Kelly
On a normal night, at midnight I would be asleep. But tonight, I couldn’t. Everyone had turned in to bed at about eleven, probably. Everyone also was probably asleep by now.
I was probably the only exception to the rule tonight, though. I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Over on the other side of the room, Lizzie slept peacefully.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again. I went through all the techniques I had heard about: counting sheep for example. But sadly, it didn’t work. Nothing did. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t do a thing. It really annoyed me.
I tried another solution. This was to think about happy thoughts, apparently to influence positive dreaming and to calm me down in order to get me to rest peacefully. It worked with Ana, apparently. Then again, her positive dreams might be calmer than the happy thoughts I have.
Like I guessed would happen, I couldn’t get myself to fall asleep. I tried my hardest. I pictured my newest art project, for example. It was really a pencil on paper sketch that I was working on at the moment, but it would end up being a beautiful painting when I was completely done with it. This, though, didn’t work.
I pictured next the moment earlier today when we were all at the dinner table. We were all chatting and smiling, at least before Kyle’s phone call. This still worried me to be completely honest. What was going on with Kyle? I had known him for years before this, and I had never seen him like this before now. Maybe I’d ask Courtney tomorrow…I mean, today.
Anyway, the thing I really liked about dinner was the fact that we were all together. The six girls and I were all there, as well as the boys who had made our summer the most amazing summer we’d ever had: the One Direction guys. Of course, Kyle and Michael being there made it incredible too. But this happy moment didn’t help much either. I still couldn’t fall asleep.
One last thought popped into my mind, and I decided to try it: I thought of Zayn. We hadn’t had much time to talk, just the two of us, about what our story really was. Were we together, or were we just good friends, or would my Facebook status stay at “It’s Complicated”? Either way, I didn’t know the answer. But, this didn’t matter. He still made me smile when I thought of him. Cheesy, I know, but I can’t help it. He just had that effect on me.
Even Zayn couldn’t help me sleep. What was up with me? Why couldn’t I get any rest?
I groaned softly, and swung my feet out over the edge of the bed, my bare feet brushing the ground. I stood up and dusted my pajamas off before I walked out the door. I tiredly went up the stairs to find some water. Maybe that was what I needed; something to drink, or maybe something to eat. It was worth a shot, anyway.
I found a glass in the pantry in the kitchen and filled it up with some ice water. Once I did this, I grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet and went to take a seat at the table. As I sipped my water and ate the granola bar, I thought about what my big hope had been since we got here: finding the truth about Zayn and me.
After a little bit, I finished my granola bar. I stood up and threw away the wrapper in the garbage can and put the cup on the counter next to the washing machine so it would be ready to wash with the breakfast dishware. I looked over at the big clock on the wall over the sink. It read 12:15 a.m. If I didn’t get to bed soon, I wouldn’t fall asleep at all tonight.
I was about to start walking to the stairs when I heard something coming from that direction. I froze in place, and listened. I heard the thumping of footsteps on the stairs. Then, I saw his dark hair come up over the railing on the side of the stairs, and I knew it was Zayn.
Wait, what? Zayn could sleep through anything. What was he doing awake at 12:15 when he could have gone to sleep by now?
His head turned and he saw me standing there. Our eyes locked and I froze in my place. “Kelly?” he whispered. “What are you doing up?”
“I was wondering the same about you,” I admitted softly, leaning back against the counter behind me. This just didn’t make sense. Of all the people in this place, I would have thought he’d be asleep instead of the other people around here.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Zayn said. “Jet lag, or something, I don’t even know.”
“But you can sleep through anything,” I pointed out.
“Well, I just can’t sleep tonight,” he said with a shrug as he walked towards me. “What about you? What are you doing up?” Zayn asked. He went to a cabinet and grabbed a glass.
“Couldn’t sleep at all,” I said. I grabbed my glass from the counter and filled it up with water again. “I was lying in bed for about an hour before I got up to come here.”
Zayn nodded, filling his glass with water after I stepped away. “So both of us are having trouble sleeping,” he said softly. He said it quietly enough that I would guess that he didn’t really want me to hear.
“Got any tips to help me sleep?” I asked him.
Zayn shrugged, and an awkward silence came between us. I just stood there with my back against the counter, him standing across from me with his glass of water. He tilted it to his lips every once in a while, but other than that there was nothing. We just looked at each other, my hands shaking from where they were behind me. After a bit, he spoke up. “So…” he said softly.
I found myself speaking. “Can we talk?” I whispered.
“Um, sure,” Zayn said. We both walked over to the couch and took a seat, somewhat close together but with enough space between us that it wasn’t completely awkward. “What about?”
I looked down at my feet, immediately shy. “Uh…what are we?”
“What was that?” he asked. He must not have heard me.
“What are we?” I asked a bit louder. “Like, are we together, or what?” Why did I have to say it? I should have just left it alone. I probably just ruined our friendship. Great.
Zayn looked over at me. “I…I don’t know,” he admitted. I nodded slowly in understanding, and sipped my water. “I really am sorry for what happened last summer,” he apologized.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m over it.”
“I still feel bad about it,” Zayn said, and I immediately felt guilty all over again for thinking everything I had thought earlier after the Cheesecake Factory incident. Again, memories flooded my mind as I remembered the fateful failed date.
When the meal arrived that night, I noticed a tiny slip of white paper peeking out from underneath Zayn’s plate. All I saw were a few numbers, but I knew what they really were. It was Kelsi’s phone number, as in Kelsi our waitress. Kelsi had been flirting with him all night, and been treating me as if I didn’t exist. At that moment, I didn’t feel comfortable. Most of the night he had been ignoring her advances, which was nice. But the sight of the paper bothered me more than anything.
I sighed, and began eating my meal, hoping Zayn wouldn’t notice the paper. Instead, he saw it. He slowly pulled it out from under the plate and slipped it in his pocket. He actually took the number. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like a betrayal.
At that moment, I didn’t know the truth: that he had just taken the number in order to be nice to Kelsi, but he was going to throw it away immediately when we were out of her sight.
Not knowing the truth, I ate in silence, not looking up at him again except when he spoke to me. But even then I didn’t speak. I only responded with motions.
“Kelly, are you alright?” I gave him a nod to say yes and sipped my water. “Isn’t this food good?” I gave him another nod. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’re not talking much.” I nodded a third time, but I was completely lying. I wasn’t alright. I was heartbroken, instead.
As the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake that Zayn ordered for us, knowing I loved chocolate, arrived, Zayn spoke up for real. “Kelly, this is what I mean. You haven’t talked with me at all since our meals arrived. Are you sure you’re alright?”
I sighed, and spoke up. “I would feel better if I hadn’t seen you take Kelsi’s number and put it in your pocket,” I said.
“Is that what this is about? Kelly, I-,” he began, but I cut him off.
“Save it, Zayn. I saw it. It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done.” I looked down at the cheesecake. “Can we just get this in a To Go box and go? I’d like to get home now,” I added. I couldn’t believe what I was saying, but I was okay with it at that moment. I needed to get out of there.
Zayn nodded, his face falling. I had hurt him. I felt terrible, but he had hurt me too, so the thought immediately left my head. “Sure,” he said, putting down his fork. “Let’s just get the check and we can go.”
I nodded, and looked away, rubbing my bare arms. I heard Kelsi’s heels click on the ground as she walked over.
“Can we get two To Go boxes, and the check, please?” Zayn asked her.
“Sure,” Kelsi said sweetly before walking away, her heels getting quieter as she moved. I was silent the whole rest of the time, and didn’t regret it.
I should have been more trusting and had more faith in him. He had only taken the piece of paper to be polite. I even found out that later on he was just going to throw it in the trash out of her sight, after all. And it had been, what, five months since the actual failed date had happened, and he still felt bad about it?
“Zayn, please don’t feel bad about it,” I said softly. When he nodded slowly, I then said, “Have you been thinking about this for the past-.”
Zayn cut me off, but at the same time finished off my sentence like he had read my mind. “Five months? Yeah,” he admitted.
“Why?” I found myself asking.
“Why?” Zayn repeated my question. “Kelly, it’s because I like you, that’s why,” he told me. His gaze dropped to the ground, and I could tell he felt guilty. He really meant all of this. “And knowing what you said, and what I had done to you without even knowing it…it just hurt me.”
“Zayn,” I began, but couldn’t find the words. My voice trailed off into nothing.
He looked at me, and just had this look in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” was all he said.
“Zayn, can we let it go, please?” I asked softly. “I can’t stand thinking about this again.”
“Okay, I’ll drop it.” He sipped the glass of water in his hand and set it down on the coffee table. He then turned to me again. “What about what you did at the airport?”
“What do you mean, what I did at the airport?” I asked. He didn’t mean the kiss, did he?
“You ran at me before the guys and I got on the plane, and you kissed me,” Zayn reminded me.
I bit my lip. He was thinking the same thing I was. The memory flooded my mind, thinking about what had happened.
Zayn got in line first, and got his boarding pass checked. He was about to go onto the jetway to board the plane, but that was when I spoke up. “Zayn?” I asked softly, my voice filled with nervousness.
“Yeah?” he asked, turning around. I ran to him, and pressed my lips to his in a quick kiss. That was the kiss I had been thinking about for so long, and it was happening. I didn’t want it to end, but I knew that it had to in the end. I pulled away. He looked down at me, and he seemed to be in awe of what had just happened. Then again, so was I.
“Bye, Zayn,” I said softly, looking up into his eyes.
“Bye,” he said softly to me. He didn’t seem like he wanted to go, but we both knew he had to. He turned away slowly, and walked onto the jetway, in a bit of a daze. The rest of the boys shared a look, smirking at what had just happened too.
“Zayn and Kelly, sitting in a tree,” Louis began, smirking as he got his boarding pass scanned.
“Oh shut up,” Zayn called back to him, causing the boys to erupt in laughter.
The rest of the boys walked onto the jetway, leaving the six of us behind. I was smiling like an idiot. I could still feel his lips on mine, gently pressed to them.
Lucy grabbed onto my arm. “Come on, Cinderella. Let’s go get on a plane,” she said. She linked arms with me, and the six of us walked away to our own gate. But, I don’t think my smile ever left my face.
“I meant it,” I said. “I don’t regret doing it.” Those words were the complete truth. I didn’t regret it. But, sadly doubt hit my mind. Did he regret the kiss?
What was I thinking? He sounded like he liked me, and wanted to be with me. I doubt myself way too much, don’t I?
“I don’t regret it either,” Zayn admitted, smiling. “It was perfect.”
“I can’t believe I did that, to be honest,” I admitted. “It was literally a split second decision to run to you and do that.”
“I’m glad you did,” he laughed a bit, smiling at me.
“You are?” I found myself asking.
“Yeah,” he smiled. “To be honest, though, if you hadn’t, I think I would have ran and kissed you before I went on that jetway,” he added.
I was definitely surprised. “Really?”
“Really,” Zayn told me, smiling. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. His voice lowered to a whisper as he spoke again. There was some nervousness in his voice, which I thought was kind of cute. “Can I kiss you?”
“Yeah,” I said softly with a smile. Without hesitation, his lips touched mine. It was the first time we had kissed since that time at the airport, and our second kiss in total. And the best part was that it was the most perfect kiss I had ever had. Our lips touched and fireworks shot off inside of me, tingles shooting everywhere in my body.
After a little bit, he pulled away. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. “I…I think I’m gonna go to bed,” I said softly, smiling.
“Okay,” Zayn said in response. We both got up from the couch, taking our water glasses in our hands. We carried them over to the counter and set them down, walking towards the stairs together. Our hands somehow got tangled together along the way, but I didn’t mind.
We walked down the stairs together, holding hands. When we reached my room, I turned to him. “Good night, Zayn,” I said softly, so I wouldn’t disturb Lizzie, who was probably still fast asleep in the room, or anyone else who was trying to sleep at 12:45 a.m. or whatever time it was.
“Good night, Kelly,” he responded. He gave me the happiest and sweetest of smiles, and let go of my hand. I went into my room, floating the whole way to bed.
And as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was finally able to sleep.
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A/N This one is for all the people who were sad about the last chapter. I promised it'd be happy soon, and I don't break my promises. Zelly is completely official! Let's throw a party!
Anyway, what'd everyone think? I hope you guys liked it. I was working on it after I finished the last chapter so I could get it up as quickly as I could. I think it turned out pretty good.
Please vote, comment, and fan! I love hearing feedback. It only takes a second to vote, and a minute to write a comment. Thanks! See you all next update, Dreamers!