The One You Call | horan au

three

"Girls night!" Robin shouts, stepping into my office with her arms up and Tasha trailing behind.

"Oh?" I smile, watching her dance to an inaudible tune.

"Yeah," she says. "We're going out."

"You and Tasha?"

"You, us, and Savannah," she clarifies.

"Ah."

"Yep," Tasha says. "We're going to do everything in our power to make sure Savannah gets laid."

"She's getting annoying, huh?"

"Getting?" She scoffs. "That's funny."

It's enough to make me laugh.

"Seriously. If Savannah says anything else about that cradle robbing ex-husband of hers," she says, and then sighs. "I might just have to kill her."

"Extreme." I look over at Robin, who's still jiving. "Where are you thinking of going?"

"There's this club downtown near that abandoned dry cleaners on third," Robin explains. "I hear rappers hang out there."

"What she means is Trey Songz was spotted there once," Tasha says. "And he's not even a rapper."

"Whatever." Robin giggles, dismissing her friend with the wave of her hand. "Are you game?"

I guess I could use a night out. I probably deserve one. A wild night these days for me involves having two glasses of wine instead of one. And if I'm feeling extra fancy I'll splurge on an actual bottle, with a cork, rather than the cheap boxed wine I've become accustomed to.

For the most part I've left my partying ways behind when I graduated from college. Partying after the age of twenty-two seems to bring forth nothing but embarrassing one night stands and problematic blonde boys.

"Yeah," I tell them anyway. "I'm game."

I met Niall at a club at the bar almost six months prior after choking on what I decided was my first and last glass of whiskey.

"You're such a lightweight," Robin giggled, patting my back with her hand while holding a vodka soda in the other. "Why would you ask for whiskey?"

"I don't know," I said, dabbing the corner of my eyes. "I thought it'd make me look cool." Sophisticated, I had hoped.

"Are you gonna be alright?" she asked. I could tell she was dying to hit the dance floor and I really didn't need to be babysat.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I shooed her away. "Go. have fun."

I watched her scurry away and then turned back to the bar. I felt someone push up against my back and slouched in my chair, trying to rid contact from the stranger.

"Hiya." A blonde boy appeared beside me, leaning his forearms on the bar as he spoke to bartender. "Can I get a Heineken?"

The dark haired man behind the counter nodded at him. The blonde haired boy tapped a fist on the bar and tossed his hand through his hair. He looked so effortlessly good-looking in his plain white tee. I didn't realize I was staring until he gave me a double take.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

He wet his bottom lip. "Can I get you a drink?"

"That's all right," I said, pointing to the whiskey that I didn't plan on touching again. "I've already got one."

"A whiskey, huh?" he said with a smirk.