Mark My Words

Chapter 6: Friends

I shook my head. “I’m beginning to think you’re crazy. Wouldn’t I know if I had been raped?”

“Not necessarily.”

“ZAYN! That’s enough. It’s probably just sea foam.” 

“Erm, I’m pretty sure I know what this stuff looks like. You should go take a shower. If you have to scrub at it, then that’s really unfortunate.”

I rolled my eyes and got in the shower just so I could prove him wrong. As soon as the water hit my thighs it rinsed off and went down the drain. Sea foam! I was asleep on the beach, it’s pretty obvious.

“Came right off!” I hollered. 

“That’s awesome, Jordin. I’m so glad. I was so worried. You don’t even want to hear about what I did all of today. Hopefully the boys don’t say anything but…”

I wrapped myself up in a fresh, clean towel. It felt so right. “It’s fine, Zayn. What’s done is done. Let’s just pretend this never happened. But I do think you owe Harry an apology.”

Zayn opened his mouth to object but then realized he did. 

“Shit, you’re right. I really doubted him. If you knew him like I did, Jordin, you’d understand. He’s a ladies’ man.”

“Aww, be nice,” I said reaching for my pajamas. I was so exhausted from the day. Zayn left the room to find Harry while I combed my hair. Five minutes later, there was a knock on my door. I opened it.

“Oh, goodness, hi Jordin.” Liam’s eyes widened and then looked everywhere except for at me. “So, err, I mean you’re back. That’s good.”

“Liam, please don’t make this weird. The past is the past, okay? We can’t go backwards and change it so moving forward sounds like the best option. Let’s start over. Pretend we just met.”

He smiled at me. His smile was gorgeous. “Alright. I’ll walk by.” He jogged to the other end of the hotel hallway and walked by my door whistling a tune I didn’t know. He stopped by my door and tipped his invisible hat. “Why hello there, miss. How do you do?” I laughed. This was good for us.

“How do you do?” I said right back. “I’m Jordin Heil, and who might you be?”

“Liam Payne.” He shook my hand and grinned. “Thanks, Jordin.”

“No problem. I’m not saying we have to be close friends or friends at all, but I don’t think either one of us should feel awkward because of grade school.”

He nodded. “You’re right, I’m so stupid.” 

“No you aren’t. It’s just time that we both grow up, you know?” For once I felt like everything was peaceful. Liam and I were to be getting along just fine now. It was like a giant weight was lifted off my shoulder. Things could only go uphill from here, I figured.

Wrong.

Of course nothing could be shy of perfect when you’re me. Once life was under control for me, a huge pile of nonsense and drama dropped from the sky every time.

“Well goodnight, Jordin. Thank you.” I watched Liam walk to his room where Danielle was standing by the door. She waved at me, I waved back. As Liam walked up to her he grabbed her waist and kissed her. Oh, how I wish that was me.

Just before I walked back into the room ready to get rid of the stresses and worries today had brought, Harry and Zayn appeared from the opposite end of the hallway from Liam. They had just come off the elevator and they were laughing. Friends again!

“Again, I’m so sorry, bro. I don’t think I actually would have killed you.”

Harry chuckled and then shook his head. “Oh, yes you would. I understand it, Jordin is your best friend. It was a little biased.”

“Guys, it’s fine. If we’re all friends then we’re all friends.” I held the door open to let Zayn in. I didn’t even notice the uncomfortable silence. “What?”

“We’re all friends?” Harry asked. “Even you and Liam?”

I scratched my head and looked at Zayn. He was staring up at the ceiling. “Zayn, really?” 

“We talked for awhile so I told him everything. Before you got back, I mean. I felt like they needed to know why you might have left.”

I shook it off though. Because it didn’t matter now, none of that mattered. What was really important was Liam taking a step forward in his life, just like I was. We were putting the past behind us. “Goodnight, Harry.” I shuffled across the room and jumped onto my bed. It was oh-so-comfortable. I fell asleep almost instantly.

The next few days I now refer to as “The Week of Mistakes”. And it all started because I woke up two hours earlier than I was supposed to.