One Night (Book 1) - Zayn Malik

Chapter 45

"Julie." He smiles, walking towards me. Matt wears a light blue button up shirt and jeans. It's strange to not see tattoos for once – even though it's Matt I had expected tattoos and dark clothing. Clean cut... he was clean cut.

"Hi." I manage with a small smile as he reaches me. He reaches to hug me but stops, awkwardly pulling away and scratching his head – unsure what to do. "We should sit." I nod towards a table.

"Yeah." He agrees as we walk to a table. "You want something to drink? I'll buy." He offers, shoving a finger towards the counter where the barista stares at us. I look away and back to Matt.

His hair is still short but now it's styled. It was never like that in high school – it was more of a mess. He has gained some muscle but not much. He looked mostly the same, which only made the pain worse.

"No, I'm alright." I shake my head. I was already jittery – coffee wasn't going to help. He nods quickly as we sit down, he clears his throat as he scoots into the table. The awkward tension thickens as we both stay silent – looking around the place to avoid eye contact.

"Listen Julie I... Thank you for agreeing to see me." I want to ask him to stop calling me Julie, it brings up old memories that hurt. Though I don't say a thing, I can't even swallow. I nod at his comment, my eyes resting on his folded hands on the table.

"How have you been?" His voice quiet and cautious, did he ask me out just to have awkward small talk?

"G-great." My voice cracks as I speak. I glance up at his eyes that stare at me and I look back down at his hands. "Really great." I restate. "And you?"

"College is alright." He shrugs. "How's rooming with Sarah?"

"Like I expected." I shrug. I remember talking to Matt about the possibilities of rooming with Sarah. I had expected drama, gossip, shopping, painting fingernails – basically a year long sleepover. That's kind of what I got though.

"So it's good?"

"Yeah... who are you rooming with?"

"Just a football guy. He's pretty cool." Matt bobs his head as he looks around the room. "He actually is a fan of Boulder. He's thinking of transferring – that's why I'm down here." Oh God... I pray in my mind that Matt wasn't here to look at Boulder too – to transfer with his friend. That couldn't be it, that couldn't happen.

"Oh." I nod slowly. "That's cool."

"Julie I-I-I never got a chance to apologize for my mistakes." He taps his fingers on the table and I hold my breath. Waiting for what he is going to say.

His light softly colored blue eyes reach mine and hold mine for a moment. Matt was here... The boy I grew up with. The boy I grew to love, the boy who implanted himself into my life and became one of the few people I relied on. The boy who destroyed it all.

Matt and I sit on his couch in the living room. Watching a movie. It's dark out and the light from the TV is the only light in the room, flashing from the action that was on screen. I glance at Matt who stares at the screen. He sits about a foot from me, not touching me at all.

I knew it was true... He had been so distant lately, almost avoiding me, he had been so worried and stressed it seemed.

About two weeks ago Naomi had come up to me, telling me about the rumors. At first I thought it was just some joke, then I thought it was Naomi just being bored and starting drama. But after another week of Matt's strange behavior and people whispering, I had my suspicions.

I noticed he was acting distant. He wouldn't talk to me as much, we wouldn't laugh as much and there was always a strange tension. The only person that I knew would know if a rumor was true or not was Sarah. So I asked her.