January. // z.m. au

Chapter 23

"I see Zayn dropped you off this morning," Tina wriggled her eyebrows from the other side of the counter. I was told I had to work the register today, something that I rarely do, but apparently it was a must. I don't really like working the register but I can't complain.

And of course my face heated up and my cheeks turned a tint of pink and I hid behind my hands so Tina wouldn't see the embarrassing look on my face.

"I think it's nice," she cooed. "You can tell he's really into you."

"You can?" I asked, peeking through my fingers. Was it that obvious that we were somewhat, maybe, crazy for each other?

"Mhm," she nodded. "You should see your face when you see him. His too."

Now my stomach was churning in the best way possible because how had I not realized it before? I mean, I always doubted that Zayn felt the same way about me as I did him, but apparently it was quite obvious.

I was quiet for a moment, lost in thought, so Tina took this as an opportunity to continue speaking. "Are you two, like, you know, official yet?"

My daydreams were cut short and I felt a tinge of sadness - -well not really sad, more so longevity? Disappointment? I wasn't exactly sure yet -- in my chest, a small sigh leaving my lips.

"No," I shook my head, "but it's okay, really. I kind of like where we are now, I guess."

"But you want to be more," she stated rather than asked. Was I that readable?

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Yes. Yeah, definitely." Of course I did. Who wouldn't? "But I wanna wait for him to, ya know, make the next step."

And it wasn't exactly because I initiated our first kiss, it wasn't that. It was just that I didn't want to push him into anything. I was perfectly content with what was going on right now. There was no rush at all. So when Zayn was ready, or if he would be ready, I'd wait for him. I'd wait as long as I needed to.

Tina really didn't say much more after that. She let me get back to work and so did I, but I hadn't forgotten our conversation at all. In fact, it was all I could really think about now. Zayn and relationships and customers buying new books and me waiting for my break to start and Dave making awkward eye contact with me from the side, and wait, speaking of Dave, I needed to speak to him.

"Dave, hey," I whisper-shouted, motioning him to come my way. He hesitated a bit, reluctantly walking a few steps before I gave him a look and his pace stepped up. He stood before me on the other side of the register, his eyes darting everywhere but mine like he felt uncomfortable around me. Surely things weren't exactly peachy between us but was I that bad?

"So, Dave," I started. "How've you been? Haven't seen you in a while, really."

He scoffed muttering something under his breath I couldn't really catch. I could've sworn he mentioned Zayn's name, but I'd let that slide this time. "Um, good, I guess," he mumbled, still not meeting my eyes.

"So, are you gonna need me to cover your shift anytime soon? Ya know, if you have some 'really important things to do' that you can't specify, 'especially not to Jan'."

I watched him closely as his eyes grew wide and he scratched the back of his neck nervously like he'd just been caught cheating on a midterm in school. I didn't really care that he didn't want me to know, because if he hadn't needed his shift covered I wouldn't have seen Zayn that day and he wouldn't have kissed my cheek and he wouldn't have asked me on a date and -- well, that was besides the point. Anyway, I was just curious as to why he singled me out. I just wanted to know.