rain. |h.s|

22

^^ play when u see ***

"Just do it!"

"No I can't! It's too much pressure!"

It's been two weeks since the whole fight with Harry. In said weeks, I've been extremely busy. I finished all my college applications plus all my backups.

Zayn's standing over my shoulder while I sit on the couch in front of my computer with the 'Submit Application' button. I don't know what to do. When I applied to Cardiff University, it wasn't this nerve racking. These colleges I've applied to are really hard to get into, and don't get me wrong, so was Cardiff, but the acceptance rate for these are half of Cardiff's.

"Can we just review over it one more time?" I look back at him, batting my eyelashes so he'll agree. But we've already reviewed this first one four times.

"Noelle! We still have Columbia, Barnard, King's, Sarah Lawrence, and Fordham. If you don't submit NYU, I will." He teases me by hovering over my keyboard.

I jump when his finger makes contact with the submit button. "No no no. I'll do it, I'll do it."

He grins to himself and watches me wince as I move my cursor around the bright green button. My leg is bouncing unknowingly out of anxiety. This is the most nervous I've ever been in my entire life. And I'm saying this after being held at gunpoint.

At first I didn't want to apply to any of these colleges. All of their tuitions are extremely expensive and I wasn't sure if it was worth it. But Zayn insisted he paid for it, even though I told him a million times I don't care about going to some fancy school. But he was persistent. He said I can pay him back after I become the best nurse there ever is. Having Zayn around through all this has been so helpful. He knows a lot more about this kinda stuff than I thought.

I grimace when the screen pops up with a congratulations and confetti. I did it. I submitted my first application.

"Holy shit! I did it!" My mouth falls open with excitement and I immediately turn to throw my arms around Zayn.

"Let's go celebrate." He smiles, tugging at my hand to get me off the couch.

"Slow down now, we still have five left to go." I pull his hand down, signaling for him to sit back down.

He sinks back onto the couch and throws his around the arm of it. I start going to the other tab to submit Columbia, and then a random thought pops in my head.

"Zayn, aren't applications due before the spring?"

"Mhm." He knows where I'm going with this.

"Then how come all these colleges conveniently made an exception for me, someone who's submitting applications four months after the deadline?" I raise my eyebrows, pushing him to answer my instigating question.

"Hmm, well let's just say I slipped all of them a few extra thousand." He smirks.

"Zayn! That's not fair to everyone else who applied. Plus, I don't want you to be spending money like that on me." I push at his shoulder.

"You said you wanted to go to school, so we made it happen." He raises his eyebrows up and down, then spreads another knowing smile along his lips.

My expression turns into a confused one. "We?"

"I meant me and my money." He smiles and blinks rapidly. His answer sounds odd, but I choose to ignore it.

The next few hours are filled with submitting all the applications, eating lunch, and showering. We all sat at the table together for the first time in the 20 days we've been here. It was sort of quiet but not too bad. Zayn and Harlow talked most of the time. Me, Harry, and Niall kind of just sat there and observed silently. Harry and I have had a good amount of interactions recently. Niall, Harlow, Harry, and I decided a schedule for who gets the groceries each week. This week it was me and Harry. We talk a little bit on the drive and sometimes on the phone when I lose him in the store. But usually as soon as we get inside, we disperse and act as if we don't even know each other.