zero • njh

• seventeen •

   "Come on, Maia, it'll be fun I promise!" JJ begs through the phone and adds a sustained "Please?" I groan annoyed and wish I would've never talked to him in the first place. 

   A date with JJ alone is awkward enough. After spending only half an hour with him in the bus on Monday, I'm more than convinced that a date would just mean pain for me. I wish I would be interested enough in history to actually enjoy talking to him, but I'm just not. And my lack of interest in history isn't the biggest problem.
   JJ's idea of fun is going on a double date. And what are the odds that the other two people he chose are Niall and his stupid friend Kayla? Out of everyone in school, of course it would be him. I really don't want to see Niall be all lovey-dovey with some girl he grew up with. I'd rather just die on the spot.
   "Maia, I am begging you! You know how Niall is when he wants something." JJ whines and makes me frown. 
   "Wait, what? This whole thing is his idea?" I ask. Now this is news.
   "Of course, did you think I'd invite him?" JJ chuckles.
   "Honestly, yeah."
   "The team is going to watch a soccer game tonight and when I told them I wasn't gonna go, Niall was the first one to try squeeze answers out of me." he explains and sighs frustrated. "He's really scary sometimes. He even threatened to kick me off the team." I can't help but laugh at his comment. 
    "Scary? Annoying more like it." Then it's quiet for a moment. I somehow feel better now that I know that JJ and I agree on not wanting to go on this stupid double date. Who even does that, especially when you're planning on go to the movies? I can imagine Niall only going to the movies to make out with a girl in the dark. He'd definitely be that kinda guy and I'm almost certain that he'll shamelessly do that with Kayla. 
   "Okay, let's just get it over with." I finally agree and I hear JJ hold away his phone to cheer, which makes me chuckle. Then he puts his phone against his ear again and says:
   "Thank you so much, I owe you one. I'll pick you up at six!" 

   He hangs up and I'm left sitting on my bed. I'm still confused as to why Niall would wanna go on a double date with JJ and I. He told me multiple times to stay away and yet he's always making an effort to be near me. It's confusing me. I should stop thinking about it. 
   Sighing I look at my phone screen to check the time. I have plenty of time to get ready, so I decide to take a long shower. My thoughts are wrapped around ideas about what I could wear. It's stupid to think about it, but I have the feeling that I need to dress up more now that I know Niall is going to be there too. I hate to admit it, but the jealousy is clouding my thoughts again. The only problem is that I don't have any clothes that are cute enough to wear to an occasion like this. 
  When I get out of the shower I debate quite a while what I should do and in the end my room is a mess because I started to throw all my clothes onto the ground in frustration. I grab my phone and text Julia about my dilemma. She knows her fashion so she is my best bet right now. 
   Ten minutes later she's standing in my room with a big bag full of clothes.

   "You're lucky we have almost exactly the same bodies, Maia." she says chuckling as she puts down the bag and then looks at me, her hands on her hips. "I brought my cutest pieces, JJ will be drooling." I smile at her awkwardly and she winks at me. "Don't worry, you'll look gorgeous when I'm done with you."
   "Thank you, Julia. You're an angel." I say chuckling. 
   Julia kneels down to open the bag and starts pulling out some skirts and tops. My eyes widen in shock when I realize that almost everything she brought is either really short or really colorful, which both certainly don't fit my level of confidence. Julia notices me eyeing all the pieces and rolls her eyes at me. 
   "I think I'm having a panic attack." I gasp with shortness of breath, clawing my fingers into the mattress below me. 
   "Don't be ridiculous, it's just a date not your wedding Maia!" She picks up a pink checkered top and a matching skirt and holds them up. "What about this?" 
   "Hell no! I'll look like some fucked up barbie!" I shout and she puts them down sighing. 
   "This would look really cute on you." Now she is holding up grey shorts and a red strapless tube top. I make show her how much I dislike it by looking at her with a blank face and crossing my arms in front of my chest. Julia growls annoyed and throws both pieces to the ground. "I'm really trying here, Maia! You asked me to help you, so you need to accept my help." 
   "Fine!" I huff and get up, kneeling down to get a closer look at everything. My eyes scan everything and I try to imagine what it'd look like on me. Nothing seems really appealing to me. "Maybe this one?" I say, picking up a white blouse with cherries printed all over it. 
   "That's cute. And with that you could wear these jeans here." Julia says with a wide grin and hands me a light grey jeans skirt. "It'll make your butt look really good." 
   "Exactly what I need." I sound more sarcastic than anticipated and earn a nudge from Julia. 
   Quickly I put on the skirt and the blouse while Julia looks at her phone, texting someone obviously really important, since she's really concentrating on it.
   As Julia said, the clothes fit me perfectly and they are honestly really comfortable. When I go over to look in the mirror, I hear her gasping behind me. The skirt looks actually good on me. The blouse is alright, but I imagined it looking cuter. Also it's see through and shows off way too much of what I'd rather not show to the whole world. Not that there's much to look at.
   "Wow, if you don't get some tonight then there's something seriously wrong with JJ." I turn around to look at Julia and laugh at her reaction. 
   "I'm not going to sleep with him, are you crazy?" I scoff at her and she rolls her eyes at me again.
   "I'm complimenting your look, silly. But let me fix that real quick." Julia gets up and starts undoing the buttons of the blouse. I instantly blush and whack away her hands. "Stop, let me work!" she shouts laughing and then continues. When she's ready, I see what her intentions are, but I don't know if I like it. She made a knot that is dangling right above the hem of my skirt, showing off way too much of my bra. 
   "Maybe you should put on something underneath." Julia says, observing my exposed chest. I try to cover it up, tucking at the ends of the blouse, as she turns around and picks up a basic white top with thin straps which she then hands me. "That'll do."
   I grab the top and put it on, then throwing the blouse on top of it and she is right, now it does look really good and I can't help but smile. My smile vanishes really quickly after I look at my hair and my face. As if she is reading my mind, Julia grabs me by the shoulders and leads me to my armchair, shoving me down on it. 
   "Now we'll deal with your hair and your face. You want to look your absolute best today."