Just as Much

Niall's POV



I roll over in bed, slightly stretching and waking up. It's Monday. Erica will be here. I haven't seen her in two full days, safe to say I've missed her. I smirk and laugh to myself as I think of the first time I met her.


“Why do we have to be here?” Harry whines, fixing his shirt.


“Because its the Modest Christmas Party Harry. And we really want Simon to sign us. Plus we just got finished with the X-Factor. And we'll be home for Christmas soon.” Liam reminds him and Harry's head drops back in the seat.


“Oh come on, it won't be that bad. Free food, probably slip in some drinks.” Louis laughs to himself as Zayn stares out the window.


We arrive at the extravagant hall, I'm still amazed that we get to live this life. We just finished the stressful whirlwind that the X-Factor is, while bummed that we finished third, Simon has called us in to his office in a few weeks, I think we're getting signed. It will be amazing if that even happens.


“Well, here goes nothing.” Zayn whispers under his breath and I nod, assuming he didn't mean for that to be heard but I know how he's feeling. This is the first time that we'll be really around the Modest Label, and I'm so nervous I feel like I could piss my pants.


“Hello Boys.”


“Hi Simon.” We almost all say at the same time. Sometimes I feel like we hang out too much but I don't care, laughing to myself.


“Thank you for coming to the Christmas party. How have you guys been? Ready to go home for a bit?” He asks, sipping his champagne, looking around at other people.


“Yeah, we're excited.” Liam takes over the conversation and my mind starts to wonder around, looking at people here and there. Lot of older people. Famous people. I'm seriously nervous.


“Well, soon you guys will be headed out on the X-Factor tour, and we can go from there.” He smiles. “Rachel!” We all look in the direction that Simon is, seeing him wave a woman over. A tall, blonde woman, wearing a tight blue dress, drinking champagne like Simon. Whoever she is, she's beautiful. I feel a lump start in my throat. Simon gives her a hug and she turns her attention to us. “Gentleman, I'd like you to meet Rachel, one of my oldest friends, as well as the owner of RC Clean the cleaning company.”


“Hi Boys, congratulations on X-Factor.” She smiles at us as Simon introduces us one at a time.


“Is Erica here?” Simon asks and I instantly see Rachel roll her eyes.


“She's just over there.” We all look yet again to see where Rachel is pointing, a girl that can't be any older then all of us, sitting at a table, what looks to be texting on her phone, obviously bored. “Erica.” Rachel calls out in a stern voice. Erica looks up, annoyed as her mom calls her over to them, she's reluctant as she puts her phone down and starts walking towards us.


“Hello Erica, thanks for coming.” Simon tells her, giving her a side hug.


“Thanks Simon, didn't really have a choice.” She raises her eyebrows, as if to point to her mom with them and I laugh. I'd be so afraid to talk to Simon like that, he's quite a big deal.


“Right. Well, Erica, meet One Direction. That's Liam, Louis, Harry, Zayn, and Niall.” He points to us all individually and we all give awkward waves. Yay for being a teenager.


“Hey.” She nods her head and looks back at her mom. “I've got school tomorrow. It's already 9.” She looks back at her phone and starts to walk away. “Nice meeting you all.” She calls over her shoulder and walks back to her table. For some reason I can't help but watch her.


“Sorry about Erica, she's, well, she's a teenager. Fifteen and already obsessed with getting into a good school.” Rachel jokes with us and heads back to sit with her daughter.


And that was it. Our first meeting and Erica pretty much stood us up. She had no interest in us what so ever. And for some reason I liked that, she didn't freak out seeing us. We eventually migrated to her table and ended up all talking until she left with her mom. I thought that awkward connection was all we would have but we didn't realize that Erica's mom was such a big wig and we would see Erica plenty of times after that.



I roll out of bed when I hear someone messing around in the kitchen. Erica is like a mouse sometimes, so quiet. I quietly walk down the hall and see she's already been in my living room, walking past that to my kitchen, seeing her doing the dishes and nodding her head to the song she's into. I feel like a proper idiot, forgetting to clean up from my friends yesterday. Erica is my housekeeper, but she's also my friend.


“Jesus Niall! Don't do that crap.” She must have noticed me waiting.


“Good Morning. Sorry about the kitchen, I meant to get up early and clean it, you didn't have to.” I open the fridge and look around for something to eat, seeing that she's already cleaned it.


“Well I did though, it's my job.” Little feisty this morning I see.


“Sorry Erica.” I really do feel bad about it.


“It's fine Niall, you want anything for breakfast?” She pushes me out of the way just a bit to stand in front of me.


“I can make my own breakfast.” I try to defend myself.


“I know you can, but Mark told you that you have to start eating better, and I know your idea of a good breakfast is like four chocolate chip muffin.”She starts chopping the peppers up, getting into a little zone “What?” She looks at me with that slightly crooked grin.


“Nothing. Did you have a good weekend?” I lean even more against the counter, trying to engage her in conversation.


“It was okay. Worked on Saturday. Had some drinks with a few friends Saturday night, spent all day yesterday studying.” Erica is always studying. Always.“How was yours?”


“It was good. We had that photo shoot on Saturday, it was colder then shit outside. And yesterday I just had a bunch of people over, hence why the kitchen looks like this.” I used to invite Erica to join me but she always refused, saying she needed to focus. I would love see her relax, shes always uptight. I see she's almost finished so I grab a plate and pass it to her and grab the oj out of the fridge.


“Here you go.” She slightly turns to me and I grab the plate from her.


“Thank you!” I sing to her and kiss her cheek, all but rushing out to the table to eat. I've always had a soft spot for Erica. I wouldn't say were best friends or anything, we just know a lot about each other. She's always there for me to be honest. I finish my food quickly, she's a pretty good cook so it's nice when she volunteers to make me food, she doesn't have to, but she's a nice person.


“Perfect, Erica, as always.”I catch her by surprise yet again in the kitchen as she holds her hands out for my dishes. “I can get them Erica.” I'm not completely helpless.


“Anything special you want for the week Ni?” I turn to see her looking in the fridge and my
chicken scratch list I composed yesterday.


“Hey, can I come with you?” I blurt out. I never really hang out with Erica in public, I have no idea why.


“You sure you want to?”


“Yeah. We could work as a team!” Laughing at my own jokes.


“That's fine, but it's quite chilly outside, you might want to put a shirt on Niall.” Right. I should wear a shirt.


“Right.” I turn on my heals, not before winking at her and running away like a school boy. Digging through my stuff to find a long sleeved shirt, beanie, socks, shoes, and my favorite coat. “I'm ready!” I yell to Erica as I come around the corner, I catch her slight eye roll as I follow behind her, not prepared for her to turn abruptly into me and I freeze, breathing her in. She doesn't seem to notice my frozen stature and just moves to the side.


“Sorry.” She mumbles and searches back in her closet.


“You driving?” I furrow my eyebrows.


“Of course. You'll be noticed in a heartbeat with the Rover.” I fear that once people see us in public together, she'll start to be noticed in a heart beat.

Notes

Ahh my second chapter! Hope you like it, be prepared for the ride, as usual.

Thanks in advance for all the comments, votes, subscriptions, and reads!

xoxox