Much to her dismay, Brooklyn finds herself going to the pub with Niall and Harry almost every day after work. Harry hasn't behaved weirdly since that evening and things are now back to normal. By normal, she means Niall is back to teasing her at every chance he gets and Harry is back to supporting his best friend no matter what. She can't believe that's her normal.
Brooklyn takes a sip of her beer as she sneaks a peek at the screen of Harry's mobile phone. She doesn't mean to be nosy, but the light of his screen is so bright – he needs to lower the brightness or he might have to wear glasses soon – that it catches her eyes. So, Brooklyn looks at his phone and oh my God.
"You're stalking Suki," she blurts out.
Harry immediately locks his phone and turns to look at her, horrified. If she weren't as shocked as he is, she would've laughed at the look on his face when he realises that he's just been caught doing something he probably should have done in private.
"Shit," the word slips past his lips. His ears turn bright red and soon enough, his face does too. "I, uh, I wasn't stalking. Her picture came up and I, uh-"
"Clicked on her profile and looked at all of her pictures even the ones from years ago?" Brooklyn finishes Harry's sentence for him with a raised eyebrow. When he doesn't say anything, she laughs and shakes her head. "I have a lot of question for you but first, have you ever accidentally liked her picture?"
Instead of answering her question, he swigs at his beer, avoiding eye contact with her. Brooklyn doesn't have to push him to know that yes, he's accidentally liked her picture before. But for his sake, she's just going to think that he immediately disliked the picture so Suki wouldn't get the notification. She knows how embarrassing it is to be caught stalking someone's Instagram profile. She's been through it a lot of times, which is why she is very careful when it comes to this matter.
"Next question, do you have a crush on her?" Brooklyn asks out of pure curiosity. She can't help herself. Suki is one of her closest friends so if someone has a crush on her, Brooklyn feels like she needs to know about it. Maybe she is nosy.
She could've sworn Harry goes rigid for a couple of seconds before he slumps his shoulders. He's still avoiding her eyes, but there's a hint of a smile on the edges of his mouth. She's pretty certain that the smile is a result of his drunkenness because otherwise, Harry wouldn't have given away his answer that easily. He could be a little bit of a sillyhead sometimes, but when it comes to secrets especially his, he's very good at keeping them. So, it surprises her when she sees him smiling, confirming her suspicion.
But before she can taunt Harry about it, Niall appears from the men's room. "What're we talking 'bout here?" He asks as he throws an arm over Harry's shoulder.
Brooklyn glances at Harry, whose face has turned bright red now. He's giving her a look that probably says 'don't you dare...' but she ignores it. She looks at Niall and says, "We're talking about Harry's crush."
Niall doesn't look surprised at all, which makes Brooklyn believe that he's known about it all along. Of course he knows, she realises, he's his best friend after all. "Harry's crush on Suki?" Niall quizzes with a raised eyebrow. Harry lets out a groan and mutters something under his breath, something that sounds like wanting to be swallowed by the ground. "I can't believe you've never noticed that. You'd make a terrible detective, Cooper."
Brooklyn rolls her eyes. How's she supposed to notice it when Harry walks away as soon as Suki comes around, or when Harry becomes so quiet when Suki joins them, or when he- oh. Oh.
"Speaking of crush-" Niall pauses as he pulls a chair and places it between Brooklyn and Harry's chair. Harry drags his own chair away from Niall's, giving him some space. Niall thanks him before finally continuing his sentence, "-I know someone who has a crush on you."
As soon as those words leave Niall's mouth, Harry's curiosity piques so he leans forward and waits – only to have Niall looking at him all confused. Between him and Brooklyn, he's the one who looks far more eager to hear Niall spill the beans.
Brooklyn feels her cheeks heating up even though there's a big possibility that Niall's just messing with her. It's not something new – him teasing her. Besides, the thought of someone having a crush on her is so weird. She's pretty sure no one has ever had a crush on her since high school. But, now that Niall has mentioned it, she feels curiosity creeping under her skin. "Who?" She blurts out the question before she can stop herself.
Niall grins, happy that he manages to catch Brooklyn's interest, which isn't easy. She almost never wants to hear what he has to say. "Louis," he answers. Brooklyn's brows shoot up in surprise. "Louis has a crush on you."
"Really?" Brooklyn asks, immediately clearing her throat when she hears how different her voice sounds like. She hopes to God that Niall doesn't notice that and she hopes that he doesn't see her fighting a smile.
"Yeah," Niall answers with a nod.
Louis did tell Niall once that he thinks Brooklyn is pretty when he met her at Niall's New Year Eve's party last year. In fact, most of Niall's friends who have met her would tell him that they thought she's beautiful or that she's fit – Niall would gag when he hears that, of course, because he's never seen her like that – or that they thought they've fallen in love with her.
Anyway, each time he spills his friends' thoughts to her, she'd give him a disgusted look, quickly shaking her head like she hates the idea of someone liking her. Which is odd because most girls would be flattered to know that. But then again, Brooklyn isn't like other girls that Niall knows.
So, he finds it weird when he catches her smiling to herself now that he's told her that Louis has a crush on her.
"Wait, you're not disgusted?" Niall asks, brows furrowing. This is a first, he thinks. He's gotten used to her telling him that she's not interested, but that phrase hasn't left her mouth yet.
"No," Brooklyn answers with a shrug – Niall has an odd look on his face when she says that as if that's not the answer he's expected to hear – before quickly adding, "I mean, why should I? He's cute."
He is. He really is.
Which is why when she found out that Louis got hired by Adidas to be one of their models, she wasn't surprised at all – he deserves it. His face is now on most Adidas stores and although those pictures don't really do him justice, Brooklyn would still catch herself staring at it a bit longer than appropriate each time she sees it.
"Well good thing that you think he's cute cos he's coming over," Niall mentions few seconds before Louis makes his way to their table, clasping Niall on the back. The two of them exchange a hug whilst Brooklyn remains immobile in her chair. How dare Niall spring the news on her merely seconds before Louis come up to them? She needs at least fifteen seconds to compose herself, but now she doesn't get the chance to do so.
And that explains why she finds it difficult to look at him in the eyes. When they do land on him, though, her face turns red. It's truly embarrassing because there's still a possibility that Niall lied. Alas, that doesn't stop her from replaying his words in her head: Louis has a crush on you, Louis has a crush on you, Louis has a crush on you.
Get over it, Brooklyn scolds herself. She's pretty sure she's having an out-of-body experience. It's the most plausible explanation she can think of as to why she's behaving like a teenage girl.
"Hi, Brooklyn." Louis shoots her a smile.
As though his smile is contagious, her lips curve upwards. "Hi."
From the corner of her eyes, she can see both Niall and Harry looking at her intently and if Louis weren't sitting in front of them, she would've told them to mind their own businesses. But he's there, his eyes on her, so she settles on kicking their shins under the table. They wince and a smug grin touches her lips. Good.
"So Niall told me that you two have a bet going on," he brings up as he rests his elbow on the table. His blue eyes – they're slightly darker than Niall's, she notices – are fixed on her face and she struggles to keep eye contact with him, which has never been a problem for her when it comes to everyone else. It's her strong suit, after all. "I'm rooting for you, just so you know."
Niall's eyes widen and he nudges his friend. "I thought you're rooting for me."
"And let her go on a date with you?" Louis looks at Niall, an incredulous look on his face. He chuckles when Niall doesn't say anything else and shakes his head. "Nah, mate – no offence."
"Well, aren't ya a good friend," Niall mutters under his breath as he picks up his beer and takes a few sips of it. Harry pats Niall's back and assures him that he's on his side – no one is surprised to hear that. Niall points a finger at Louis then at Brooklyn and says, "Just so you know, I'm definitely winning this bet."
"Not a chance," Brooklyn counters with a shake of her head as she slaps his finger away from her. The annoyed expression on her face elicits laughter from him, so she adds, "You're not gonna win this one."
Niall might have gotten an approval from Mr Storm a couple of weeks ago, but when she submitted her article to their editor-in-chief last week, he expressed his approval with a smile on his lips. Unfortunately, Niall wasn't around to witness that so he didn't believe her when she told him what happened.
Regardless, Brooklyn has a good feeling about this bet.
"Have you seen me lose a bet?" Niall asks. His raised eyebrow and the smug smile that Brooklyn has grown accustomed to seeing suggest that he's proud of the fact that he's never lost a bet. Or probably never will.
"I'm about to," Brooklyn remarks, wiping the smug grin off of his face and smearing it across her face instead. Niall continues to tell her that he's going to win whilst she pretends not to pay any attention to him.
"This is entertaining to watch," Louis says with a chuckle. Beside him, Harry agrees. Louis' eyes dart from Niall to Brooklyn. They linger on Brooklyn for a little longer, though, and when she catches Louis' eyes, her cheeks turn red and that puts a smile on his face.
&&
"Did you lose a bet?" – that's the first thing Brooklyn asks when Niall comes to work wearing a hat that covers his dark brown hair. It makes him look like a folk singer, which isn't the kind of look he would usually go for.
Niall shakes his head as he takes off his denim jacket. "Nope."
Brooklyn points at his head and asks, "Then what's that on your head?"
"A hat," he answers. She rolls her eyes at him; he knows that's not the answer she's looking for. Shrugging, he says, "Just thought I should try something new."
Brooklyn drags her chair to his desk as she squints her eyes at him. For some reasons, she doesn't believe his explanation. Instead of looking away, he keeps his eyes on her whilst she scans his face as though she can find an answer somewhere on his face.
"Oh my God," she gasps all of sudden as a thought pops into her head. Niall shifts in his seat and glances over his shoulder. When he realises that her shock is actually directed at him, he frowns. "Did you dye your hair blond again?"
Brooklyn has nothing against his blond hair because it looks great on him, but she secretly prefers his brown hair – it brings out his eyes more.
"What?" Niall frowns. "No." He takes his hat off briefly to show to her that the colour of his hair hasn't changed, but the way he styles it certainly has changed. In fact, he doesn't style it at all, she notices, as the quiff isn't there.
"Oh." She nods. "So you suddenly decided to look like a folk singer?"
He raises his eyebrows, a smile tugging at his lips. "I look like a folk singer?" He quizzes. She shrugs. "Oh Cooper, that's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Shut up," she rolls his eyes. She's about to roll her chair back to her desk when he hooks his foot on her chair's leg, dragging her back to his desk. "What're you doing?"
He leans forward all of sudden and begins to speak in a hushed tone. "D'you think we should do something about Harry's crush?"
"Do what?"
"Wait, does Suki have a boyfriend?" He asks instead of answering her question.
"Not that I know of." She shakes her head. She's never talked about a boyfriend before so Brooklyn assumes that she doesn't have one.
"Great, great," he replies, nodding his head. "That'd make our plan easier."
"Our plan?" She repeats. She doesn't know that they have a plan. "What plan?"
"Easy." He grins, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Our plan is to get them to go on a date. I'll make a reservation for them and I'll tell Harry to meet 'me' there. All you have to do is tell Suki to go to the restaurant at 8."
Whilst she thinks it would be cute to see Harry and Suki go on a date, there's one question that is bugging her: "Don't you think that'd be weird?"
Niall stops going through a list of restaurants on his mobile phone and looks at her. "What would be weird?"
"Dunno," she shrugs. Niall gives her a pointed look. He knows she has something to say. "Co-workers going out on a date."
Niall runs his tongue across his bottom lip as he mulls over what she's just said. "You think it's weird?"
She's never gone out on a date with her co-worker before so she believes that she doesn't have the right answer for that question. What she does know is that if she were to go on a date with someone and it doesn't go well, she wouldn't want to see that person again. So she can only imagine how awkward it would be if she has to see her date the next morning after a horrible night out with said person.
"I-" she's about to tell him that no, she doesn't know if it's weird when she remembers that two of their ex co-workers went on a few dates before. When things didn't work out, one of them resigned – everyone thinks he's being a bit dramatic but then again no one really knows what happened to them – before another one did too six months later. Ever since then, everyone seems to be opposed to the idea of dating a co-worker. "Remember Ray and Eva?"
Niall is quiet for a moment and Brooklyn waits for him to remember them. Although they weren't close to both Ray and Eva, they did hang out with them in the break room a few times before. Brooklyn thought they're cute together but apparently, looking cute as a couple isn't enough.
"Oh." Finally.
"Yeah." Brooklyn sighs. Niall runs his fingers through his hair. His shoulders slump forward slightly and knowing him, he's probably quite disappointed that he doesn't get to execute his plan. So, she tries to make him feel better. "For what it's worth, I think they'd make a beautiful couple and your plan would've worked out."
"Ha," Niall chuckles dryly as he shakes his head. The disappointment is still there in his eyes. She doesn't know this could upset him this much. "Well, don't let Harry know that I tried to set him up with Suki or he won't talk to me for weeks. "
The thought of Harry not talking to Niall for weeks doesn't sound realistic at all. The longest the two of them have gone without talking to each other is two hours.
"I doubt that but-" Brooklyn holds her pinkie finger up and smiles, "-I won't." He stares at it before he curls his pinkie around hers. When she squeezes it, laughter slips past his throat and a smile curves her lips. She taps his desk once, twice before she rolls her chair back to her desk. "Alright, folk singer Niall, I gotta work on my article so I can win the bet."
"Good luck trying," he replies. His laughter reverberates around the office when she gives him the middle finger.
&&
Louis has just followed her on Instagram. Louis has just followed her on Instagram.
He must have seen the picture of her laughing whilst driving her car that Niall posted on his Instagram fifteen minutes ago. She told him not to tag her because it isn't exactly a flattering picture of her, but he did anyway. She's learned a while ago that embarrassing her on social media is one of his hobbies.
Instead of straightaway clicking the follow button on Louis' profile, she waits a few more minutes because she doesn't want to seem too eager. So as she tries to kill the time, she checks out some pictures that he recently posted – most of them are pictures of him for Adidas.
Brooklyn finally follows Louis on Instagram five minutes later. She puts her mobile phone down and tries to focus on her article, but when the screen of her phone lights up, she quickly picks it up. Louis has just sent her a direct message on Instagram.
Hey there, stranger!
She rolls her eyes at the overused phrase even though there's a hint of a smile at the edges of her mouth as she types her reply: Hey there, supermodel.
Brooklyn doesn't get to put her phone down as the reply comes in a couple of seconds later.
Please, I'm hardly a 'supermodel'.
She scoffs. Your pictures disagree with you.
Have you been stalking me? He includes two side eyes emojis along with his reply and her face flushes in embarrassment. Good thing he can't see that. Before she can type her response, he sends another message: Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to go out for a drink or two after work? And then he adds another one: On me, of course.
She doesn't freak out often, but as soon as she reads that, she feels her heart thumping against her chest. Brooklyn has never been asked out for a drink through direct message on Instagram before and she certainly has never been asked out by a model.
"Are you okay?" Niall asks as he stands up from his chair so he can see her face. "You've been awfully quiet."
Brooklyn looks up. "I have?"
"Yeah," he nods. "I didn't hear any of that awfully loud typing noises you usually make."
She crinkles her nose at him. "I don't make awfully loud noises when I type."
He rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Yes, you do." She shakes her head, disagreeing. "Anyway, are you okay?"
"Mhmm," she hums, nodding. He squints his eyes at her as though he doesn't believe her. So, she assures him. "I'm okay, I swear. Just taking a break from writing one of the articles that's going to kick your arse."
At that, he ignores her and returns to his seat.
Brooklyn reads Louis' message once more before she types her reply: Sure. Where?
He gives her the name of the bar – she's heard of it, but never been there – along with a picture of the place. So you won't get lost, he adds.
She thanks him and tells him that she'll meet him there. When no reply comes after that, she finally puts her mobile phone down. She makes sure that the screen isn't facing her so she won't get distracted anymore.
Brooklyn works on her article until eventually it's time for them to leave work. Niall is putting on his jacket when he walks up to her desk and asks, "You're coming with us?"
"No," she answers with a pout, to which Niall questions why. "I, uh, I'm going out with Louis."
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Louis as in my mate, Louis?"
"Yeah," she nods. A part of her thought that Niall knows Louis is going to ask her out, but the surprised look on his face says the otherwise.
"Oh."
Before either Niall or Brooklyn can say anything else, Harry makes his way to her desk. "I was thinking that maybe instead of beer, we could go for something stronger today." His eyes land on Brooklyn, then, and when he notices that she still hasn't cleared her desk, a frown takes over his face. "Wait, you're not coming with us?"
She shakes her head. "Nah, I've got a plan."
Harry looks at Niall then looks at Brooklyn. "A plan with...?"
"Louis," she answers.
"S'it a date?"
Is it a date? Brooklyn doesn't know, but for the sake of not wanting to be disappointed, she makes herself believe that it isn't. "Don't think so," she says.
"Huh," Harry breathes. A smile stretches his lips when a thought pops into his head, "If it's not a date, then let us come with you."
"What?" the question slips past Brooklyn's mouth before she can stop it. "I mean, sure – I guess?"
"Great," Harry grins.
Niall slaps Harry on the back and says, "I don't think Cooper wants us to come with her."
Her eyes widen and she immediately shakes her head. "What? No, that's not true. Of course I want you two to be there."
"Please," Niall rolls his eyes, "it's written all over your face. I know you."
Brooklyn can't argue with that logic. Niall does know her even though she wishes he didn't. "Well, s'not that I don't want you there but-"
"S'fine," Niall cuts her off. When she raises an eyebrow at him, he shoots her a smile and continues, "Besides, I don't think you'd want to hang around Harry if he decides to drink something stronger."
"Hey!" Harry shouts, offended. Niall gives him a pointed look. "Okay, maybe he's right."
"I'm always right," Niall brags. At that, both Brooklyn and Harry roll their eyes and let out a scoff. "Anyway, have fun, Cooper. Tell Louis I said hi."
"Okay," Brooklyn nods.
"Oh and tell him you're welcome."