One. || h.s.

Twenty Seven.

...

"Hey, Skylar! Glad you could make it," Zayn smiles widely, his light eyes squinting slightly as I approach the table. He gets out of his chair and pulls mine out for me. A blush creeps to my cheeks as I sit, mumbling a quiet thank you.

"Wow, Skylar, you look great!" Liz exclaims from the seat across from me as I sit down.

"Thank you, so do you," I smile, admiring her champaign colored dress.

"I try," she shrugs teasingly and laughing lightly. "So you've met Rebecca already, this is her boyfriend Jacob who works down the hall, and Tony who works in our office in case you two haven't met yet," she says pointing to each person around the table.

I give them all a small wave and they all smile back at me before returning to their conversations. Zayn and Liz start talking and I take the chance to look around the bar.

I've never been to place like this before in the city. It's a bar, sure, but everyone is dressed nicely and everyone seems to be into their mid twenties. It's one of the classier places I've seen in New York; the tables, chairs and bars dark wood, the floors dark marble, the walls light and modern lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling. We're sat at a table near a small stage about a foot off the ground where equipment is set up along with instruments. In the middle of the room, a counter is set up like a ring with the employees in the middle serving the customers on the outside. There is a second floor to the bar, the railings made of glass so you can see everything that is happening.

I've been to many bars in New York while I lived here, but none like this. Harry and I would hang around with our friends at the time in bars every weekend. The only difference was where we would hangout did not compare to this place. The bars we spent our time in were outside the city, biker bars. I was only seventeen at the time but had no trouble at all getting in. The air was filled with smoke and booze, the lights always dim, people stumbling around and passed out at the counters. Back then I didn't mind, but right now I would much rather be in a place like this one.

"Is there a band playing tonight?" I hear a familiar voice ask. I turn around to find Niall leaning on the back of my chair, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" I ask as I stand to hug him. I missed seeing him come in the bar even though I'm sat facing the door. I must have been too distracted looking around.

"Zayn invited me out," he tells me as he takes the empty seat next to me, his smile wide and his eyes bright.

"How did you two meet anyways?" I ask, resting my chin in my palm as I turn my body to face him.

"Uh," he hesitates, his smile faltering slightly and his eyes flickering quickly away from mine before looking back at me. "Just at his coffee shop," he says, his lips pressed tightly together.

"Oh, okay..." I mumble, not really able to distinguish Niall's strange behavior.

A waiter comes around and Niall orders a beer for himself. The waiter turns to me, waiting for me to order and I hesitate because I'm only twenty. I glance at Niall quickly who gives me the tiniest nod, encouraging me to order. I hold my breath as I order a sour amaretto and sigh in relief when the waiter nods, giving me a small smile.

"You're funny," Niall chuckles, shoving my arm slightly.

"I didn't want to get caught breaking the law," I whisper but he only laughs more, causing a smile to spread across my face too. He knows what I used to be like.

"Don't worry about it, Zayn and his work buddies come here every weekend, you don't have to worry about it when you're with them," he tells me and I roll my eyes, shaking my head slightly.