Would You ↪ Bradley Simpson

nineteen ↪ that time you stuck with me

"Sorry, I found this in my bag last night and it was so cold this morning, I just-" I helplessly tried to hide my embarrassment, making it a million times worse instead.

Brad nodded curiously, a goofy smile on his face. "I didn't put it in there for you to not wear it"

I shot my eyes up on him. "What?"

The sound of heels suddenly got closer at a medium speed rate, both Taylor and Kimberly walking towards us. I was kind of scared actually, I didn't need them to make my life miserable for sure.

"Excuse me," Taylor said annoyed. "What exactly is going on here? Can we get lunch already?"

Bradley looked over at her and furrowed his eyebrow in confusion. He stuck his arm out and placed the cardboard bag on my desk before he spun around and faced the both of them. — "What made you think I was going to have lunch with you?"

"You're not?" Taylor dramatically gasped. "You seriously drove all the way here from Bristol just to give me my lipstick back? Honey, no one believes that"

Kimberly kept staring at me in disbelief, like I did something to deserve such a stare. I spun in my chair and pretended not to care about what was going on around me.

"Obviously not" Brad shrugged. "I'm simply just not here for you"

Both Taylor and Kim gasped so loud I had to look back at them. The former dramatically kicked a chair on her way to the elevator, while the latter looked me dead in the eyes and said — "Have fun covering my shift for me while I go shopping, girly"

Bradley waited for them to leave before he moved his attention back to me. Everyone else was leaving for the inauguration, he waited for them all to leave too. It was a few moments later that he leaned over my desk and rested his elbows on it. "What was that? You're covering her shift?"

"That's pretty much why I'm stuck here the whole day, yeah" I tried not to look directly at him, feeling kind of ashamed. Even though it wasn't my choice at all, obviously.

"I think the fuck not" Brad stood up straight and took a few steps towards the exit before I quickly stopped him by grabbing his arm. He spun around and curiously scanned my face before moving his attention to my fingers still wrapped around his arm. I dropped my hand to my side and mouthed a low "sorry" before I felt his strong sight on me. He heavily sighed and walked back to my desk in defeat. He picked up the cardboard bag and casually shrugged. — "I brought lunch"

"You what?" I stared at him in confusion.

Brad widely grinned. "You said you couldn't go get lunch so I brought it to you"

"Why?" the word helplessly slipped out of my lips before I could even process what I had just asked him. What kind of question was even that?

"Because why not?"

.

"Shut up! He looks so damn good in that suit, okay?!" I argued while laughing at Brad's fake shocked face. Being the office empty due to the inauguration, we were basically the only two people in the building. Brad and I were sitting on the main desk in the conference room, our McDonald's takeaway messily lying all around the place. I sat cross-legged and faced him as he randomly rambled about Spider-man's choice of clothing.

"Please, I'm sure I would look pretty damn great in that suit too"

I snorted uncontrollably. "Mmh"

Brad shook his head with a grin, not noticing at first how his phone was buzzing against the desk. He leaned forward and peeked at the caller ID before he picked up. I looked away, not wanting him to feel in any way uncomfortable. "Hello hello, what's up? (...) can't say, mate, you got no proof. (...) will do" he softly smiled in my direction and casually said, "James says hi"

I blankly stared. "Say hi back?"

"You heard that? (...) six-thirty, mate. (...) hold on, I'm not sure" once again, he looked over at me and spoke again. "You got work tomorrow?"

I mentally counted the days of the week to know which day it was. "It's Saturday so...no?"

"She doesn't, no. (...) it's okay, I'll grab something on my way back. Yeh, kay, by-bye"

Brad casually placed the phone down and resumed sipping on his drink like the call hadn't happened. I wondered if the girls knew where he was, that he was with me. James seemed to know, which meant that Kirstie and Luce also knew. Had they texted me? I realized how I hadn't touched my phone in the past hour and that's why I hadn't heard the billions of text notifications from our girls-only chat.

"So what is it that you have to do exactly?" Brad randomly asked. "Sort those pics?"

He seemed genuinely interested in what I was going to do for the next five hours. "Um, yeah. Kim's job is to choose a cover for the article I'll have to write"

"Nice nice" he nodded. "Can I do that?"

I stared in confusion, again. "Wait, you're staying?"

Brad's eyes lingered on mine for a moment longer than I could handle. "If you want me to"

My legs lazily rocked back and forth before I jumped off the desk and fixed the end of my — or should I say Brad's? — jumper. Brad mimicked my actions and closed me against the desk, my back trapped against the cold hard surface, my sweaty fingers tightly wrapped around it.

"Do you, want me to stay?" he spoke in a dangerously low tone while he stepped impossibly closer to me.

My whole being shut down and I low-key feared my heart would burst out of my chest because of how fast it was beating. I felt weak to my knees and I had to put extra effort not to stumble on the floor. That's the effect he had on me. It was insane how I had never noticed how much of an impact he had on me until that exact moment. I was internally panicking, not gonna lie, trying so hard to keep a straight face and not show how weak he was making me feel. My throat was dry as I so frantically asked myself what I should've said back. Just say it. — "Yes"

I didn't notice how low my voice actually came out before I saw the look on his face. He still looked impatient for my answer as I had just not literally blurted it out. "What was that?" the corner of his lips curved up into a charming smug. So he had heard me.

"Yes, Bradley. I want you to stay"

Before I could even process the look on his face, he pressed his lips on my own. I tensed up in shock and, for a brief moment, I wondered whether the kiss was actually happening or if I got so lost in his eyes that I was just dreaming of it. It took me long enough to reciprocate the pressure of my lips on his but, when I finally did, Brad's hand slid up at the back of my neck as for pulling me impossibly closer to his face. His lips were incredibly soft and dreamy. Heck, I was completely gone. Bradley slowly pulled away, soon depriving me of that warmth I never knew I needed. We breathlessly stared at each other, me still being in complete and utter shock. Curly boy, on the other hand, had a smug smile stuck on that pretty face of his. He shoved his hand in his hair before he licked his lips and eventually spoke.

"For as much as I would love to just stay here and kiss you, we got work to do"