January. // z.m. au

Chapter 29

Winter Fun Fair

December 13-14th, 11 AM-11 PM

Come enjoy a day filled with rides, food, and fun!

"So," Tina asked, leaning against the counter next to me. "Is Zayn gonna take you to the fun fair this weekend?"

I chuckled quietly to myself, still reading over the flyer I held in my hand. This weekend was the annual winter fun fair and every year Grace, Alexa, and I would go together. This year I had no clue if we were even going, honestly. We usually planned things like this but this time things were silent between us. Maybe I'd bring it up to them tonight or something.

Now that I thought about it, I really should spend time with my friends more often. It was a bit selfish of me to leave them out like this. Hopefully they weren't angry with me or anything.

"Dunno," I shrugged. I folded the flyer a few times and shoved it into my back pocket. "Maybe." I thought out loud.

Was Zayn even a fun fair kind of guy? I mean, he didn't really seem like it, if I was honest. But it would be kind of fun if I dragged him along with Grace and Alexa. I knew Grace wouldn't mind, but Alexa was a different story. She'd probably make up some lame excuse as to why she couldn't make it like her cat was sick or something stupid like that.

She didn't even own a cat.

"Well, I think it'd be cute. You should ask him."

I smiled at Tina, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'll think about it. I don't know how Alexa and Grace would feel, though."

"Alexa still hates Zayn, huh?"

"A bit," I sighed, shaking my head. It didn't make sense to me how one could dislike Zayn. I mean, come on, he was Zayn for crying out loud. The sweetest, nicest, most caring person I'd ever met. And the two have never even had a full conversation before. It was a mere 'hey' 'hello' kind of moment. How could you not like someone you barely knew?

Tina rolled her eyes, "well that's a problem." She muttered.

"She's a bit dramatic, is all."

"Dramatic is an understatement, I'm afraid."

"Gotta love the drama," l laughed sarcastically, drumming my fingers against the counter in front of me.

My throat was still a little scratchy from being sick a few days before so I found myself coughing or clearing my throat a lot. Tina gave me a bottle of water this morning to keep with me all day. I was forever thankful for her.

"Well let me know if you're going," Tina spoke as she started to walk the opposite way. "Maybe I'll see you there, yeah?"

I smiled at her then at a customer who was coming my way, "yeah," I nodded. "Hopefully."

She gave me a thumbs up before she was off and I was left on my own, offering my customer a warm "hi, how are you today?" as I scanned the barcode on the back of the book she was purchasing. After that, I couldn't say I was paying much attention to the world around me as I spaced out thinking about the upcoming winter fun fair and repeating the same greeting to each customer I checked out today.

"Hi, how are you today..."

***

"Well look who finally decided that her best friends exist again," Alexa smiled widely (and very sarcastically) at me as I took the seat across from her. I was just about to comeback with some equally as sarcastic remark but I was interrupted by Grace instead. I opted for rolling my eyes, that was good enough.