Awkward Beat [H.S]

Chapter 15

In which Zayn talks to her.

 Chapter 15.

The following evening, a Saturday night, Macy's Hub Cub shift ended an hour earlier than mine. She mentioned that she was meeting friends at the Hubbard Pub – or the Hub Pub, as it was of course referred to – across the street on campus, and I should join them when I got off work.

Having nothing better to do (except to study for my exams) and always looking for a way to grab a drink or two (or six), I agreed. After work, I threw on my coat, slung my bag over my shoulder, and kicked Thomas in the shin for once again being an arse. Normally, I would want to run home first to change out of my work uniform and perhaps do something with my hair, but that was the beauty of exam season: nobody bothered to look presentable.

Students were constantly trekking around campus in pajama bottoms with greasy hair that hadn't been washed in weeks. As for me, I'd showered earlier that day, so despite the fact that I was wearing a hideously unflattering burgundy collared shirt and probably had strange kinks in my hair as a result of the visor we had to wear, I already considered myself ahead of the crowd.

It was pitch dark when I left the Rec Center, but the lampposts across the street allowed me to see Niall walking along and fiddling with his camera. I called his name and he waited for me to cross the road and meet him.

"Where are you going?" I asked as we continued on the path.

"Meeting Liam at the Hub Pub," he said.

"Really? We can go together, then. That's where I'm meeting Ma—" I stopped myself midsentence, thinking it over. When Macy told me she was meeting friends at the Hub Pub, she hadn't specified which friends. Suddenly, I had a strong feeling that 'friends' translated roughly into 'Liam'.

Interesting.

"Hmm?" Niall asked, returning his attention to his camera as we strolled.

"Nothing, I'm just... I'm meeting Macy," I said thoughtfully.

"Got it." He was flipping through pictures and film clips with his thumb, not at all attune to my discovery. He was so engrossed that I had to grab onto the sleeve of his jacket when we reached an intersection to prevent him from walking straight into traffic, and even then, he didn't even look up as he halted. A pedestrian tragedy, he was.

"So Macy and Liam, is it?" I asked, deciding to spell it out for him as we waited for the lights to change at the intersection.

"What?"

"Does Liam ever talk about her?"

"Mm... no."

"So you don't think he likes her?"

Creases appeared in his forehead as he frowned, eyes still fixated on his camera. "What? I never said that."

"Well, if he liked her, he would talk about her, wouldn't he?"

Niall finally raised his head, looking at me like I was an idiot. "Men don't do that," he said with a shake of his head. "We don't 'gossip'. Like, I took home this really fit broad last month, and all I did was show the guys a picture." He paused, raising one eyebrow as he relived the memory. When he tuned back into our conversation, he asked brightly, "You wanna see?"

I scrunched my nose in distaste, stopping him before he could flip through his camera for photographic evidence. "I'm fine, thanks. How can you tell if a guy likes a girl?"

The lights changed. We crossed the street together.

"He talks to her," Niall replied, once again immersed in the world of digital film.