Mark My Words

Chapter 7: Date

I don’t think I had ever been more tired in my entire life. I fell asleep practically 25 seconds after collapsing onto my bed. I had my alarm set on my phone automatically for 9:00 am, which is really 1:00 pm back home. Jet lag is the worst. But for some reason I couldn’t stay asleep that night. Around 7:00 am, I woke up for good. I just lay there on the bed waiting for the moment when I decided it was late enough to get up.

I had my eyes shut since I felt a headache coming on and since I heard Zayn was up and on his phone, I didn’t feel like having a conversation. I was still so exhausted. 

I didn’t actually see any of this, I just heard it.

The door burst open and slammed in enough time for Liam to walk into the room.

“What the hell man, Jordin’s still sleeping. Can you try to keep it down?”

“Are you sure she’s sleeping?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I have to talk to you. Things are getting too out of control here.”

“Out of control? If anything at all, things are getting better. We’re all becoming better friends and you and Jordin made up. It all sounds good to me. What’s the issue?”

“I’m going to be up front about this. I like her a lot. Jordin, I mean. That little twinkle in her eyes gets me every time. She is so laid back and funny. I have to be honest with you man, I think I’m falling for her all over again.”

There was a short silence. I really wish I could have seen their expressions.

“Liam, so much is going on right now. Do you really want to let the ghost of a high school crush come back for you? You have a girlfriend and…”

“I know, but none of that really seems to matter when I’m around Jordin. Danielle is… out of sight, out of mind.”

“Why have a girlfriend if you aren’t going to be faithful?”

“I never said I’d be unfaithful. I made a promise to Danielle and I intend to keep it. I probably love Danielle. But my problem is I know I love Jordin. Err, loved. I did. That was a real feeling and I would do anything to get that back.”

“This can’t happen though. If you fall in love with Jordin then everything is going to change. The entire dynamic of the band will be altered and there will be some painful breakups going on. I don’t want to see anybody getting hurt.”

“Nobody is going to get hurt.” 

“Whatever you say, mate.”

Silence again.

“Well I better go, I’m supposed to have breakfast with Danielle.”

“Mind if I wake up Jordin and we all go?”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach each time they said my name. 

“Seriously? Think about the talk we just had. Do you really believe that’s the best idea for me?”

I almost laughed but quickly covered my mouth. Sometimes Zayn can be so absent-minded. I occasionally called him Doctor Air Head. I closed my eyes even tighter and hoped I was invisible.

“Alright then. Have fun.” I heard the door open and close. I felt Zayn look at me. He went into the bathroom and shut the door. The shower water began to run. I sat up in my bed.

I got up and changed into my clothes. I figured I’d treat Zayn to breakfast since he just had that rather rude awakening. It was the least I could do for my best friend.

When the shower water stopped running, I heard a long sigh coming from the bathroom followed by giggles. I knocked on the door. “Zayn? How about we go out to breakfast?”

There was a silence but I was unsure as to why. “Erm, okay. You can go down in the lobby. I’ll just be a minute.” I could have sworn I heard a girl’s voice. 

“Shhh.” Who was in the bathroom?

“Are you sure? Are you alright?” I pressed my ear against the door. There was a girl in there! I bit my lip and shook my head.

“Err yeah. Just go on I’ll be down soon.”

Zayn hooked up with some chick in our hotel shower! What the hell? I mean at least he was respectful and stayed quiet, but still, just knowing that I was in the same room as Zayn and this girl I don’t know made me uncomfortable.

Approximately five minutes into my waiting for Zayn period, Liam and Danielle walked by. I couldn’t stop staring at them after hearing what I did. Liam grinned when he saw me looking at him but then looked down at his hand which was interlocked with Danielle’s. He flicked his hair and stared straight ahead. Danielle waved at me. “Hey, Jordin! I’m so glad you’re okay.” Danielle stopped walking and tugged on Liam’s arm. 

“Me too,” I shrugged. Danielle laughed. “What’s the plan? You guys going out for some breakfast?”

“Actually, we are! Would you like to tag along?”

“That sounds-” I looked at Liam. He looked as if he were going to be sick. He glanced up at the ceiling so he had something to distract him. Danielle twirled her hair around her fingers and swung her pocketbook which was on her shoulder. “I would love to join you, unfortunately I promised Zayn I’d treat him to breakfast just the two of us this morning. Perhaps tomorrow?”

“Great, it’s a date.” Danielle looked over at Liam. “What do you say Liam, should we head out?” 

Liam’s eyes were wide and he looked at her. “Who’s going on a date?”

Danielle chuckled. “No, silly boy, we’re having breakfast with Jordin and Zayn tomorrow. Like a double date.”

“Except for Zayn and I aren’t dating.” I made sure to look at Liam as I said that. This was fun, I was driving him mad and I wasn’t originally trying.

“Oh, right. I always forget that. You too are so close and so cute together that I forget entirely! Well, we’ll see you later, Jordin.” 

“Bye.” I waved them off. Now where was Zayn? He was taking far too long. After six more minutes of waiting the lift dinged and out walked Zayn looking smashing as always.

“Ready to go?” He asked me. 

“Me? I’ve been ready unlike somebody who was hooking up with a girl in our bathroom.” I smiled as I finished the sentence. He blushed.

“Let’s just move on, okay? Where do you want to go?”

Zayn eventually picked out some restaurant ten kilometers away from our hotel. We took a cab to be casual. Somehow word got out that the new boy band One Direction was vacationing in Cancun. The last thing any of the boys wanted was people noticing them when they’re trying to relax. Although they weren't too famous yet the boys still had lots of fans. 

For some reason I was overly excited for this breakfast I was going to have with Danielle, Liam, and Zayn.

Day 1 in the Week of Mistakes: All the mistakes I made that day:

1) I woke up two hours early.

2) I eavesdropped on a conversation that I wasn’t supposed to hear.

3) I didn’t continue to ask Zayn about his mystery girl.

4) I arranged a breakfast “double date” with Liam and Danielle.