Seeing Blind |NH|

Chapter Fourteen

"Hey! There you are!" I heard a voice behind me and arms wrap around my neck. I turned my head a little and saw Esta's face staring back at mine. "You guys did great tonight. This has been very interesting and kinda, super cool."

She said all this while hanging onto my neck as she sat herself down next to me.

"Good. I'm glad you are having fun." I smiled at her a little, before taking a sip of my drink, "It certainly looked like you were," I muttered under my breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Wanna dance? I think I've danced Liam into oblivion and no one else wants to dance with me." She placed her elbow on the bar and rested her chin in her palm as she twirled the little straw in her glass.

"Zayn doesn't want to?"

"Huh?"

"Zayn? He doesn't want to dance with you? He seems to fancy you quite a bit."

"Oh, yeah, well, you know he doesn't exactly dance."

"What makes you think I do?"

"Nothing does, I guess. I just figured maybe you would like to. I haven't seen you all night."

"Well, you were quite busy with everyone else."

"Only while waiting on you."

"Didn't look like you were waiting on me."

"Are you okay? You seem upset."

"I'm fine."

"So why are you being so short with me?"

I turned to look at her and whatever feeling had been coursing through my veins immediately subsided. She looked hurt that I was possibly upset with her and I, honestly, had no reason to be upset with her. In fact, I had no reason to be upset period. It's not like I wasn't aware of Zayn's attention to her. I'd witnessed it myself. And he's a hell of a lot better of a guy than Jace.

"Sorry. I guess I'm just tired. Of course, I'll dance with you."

Her face lit up as her lips curved into a smile. "Yay!" She clapped her hands giddily as she jumped off the bar stool. "Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and led me out onto the dance floor.

We danced for a while, if you want to call what we were doing dancing. We both let loose a bit too much and I'm pretty sure we just looked like two drunk idiots trying not to fall over. By the time we exited the dance floor, I was feeling much better.

While talking with the lads, I noticed that Zayn had approached her again and they were standing quite close and he kept tracing his hand up and down her arm. He was looking directly at her and listening to whatever it was that she was saying. He was paying attention, which was something I never witnessed Jace do.

"He seems to really like her," I heard Liam say.

Without turning around, I heard Louis say, "Yeah, he does. She's a sweet girl. He could really use that in his life. Has anyone else noticed how off he's been lately, too?"

"Yeah, he's been acting strange lately," Harry said.

"Strange is an understatement," I said, turning to face them. "The other night, when we were all at Louis' place, he came in from outside and gave me this odd look. He gave it to me again when I asked him if he knew where Esta was because I was ready to go and couldn't find her."

"What kind of look?"

"I don't know. This weird smirk and then he wouldn't get out of my way when I tried to get past him." I tried to make the look he had given me to demonstrate. "It was weird."

"Huh, that is strange," Liam said.

"So, yeah, maybe he's just been lonely? Needs a girl in his life?" Harry suggested.

"And he does seem to really like her. He wouldn't shut up about her the day we were all at the beach."

"Yeah, I think we all noticed that," I said, dryly. The guys gave me a look. "What?"

Liam shook his head, "Nothing. Like I said, he does seem to really like her."

He was looking right at me as if he was asking if that was okay.

I shrugged before finishing off my drink. "I think I'm gonna call it a night."

"You alright, man?" Liam asked, giving me a questioning look before placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, just tired."

He rubbed my shoulder for a second and then brought me in for a hug.

As I was walking towards the exit, I looked back over at them. He was whispering something into her ear and she almost looked as if she had blushed. Her smile seemed genuine and so did his. And he really hadn't truly smiled in a while. If she could make him smile like that, then I should be happy for them. I had no reason to be upset with it, anyway. And I felt like an ass for being upset in the first place. She was my friend and so was he. So, why couldn't I be happy for them?