Chapter 13 – Eleanor
I was watching TV, trying to settle my restless mind and maybe take a nap when I got a text.
“Wanna meet me and Mel out for dinner later?” From : JOSHY
It was Josh; I had gotten his number the day before at the zoo, after I had stopped crying.
I was just about to type a reply when another message came in.
“Zayn can come too!” From: JOSHY
I sighed. I hadn’t talked to Zayn since the day before, and I didn’t know what I was going to say to him since the kiss. I didn’t even understand why he kissed me. It felt like a betrayal, one of the things that kept my head high was the fact that I never even thought of cheating on Lou. I supposed it wasn’t cheating since Louis was dead, but I still felt a dull aching in my heart whenever I thought of Zayn or the kiss. The worst part was the fact that I went with it. I kissed Zayn even though it was wrong, Zayn was Louis’s best friend, how could I possibly betray Lou like that?
But I liked it. When I kissed Zayn, it felt completely right, Louis didn’t enter my mind in that one single moment in time, those brief seconds where my mouth was on Zayn’s. How could something that felt so good feel so wrong? But I needed to watch Zayn, for some reason I felt responsible for him, I couldn’t go three days without seeing him again. If he thought he hurt me, what would his apartment be like the next time something happened?
“Sure! Sound gr8!” I replied.
Then I sent out another text.
”I need your help. Come to my apartment. Quick.” To: KHIONE THE ICE PRINCESS <333
Then I added:
“Wear something nice.”
_____
Khione had arrived about a half an hour later, and we were getting dressed. Apparently Josh was going to take us to Nandos, which I was half nervous about. As Niall’s old favorite restaurant, I didn’t know the memories that would bring back to Zayn; I wasn’t sure how he would react.
“When are we going to tell Zayn that he’s coming to Nandos?”
By this time, Khione knew everything. What was the point of having a best friend if she didn’t know every single detail of your life?
“Right after I finish putting on mascara.” I said, putting the last dabs of black on my eyelashes.
“Am I coming?”
“You’re not leaving my side the entire night.” I said strictly.
She laughed.
“Or I could leave you and Zayn alone to go snog in a corner…”
“KHIONE!” I yelled, putting the lid on my mascara and slamming it down.
“Alright alright, calm down woman. I’ll leave you with Josh instead.”
I face palmed.
“You. Are. There. To make BLOODY sure nothing like that happens.” I said very slowly.
“If you insist…”
“I do.”
“Let’s go then?” She asked.
“Yeah.”
The walk to Zayn’s apartment was made in silence, I was nervous about what I was going to do to Zayn when we got there, what state he was in, and how he was going to react about Nandos. Khione seemed deep in thought as well, her intellectual but crazy mind probably thinking about polar bears freezing to death in Africa. You never knew with her.
We walked up to Zayn’s door and I gave a few quick raps on it was my knuckles.
“WHO IS IT?!” Zayn shouted from the inside.
“El.”I said it barely above conversation volume.
The door opened, Zayn looked to me for a second and then his eyes wandered over to Khione, and a crinkle appeared above his eyes. Then he looked back at me and the crinkle vanished. He stepped back.
“Come in.” He said.
_____
“Nice place.” Khione said when she stepped inside.
“Thanks, had a bit o’ help with the cleanin’.”
Khione looked at me.
“Wonder who could have possibly done that…” She dragged off at the end with a direct look at me.
I looked at what Zayn was wearing. Good enough. He didn’t look depressed, and it was obvious that he was avoiding looking at me.
I explained to him what Josh said to me, and without much convincing, he was in.
Soon enough we were on our way to Nandos. When I told him what restaurant we were going to, his face was expressionless, but I still didn’t know how he would react to the reminder of the boys.
When we arrived, Josh and Mel were already at a table inside.
“Hey.” I greeted when we reached their table and I sat down at a booth, I was next to Zayn across from Josh, Zayn was across from Melanie and Khione sat in a chair on the side.
“Hi.” Josh flashed me a cheeky smile and I felt Zayn’s leg lean against mine.
“Heyy!” Mel greeted, showing us a full set of teeth when she did.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Just about 10 minutes or so.” Josh replied. “Who are you?” Josh looked at Khione pointedly.
“My name’s Khione babe, or anything you want it to be.” She flashed Josh a wink who looked taken aback.
“Khi!” I protested.
“What? I was just joking, sheesh…”
I shook my head.
“What are you getting?” I asked nobody in particular.
“The Peri Peri chicken.” Josh says just as Mel says “A hamburger.”
Zayn’s foot touched mine just as I felt him tense up. I placed my hand on his knee for comfort.
“Zayn, you’ve been here before right? What do you usually get? I know this was Niall’s favorite place to eat.”
Zayn’s eyes hardened as he glared at Josh. I squeezed his knee and I felt him loosen up slightly.
“Peri peri chicken is good.” Zayn said, monotone.
“Hmm, okay.”
“Josh, you’re a complete idiot.” Melanie said, and I caught her give Zayn a pitying look.
“Not as much as you might think.” Josh said, giving a small smirk.
“Oh really?! How about the time you cooked macaroni and cheese and forgot to put in the water!?” Mel struck at him, and I laughed.
“No need to go into that Mel…”
“You said you weren’t an idiot, I was proving you wrong.”
Josh groaned.
“This is why I didn’t want you to come Mel; you always bring up embarrassing things and talk too much.”
I could tell Melanie was getting angry by the way her shoulders were back and her mouth was in a tight line, her chocolate eyes squinted.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have come then; and I told you not to call me Mel.” She threw her napkin down on the table and abruptly got out of the booth and walked away, I followed her with my eyes until I saw the bathroom door open and close on the other side of the room.
Josh sighed and put his head in his hands.
“I’ll go after her.” I said.
“Please El, thank you.”
I grabbed Khione’s arm and we both stood up, my hand leaving Zayn’s leg and I saw his shoulders square off. I was about to leave him with Josh, alone.
Two boys could handle themselves alone, right?
Once we were walking toward the bathroom, out of earshot from the boys, Khione whispered in my ear.
“Why did I come?” She asked.
“You’re not to leave my side, remember?”
She sighed as I opened the door to the woman’s restroom.
“Melanie?” I called out, there was only one stall closed.
“Leave me alone.” I heard the voice grumble from the middle stall.
I walked over and swung the door open to see her with the toilet seat down, her arms curled around her legs on top.
“Hey.” I whispered.
“I hate Josh.”
I laughed.
“No you don’t, he’s your brother.”
“Zayn loves you.” She said bluntly, I looked at her with wide eyes and I heard Khione’s heels clack behind me.
“What did you say?”
“Don’t leave them alone. I didn’t know you would come after me. Josh likes you, and he’s an idiot. He knows Zayn likes you too, and he wants you for himself. He always liked you, even when you were with Louis. Now he has a chance.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Ask Zayn. I read people well.”
“Why- Wait, you said Zayn loves me. How do you know that?”
“He all but said it out loud- he made a move on you, didn’t he?” She looked at me with those intelligent brown eyes, I couldn’t believe a little girl knew so much.
“I- I’m going to go check on them.” Khione said abruptly, her heels clicking on the tile as she walked out and the door swung to a close behind her.
“Why do you hate your brother?” I asked.
“I tell you that the boy who your deceased boyfriend used to be in an international pop band with is in love with you and the drummer of that band likes you to, and you ask me why I hate my brother?”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“You’re more compassionate than I thought. You care more about other people than yourself.” She looked down at the ground, a tear leaking from her eye. “That’s why they like you, you empathize with everyone else. I wish I was like that, I wish I had that effect on people. But everyone hates me because I know what they’re thinking and I talk to much.”
“That’s not true-“
“Yes it is! I know why people hate me, I can see it.”
“But you’re so beautiful Mel, and so smart. I love you, and Josh does, even though he’s acting like an idiot.”
“I guess. I, I’m going to go see how Zayn is doing. And make Josh apologize.”
“Okay…”
I stood up from where I was crouched on the floor next to her and she leaped from the loo and left the bathroom, leaving me standing there, confused.
I knew one thing that was for certain, I loved Louis Tomlinson, who was dead.
Another certainty, Zayn Malik kissed me, and I liked it.
After a minute of thought, I left the bathroom, as I opened the door, I saw Josh standing next to the door.
“What are you doing?”
“This.”
I closed the door behind me as he pushed me against the wall and put his mouth to mine.
I froze, it felt so, I couldn’t even think about it from the thoughts that were going through my head.
Josh’s eyes were closed, but I looked over his shoulder to see Zayn, looking at us in shock.
__________
Heyy, so I really feel like this chapter sucks, majorly so im sorry. And it was 5 pages on microsoft word so it better be good. -_-
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