Chapter Eighteen:
"If you're in Zayn's group! Please come with me, we have some questions we want to ask! We have a thirty minute interview filming session before you all can go off to your secret location!" Miranda called out across the room.
Almost in sync, every girl going with Zayn started checking themselves out and making sure they looked okay. Even Trinity.
Instead of going along with that, I forced myself off the couch and entered the small room that Miranda ushered me into. She positioned the four of us on the chairs, being all business.
Ten minutes of complete boredom for me and we were ready to go. The interviewer cleared her throat and rehearsed a few questions to herself.
"And rolling."
"Hello, girls! How are you all doing?" The lady, who had a smile plastered across her lips, squeaked. She almost looked robotic.
A chorus of 'good' rippled down the line, while I kept my mouth firmly shut.
"Are you all excited about heading out today with Zayn?"
"Oh, yes! Definitely!" Lana spoke the loudest. "From the clue we all got, it looks like it'll be competitive! I'm so excited!"
No duh, Lana. It said 'How about a little competition?' I mean, why would that make you think it's competitive. What a crazy assumption.
"That's great. What's been each of your favorite memories here, so far?"
"Definitely getting to meet the boys! I mean, I've spent so much time watching interviews of them or music videos, and now they're right there! It's a dream come true," Crystal announced, since she was the first in the line of chairs.
"I agree with Crystal! It's been an amazing time eating with them and going places with them!" Lana piped up.
Trinity smiled before speaking, "The girls I've met. I've grown quite close to them. I've also loved getting to know the boys personally. They're real people, which I think some fans forget sometimes."
"The food. It's brilliant. Marie is the best caterer of all time." I stated without second thought. Trinity tried to cover up a snort of laughter, but I kept my face normal.
"Ah, yes. Al. From what I've heard you've been the most nonchalant about this entire thing! Is it just for attention? I mean, you act like you don't care which gets quite a bit of reaction from the boys.." The interview trailed off, her eyes trained on my facial expressions.
I simply raised an eyebrow. "I can one hundred percent say honestly, I'm not looking for attention. If I was looking attention, I'd have different ways of going about that. But I don't. I was perfectly happy at home, playing Fifa and going to school."
"Interesting. The boys have definitely taken a liking to you! So, girls, any speculations on where you're going in just a bit?"
"I have no idea, but I'm dying to find out!" Lana squeaked out, everyone seeming to enjoy the change of subjects.
The interview paused, acting like she was listening to something. "Well, you won't have to wait much longer. Zayn has just arrived!"
The cameras cut out and Miranda started directing us where to go. We re-entered the living room, all The Fakes hanging on Zayn. I swear I saw his eyes light up when he saw Trinity, but he looked a lot more.. Sullen than usual.
"Okay, get out to the limo!" Miranda yelled to the four of us. "Have fun on your Date Day with Da Zayn!"
Oh jeez, Miranda. That was the worst thing you've ever said in your life.
I grabbed a hold of Trinity's arm, assuring that she didn't go over to walk with Zayn. Instead, we walked outside to the limo together. Lana and Crystal, however, were behind us while babbling off to Zayn. As they got into the car, Zayn's eyes were dull and emotionless.
He didn't even attempt to reply to Lana or Crystal.
I'm pretty sure Trinity noticed as well, since her eyes were glued to him. She seemed worried. It was adorable. Even I had to admit they'd be a majorly cute couple.
"The weather is lovely," I commented after an extremely awkward silence had fallen over the entire limo. It was uncomfortable.
"It's pouring down rain," Trinity replied back with amusement.
"I had to break the silence, okay?" I said. "Because in every awkward silence, one out of five people are thinking about Abe Lincoln. There are five of us, therefore someone was thinking about Lincoln. And Abe Lincoln gives me the creeps."
"And here I thought you couldn't get any weirder." Trinity shook her head, although a smile was playing across her lips.
"I'm not a racist, I can't even run a mile!" I said suddenly, after another silence had blanketed over us. I saw a smirk pull at Zayn's lips, but no one laughed. "Dude, that was funny. You guys are a tough crowd."
"I've never seen you this animated," Zayn spoke for the first time, after I let out a quite audible sigh and pouted a bit.
My joke was hilarious, okay.
I shrugged. "See, I have this thing. I honest to goodness, really hate silences when I'm with a group of people. I don't mind if everyone is talking and I'm not, I just hate it when no one is talking. So I start babbling just so it's not silent. Worst habit ever."
"Ah, I see."
Zayn turned to look out the window, back to being pissed.
I shared a look with Trinity. She shrugged, as if to say she didn't know what was wrong with him.
The rest of the car ride was mostly silent, as we rode along the highway. After the awkward conversation I tried to start, it was obvious that no one was going to contribute. Crystal and Lana talked a bit, I heard bits of their conversation as they giggled about some other hot teen celeb. They both seemed a bit on edge about Zayn's behavior.
Once I realized that no one was going to talk, I decided to sulk in the awkwardness that the silence brought. After a while, Trinity must have felt a bit bad for me, considering she tried to talk to me about roses.
A for effort, F for topic selection.
"We've arrived!" The limo driver announced as I felt the car come to a halt.
Thank the Arizona Green Tea heavens.
I clambered out of the car as soon as I could, escaping the awkwardness that the limo contained.
"Oh." I managed to get out as my eyes landed on the giant sign that was placed on top of a building.
"Let's get inside," Zayn commented, completely emotionless.
The five of us walked into the building, and I felt excitement bubble inside of me. This was going to be epic.
I was a pro at Go-Kart racing.
"Welcome!" A man in his late thirties said loudly, a wide smile plastered across his tan features. The cameramen all panned out, trying to get different angles of the guy. "Go ahead and get suited up! Zayn, we have a room for you over there. The girls can head over to the right. All your clothes, helmets, etcetera, should be in there."
"Thanks," I piped up as I grabbed Trinity's hand and dragged her to where we were told.
Crystal and Lana followed behind, actually excited about the racing that was about to take place.
Within just a few minutes, I had on the pink (Seriously, Go-Kart people?!) racing suit and purple helmet in my hands.
I had put up quite a argument about the color of the outfits they gave us, the camera crew laughing as I declared adamantly that pink was not every girl's favorite color.
The manager told me that it was the only one they had available for me at this moment in time and that they apologized profusely. Bullcrap.
Besides that horrible pink outfit, I was ready to go. I used to go go-karting with Nick, Caleb and Devin all the time. I was the all time champion, I've lost a total of five races in the hundreds I had done. It'd been a while since my last victory, since we had been always swamped with school or sports back home.
"I'm actually really frightened about competing against you," Trinity commented as we were led to the racing track.
I let an evilish chuckle slip through my lips.
"But in all honesty, it's not going to be any fun if Zayn is on his man-period." Trinity continued under her breath, so the cameras wouldn't pick up on it.
"Looks like he's by himself, we should go cheer him up a bit." I grinned happily, my mood brightening quite a bit since I had woken up that morning.
Trinity shrugged, so together we waltzed up to the boy with jet-black hair.
"Listen, you're not allowed to be in a bad mood. If I have to be here, you do too. I won't complain at all today if you don't. I will be happy if you're happy. Deal?" I stuck out my hand, waiting for him to take it and shake it.
He gave me a look. One of those 'you have got to be kidding' looks, but I simply raised my eyebrows at him. Eventually, probably after he realized I was being serious about this, he took my hand in his and gave a small jolt. "Deal."
~
"I told you I'd win. I never lose." I boasted proudly as we exited the building.
Before anyone could really reply, a loud gurgling sound came from my stomach. Oops.
"Was that a car backfiring?" Trinity turned to the road, curiosity overtaking her as she looked at the completely deserted area.
I grinned. "Nope. That would have been my stomach."
"Dang, it sounded like a cruise horn!" Crystal's eyes were wide as she kind of just stared at my stomach, as if she expected a baby dinosaur to crawl out.
"It's been-" I stopped myself to internally count how long it had been since the last time I had eaten. "Holy crap, I haven't eaten in three hours. Is.. Is this what dying feels like?"
"Over-dramatic much?" Zayn smirked, his arms crossed as he looked at me. Well. He looked more at Trinity than he did at me. Which I was totally fine with.
"Can we stop on the way back to get something to eat so I don't die?" I asked as I crawled into the black limo.
I was feeling quite childish. I had had an amazing time with Zayn and the other girls. If it hadn't been for the cameras that were following us around, I'd have felt like it was the same as Go-Karting with my friends back home. Maybe these boys were normal. Maybe.
"There's plenty of food at the house," Zayn replied.
"Ugh, you sound like my mom." I whined, pouting as I leaned my head against the car window.
Zayn made a face. "Yeah, well I'm not. I'm a nineteen year old boy."
"Who lost to Al in Go-Karting, while it got filmed. Your ten second loss shall be all over the internet." Trinity cackled evilly.
Aw, I was so proud of my little Trin.
"In all seriousness, let's pick up some McDonalds. Pretty please?" I asked with a slightly persuasive voice. As close I would ever come to being a cutesy girl with the puppy dog eyes.
Zayn rolled his eyes, but let out a laugh and rapped his knuckles against the small window that separated us and the driver. He mumbled a few words to him, before Zayn turned to me with a thumb's up.
"Hallelujah, let the choir of angels sing!"