Voir Dire (N.H.)

six

Kelsey hoped he was the earlier, because although this guy was attractive, she was far too busy to feign interest for some lonely drunk. Grabbing her bag from behind the bar, Kelsey headed to the bathroom. Throwing on a new black tank top to replace the wet shirt she was currently wearing, then stuffing it into her bag to add to her pile of dirty laundry.

It suddenly occurred to Kelsey that the man who spilled his drink on her was the 'Slow Hands' guy. His name was on the tip of Kelsey's tongue, and she tried to mentally recall the names of the One Direction members. Her mind came up blank.

"What happened to you?" Maya asked Kelsey as she slid back behind the bar. Grabbing a glass to fill a new beer for Slow Hands guy.

"Beer spill. What's the name of that guy that sings Slow Hands again? You know the one in One Direction? He's not Harry Styles but..."

"Niall Horan?" Maya said in a hushed voice. Kelsey knew she could always count on Maya to identify celebrities. "He's the one that spilled a beer on you?" Kelsey looked at her friend's incredulous face. She could only hope Maya was smart enough to not try and sneak the poor guy a copy of her demo on a night that was as busy as this.

Kelsey nodded.

"Can't believe you don't remember his name," Maya said with a laugh. "You kept raving about how he could use his slow hands any day on you last month when you were drunk."

Kelsey felt heat rise to her cheeks. She may or may not have had a bad habit of making remarks about celebrities while she was drunk. She blamed it on being ridiculously single- not that she didn't want to keep it that way.

"I better get him his beer," Kelsey rolled her eyes, filling the glass and bringing it over to where Niall was now seated at the bar.

"Ye didn't have to do that," Niall said as Kelsey set the beer in front of him. Niall didn't like to be the kind of celebrity that demanded things. Pop superstar or not, he wanted to be treated like everyone else, especially when it was his own fault. "I've been the center of attention all night, would've liked to just be a clumsy lad in the bar for once," he admitted.

"Company policy," Kelsey responded, but she couldn't help but be a little impressed with the fact that this celebrity didn't expect to be treated as such. "Let me know if I can get you anything else," she said with a smile, and then moved on to helping the next patron.

As Kelsey filled drink order after drink order, her shift kept gazing back to Niall, sitting quietly at the bar sipping on his beer. She wondered what was going through his mind, and what kind of international popstar comes to a bar alone after an awards show. She shakes it off her mind, moving on to pour another glass of wine for the publicist that won't get off her phone for more than a second.

"You've caught someone's attention," Maya said as her shoulder brushes Kelsey's. Kelsey glanced over at Niall once again. The two make eye contact before Kelsey quickly turned away.

"Probably just wants a refill, I go check on him," Kelsey said, beginning to move in Niall's direction.

Maya grabbed Kelsey's sleeve and pulls her friend back in. "He's been staring at you for over twenty minutes now. Go talk to him. I got it covered." She pushed Kelsey in the direction of the Irishman.

Kelsey approached slowly. "Need another one?"

"That would be great, thank you..." Niall paused and Kelsey realized that this was his way of asking for her name.

"Oh, Kelsey, I'm Kelsey," she stumbled.

"Nice to meet you Kelsey. I'm Niall," he replied . Of course, Kelsey didn't need that introduction.