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Wilder Mind

Twenty Four.

Twenty Four.
Springtime in the city has been my favorite for the ten years I've lived here. Even though I don't stop sneezing for what seems like weeks straight I love the way everyone becomes so happy. When Ma was here it still felt like winter but when May finally rolled around the weather hit 70 degrees and I was beyond happy.
I was able to drive through the city with my windows down again letting the warm breezes come through my windows. It seemed like there was double the amount of people walking around the city now that they didn't need their long winter coats on anymore. My commute to work was becoming more hazardous by the minute with all of the pedestrians.
Wolfe was buzzing with new business on both coasts and it was becoming hard to keep up with what I was doing. I was working through my lunch breaks on countless web projects and giving Van a bunch of my things to do. Come June his intern contract was set to be up and I was working hard on getting him hired full time here.
Arlo was working seamlessly with Louis and Liam on our team projects and was given a full time position at the beginning of the month. Our whole sea of cubes had to get rearranged in April and now the six of us were working up in the front corner near Rhodes' office and the receptionist desk. My computer screen could be seen from Rhodes' desk which was making it difficult for me to start browsing around for jobs.
Harry and I just celebrated our seventh year at Wolfe and his position was still working out wonderfully for him. Copywriters and proofreaders were paid very well at Wolfe as we wanted to keep the business competitive and they supplied our perfection. Programmers were also paid great amounts for entry level positions. I had only received one raise since I'd been at Wolfe so I knew there was something more profitable out there. Whenever Rhodes was out of the office I would start browsing through looking at other openings around here and I started applying whenever I found something remotely interesting. I knew I had to break out of the tech side of advertising and more into software design if I really wanted to make the big money.
So when I started getting interviews I had to slyly go in and out of the office during my lunch breaks or claiming I had an appointment. I didn't dare to tell anyone, not even Harry, that I was looking for other jobs. Wolfe was just becoming very stagnant and boring for me in my work and I deserved to be making a lot more money for the amount of work I was doing than I was currently.
Some companies responded saying they weren't interested, some companies were interested but I really did not want the job. In the middle of May I got a response from Dropbox asking me to come in for a second interview. I told Rhodes I had a doctor's appointment during lunch and I'd be back as soon as I could make it.
"You headed to lunch?" Kaine stopped me when I was on my way out the door.
"Yeah, I've got an appointment." I said trying to sound convincing.
"Oh shoot, I was gonna try to tag along." she said.
"H asked me earlier, try him maybe. I'll be back when I get here." I said and waved at her.
I made my way down to the lot and got in my car to drive uptown toward Yorkville. I grabbed my garment bag out of the backseat and put on the suit jacket that matched the pants I was wearing and tied up a tie before heading into the building.
I was obviously a bit nervous while waiting to be called in by the receptionist but figured they called me back for a second interview for some reason.
"Niall Horan?" the woman called out and I nodded. "You can head in Mrs. Daniels is all set for you."
"Thank you." I said and stood up to dust myself off.
I took a deep breath before knocking on the door to the office and getting called in.
"Hello there, I don' think I've met you yet, I'm Niall Horan." I introduced myself.
"Hi Niall, I'm Amalia, it's nice to meet you." she said shaking my hand. "Who did your first interview?" she asked.
"I think his name was Hank? Maybe?" I asked to myself. "I'm not quite sure, I did that interview at an entirely different building."
"Well we are only just getting our office set up out here." she said. "So, uh, I've looked over your résumé and we've talked with some references as well."
"I hope they only had good things to say." I nervously laughed.
"Of course they did." she smiled. "I just wanted to get you down here to talk about our situation." she said.
"Like, the company's situation or like you're not gonna hire me because I'm officially just an old man." I joked.
"The company Niall." she laughed at my lame joke. "So our New York office isn't set to open up until late July. We've got a bit of organization to do and we need to settle on a building we're going to work in but we will have a place for you here if you'd like one. You can keep working at your current employers until then and join us when we open."
"Thank you." I nodded.
"So he're a bunch of papers with probably the same job description you saw when you applied but this has more information about it. There's all the stuff about benefits and vacation days and starting salary that we'd like to have you look over before you commit to anything." Amalia said. "We only wish that we hear from you by the end of the work week."
"Thank you very much, really. I most definitely will." I nodded realizing I had a good job offer in my hands.
"You're currently at Wolfe House and Company right?" she said peering through my résumé again.
"Yeah it's been good but I've been there since I was twenty one." I shrugged.
"Advertising getting a little old?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's all just stale, I'm overworked and underpaid and I only just realized it about a month ago." I said. "A lot of people in the office too, too many to keep track of."
"Well, our New York office should have less than thirty people to start so just something to keep in mind." she added in.
"I will, believe me." I said.
"Well, I shouldn't keep you, I'm assuming you're on lunch." she said.
"Yes I really should get going." I said standing up.
"We really look forward to hearing from you soon Niall." she said shaking my hand.
"I'll get back to you once I look over everything." I said. "Thank you Amalia."
"Have a nice week." she smiled opening the door for me.
"You as well." I nodded and was back in the lobby.
I walked out of the building and back to my car and peeked into the folder. I looked at the starting salary of the job and it was nearly ten grand more than what I was making currently. Needless to say, as long as it wasn't in the contract that I would have to sell my body for the business, I was going to take this job.
I got back into my car and quickly shed off my tie and suit coat carefully placing them back into the garment bag and ditching it in the trunk of my Jeep. I went and grabbed a sandwich from the deli next door to the building then got back in and headed back to the office. When I parked again I flicked through the folder skimming everything over to get a feel for what it would be like there. The benefits were better than at Wolfe and I had a few more vacation days, plus the salary. There was no way I was going to be able to deny this job. It only took me about a month of looking but I found where I wanted to be and I was feeling incredibly blessed. I buried the folder underneath my seat so nobody would see it and question me then head back to the office. I was only a half hour over my lunch so I wasn't feeling so suspicious.
I scooting back into my cube going relatively unnoticed until I saw a stack of papers on my keyboard. I flicked through the folder placed there and noticed it was the from the Pacific Whiskey brand.
"Uh, Louis?" I called.
"Yeah what's up?" he asked rolling his chair into my cube.
"Do you know when these got here? And why they're here I thought they launched the new branding months ago." I said looking through the pages.
"So I've been in contact with the company and they had actually shut down production since January so that they can have a grand reopening of the distillery. You've just gotta create a splash screen for their webpage with a countdown to the opening based on the layout I drew up in the back of the folder." he explained.
"Alright I can manage that." I said moving it out of the way.
"They wanted to have a couple people from Wolfe go out to Portland for the whole event." he said picking at a hangnail.
"Well when is it?" I asked.
"Sometime next month. I've gotta bring it up to Rhodes though." he shrugged.
"You and Arlo should head out there you did all the branding. I'll talk to him." I said.
"Thank you, I appreciate that." he smiled.
"Alright Lou get back to work." I joked.
On Thursday night I called my Ma and told her about the job offer before I went ahead and called Amalia at Dropbox to confirm I'd take the job. I was ecstatic to have a change of scenery but I wasn't looking forward to the conversation I was gonna have to have with Rhodes the next day.
After our company meeting Friday morning while everyone was rolling their chairs out of the office I followed Rhodes up to the roof during his smoke break. I didn't want to have this conversation with him in his office because I felt like everyone was going to be able to tell what was happening through the glass walls. I nervously crossed and recrossed my arms trying to seem casual.
"Horan, you start smoking and I didn't know it?" he asked when I approached the edge he was leaning onto.
"Nah, thank you though." I said turning down the pack of cigarettes he held out to me. "I just wanted to have a little chat."
"Can it wait until we're in my office?" he asked.
"I'd rather do it up here, it's a touch more private than all the glass." I tried to joke.
"Alright then, what's going on?" he asked.
"Rhodes, I've got a job offer I just can't turn down." I blurted out wishing I could've picked my words a little more carefully.
"I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep you around forever, I was just hoping I'd have a little longer." he sighed. "Where's it at? Not another design firm."
"No sir. I wouldn't do that to you guys at Wolfe." I said. "It's at the new Dropbox office, I'm off to be a software engineer."
"So is this your two weeks then?" he asked.
"Well my position doesn't start until late July so it's entirely up to you." I said.
"Well, son, I can't very well keep paying you when I know you're just going to leave." he said bluntly.
"I understand completely sir. I just didn't want my departure to come as a shock to you. So then, uh, yeah, I guess this is my two weeks." I said and exhaled loudly. "I would like to make a suggestion though, if I may." I added.
"And that is?" Rhodes questioned.
"To fill my position, I really think you need to hire Van McCann on full time. I've kind of showed him the ropes and I think he's really an asset to the company. His programming skills are top notch now." I offered.
"I'll think about it. I appreciate the input." he said.
"I've really had a great seven years here Rhodes." I said holding my hand out for him to shake.
"Wolfe has been lucky to have you Niall, thank you for all your work." he said and shook it.
We would have to finalize everything later but two weeks from now I'd be ending my first real job. It was bittersweet but I needed this more than I knew.
The next week I was called into the HR office to talk about my leaving and how the company had treated me in all my years here. Rhodes offered the job to Van and now he was the second person in the office to know about my leaving. I swore him to secrecy and he went along with it as I showed him all the ins and outs of my job. I was showing him something on my screen while a layout was printing and ran out of toner halfway through the document and I went up to the reception desk.
"Helen, would you mind grabbing me some toner" I asked leaning up against the desk like I always did.
"Not at all dear just give me a moment." she said leaving me with Kaine.
Kaine, since Easter, had let things go back to normal between us. The trouble was we have never actually talked about what happened on New Years. I think she just wanted to forget about it best as she could. It almost felt normal again but I was constantly on edge worried she might get obscenely mad at me again.
"What are you doing next weekend?" Kaine asked me.
"Uh, Memorial Day Weekend?" I asked and she nodded. "Probably just more of the same stuff I always do."
"Okay, so I've gotta go to a wedding for one of my college friends and Everett can't make it. Would you want to come? I thought maybe it could be fun." she asked.
"What's Everett doing that he can't make it?" I asked.
"He has grading he has to do for the Texas state exams and thinks he's gonna be overwhelmed if he has to travel along with doing all of that." she said clearly annoyed. "He only just told me yesterday he could've given me more advance."
"Where is this wedding?" I asked.
"The Hamptons." she answered.
"I think I could manage that." I nodded.
"Oh, wow, really? You're a lifesaver, Delaney would've killed me if I couldn't go." she sighed in relief.
"Yeah sounds fun." I said again.
"You hate weddings don't you?" she asked.
"No, no, don't hate them. We'll have fun." I convinced her. "It's us after all." I added for good measure.
"It's pretty formal too can you manage that?" she asked.
"I'm sure I have something. If not I've always got H." I said.
"Yeah he's bound to have something." she said to me just as Helen walked back to the counter.
"Thank you Helen love." I said.
"You're welcome dear." she said.
Over the weekend I head off to H's place to see if any of his nice suits would fit me for this wedding. Truth was just hearing the word wedding still took me back to the fact that I almost got engaged less than a year ago and I wasn't so keen on that memory. But I'd go for her, with her.
"How's that one?" he asked looking me over in the plaid Gucci one.
"Too much I think." I said.
"Try the black one I have hanging up in there. Saint Laurent." he said and I head back to his room.
"H I've got something to tell ya." I said slipping off the current suit.
"Yeah and what's that?" he asked.
"Don't get mad at me." I said.
"What is it Niall?" he called back.
"I'm, uh, this week is my last week at Wolfe." I said putting on the new suit pants.
"It's your what?" he asked appearing in the doorway genuinely surprised by what he was hearing.
"I got a job offer starting in July I can't pass up. I'm leaving Wolfe." I said.
"Congrats." he said happy for me and giving me a hug.
"It's at Dropbox and they're offering me a shit ton more money. I couldn't refuse it." I said. "I was looking around and interviewing for about a month at a bunch of places."
"That's so great. I'm so happy for you, you're underpaid for how much shit you put up with." he said.
"I'm just upset I'm not gonna get to work with my best friend every day." I added.
"Like I'm not going to see you every day still." he laughed.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." I said putting on the suit jacket.
"This one's the one. You're gonna have to fit in with all of Kaine's friends at this wedding." he said tossing me a simple black skinny tie. "You look sharp."
"You're not mad I'm leaving the company?" I asked.
"Not at all, I've been starting to get antsy myself. I can't really deal with the people in the office anymore. I feel like because we're young we're severely underappreciated. And I didn't realize it up until now." he said.
"I'm glad it wasn't just me who felt like that." I said.
I took off the suit and put it back in the garment bag and walked back out into H's living room. He was laying on his couch holding a beer up above his head for me and watching a footy match.
"You gonna behave yourself at this wedding?" he asked.
"I know better than to pull anything." I said taking the bottle and sitting down in one of his chairs.
"Oh sure you do." he said rolling his eyes.
"I know the consequences if I do. That better?" I asked.
"Better. I just don't want to go through that shit storm again." he said.
"Me neither H. Believe me." I said.
"It's just, you've just patched things up. Things are just back to normal, don't fuck yourself over." he insisted.
"I'm gonna be on my best behavior." I stressed to him.
My last week at work flew by and nobody else knew that I was leaving still besides Harry, Van, and Rhodes. I was going in on Tuesday after Memorial Day to tie up loose ends and formally announce my departure to everyone at the company. I was not at all looking forward to that day, it was going to be emotional as all hell.
I had my bags packed for the Hamptons for the weekend and was getting nervous jitters about being with Kaine nonstop for a whole 72 hours. I was happy we managed to put our problems past us but that didn't mean my feelings for her were gone. I shouldn't have agreed to go with her, I should've said I was busy but it was too late now to back out. I hung my garment back in the back of my Jeep and placed my duffle in the back seat and set off to Kay's to pick her up.
I found a place to park briefly and went up to her floor to help her bring her things down to the car.
"I told you I could grab everything myself." she complained when she opened the door.
"Nonsense, you have like four bags. Is this just a weekend or a whole month? I may have under packed." I teased.
"With lame ass jokes like that it's gonna feel like a whole month." she grumbled under her breath.
"Alright, let's get a move on." I said. "Friday traffic out of the city is a nightmare whatever way we go."
"Oh enough already." she said pulling her door shut behind her and locking it.
She handed me her duffle that nearly matched mine and H's with the green birds on it. We were going to look awfully sharp headed into the Airbnb for the weekend. It was too bad nobody would be there to witness it.
"Got everything?" I asked.
"Yes let's head out." she nodded and locked the door behind her.
"I don't think I'll fit in too well with all these college friends of yours." I said.
"Most of them are from the South so their accents are just as hard to understand as yours it'll be fine." she said as we made our way down on the elevator.
"Are you sure you've got everything?" I asked her again when we stepped into her lobby.
"Yes Niall, relax, come on." she said pushing through the doors.
We made our way out of the city toward Long Island hitting as minimal traffic luckily. I was beyond tired from my work day and tying up loose ends while not trying to tell anyone I was leaving. It was killing me every single mile hiding the fact from Kaine but I didn't want to ruin this weekend for anything. I'd tell her on our way back on Sunday. When we finally reached our place in East Hampton I was ready to fall asleep but my hunger was stronger.
"Want to order takeaway and just bring it back to the place?" I asked Kaine.
"Or even better have it delivered here." she offered.
"You genius." I nodded.
We found the lockbox and got into the little cottage Kaine had rented for the weekend. I dropped the majority of our bags by the door and went straight to the bathroom while she dialed up a number for dinner. I came back out into the sitting room and flopped down on the couch observing the space. There was a nice little eat-in kitchen off to the right and a sun room behind that with the bedroom and bathroom right down a little hallway. It was a nice little spot to be in for the weekend.
I flicked on the television and waited around until our food was delivered. Kay finished hanging her things up then sat down on the other end watching and waiting along with me.
"I miss football." she said while we watched the golf.
"Soon enough we'll have it back." I said wincing as one of the guys missed the putt.
"A lot more action then this lousy sport." she sighed.
"Lousy?" I asked being dramatic. "Have you not been golfing?"
"My dad has tried so many times taking me but it's so incredibly boring." she said.
"Well I'll have to take you to a driving range that's the only way to start out." I prodded.
"If you ever get me to golf it will be a miracle. I will resist as much as I can though." she said taking the remote from my hands and changing the channel.
"I might take the doors off the Jeep, it's supposed to be perfect out tomorrow." I said.
"It's gonna storm overnight so you may want to wait to do that." she said.
"Maybe I'll do it and just park it in the garage here then." I said. "I'm too afraid to go in the city without 'em because someone will without a doubt steal my car. And I'd have to bring the doors up to my place."
"I never really thought about that." Kaine laughed at the thought. "I'll help you after we eat."
The takeaway made its way to the place shortly after that and we sat at the counter eating out of the containers. Things were feeling very normal and I was cautiously optimistic that Kay and I were officially over the New Years nightmare. We tossed our things in the bin and went back outside to grab the rest of our things and finagle the doors and top off.
"Want to go take a walk down on the beach?" Kaine asked me while helping take the last door off.
"Yeah let me grab a sweatshirt." I said carrying it over into the garage.
I grabbed my sweatshirt out of my duffle which was still in the entry way and went back out shutting the garage door behind me. I got started my car and waited for Kaine to hop in the passenger side.
"You sure this is safe?" she asked buckling in.
"It is perfectly safe and perfectly legal." I said laughing pulling out the drive. "You're gonna be mad I've never taken you out in it like this before."
The warm nearly summer air ran through our hair as I drove down the back roads to get to a beach. I looked over at Kaine who was smiling ear to ear with her hair blowing everywhere. The sun was slipping behind the trees and we had to get down to the water before sunset.
We parked on the side of the street next to a few other cars and made our way down the steps to the sand. I ditched my shoes by the bin and started walking down toward the water with Kaine trailing behind me.
"It really is such a lovely night." she said when she caught up to me.
"Your friends are gonna have nice weather for the wedding too." I nodded.
"I know we got lucky it's gonna be such a nice weekend." she said. "Well everyone did, nothing like a shitty Memorial Day weekend."
"You've got that right." I laughed.
We walked along the wet sand letting the tide pull the water in and out sometimes letting it grace our feet. The sky was putting on a beautiful show tonight with pinks and oranges and purples while the sun was red going down over the horizon. We kept walking along in a comfortable silence until the moon was the brightest thing in the sky and the storm clouds began to move in. We made our way back to the car and road back to the place pulling right into the garage.
"You were right by the way." Kaine said getting out of the car.
"What about?" I asked.
"I'm pissed you've never taken me for a ride with all the doors and top off. It's so refreshing." she said.
"I told you so." I singsonged.
We got back in the house and started preparing ourselves for the day tomorrow. I hung up my suit in the bedroom and ironed my shirt in advance so I wouldn't have to rush to do it in the morning. Kaine took a shower before the storm began and was preparing herself for bed while I laid some sheets out on the couch to sleep on.
"I can sleep out here." she said while brushing her teeth.
"You know I'm not gonna let you so why bother asking?" I teased.
"I figured I'd offer anyway." she called from the bathroom.
Once she was settled in the bedroom I pulled off my skinny jeans and pulled a comfier tee shirt on to sleep in. I flicked off the television and started scrolling through my phone seeing what I missed. The lightning was flashing through the sky and soon there was just a total downpour of rain. The thunder was crackling and it took me back to the stormy summer nights of my childhood in Mullingar. One particularly loud crack of thunder even made me jump and they normally didn't get to me. I heard the door of Kaine's room open and her head peek out from the door frame.
"You alright?" I asked putting down my phone.
"Not really a storm person." she tried playing it off cool.
"So tight places and storms, that it?" I teased.
"Would you just shut up and come in here until I fall asleep." she said getting antsy.
"Of course, I'll come talk you down." I said and head into the bedroom.
She climbed back up onto the bed while I shut the door behind me. The storm really wasn't the worst one on earth but it was a lot more dramatic when you weren't caught up in the city. It was actually something I missed dearly about Ireland was the loud cracks of thunder while in the city they got muffled by the sound of traffic and the tall buildings. She pulled back the covers on the other side of the bed and pat the mattress inviting me over.
"One time when I was little I was out driving with my mom and it was stormy out which didn't bother me at the time but our car got hit with lightning. It was just this huge flash right in front of my eyes and I remember crying so much but we just had to wait it out until it was safe to get out. The engine shut down and the radio was fried it was just really scary. I guess I've never gotten over it." Kay said drawing shapes on the sheets next to her face.
"Well that's pretty understandable then." I said settling into the bed.
"We got a new car a week later." she said.
"How'd your mom react?" I asked.
"Oh she was definitely terrified as all hell but had to keep calm because her four-year-old daughter was having a meltdown in the backseat." she laughed.
"We used to get these kinds of storms back home if we got a really hot day which was almost never." I said.
We both were laid down talking about anything and everything both insignificant and thought worthy while the storm rolled away. I couldn't tell you when either of us finally fell asleep but it was in the small hours.
Morning came later than I expected it to but not at all in a bad way, I needed my rest. I rolled my head from one side to the other when I felt my body wake up. My nose was tickling and my eyes slowly open and blinked hard a few times to figure out where I was before closing my eyes again. I turned my head once more to the right only for my nose to tickle worse. I slowly opened them again and rubbed them trying to get the grogginess out of them. When I looked down I saw Kaine's arm draped over my chest and her head up on my shoulder. Her hair was sprawled across the pillows and was the culprit that was tickling my nose. My right arm was up above my head so that she had better access to me and was totally asleep.
This was a morning view I wished I could get used to, but instead I slowly slipped out from under her and made my way back to the couch. I put myself back into my place even though it killed me to do so. I didn't want to cause a catastrophe if she woke up and saw me in her bed.
I kept repeating in the back of my mind she is not mine, she is not mine, she is not mine.

Notes

Comments

@Katiiee.kiingg
Hey thanks for reading! Just put up another chapter!

@Couchpotato
Hey finally updated! Thanks for reading!

Pleaseeeeeee update

I love these little moments they have. Can't wait for things to get heated ;)