under my skin || n.h. au

sixteen: i wanna shout about it

Brooklyn thinks she's heard of those two names before and she's pretty sure they're from a television series. Her suspicion is confirmed when Harry tells her that they are from a series that he's been binge-watching the past few weeks. He's only seen it until season 4 so he doesn't know what happened to Jim and Pam afterwards, but that's not the point.

"Anyway what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry too much. You can't base your relationship on someone else's. Not every relationship works the same way – you should know that since you've talked about it a lot in your articles."

For someone who writes about relationships and other things that revolve around it, Brooklyn sure is bad at her own relationship. If her readers ever find out about this, she's positive they'd stop reading her writing and stop believing her altogether. How is it that she can give advices to other people but she can't seem to practice what she preaches?

"Also, don't you think it's better if people find out about you two from you or Niall instead from Dominic, who's only been here for a couple of weeks?"

Harry has a great point. If people were to find out about them from Dominic, her and Niall would end up being the gossip of the week. Everyone would probably wonder why they wanted to keep things secret. They would speculate and speculate and speculate until the fiction becomes fact and fact becomes fiction – that wouldn't end pretty.

But if she were to tell or show to her colleagues that she and Niall are together, she has a feeling they would brush it off rather quickly. They'd probably tell them that they'd seen it coming, that they knew they'd end up together and by the end of the day, they'd probably forget about them.

And it's a bonus that she won't have to lie about her relationship anymore after this because she hates lying about it. It leaves a bitter taste in her mouth and a sharp twist in her stomach.

"Besides, my mum always told me that you shouldn't hide something good and you really should listen to my mum. She's a wise woman. I'd get her on the phone to talk about relationships if you'd li-"

"No," Brooklyn shakes her head. "That's fine."

"Good," Harry grins. "Because you'd never be able to get her off the phone once she starts talking to you."

"She sounds like an interesting woman," Brooklyn muses. She's seen pictures of Harry's mother several times on Instagram and has heard a few stories about her but she's never actually met her in person – the same goes for Niall's mother. "But you're right. I should... Niall and I should just come out with it. It's better if it comes from our own mouth than someone else's."

"Exactly."

Brooklyn exhales, feeling as though tonnes of bricks have just been lifted from her shoulders. She didn't realise how much this whole thing has been weighing her down. Lying sucks, especially when its consequences hurt your significant other.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Harry looks at Brooklyn, scanning her face as he puts down his cup on the table. "I'm kinda scared to hear what you have to ask but... shoot."

"Why are you invested in our relationship? I mean, you've been trying to get Niall and I together since the day I started working here. Why? And why me? It could've been anyone else in this office but, I don't know, instead you wanted Niall and I to happen. And don't give me that best mate's intuition excuse."

Harry chuckles to himself as he mutters 'shit' under his breath. "How about this: I knew from day one that you two would be great together."

"Now you're just paraphrasing," Brooklyn tells him.

"I knew you're great for him?"

"No, I'm not." If anything, Niall is great for her.