Smile For Me || Niall Horan

5: Time For Work

You have come this far, don't give up now.

After getting ready in my totally cool new room, I walked downstairs. It felt so weird to wake up at a normal time. I'm so used to waking up at around two in the morning because of my dreams. 

My dreams are very strange. Sometimes they're a memory from my childhood of me and one of my parents. Sometimes they're a memory of me and Jake together as a couple. Sometimes they're horrible nightmares that I hope never actually happen. They can be anything really. I guess that’s how dreams work. But my dreams and nightmares all have the people I love in them. Whether I love them in a family way or a romantic way, they're always there. Except for that killer. He's only in nightmares.

I still don't know what happened to him. I don't think he died, though he was very close to it the way Jake had beat him up. The police took him away and I never heard another word of what happened to him. I just assumed he went to jail. I try not to think about him that much. It only brings back horrible memories. Memories I wish I could forget. 

"Hey, why are you up so early?" Liam asks me. He has a cup of tea in his hand and is leaning against the kitchen counter in his pajamas. 

"I have work," I remind him, grabbing some bread and popping it into the toaster. "You have any Nutella?" I ask, searching the cabinets. Liam chuckles and pulls out a jar of it from a drawer. I hug him. "YOU'RE AWESOME!" 

"I take it you like Nutella?" 

"I live off the stuff." I smile and smear some onto my toast with a knife. I quickly eat it and grab my bag. I'm just about to head out the door when I stop myself. 

Claire. 

"Hey Liam?" I ask, walking back to the kitchen where he was still sipping his tea. 

"Yeah?"

"Well, my brother usually would drive Claire to school because I have to go to work and her school doesn't start till nine. Do you think you could maybe take her? It's a really short drive, and it would help me so much!"

He smiles. 

"Sure. It's no problem."

 I smile, hug him, and thank him a million times before giving him the address and quick directions how to get there. I rush out the door since now I'm almost late for work. I speed there and walk in with only a few minutes to spare. Another close call. I walk to my desk. 

"Hey Rebecca do you think you could print a picture for me?" I ask, logging into my computer.

"Sure thing. What's it for?" she asks.

"Personal use. Don't tell Dave," I say with a wink. She smiles. 

"Gotcha." I pull up the picture of the boys spraying silly string at the camera. I send it in a quick email to Rebecca. Just as I send it an assistant comes by with a clipboard in her hand. 

"Alexis Blake? Mr. Hunt would like to speak with you in his office," she tells me.

Mr. Hunt is my uncle Dave. Everyone here calls him Mr. Hunt, but since he's my uncle, I just call him Uncle Dave. How lucky am I.

 I assume this meeting is for the photo shoot from Friday. The conversation I'm about to have could possibly make or break my photography career. And my income.

"Good luck," Rebecca says as I get up. 

"Thanks. I'll need it." I bite my lip and walk to my uncle's office. I knock on the door lightly and hear him tell me to come in. 

"Good morning Alexis.” 

"Good morning Uncle Dave." 

"Have a seat." I do as told and sit in one of the big comfy looking chairs in front of his desk. "Your photo shoot pictures came in the other day." He keeps a straight face. I can't tell if he's pissed off or just hiding how happy he really is. He never shows emotion. Good or bad. 

"How did they turn out?"

"I'm absolutely thrilled with your work. The company loved it. You did not disappoint me." He tosses a few pictures in front of me, still not smiling. "These are wonderful. Very creative and fun. Great for a teen magazine. Many of them don't even look too posed. They all look very natural. I love it. I think that you've earned a spot doing this permanently. Starting now I'm going to think of putting you on more shoots like this."

I smile so wide it hurt my cheeks. I got a promotion. I could earn more money now and maybe even get a better car that isn't about to die. 

"Thank you so much!"

"You earned it." The corner of his mouth pulls up in the tiniest smile. "But you're still on thin ice," he says in a harsher tone, his small smile gone. 

"I understand."

"You can't be slacking off now that I've given you this position. You must be on your A game. I expect every shoot to be like this one, and I expect each and every photo to be as perfect as these. If they aren't its going to be your job on the line."

 I nod. "I'm aware." 

"Good. Now get back to work. There's a file that just came in from a new clothing store, and all the pictures still need editing." I nod and get up to leave. Thank God. I'm safe. I hurry back to my desk. 

"Hey, how did it go?" Rebecca asks. I sigh. 

"Great! Oh my gosh I was so freaking nervous going in there." She chuckles. 

"I would be too. By the way, nice picture. It just printed." She smirks and hands me the photo I asked her to print out. I smile when I see it. 

"Thank you Becca."

"No problem. Are you a One Direction fan now?" she asks jokingly. I just smile, wink, and get up to leave my desk. I rummage around looking for a frame until I finally find one and place the picture inside. I smile and stand it up on my desk right next to the one of Austin and Claire.

AUTHORS NOTE
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG so like YESTERDAY i posted this story and its already gots like a BUNCH of reads and a bunch of votes and comments and i seriously cant thank you guys enough. like i was reading all your comments and the whole time i was smiling like a moron xD i love you poptarts sosososoooo much!!! just hope that you know that(: anyways short chapter :/ sorry bout that but i just really wanted to update for you lovely people <33 Yay! her job is saved! What shall happen next? O_o comment your predictions and vote if you wanna find out ;) and fan if you love nutella <3 cuz I do ^_^ isnt the kittykat cute?? :D anyways i love you <333 ok bye.