January. // z.m. au

Chapter 6

Heaven Knows | The Pretty Reckless

I was back at work again today. Thankfully it wasn't raining like yesterday. I didn't feel like going through that again. I decided to drive myself to work because I was far too lazy to walk.

I was halfway through my shift. The day was going fairly easy; we were pretty busy again and it didn't seem like time was slowing down at all.

I still felt a bit of guilt in my heart for lying to Dave. I could tell he wasn't going to put up with my bullshit today because I noticed how he wouldn't even look me in the eye like he normally would. It was as if I were invisible to him. Any other time I'd be pissing myself with excitement but now I just felt horrible.

"Jan, would you mind fixing the mystery section? It's looking a bit awful at the moment." Tina asked.

"Of course," I smiled. Tina was a manager, I had to follow her rules. She could fire me at any moment, no matter if we were friends or not.

I walked slowly towards the section of books specifically for mysteries. God, it was a mess. It annoyed me how customers couldn't just put the books back where they belonged. It wasn't that difficult to do.

I huffed as I began to reorganize the misplaced books. There were novels shoved on top of others and even some lying on the maroon colored carpet. If I hated anything most about this job, it had to be dealing with things like this. And the tacky floors; god, I hated these floors.

I'd barely been standing there for two minutes when I noticed Dave appear in my peripheral vision. He began to copy my actions, picking up dropped mystery novels from the floor. I would've been annoyed, but seeing as I probably broke the guy's heart, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to tell him I was sorry.

"Hey Dave," I greeted him. I could tell he was trying to avoid me when he looked up and into my eyes.

"Hi," he muttered, his brown eyes leaving mine.

I wasn't sure why he felt the need to be angry with me. I was doing him a favor by rejecting his offer to hang out whether he knew it or not.

"Listen," I started. "I'm sorry again for not being able to hang out this weekend. I hope there's no hard feelings between us."

"Hard feelings? Why would there be any hard feelings?" I knew it was a rhetorical question he was asking because he knew exactly why.

"Well, for starters, you've been avoiding me."

"Have not," he challenged like a child.

"Um, I'm pretty sure you have."

"And why do you think that?"

"First of all, I don't think, I know. And second, you haven't looked at me at all today, which is quite odd since that's all you seem to do."

Dave's cheeks burned red once the words left my lips. I got the feeling that he didn't know that I was aware that he did that. But I knew more than he thought I did, way more.

"I-I―"

"I know, I know," I shrugged. "No hard feelings, right?"

"Right," he sighed. His face fell a bit but quickly rose again before he spoke.

"Maybe if your date doesn't go well I'll have another chance to ask you out."
I was surprised by how confident he sounded. This was so unlike Dave that it almost felt weird to hear him say.

"Uh, sure..." I chuckled, making his eyes spring with life.

He grinned to himself before getting back to work. I was about to do the same but I heard my name being called from behind me.

"January?"

I turned around to see none other than Zayn standing before me. It was like we were destined to find each other.

"Zayn, what are you doing here?"

"My friend's birthday is coming up and he hates books so I decided to be a dick and get him one." He laughed and I joined him. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, I work here." I chuckled nervously.

"Nice," he smirked, his eyes taking in the sight of my uniform.

"Far from," I rolled my eyes.

"It seems like we can't stop running into each other," he laughed, "maybe this is a sign."

Yes, a sign from the heavens and God himself, I'm sure.

"Maybe," I agreed, my cheeks getting a bit rosy.

I noticed that Dave stopped working and was focused on my conversation with Zayn the whole time. When I took a quick peak at him, I could see the jealousy swimming in his dark brown eyes. Maybe even a little bit of intimidation as well.

I focused my attention back on Zayn who was now pulling a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his leather jacket. I would've told him to put them away but then I realized that he wasn't dumb enough to smoke in an obvious non-smoking area.

"You can't smoke in here," Dave warned. Well, if I wasn't going to say it I knew David would be the one to.

"Relax," Zayn chuckled, holding the cigarettes in his other hand before pulling his phone out of the same pocket. "I'm just getting my phone."

"Oh," Dave blushed. I couldn't stop the giggle that escaped my lips.

"I guess I'll see you around?" Zayn said, his voice sounding like music to my ears.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to run into each other again."

"Oh, that reminds me," Zayn smirked, eyes wide with excitement. "We're still on for this weekend, right?"

My eyes furrowed in confusion but I quickly realized that he was doing me a favor. I guess Zayn overheard me and Dave's conversation beforehand.

"Yeah, of course," I laughed mainly because Zayn was one clever son of a bitch and that made me like him even more.

He waved at me, smirk still very present on his face, before turning away and heading towards the front of the store.

"You're going on a date with him?" Dave questioned, wasting no time. His voice was filled with pure shock and confusion as he awaited my answer.

"Yeah," I grinned to myself, "I guess I am."