The Babysitter » styles

XXIII

I was in the car with one of Harry's friends, the one with black hair. We had been sitting awkwardly in the car, following Harry ahead of us, so I decided to break the silence.

“So, uh, what's your name?" I asked, glancing at him.

“Zayn," he answered.

I nodded. “Nice. I assume you already know who I am, but I'm going to introduce myself anyways. I'm Clara."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Zayn was smiling. Zayn… I swear I've heard that name before, but where?

Then it hit me. “You don't happen to be dating my best friend, would you?" I asked.

“Depends on who your best friend is," Zayn replied.

“Allie."

“Then yes, I am dating her," he responded.

“She adores you, you know," I told him.

“That's good," he said, turning left. “The feeling is mutual."

“It better be," I said, before warning, “If you break her heart, I'll personally kill you."

“I'll add you to the list," he sighed, and I laughed. Allie's family was very protective, and I could only assume that her mom and dad had warned Zayn of the consequences.

I hadn't realized that the radio was on until now, softly playing rock music that I didn't recognize. I was tempted to turn it up louder, but I didn't, because it wasn't my car.

“I'm sorry," Zayn spoke up.

I looked at him, not understanding where that came from. “For what?"

“Doing those things to get you to leave," he explained. He sounded sincere. “I'm not sure why I did them."

“Because Harry's your friend," I said gently, “and we'll do just about anything for a friend."

“It doesn't make it right," he answered, shaking his head.

“I won't tell Allie, if that's what you're worried about," I assured him.

“I wasn't worried about that, I just wanted to apologize," he said, shrugging.

“Well, apology accepted," I told him, watching his lips turn up into a smile.

“I'm also sorry about Harry," Zayn said, glancing at me once before returning his attention back to the vehicle in front of us. “He shouldn't have done that."

“I don't really want to talk about him," I said in a low voice.

“I know," Zayn said sympathetically, “but I need to tell you something. Harry really does like you."

I opened my mouth to object, but he cut me off.

“Don't say anything until I'm done," he said strictly, so I closed my mouth again begrudgingly. “I know the way he acted might make you believe differently, but trust me. I've known him longer than you have, and I've never seen his eyes light up like they do when you're mentioned. After he told you what he had to do and you ran off, he came to us, and guess what he did? He cried. He really likes you, Clara, and he hated leading you on when he was going to break your heart. I'm not trying to tell you to get with him and forget anything ever happened, but I want to try to forgive him. I know it'll be hard, and you don't have to, but he's beating himself up over you, and I hate seeing him like this. Just, I don't know, let him know you don't hate him. You might think you do, Clara, but trust me, you don't. You're not that type of person."