Right Place and Right Time

Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

Zayn’s POV

            I got out of the car first, and being the gentleman that I am, offered her my hand to help her out. As soon as we made physical contact, electrifying tingles danced up and down my arm. Our eyes locked as she got out of the car, and she flashed a small smile, while I smiled back automatically.

            Natalie makes me happy. Just seeing her makes me happy. Her personality, the little laugh she does, everything. Woah. Do you like her Zayn? No you can’t like her; look at how sad she is because of Harry. No, no you don’t.

            She’s still a good friend though, and I miss seeing her happy. She looks so unhappy right now, it feels as if I need to make her happy again. Throughout the day, we walked around and saw animals of all kind, giraffes and platypus and things like that. What’s the plural of platypus? Platypi? I don’t know. Even though I was having a lot of fun, I kept a close eye on Natalie. She would smile often, but it never reached her eyes. She would give the occasional laugh, but never that loud happy laugh that I loved about her. As we were walking along the area with mammals, many families and couples were also there, hand in hand and looking happy as ever. Could Natalie and I end up like that? No, stop thinking like that Zayn. I glanced over at Nat, who was walking next to me, only to see her eyes starting to tear up with a sad smile on her face. Then I put my hand out and waited for her to accept it, startling her. Her eyes grew wide and started looking around quickly.

            “Hey, just friends, okay?” I told her.

            She paused for a moment, accepted my hand and smiled. “Yeah, just friends.”

            As soon as our hands locked, my stomach lurched with nervousness and happiness. But even then, there was the bitter disappointment of the fact that I pretty much just got friend-zoned. But that’s okay, because we’re just friends. Just friends.

Natalie’s POV

            Seeing all these couples around me makes me sad; it reminded me of what Harry and I could’ve been; would’ve been, actually. Wait Nat, stop thinking about Harry; Zayn’s really putting an effort to cheer you up. I was surprised to see his hand reached out, as if waiting for me to accept it.

            “Hey, just friends, okay?” he said with a hopeful look.

            I paused for a moment, still surprised, “Yeah, just friends.”

            As soon as I touched Zayn’s hand, my stomach got butterflies, just like it did with Harry. But Harry’s in my past now, nothing more. We walked quietly, still holding hands, when a small vender stopped us, “A balloon for your beautiful lady?”

            Oh lord, this adorable little man must think we’re dating. I started to explain, or at least try to, “Oh no, we’re not - just friends – nothing – not – platonic - not dating…”

            Then Zayn firmly said, “Of course. How much?”

            I stared at him. BRO. We aren’t even dating, what the hell.

            “Nothing, no cost for the loveliest couple here.”

            Zayn smiled and accepted the balloon, then handed me the balloon.

            On closer inspection, the balloon had a koala and a kangaroo on it; that’s cute.

            Throughout the day, we continued holding hands and began to do things couples normally do. At one point, the section with the bird houses were cleared out just for us two, allowing us to meander anywhere and feed the birds. Is this what it feels like to be in a relationship? Take pictures with each other, share food, all that kind of stuff? But why did doing this feel so wrong? See, I’m completely clueless about this stuff. Yeah, it was fun, and we’re just friends; there’s no reason to feel guilty about this, right? I shoved these thoughts to the back of my head, but thoughts of Harry wouldn’t even budge.