More Than This

For the next week, Zayn and I didn’t say a single word to each other, well; Zayn didn’t say a single word to me. “Why won’t he talk to me?” I asked one day when Zayn left the table one night after dinner at Olive Garden. “He’s been mad at me since the last time we talked over a week ago.” I looked over at him as he paid the bill for his food.

“What did you guys last talk about?” Harry asked as he took the last bite of his chocolate cake.

“He told me he loved me again, and the second I bring Jake up, he shuts down.” I looked over at him again as the hostess was hopelessly flirting with him. Poor girl.

“The last thing guys want to hear from the girl they want, is that they don’t want them back.” Louis shrugged and pulled out his wallet. “And besides, he’s not good for you, babe.”

“That’s what Zayn keeps saying.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed my purse and went up to the counter to pay for my food.

“Zayn’s right, Nora, but we’re your brothers now, so if he hurts you, we will beat the life out of him.” Louis nodded and put on a tough face.

“I love you guys.” I laughed as they followed me to pay.

“Not as much as we love you, squirt.” Louis tousled my hair.

~*~

“Zayn, can I talk to you?” I asked later that day after he played a game of FIFA.

“Sure.” He shrugged and walked with me around the parking lot of the venue. “What’s up?”

“Okay, so we need to be adults and have a serious conversation about us without one of us getting mad and walking off.” I started off and looked to see Zayn’s reaction. His facial expression never changed, so I took that as the cue to continue. “I just need to know why you don’t want me with Jake, and please don’t say because you love me and want me to choose you. I need another reason.” Zayn sighed and stopped walking to face me.

“He’s not good for you, Nora.” Zayn shrugged. “All he wants to do is make sure you stay away from me. His exact words were ‘you’re on your way out of her life. You’ll see’.” Zayn sat down on the asphalt, looking off in the distance. “I don’t think I would mind if he were nicer to me, but he wants me out of your life completely.” Zayn looked up at me. “I can’t do that.”

“I don’t want you to do that.” I kneeled down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re one of my best friends, and there’s no way I could cut you out of my life again.” I smiled at him. “So can we please go back to being the friends we were two weeks ago?” Zayn nodded.

“Definitely,” He sighed. “But I won’t stop trying.” Zayn stood up and brushed his jeans off before helping me up. “That’s a promise.” He looked right in my eyes as he said it, and it sent a wave of excitement through me. Why? I had no idea, but I was glad he wouldn’t stop trying.

~*~

I walked onto the bus as happy as a school girl who had just been asked to the prom by the star quarterback of the school football team. Why was I so happy? In all honesty; I had no idea. I guess life was just going great for me.

“Dude, a tiger would totally beat a bear.” Niall argued to Harry as he flipped through the channels of the TV.

“No way! A bear would murder a tiger! Nora!” Harry called me over to them. “Which would win; a tiger or a bear?”

“Well, it depends on the type of tiger and bear.” I shrugged and took a seat between the two boys. “Let’s face it; a Siberian Tiger would absolutely destroy a Panda Bear; and a grizzly bear would tear a snow leopard to pieces.” The two looked at me before exchanging a few glances and deciding on which type of animals.

“Siberian Tiger versus a Grizzly Bear.” They said at the same time. I thought for a minute and came up with an answer to their question.

“Well, the Grizzly Bear is about three times the weight as a Siberian Tiger, but the Tiger’s teeth can break through the thickest of bones, as can the Grizzly Bear’s claws… so I guess it would just depend on which got tired the quickest.” I shrugged and the two boys looked at me with blank stares.

“How do you know all that?” The boys asked at the same time.

“I want to go to school to be a vet for exotic animals.” I shrugged and Zayn walked onto the bus, taking a seat next to Niall.

“What about after college?” Harry asked, suddenly interested in my future.

“Well, I’m hoping to open my own veterinary clinic after I have kids someday.” I shrugged.

“You forgot something.” Zayn chimed in. We all looked at him and waited for him to finish. “You forgot to mention getting married. I would think if you wanted kids, you’d want to be married.” Zayn shrugged. “I can’t wait to get married one day… and who knows; maybe I’ll marry you one day, Nora.” He smirked and I tried to hide my blush as I quickly scurried away to my bunk.

“Dude, you know little comments like that make Nora mad.” I heard Harry say, followed by a short ‘pop’ noise. I guessed he had hit Zayn.

“I don’t think it made her angry this time,” Zayn chuckled. “Did you see how red her face got? She’s close to giving in.” My face burned as the blood rushed my face and the butterflies beat on the walls of my stomach.

No. I couldn’t start feeling this way about Zayn. No way, no how. I was in a great relationship with Jake, and I didn’t want to mess that up, so I decided to call him. I needed to clear my head. “Hello?” Jake answered sleepily.

“Did I wake you?” I asked apologetically.

“No, no.” Jake yawned and I heard sheets rustling in the background as he got out of bed. “I was just about to get up for the day.” I pulled my knees up to my chest as Jake yawned again on the other end of the line.

“How’s everything going?” I asked as Zayn walked by before jumping up on the bunk across from mine. There went those damn butterflies again.

“Pretty good, I guess. That girl from work makes frequent visits to my cubicle.”

“Pink thong girl?” Zayn twisted his face in confusion and I tried to hold in my laughter.

“Yeah,” Jake chuckled. “It’s kinda sad how desperate she is.” He sighed and Zayn started swinging his legs back and forth. The whole time I was on the phone with Jake, Zayn was pulling faces and trying to hear what Jake was saying. “I have to go, Nora, but I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

“Alright, babe.” I smiled. “Love you.”

“You too.” Jake hung up quickly and I looked at the phone in confusion.

“So, how’s ‘Jakey Wakey’?” Zayn asked and I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t call him that!” I laughed and jumped down from my bunk. “And I guess he’s doing well.” I shrugged. “We don’t get to talk much anymore. He signed up for more hours at work.” I sighed and stuffed my phone in my pocket.

“Who is this ‘pink thong girl’ you talked about?” Zayn chuckled and jumped off the bunk and landed next to me.

“Some new girl at work.” I shrugged. “She’s apparently a bit of a slut.”

“So… how does he know about her pink thong?”

“I know what you’re thinking, Zayn, and Jake’s not cheating on me. She wears short clothes.”

“Right.”

“Seriously!”

“Okay, whatever floats your boat.” Zayn shrugged and walked off. I rolled my eyes, brushed off his comment, and followed him out to where the rest of the boys were watching TV. I sat down next to Liam and looked down at my phone. There’s no way that Jake would cheat on me. We’ve been together for too long for him to pull such a stupid stunt like that.

Unless he was getting bored with me.

“You alright, Nora?” Louis whispered and poked my arm. I looked up at him and nodded before looking back down at the screensaver on my phone. It was a picture of Jake and I on Halloween last year. He was Sweeney Todd and I was Mrs. Lovett. Looking back on it, those costumes were probably a bad idea. Sweeney ends up throwing Mrs. Lovett into a fire… “You’ve been looking at your lock screen for ten minutes. What’s wrong?” Louis nudged me.

“Nothing.” I lied and looked up at him. “Lou… do you think I’m boring?”

“The exact opposite, actually.”

“What if you’ve been around me for, I dunno, three years?”

“I’d still think you were great.” Louis smiled. “What’s brought this on?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering.” I shrugged and turned my attention to the TV. See? I wasn’t boring. Zayn was just insane for even thinking that Jake would cheat on me.

~*~

“Okay something’s going on, Nora.” Louis approached me while I was rearranging the boys’ clothes. “Why did you ask me if you were boring?”

“No reason, Lou. I was just wondering.” I shrugged and put Louis’s red pants by his striped tee shirt.

“Stop it.” Louis said seriously and stepped in front of the clothing rack. “I know you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.” I said casually and stepped around him.

“Yes you are, Nora.” Louis said and stepped in front of me again. “Come on, you can tell me.”

“Jake’s just been acting really weird since he’s picked up extra hours at the office.” I shrugged and sat down. “I just thought he was getting bored with me. I was just overreacting.” Louis looked at me and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Seriously, Lou. I’m overreacting about nothing.”

“Well, there’s no way you could ever be considered boring, Nora. So if he thinks you are, then there’s something wrong with him.” Louis shrugged and walked off. I sighed and continued rearranging the boys’ clothes when Zayn walked into the room.

“I didn’t mean to make you think he was cheating on you…” Zayn sighed. “I was just… you know, poking fun at you.”

“Zayn, not now.” I looked back at the clothes, trying to remember the order they went in.

“Are you mad at me?” Zayn was looking at the ground, kicking his feet, and trying to avoid eye contact.

“No.” I sighed and leaned against the wall. “I don’t appreciate you messing with my head, though.”

“I’m sorry.” Zayn stood in front of me. “I didn’t think you would take it so seriously.” I wrapped my arms around my torso and looked down at our shoes as Zayn lightly tapped my left foot with his, trying to get my attention.

“It’s okay.” I smiled and looked up at him. “There’s only two weeks left of tour, anyway, and I don’t want to be mad at you the rest of the time.” I shrugged and walked past him to finish the clothes. When I finished I looked at the clock on the wall. “You have to get ready for the show!” I said and scurried out of the room as the rest of the boys piled in. “See you guys after!” I ran to find my spot backstage.

~*~

“This next song is pretty much the story of my life.” Zayn laughed and the crowd ‘awed’. “This next song is for her… and she knows who she is.” More Than This began and I walked back to the dressing room. Why did he do this every time things started going okay for us?

Notes

Here's the next chapter! :D
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