Friend Zoning Alfie Deyes (Zalfie)

“Finn! Get the fuck up! The others will be here in half an hour”, I yell, shaking my sleeping boyfriend, whilst applying lipstick.

His eyes flutter open, and he scowls at me. “All right I’m up!” he snaps.

What’s his problem?

I stalk out to the kitchen, and fling open the fridge. I take out the veg from the drawer and put them in the pot to cook.

Finn pads into the kitchen, all tousled hair and sleepy eyes. He smiles at me, wrapping his arms around my waist. My anger fades, because it would be hard to keep it when my boyfriend is only wearing pyjama pants and nothing else. He kisses me softly, and I smile.

I pull away, and he pouts. “You’ll have to wait, Finnegan”, I tease. He just rolls his eyes, opening his laptop. My phone buzzes. It’s a text from my friend Tanya.

Can we bring a friend of ours to yours? He’s just moved down here so he’s staying with us, I thought it would be rude not to ask him  :/

I shoot a quick text back.

Sure. Does he have a Youtube??

She replies straight away.

Yup. He can collab with us sure.

A new Youtuber?  Oh happy days.

Kk see you soon.

*

*

*

Me and Finn are in the middle of a very heated snogging session when the doorbell rings. He groans, and leans into kiss me again, but I dodge away from him, grinning, and open the door.

Standing on the doorstep are my friends Jim and Tanya, Caspar, Marcus, Louise, Finn’s twin Jack and my brother Joe. 

Standing awkwardly behind them is a tall, brown haired boy of about 19. I’m guessing he’s their new roommate.

After a chorus of hugs and hellos, Tanya introduces me to the new kid. “Zoe, this is Alfie. Alfie, this is Zoe”, she says. I smile at him, and he smiles back. “What’s your Youtube?” I question. “Pointlessblog. I’m new enough”, he says quietly. Never heard of it. “Mine’s Zoella. I take it you don’t do beauty videos”, I say with a grin.

He laughs, and smiles. “Yup”, he replies. I show him into the sitting room, where everyone is talking and laughing and setting up cameras.

Oh God. My anxiety’s kicking off again. Finn wraps an arm around me, leading me to the couch while I panic. Alfie must think I’m having some form of meltdown, because he looks confused and weirded out. “She’s just having a panic attack”, Tanya explains. Alfie still looks confused, but nods anyway.

Once I’ve calmed down, we get down to business. 

*

*

*

After three hours of crazy collabs, everyone is running out of ideas. "I know! How about we station all the cameras around the house, and have a mad game of hide and seek?" Caspar suggests. There's no need for an agreement.

In ten minutes, we've got fifteen cameras stationed in random places around the house. Finn is on first.

I peg it up the stairs, and into our bedroom. I hide up on top of the wardrobe (I'm small ok) and wait. I send out a sneaky tweet, saying:

Come and find me mo foes #Youtuberhideandseek

And soon enough I receive a fuckload of reponses:

Is this a new video? :O

I'm not even gonna ask

Don't kill/break anyone/anything #goodluck

I'm coming to getcha!

The last one is from Finn. Sure enough, I hear his footsteps in the hall. The door opens, and I hold my breath. But it's not Finn, it's Alfie.

He doesn't see me, and tries to dive under our bed, but fails miserabley. He's so tall that he has to literally cram himself under there, along with all our camera boxes and clutter.

I have to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. There's more footsteps, and some yells and noise. Finn must've found someone else. 

The door opens, and in comes Tanya, Finn, Caspar and Marcus. They find Alfie, and sure enough they spot me. "Caught you!" Finn says, and lifts me down. He gives me a quick kiss on the nose, before hurrying off to find the others.

I go down to the kitchen, to get a glass of water. I reach up to get a glass, only to discover that (of course) I'm too small. "Want me to get that?" a voice asks from behind me.

I turn to see Alfie hovering in the doorway, grinning at me. I bite my lip, before nodding. He reaches up and grabs it, and hands it to me. "Thanks", I say, filling it up. "No problem", he says smoothly.

Even though my back is turned, I can feel him staring at me. I turn around, just in time to see his eyes flit away. A low blush seeps across his cheeks, but I pretend not to notice.

"So, are you going to uni here?" I ask. He nods. "Oh cool. Which uni?" I question further, trying to make conversation. "University of London. I'm studying Photography", he says. "I go there! I'm studying ballet. I'm hoping to get a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School though", I say.

He smiles, but something flashes across his eyes. Pain. Sadness. "My sister Poppy used to do ballet", he whispers.

I don't get to reply, because a slightly soaked Caspar and the rest of the group invade the kitchen. "What happened to you!" I laugh, throwing Caspar a towel.

"I was hiding in the shower, and I got such a fright when Finn came in that I manage to hit the "on" button and yeah", he explains.

The rest of us die with laughter for fifteen whole minutes, while he tries to keep the pout on his face.

Then it's a muddle of hugs, goodbyes and number exchanges.

Closing the door, I turn to Finn, smiling. But he's not smiling. His eyes are blazing.

"What's wrong?" I ask, touching his arm.

He jerks away from me, like a disaese. "I saw you flirting with him!" He yells angrily.

This catches me off guard. "Flirting with who?" I ask, confused. "Alfie!" He yells.

Anger flares up inside me. "We were just talking!" I yell back. I'm not being treated like shit for being friendly!

This pisses him off even more. "Don't bullshit me Zoe! I've caught you making eyes at him all day!" he yells.

My eyes prick with tears. Does Finn not trust me?

"You hypocrite! You've got nothing to say to me about cheating! Remember Amanda? Or Lucy?" I scream.

This pushes him over the edge.

Finn's hand flies up, and hits me hard, knocking me to the floor.