"Misconception: a view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking or understanding." - From Oxford Dictionary.
If you haven't read Backfire before, this is what you need to know: the boys met Alex, Phebs and Belle during the summer and Niall and Alex fell in love with each other, but so did Zayn and that's the problem here. He still has strong feelings for Alex.
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Chapter 1 ― Zayn
“Come on, Zayn. It’s gonna be fine!” She begged and I rolled my eyes as I walked to the kitchen. Niall was following us closely, he had this stupid grin on his face, amused by this whole situation. And he wasn’t the only one having fun out of this. I just wanted to go to my bed and sleep the whole night.
I was tired, we’d had many interviews that day and a few minor performances, and those things dragged me out by the end of the day. “Alex, I told you. I don’t wanna go clubbing and definitely I’m not in the mood for a blind date.”
“But you’re gonna love her! How can you refuse so boldly without even giving her a chance! You don’t know how hard it was to get her to agree. Please!” The black-haired girl begged one more time. The water in the kettle was already boiling and I just wanted my tea.
Alex and Niall, the happy couple, were at my flat trying to take me out to some new club where I was going to meet some Alex’s friend. A girl whose name I couldn’t remember; not that I was paying attention when Alex talked about her, though. Every time she talked to me, I did my best to not look right into her eyes or try to get closer to her. She was Niall’s girlfriend and it was obvious they were crazy for each other. I had nothing to do between them and I knew I had to forget about Alex, get over all this I was feeling for her, but it wasn’t that easy. We got along so perfectly, we had so many things in common, she was so beautiful, so funny, so witty, and so incredible and all the time I wanted to be Niall, I wanted to be the one who kissed her, the one who could hug her without worries.
It had been a couple of months since I met Alex and yes, my feelings weren’t as strong as before. I accepted that she would never love me back, but I still liked her.
“I told you. I don’t wanna go out,” I repeated sighing but I felt her grabbing my arm and trying to make me look into her green eyes.
“Please, pretty please?” She tried again with those puppy eyes and I just couldn’t say no. I moaned as Niall laughed at the situation walking to my refrigerator to grab something for him. “I promise you’ll have fun. She’s incredible! I adore her and I’m sure you’re gonna love her, too. You can even talk about comic books with her!”
I rolled my eyes knowing that I was done, I couldn’t say no to Alex even if I tried. I really didn’t want to go on that blind date with that nameless girl, and most definitely I didn’t want to see Niall and Alex snogging or being all lovey-dovey to each other at this club, but Alex was stubborn, she would never accept a no as an answer.
“Okay,” I groaned and she literally started bouncing out of sheer happiness. She even clapped like it was the best thing I could have ever said. She was so special. Sometimes she could be a very strong and independent woman, the next moment she was like a child and after that she was a very fragile girl who needed you more than she could accept.
Whom could she introduce me to who could be better than her? Who could keep me entertained with just talking about anything if it wasn’t her?
I slapped myself mentally. I didn’t have to think of that. She was Niall’s; I couldn’t have these feelings for her. I had to bury them far away so no one could know about them. My mates knew I had ‘a crush’ on Alex and they thought I was totally over that, but I just pretended I was, even Alex believed I didn’t have that kind of feelings for her anymore. The only one who really knew about this was me.
“But I don’t promise I’ll be nice to this friend of yours,” I warned her and she actually looked hurt.
“But Mila’s great! You have to be nice to her or she’ll kill me. Do you want to see me dead?” And those puppy eyes again. Well, at least now I knew her name was Mila. “She’s little but she has anger issues and she has this friend and I believe she is a hit woman. Zayn!” She whined.
I chuckled because probably she was just exaggerating so I would be forced to be nice. But I couldn’t, even if this girl was really great. I knew Alex was fixing this whole blind date out of pity. She still felt bad for not corresponding my feelings. She felt bad because I loved her but she loved Niall. Maybe she knew I still held some feelings for her and this was her way to help me to forget about her. And I hated that idea. I didn’t want her pity. I knew I couldn’t have her heart, so I just wanted her friendship.
“I’ll do my best. If she still wants to use her friend to finish you, let me know and we’ll hire some bodyguards for you,” I teased her, hugging her quickly and placing a kiss on her forehead.
“Niall! Tell him he has to be nice!” She protested looking at her boyfriend. The blond Irish boy just smiled amused by the whole situation and then he shrugged.
“I really want to keep my girlfriend, Zayn. Can you, please, be nice with Mila so Alex won’t be in danger?” Niall asked nicely and biting the leftover of pizza he found. I believed that pizza had two days. Oh, that boy…
I just shook my head and let Alex go, she went quickly to the blond and wrapped her arms around his waist and stood on her tiptoes to steal a bite of that pizza. Ugh, those two could eat anything. “Get ready, we’re leaving in an hour,” she told me still chewing.
I nodded and went to my room to get a shower and change. I didn’t know where this new club was and if there was going to be too many people, but I always wanted to look nice and that took time.
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I hated feeling like the third wheel and for that reason I was already in a bad mood. None of our other friends wanted to come with us and I just despised them for leaving me alone with the happy couple and this girl, Mila. I wasn’t going to have an excuse to avoid her. I felt like it was going to be a bad night.
Alex looked so happy and so did Niall. But he always looked happy around her. They had a great relationship. Yes, sometimes they fought but they made up pretty quickly. They spent as much time together as they could. When we were out of the city, they talked over the phone at least one time every day. However, they never sounded overly cheesy, after all, Alex wasn’t clingy –one of the things I liked about her the most– and they talked a lot because they were also best friends. When they talked over the phone the most you could hear was their laughter.
I wanted to have something like what they had.
I sighed as we entered the club. It was really new and not many people knew about it. Best part of it? The paparazzi didn’t know we were there so Alex was really happy and acting all carefree. Officially, the media knew about them but they left her alone most of the time as she wasn’t famous and tried to avoid all kind of relation with the press. The only thing for what she was known was because she was dating Niall Horan from One Direction.
“How did you know about this club?” I asked her as we all walked to the bar to ask for something to drink. I was going to need a drink if I had to bear with a blind date and the happy couple. Maybe this girl was even a fan. Oh, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with someone fangirling in front of me the whole night.
“Belle,” she replied with a giggle and I smiled. That girl was great; she always knew the best places to go out without having problems.
The club was really nice, the music selection was a mix of pop, hip-hop and electronic. It was a good environment, modern and a bit minimalist, but with a lot of style. Tables and booths surrounded the dance floor and there was a second floor where the DJ was playing. The bar was big and so shiny with two barmen.
“I’m gonna call Mila. She must be here,” Alex informed taking her phone off her pocket –she hated using a purse when she went out– and dialled what I could only guess was her friend’s number. Niall meanwhile asked for three Coronas but Alex made him a sign so he asked for four bottles. “Are you here?” she asked over the phone and I just waited there until the barman finally handed Niall our drinks. “Great! We’re at the bar, so come quickly!” Alex really sounded all excited. I believed her when she said she adored this girl.
Niall wrapped his arms around Alex waist as he handed her the bottle whilst she put her mobile back in her pocket. I sighed again knowing that the girl was coming and I had to be nice. I didn’t want to be nice, I just wanted to tell her that I didn’t need pity, that I was okay, that I didn’t need a date in order to forget about Alex. I could do it on my own.
Niall was whispering something into Alex’s ear when I saw her. She was pale. Her curly black hair fell over her shoulders and a fringe covered her eyebrows. She wore glasses that framed her brown eyes, a warm smile adorned her feminine features, and her prominent cheekbones looked really nice on her heart-shaped face. She was short, a head shorter than me probably, with a little waist and hips that moved from side to side with every step she took closer to us. She was wearing high heels, skinny black jeans and a stripped black-and-white top that hugged her torso perfectly. She was beautiful in a very special way; I just couldn’t take my eyes off of her. While I watched her, I just wished I didn’t have the blind date so I could approach to her and invite her a drink.
The girl got closer and closer to us; her smile grew bigger as she set her eyes on Niall and Alex. Was she a fan? Maybe I could try to introduce myself to her and then tell Alex that I couldn’t meet her friend.
Her brown eyes met mine for a few seconds and her smiled disappeared. An expression of surprise and concentration crossed her lovely features and I smiled cheekily. I caught her attention.
She stopped next to the happy couple but her eyes were still on me. “Alex!” the girl said surprising me.
Alex looked at her forgetting about whatever Niall was telling her. The smile on the taller girl was incredible. You would think she just met Matt Bellamy –one of her favourite singers.
Both girls hugged each other and that only meant they knew each other. Niall looked at them with a smile but I was still confused.
“I’m so glad to see you! Thanks for coming,” Alex said once they pulled apart. The shorter girl had again that warm smile on her lovely face.
“Yeah, this club is great but I was getting a bit bored, you know,” Alex giggled like that meant something else but we weren’t part of it.
“Let me introduce you to the lads,” Alex added putting her hand on the shoulder of the other girl so they both were facing us. “This is Niall, my boyfriend. You know about him. And this is Zayn of whom I told you about. Lads, this is my friend Mila.”
And my face fell. She was Alex’s friend, my blind date, the girl who was there out of pity, just because Alex begged her to meet me. Yes, she was beautiful, she had something special that caught my attention from the moment I laid my eyes upon her, but she was there just because she felt sorry for me, because she was making Alex a favour.
“Nice to meet you all,” she said holding her hand to us but I just refused to shake it. No more cheeky smiles, no more eyes fixed on her. I didn’t want her pity and I wasn’t going to accept it even if she had called my attention at first.
Just no.