Silence And Sound

Chapter 20.

Alex' POV:

When I woke up I still felt a little dizzy. I looked outside and realized it was dark. What the fuck? What time was it? I rolled to the side and looked at my phone. It was only 11pm. And I thought I had slept all night. I looked at Niall who was sleeping next to me. I didn't remember everything from earlier, but I remembered that he had picked me up at Zayn's place. He was so brave. What if Zayn had punched him? He wouldn't last a minute in a fight with Zayn. I was just happy that Zayn didn't do anything. I was so scared that he was gonna try something with me again. But he didn't. He just took care of me. What had happened to the bad boy I first met? In that moment my thoughts got interrupted by Niall who suddenly moved. He wasn't awake, but it was like he was seeking something in his sleep. His hand kept grabbing the blanket and the sheets. I took his hand and moved closer to him.

"I thought you were gone again" he whispered. Okay, so he wasn't completely asleep.

"I'm right here. Don't worry" I said and squeezed his hand. He put his arm around me and held me tighter. For the first time in my life I felt comfortable around another person. I had never enjoyed being this close to anyone, but with Niall it felt different. He made me feel cared about. The feeling of his warm body against mine was a feeling I never wanted to let go. I never wanted to get out of bed. I just wanted to lay there forever. With his arms around me.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. 

"My head hurts a bit and I'm still dizzy"

"I didn't expect anything else. You were really drunk, you know? I got worried"

"I know. It got a little too much" I admitted. 

"Why did you even skip class? And why did you drink so much?"

"I was late for school and when I got there you were all gone. So I just sat and waited and then Amanda came.. And she said you were a loser, so I defended you and then she started saying that you and Debby fucked. And that Debby only used me to get close to you, and you would stop hanging out with me when you realized how fucked up I am..." I mumbled. He must think I'm a loser for getting upset about that. But the truth was that she had hit all the right spots. She had said everything I ever feared.

"Alex look at me" Niall said and I did as he said. He looked me directly into the eyes.

"I'm not gonna stop being with you. I know you're fucked up, but that's why I like you. Your weird behavior makes me think you're cute. I really like you, no matter how fucked up your are. So don't listen to Amanda. She knows nothing. And Debby is not using you! She has a crush on Zayn, not me. She would never do that to you" he said. I looked down again. I really wanted to believe his words. But I had such a hard time trusting people, so it was difficult. But suddenly Niall lifted my chin and pressed his lips to mine. I blushed and felt my body temperature rise. 

"I wish I could kiss you whenever I wanted" he whispered. I wanted to tell him that he could, but I knew I wouldn't let myself do such things in public. I knew I had to keep my reputation as the bad girl. And bad girls didn't kiss nerds. I hated myself for having these thoughts, but it was the truth. I knew I couldn't kiss Niall in front of my fucking classmates. 

The next day when Niall and I entered the classroom, Miss Smith came over to me. 

"Alex, you were missing yesterday" she said.

"No shit Sherlock" I mumbled. Niall bumped his elbow into my side.

"I felt bad. My stomach hurt. Period cramps, you know?" I said. She nodded.

"Don't let it become a habit" she said. I rolled my eyes at her and sat down at the table Niall' dorky friends were sitting at. Debby sat down with us a minute later.

"How are you?" she asked me. 

"I'm okay. My head hurts a little though" I said

"You were so wasted yesterday" she laughed. Harry and Liam gave me disgusted looks. They thought I was an awful person. That's for sure.

"By the way, Zayn asked me out again. This Friday" Debby informed me. 

"Okay" I just said. I didn't know how to feel about it. I still didn't know if I could trust Zayn, after what he did to me. But how he acted yesterday was so different from the guy I thought I knew. And yesterday definitely made me look at him in a different light. Maybe he wasn't that bad.

"Zayn? Zayn Malik? Are you dating him?" Harry asked. 

"Yeah. Why? Do you have a problem with that?" Debby snapped. Harry looked down and then at Niall. It was like he was saying "Why did you bring these two bitches to our table?!". It was obvious that none of them liked us.

"I just didn't think that he dated. That's all" Harry almost whispered. 

"Do you even know Zayn?" Debby asked.

"Well Liam plays soccer with him and his friend Louis. So I met them" 

"Not that we're friends or anything" Liam objected. I couldn't imagine them being friends at all. 

"Alex and that table. Be quiet or leave the room" Miss Smith said. I just rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat. But then I noticed that Niall had got up. 

"Are you coming?" he asked me. I looked around at my classmates before standing up and following Niall outside. As soon as we were out the door I started laughing.

"What is wrong with you? Since when did you become such a crimerider?" I asked.

"I don't know, I think you have a bad influence on me" he said. We went all the way outside and sat down on a bench next to his car.

"Do you want to have dinner with me some day?" he suddenly asked.

"What? Dinner? Where?" 

"I don't know. I just thought I wanted to ask you out on a proper date" he mumbled. Now he was back to being the awkward Niall I knew. 

"Sure. But please don't make it all romantic. You know me" I said.

"I thought we could maybe kill some puppies and then eat them. And then we could find some kids and torture them afterwards" he suggested. I couldn't stop laughing.

"Shut up. I'm not that bad" I said and slapped his arm. 

"But the kid thing does sound fun. I hate kids" I said which made him smile. 

"I'll find out something. Let's say Friday then" he said. I nodded. It was weird going on a date with a friend. But I didn't know if Niall and I were actually friends. I felt like we were more than that at this point.

"Is there anyone around us right now?" Niall asked and looked around.

"No, why?" I asked, confused.

"So I can do this" he said and kissed me. I felt the butterflies in my stomach, but at the same time I was nervous that someone caught us. I really wanted to keep this a secret, but I wanted to be able to kiss him whenever I wanted. It was so hard.

"You're so cute" I said and kissed him again. It felt weird calling someone cute. Normally the only adjectives I used were annoying, ugly, stupid and stuff like that. Not positive words. But cute was the word that described Niall the most right now. He was a cute loser. He was my cute loser. 

(A/N: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, Wattpas was being a bitch... But here's another chapter! Hope you like it. And tysm for 10k+ reads! That's amazing! Please vote and comment!)