankly at his desk.

“Niall?” Harry pokes his shoulder.

Blinking his eyes several times, Niall finally looks at Harry then at Brooklyn. “But he said your article’s amazing.”

Brooklyn shrugs. “Yours is better,” she says. That’s the only explanation she can think of. She’s devastated, she has to admit, but knowing that she loses to Niall – an incredible writer – makes her feel somewhat better. There’s always next year. “Congratulations, Niall.”

“Thank you, but I just don’t get it,” Niall replies.

“The only thing I don’t get is why you don’t seem happy,” Suki chimes in as she gives Niall a pointed look.

“I guess… I’m just shocked,” he explains. He spins his chair for a moment whilst he tries to let the information sink in his brain. He mumbles something under his breath and Harry and Suki take that as a sign that they should leave Niall and Brooklyn alone. They have one thing that they need to discuss.

“So, since you won the bet-“

“You’ll have to go on a date with me,” Niall interrupts, grinning from ear to ear. He must have gotten over his shock. “Exciting, innit?”

“Exciting?” Brooklyn repeats. “I’m horrified. Where’re you taking me?”

Niall shakes his head, “Not telling you. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Don’t you dare tell me it’s a surprise,” Brooklyn threatens him as she points a finger at him. With her eyes squinted, she enunciates each and every word that leave her mouth next, “I’ll hate you if you say it’s a surprise.”

“It is a surprise,” Niall replies boldly. Her threat means nothing to him. “But I reckon it’s a good one.”

Brooklyn shakes her head. She has nothing against a surprise, she really doesn’t but it’s bad enough that she’ll have to go on a date with Niall and now he won’t even tell her where he’s taking her.

“Can you at least give me a clue?” Brooklyn asks, hoping that he’d tell her something, anything.

Niall taps his chin as he mulls over her question. “All I can say is that it’s gonna be fun.” That doesn’t give anything away at all. “Oh and I think you should wear a dress.”

“A dress?” Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at Niall. “Where are you taking me?”

“I already gave you two clues, Cooper,” he points out. “Not gonna give you another one.”

Whereas Brooklyn lets out a frustrated sigh, Niall lets out a chuckle. Since he didn’t want to answer her question, she decides to go on the Internet and google a list of possible dates that would require her to wear a dress. After ten minutes spent on that and she still doesn’t get an answer, an idea pops into her head.

“Harry, you have to tell me where Niall’s taking me,” Brooklyn demands as soon as he reaches Harry’s desk.

He glances past her to see if Niall is behind her and when he notices that his friend is still at his desk, he says, “He didn’t tell me much.”

“Well, what did he tell you?” She asks. “The only thing he told me is that it’s going to be fun.”

“Uhh,” Harry runs his tongue across his lips, his eyes darting from his computer to Brooklyn. “I really shouldn’t say anything.”

“I just need to know where he’s taking me,” Brooklyn tries to reason with him. She’s aware that it might be difficult because Harry is incredibly loyal to Niall and she doubts he’d open up so easily, but he’s her only option. “He told me to wear a dress. Are we going to have dinner at a fancy restaurant?”

Harry shakes his head. “He wouldn’t consider dinner at a fancy restaurant fun,” he mentions. Now that she’s thought of it, she agrees with him. Niall doesn’t seem like someone who’d enjoy a dinner at that kind of place. “What else did he tell you?”

“I should wear a dress,” Brooklyn replies, brows furrowing in confusion. That’s kind of a weird request. “Why should I wear a dress?”

“C’mon. Can’t you think of something?” Harry kinks an eyebrow at her. “Where do you usually go if you’re wearing a dress?”

“A club?” Brooklyn tries. Harry shakes his head, chuckling at the absurdity. Whilst she’s relieved that he’s not taking her to a club, she’s beginning to feel restless because she can’t figure out the answer. She doesn’t know why it’s so important for her to know more about the date when she could just wait.

“I’ll give you a hint,” Harry offers. “Where you’re going, there’ll be people dancing to slow songs.”

She racks her brain for an answer and it takes her approximately fifteen seconds to come up with one: “A wedding?” Harry presses his lips together and shrugs. “Oh my God, a wedding?”

Brooklyn’s about to turn around and return to her desk when Harry suddenly says, “If he asked, I didn’t say a word.”

Brooklyn nods and pretends to zip her lips before she marches back to Niall’s desk. She spins him around so he’s facing her and so she can ask, “You’re taking me to a wedding?”

“What?” Niall’s eyes widen, shocked. “Fuck,” he whispers under his breath as he runs his hands down his face. “Harry told you, didn’t he?”

“So, it’s true?” Brooklyn asks. He nods. “Whose wedding?”

“Remember when we wrote a review for that new band?” How could Brooklyn forget? It took her a week to get their awful songs out of her head. “It turns out that our review did help them with the sales.”

“Really?” She didn’t think that review would help, but apparently she thought wrong. She just hopes those who purchase the album don’t hate her and Niall for giving them the false impression. If they do end up loving the album, she’s happy for them. Unfortunately, their genre isn’t for her.

“Really.” Niall nods. “The manager texted me the other day and as a thank you, he invited us to the wedding.”

“How’s that considered as him being thankful for our apparently influential review?”

“I know right?” Niall chuckles, agreeing with her. Will his wedding include A-list celebrities? Brooklyn’s pretty certain the answer is no. “But anyway, I told him we’ll be there.”

Brooklyn lets out a groan as she returns to her desk. Niall turns to face her, fashioning a questioning look. “I don’t know, Niall, going to a wedding where we know no one doesn’t sound fun to me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Bee. It’s gonna be loads of fun cos no one knows us,” he counters. Brooklyn wishes she knows what’s going on in his mind. More than that, she wishes she had the same mind-set as he does. “But I still haven’t gotten to the best part,” Niall adds, to which she responds with a tilt of her head. “The band will be performing at the wedding.”

Brooklyn considers it an instinctive reaction: she picks up a pen and throws it at Niall. He barely catches it, laughing when he throws back the pen to her. “You’re intent on giving me the worst date, aren’t you?”

“What? Absolutely not!” Niall looks and sounds offended. When Brooklyn continues to give him a ‘I don’t believe you’ look, he adds, “S’gonna be fun, I promise you that.”

“It better be.”