The Boy Next Door *UNDER REVISION*

Chapter 6: Did You Miss Me?

 Alright, getting to the nitty gritty now!! It's about to get way more intense (: xx.

I came up fuming as I wiped the water from my face ready to sock whoever just ruined my day of relaxation.

“The audacity you have-“ I began to shout until I saw who was in my pool. I screamed and jumped into Zayn’s arms. He held me tightly and I buried my face into his neck. I hadn’t seen him in real life in nearly three years. He was way more muscular than he was before. I pulled away looking at him and he laughed softly. He wiped away my happy tears to reveal my make up running down my face.

“Did you miss me or something?” he asked and I couldn’t stop smiling. He shot me a new grin I hadn’t seen before.

“Look at you all big and famous,” I spoke after I calmed down a bit. He shrugged as he carried me around the pool.

“I’m not any different,” he replied looking at me with those eyes. God, I’d missed those eyes.

“I know you aren’t,” I whispered fixing a strand of hair that was sticking out. He squirmed and I laughed.

“My oh my Miranda, it is mighty hard to tell from those video calls how truly gorgeous you are,” he spoke with a grin. I pushed him playfully and shook my head.

“Oh stop it, you’re saying that because you’re my best friend,” I replied and he shook his head.

“No, you are drop dead beautiful,” he whispered looking at me with all seriousness. I felt a weird tingle inside.

“Thank you,” I replied quietly looking away for a moment.

“You know you have a lot of catching up to do right?” I asked and he laughed.

“I’ve known that since the moment I left here,” he replied pulling me closer to him. He’d been gone for three years and here we were acting like we’d never been apart.

“Where’s the rest of the band?” I asked put my intertwined hands behind his neck.

“I wanted to come on my own, spend quality time with my girl,” he grinned and I smiled in awe.

“Still as thoughtful as ever I see,” I replied resting my head against his shoulder.

“I told you I wasn’t different,” he whispered in my ear and I looked at him.

“It’s like old times,” I smiled and he returned the smile. He took me to the edge of the pool and set me down. He leaned on the edge and looked at his old house.

“So many memories in that house,” he spoke very softly and I looked down at my legs. I smiled at him nodding. We spent all day in that pool. After it was getting dark I looked at Zayn.

“Do you know how many times I cried?” I asked quickly and he looked at me alarmed.

“I cried too, I felt so bad Miranda, I really did, I missed you so much,” he spoke taking my hands tightly. I shook my head looking away.

“Let’s not talk about it okay?” I swallowed hard trying to hold back the tears.

“No, don’t you see how much hurt you still have from it? We need to talk it out,” he whispered rubbing my hand.

“Can we at least go inside?” I asked looking at him briefly.

“Of course,” he replied helping me out of the pool. I dried off and just looked at the pool. I looked back at Zayn who was looking at me.

“Come on,” I whispered going inside and up to my room. He went to the bathroom to change, while I stayed in my room to change. I crawled into my bed and played with my hands until Zayn came back in. He got in the bed next to me and just looked at me.

“Why didn’t you come over? You didn’t have any seconds to spare? None?” I asked feeling my blood boil. He looked down.

“I couldn’t tell you I was going! I knew how much it’d hurt you,” he whispered and I threw my hands in the air.

“So you thought, oh let me just leave my best friend behind and wait at least a month before I decide to tell her I'm on the X Factor?” I questioned furiously and he looked at me with fear in his eyes.

“I hated you Zayn, I wanted nothing to do with you, and when I finally answered your video calls you pretended nothing happened! You missed my whole high school career! You didn’t even try contacting me! You didn’t even feel the need to tell me you had a girlfriend!” I screamed and he held my wrists.

“I wanted you to keep living your normal life! I knew you thought about me, but I couldn’t be a distraction for you, I tried dating her only because I thought it would help get you off my mind! Do you think I didn’t ever wonder what you were doing? I wanted more than anything to come back and watch you drive, have your first kiss, all of that, but I couldn’t because I knew it’d hurt us both knowing I had to leave you behind again,” he spoke standing up from the bed as anger caught up with him.

“You’re my best friend Miranda, I almost didn’t go to the audition because I was so nervous to sing knowing you weren’t there,” he spoke softer now and came back to the bed. He took my hands as he crawled back in.

“I just wanted to know Zayn, do you know how it feels to learn everything about your best friend through the internet? It sucks!” I exclaimed and he shook his head.

“At least you could keep up with me through that, I knew nothing that was going on with you until we’d have a couple minute video chat,” he cried pointing to my computer. I started crying again and he sighed putting his head in his hand.

“Maybe it was a bad idea I came,” he whispered and I looked at him.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend Zayn! You are supposed to love me!” I exclaimed and he threw his head back with his eyes tightly shut.

“I do love you! I love you more than anything else in this world! I have always loved you Miranda, since the moment you came across the street in the summer of 2003! I never told you because I knew you didn’t feel the same way, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had! I never stop thinking about you, you’re constantly on my mind, I love you with every inch of my heart and I know that’s cheesy, but it’s true,” he whispered leaning close to me. I felt my heart beating extremely hard and I let my eyelids flutter shut. Zayn held my jawbone and kissed me.