Fate Chooses

Chapter 16: Mid-West tradition and a Reunion.

ZAYN'S P.O.V.

I wake up to, guess what? Thunder. And lightning. I look at the clock, and it says 8:30. I feel Allana stir besides me, as she sits up. I smile at this, thinking about what happened last night.

"Good morning." I say with a smile on my face.

"Morning Bradford Bad Boi." She says, stretching. She looks at me, and smirks.

"I don't even say that anymore!" I say, smiling at her. She then reaches out to mess up my hair. I then get her hand away from my hair, laughing.

"Hey, don't touch the hair." I say, looking at her. She just smirks at this, and scooches closer to me, so she can play with my hair even more. My back is facing her, and I can see both of her legs on either side of me. Her hands find themselves up in my hair, playing with it. I laugh a bit at this, enjoying it. I then tilt me head back, so I can see her face. She is smiling down at me, and I am smiling up at her. I then lay all the way down, my head in her lap. I am looking up at her, as she is bent over a bit, smiling at me as she plays with my hair. I close my eyes, as I let her run her fingers through my hair. She scratches my head a bit, every once in a while, and I smile at that. I let out a sigh of contempt, and she just laughs at it.

"Are you enjoying yourself there, Zayn?" She asks giggling.

I nod my head as I say "Mhm." I open my eyes to see her staring at me. She then leans down, her hair providing a curtain, and she gently pecks my forehead. I laugh at this a bit, thinking that she missed, and that I wanted her to kiss me on the lips. We just sit there for a minute or so, until we see a flash of lightning.

"One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi," She starts counting, until I interrupt her.

"Why are you counting?" I ask, still laying my head on her laugh.

"One minute." She says. "Six Mississippi, Seven Mississippi-" BOOM! She stops counting right after she hears the thunder. "Seven miles away." She says, looking out the window.

"What are you doing?" I ask, looking up at her. She then looks back at me.

"Seeing how far the eye of the storm is." She says, like it makes perfect sense. I look at her dumbfounded.

"Huh?" I ask, confused.

"That's what you do." She says. "When you see a flash of lightning, you start to count, 'One Mississippi, Two Mississippi,' and so on until you hear thunder. When you hear the thunder, you stop counting, and whatever number you were on, is how many miles away the eye of the storm was."

"Is that accurate?" I ask, thinking that this method is a bit strange.

"Pretty accurate." She replies, looking out the window again. I then sit up, to face her.

"Where did you learn that?" I ask, in amazement.

"From my Grandparents." She says. "They work on a farm, and I spent a lot of time over there. I even have my own room over there. Most of my child hood I lived there." She says.

"Why?" I ask, looking at her.

"My parents were business type people, so they traveled a lot, leaving me behind. So I lived there most of the time. And so did my older sister, Cat."

"Well thats cool, but, how did that whole thing come up?"

"Well, I helped work on the farm, and whenever there was a storm a'comin, that was my job. I was the youngest, So I sat inside my Grandparents house, with the kitchen window open, since it over looks the farm, and I counted whenever there was a flash of lightning till I heard thunder. I then would yell out to my Grandparents and sister, how many miles, while they were packing all the animals up." She explains.