Infinite

Chapter 11

The next day, Zayn had texted me early in the morning explaining how today was the day he wanted to introduce me to the boys. I had hyperventilated and had at least three heart attacks before finally pulling myself together and acting normal.

Later that day, I looked at myself in the mirror and cringed. I began to frustratedly play around with my hair, moving it in different directions to try and get it perfect, but it just wouldn’t agree with me. I leaned closer into the mirror and furrowed my brows, carefully analyzing my face to detect any flaws. 

“Noelle, what are you doing? You’ve been in here for at least three hours already. Just stop, you look fine,” Melissa said as she walked into the bathroom cleaning up all the makeup around me. I turned to her in shock, “Fine? FINE?! Is that all?! Oh my God, I can’t just look fine when I meet One Direction of all people!"

I was clearly stressing out more than I should have. My emotions were mixed between the excitement of my inner die hard fangirl of finally getting to meet my favorite band and my anxiety to impress them in case they might think I’m not good enough for Zayn. People always say that a first impression is a lasting impression, and in the first five seconds upon meeting someone they would have usually made their opinion about you already. So I had to make sure I was perfect.

“You already know that beauty comes from within, and you Noelle, are beautiful.” Melissa said. She stepped closer to me, and before I could realize what was happening, she had attacked me with a face wipe, smearing it all over my face. I shrieked trying to pull her hands away from me but she was much stronger than I was. So I gave up and stood there, letting her wipe all the make up off. 

“See, now doesn’t that look better? Natural beauty,” she said, turning my head to the mirror, smiling. "Besides, you've never worn make up in your entire life. You look clownish with it on," she said, smirking.

I frowned. Zayn was coming in 15 minutes. There was no way I could redo my makeup now. I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror while drying my face with a small towel. Melissa was right, like always. All I needed to do was show the boys myself. Not through my looks, but through my personality. Because at the end of the day, your personality is what captures the heart. You could be the most prettiest or hottest girl, but if your personality didn’t match, then you would find yourself to be a very lonely girl. I knew very well that the boys weren't shallow, so I smiled at myself in the mirror with my bare face, and walked out from the bathroom.

I came out to see Melissa watching TV. I sat myself down next to her and watched along with her. 

“And in other news, has one of our heart throb One Direction boys stole away another lucky lady? We spotted Zayn Malik and his new mystery girl down by a small coffee shop sharing from what looked like a very intimate embrace. Is this just another to add to his big list of pretty girls or has she got that one thing?”

I shot up off from the couch and screeched as they began to show the footage of Zayn and I at the coffee shop.  I groaned and covered my eyes, slightly embarrassed. 

“Woo! You go girl, get in there!” Melissa joked, obviously forgetting how mad she had been when I didn't tell her about hanging out with Zayn.

I groaned even louder. What did the T.V. even mean by ‘is she just another to add to his big list of pretty girls?’, “big list”? I wasn’t well aware of the headlines the boys put in newspapers and on T.V. entertainment news, obviously since I lived in such a small town. I only ever read what was on Tumblr and whatever SugarScape would put up. That one line dwelled on my mind for a long time. ’..is she just another to add to his big list of pretty girls?’. Did Zayn have a reputation of being with a lot of girls? It definitely seemed that way. I thought back through the years to see if I could try count how many girls I heard Zayn had been with. When I realised how many, I sat back on the couch and buried myself into my arms, wrapped around my legs and sighed. It was well over how many fingers I had. Maybe I was simply over thinking things because I was still scared of getting hurt. I really was stupid with this whole situation to begin with. Everyday I still worry about getting my heart broken and not wanting to end up lonely and broken. But yet, I did nothing about it and continued to be with Zayn and allow myself to fall harder each day, when in reality, by the end of this month when he left for the UK, I was going to end up lonely and broken regardless. 

“Noelle? Are you okay?” Melissa asked, looking slightly worried.

Before I could answer, the door knocked, Zayn was here. I picked myself up and shook off all the doubtful thoughts circulating through my head. I couldn’t let this affect my day. All that mattered was that Zayn made me happy. Cherishing each remaining moment I had with him until he would have to leave instead of sulking around was the smarter choice. But I knew that that one line would always be at the back of my head. 

I opened the door to find Zayn standing there smiling, looking gorgeous as always. Was it weird that he was the one that took my breath away? Seeing him took away all the negative thoughts I had before, and I instantly felt ten times better. 

“You look beautiful,” he said genuinely, pulling a bouquet of flowers from behind his back,

I covered my mouth, surprised, eyes filled with joy. He made me feel a lot better about not wearing any make up, like I felt comfortable in my own skin. I leaped at him and squeezed him tight with my hug. 

“I know you like that corny stuff,” he chuckled. I pulled away to see his face, “Thank you.” He smiled and gave me a peck, quicker than I could even realize. “Don’t come home too late, kids!” Melissa yelled from the couch. When Zayn smirked at her, she shook her head and said, “Just kidding! Go crazy, bye!" “Bye!” Zayn quickly added in.

Once we were in the elevator, Zayn broke the silence. “I’m so excited for you to meet the boys today,” Zayn went on, “And they’re really excited to meet you too!” I perked my head up from the ground and looked up at him surprised, “Really? What have you told them about me?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Everything they need to know.” he said, winking.