In the Open

"I'm not going to lie and say that didn't turn me on."

I wake up the next morning with the sun shining in my eyes. I yawn and turn the other way, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep.

"Shit," I hear Zayn curse from the kitchen, and I take that as my cue to get up. He stand in the kitchen with messy hair and an embarrassed grin, holding a plate with eggs and two very burnt pieces of toast.

"Watcha doing?" I laugh at him and grab a cup of coffee, making sure it's sweet enough before I start drinking it.

"I uh, thought I'd make you breakfast, because I know you had a bad day yesterday. I was hoping this one would start out better for you. I kind of burnt the toast though and I think the eggs have shells..." he frowns at the plate, whilst I smile at his sweetness.

"Thank you Zayn," I gratefully tell him as I grab the plate. "It looks delicious."

"You really don't have to eat it, I'm telling you now, it won't be good." He laughs as he says though and I just press my finger against his lips to shush him.

I scoop up the eggs and take a bite, hearing the crunch of the eggshells as I do so.

"It's, umm..." I say while I chew, attempting to make it sound better than it tastes. "Interesting, thank you."

He looks at me for a second before laughing. "Spit it out Nadine, I can hear the eggshells."

I nod and head to the trash can, spitting out the remnants of his failed attempt at making breakfast. My mind wonders to that morning when Nick made breakfast for me, and how surprised I was when it was actually good, and not even poisoned.

"Go get ready for school, I swear I'll make you a good breakfast someday."

I thank him again and laugh as I head back to my room. As I get dressed I think about Zayn. He makes me feel happy, and safe. I'm always comfortable when I'm around him, and he's never done anything to hurt me or make me sad. He's so unbelievably sweet, it's hard to believe at times. He's the best guy a girl could possibly have... so why don't I want him in that way?

I shake my head, as if that would clear my thoughts, and double check my appearance in the mirror before following Zayn outside.

When we pull into the lot, he says goodbye to me with another kiss on the cheek that makes my face heat up and my lips tug up into a grin.

I say goodbye to him as well and enter the school building, looking for Alyssa's perfect hair.

I spot her coming towards me and before she can say anything, I engulf her in a much needed hug.

"Hey honey, you okay? Do you need me to kick some ass?" She defensively says, raising her eyebrows at me in question.

"No, I just wanted to hug you and tell you how much I love you. Thank you for being my best friend."

"Awww look who's getting all sappy on me. I love you bitch, you know that. Now let's hightail our asses into that history class before we're late."

I agree with her as we walk into history, seeing Mr. Reed doing a crossword puzzle book. We laugh and take our seats, Alyssa immediately talking about boys. What's new?

The bell luckily rings before she gets into a very detailed description of a certain night. Gross.

Nick actually came in on time, right before Mr. Reed shut the door.

"You got lucky today Simmons. One more tardy in my class and I'll put you in detention all week.

"Yeah yeah, can you get off my back please? I'm here to learn sir," Nick tells him as he sits down, getting a glare in return.