Zayn’s POV
Well then. That was a weird dream. Why was Jamie in it? Why was I even thinking of Jamie while I was sleeping? I looked at the clock. Two in the morning, what a brilliant time to be awake. I closed my eyes, and all I could see was how pissed off with me Jamie was last night. Her face was like steel. It was kind of scary. And I had been acting like such a dick.
I had been provoking her. I had been trying to get her angry, and I don't even know why. God damn it. I should have left it, instead of trying to get an answer from her. Oh well, what’s done is done, right? My eyes closed again, and I swear, not even two minutes later Louis was opening my door and shouting something about pancakes. I opened my eyes and found it was about ten in the morning. Well then, that happened.
I got up and put on some trackies and a shirt. I walked out to the kitchen, and found pancakes made and sitting on the table. We started a conversation about pet peeves. Then she told us what we would be doing. Sure, it sounds like fun, if you like running. A lot.
“So guys, because you love me, we’re going to play laser skirmish today. I have called my friends and they will come and play too. It will be heaps of fun, I promise.” Codie said.
“Are you sure?” Niall asked.
“Yeah I’m sure.” She responded.
“Are you quite sure?” Liam checked.
“Yes, I’m quite sure.” She answered.
“Absolutely positive?” Harry queried.
“Yes! We are playing laser skirmish today, whether you like it or not.” She said. “Now, finish your pancakes.” She instructed. We all listened and did as she told.
***
“Now soldiers, this shall be girls vs. boys laser skirmish. First, we will go to the ‘war zone’ and get you familiar with the surroundings. But even before that, we need to go over the rules of cheating. If you do not agree to these rules you shall not be playing. Rule number one, do not go outside of the area. That shouldn’t be too hard seen as it’s fenced off. Rule two, no reviving after your lives have run out. Your amount of lives depends on the scenario we are playing. Right, so far, that’s the rules. Friendly fire does not count as a hit, letting you know now.” What is going on here? I agree to play laser skirmish and the next minute it’s like she’s preparing us for war.
“Thing is, if you hit someone in your own team more than four times, you are out. Not the person who got hit, you, the person who shot them are. I have my ways of checking if you are cheating, so be careful.” She did something on her phone before she turned to look at us.
“Alright ladies.” She said with an army commander voice on. “Today, we shall be playing two rounds of each scenario. That means over eight games. Although it depends on how long you can survive. The forest is not for city folk, so be careful. If you get attacked by wombats, it’s not my problem, it will be yours. If a kangaroo decides that you look like a good punching bag, try and get away. Don’t fight back. Any questions?” no one put their hands up. “Good, now let’s get moving.”
She started jogging away. We all followed. We reached at what I think was the place. “First scenario, capture the flag. Sounds easy right? Always a good way to start off the newbies. So, guys, you have this piece of material.” She grabbed a 1 meter by 1 meter piece of fluoro blue material and handed it to the closest guy, Harry. “Now, you have to hang it in your half of the fenced area. We have our piece, it’s bright orange. You have to make it very visible, otherwise you are disqualified, so, you can only hang it by one corner. There is no wrapping it around any braches to make it difficult to get off. Your guns will shut down when the flag is captured. No you shall not know my secrets. You have unlimited lives, you will just have to wait ten seconds until you reboot, but that’s only the first three minutes. After that, if you get shot you die. Good, we understand each other.” Yeah, I definitely understand… not.
“You have four scouts, who search the area for the other teams flag. The last person stays behind to protect the flag. If I find that all five people have been trying to find the flag, I will not be happy. Right, we have five minutes to hide the flag and figure out tactics. So you guys know, we’ve only been beaten once, maybe twice so don’t be surprised if you lose.” We started walking away without Lou, because we needed to find somewhere to hang this damned flag.
“Where should we hang it?” Liam asked as Louis caught up to us.
“There looks good.” Harry pointed at a branch.
“Mmkay, now who’s going to be the protector and who’s going to be the scouts?” Niall asked.
“Uhm, I’ll be the protector.” Louis said.
“With your hand-eye co-ordination, that would be a ‘no’.” I stated.
“But I really wanna…” he trailed off.
“Whatever, fine, you can be the protector.” Liam gave in first.
“I dibs being the protector next round!” Harry shouted.
“Do you want to give our position away?” Louis asked.
“Those girls are like bats, they would be able to hear us whisper anyway, may as well make it easier for them.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
“Point taken.” Niall agreed.
Jamie’s POV
Third scenario, yay. This was practically my best. It was the only scenario that wasn’t a team effort. We worked by ourselves, a solitary round. I gripped the laser skirmish gun in my hands tightly. As soon as the light came up on the screen I started running. The best thing to do here, is to run. Never stop. Good thing we have unlimited lives for this one, well for the first four minutes.
I ran like there was no tomorrow, well, until I got hit. I didn’t move, as the rules state, until the gun light back up again. Soon enough four minutes was up, and I was climbing a tree for cover. I shoot anything and anyone that walked past. I jumped out of the branches, to get hit by Zayn. I huffed, and judging by the flashing lights, that means he won. A point to the boys team.
Wow, he really had the audacity to do that. I sighed heavily in annoyance and anger before I ran away. He was not going to find me this time. No one was. The gun turned off, so I prepared myself to run. I took a deep breath, and thought of how much I wanted to shoot him right now. I would hit his pretty face with the gun, and then shoot him with the lasers.
As soon as the lights turned on again, my feet carried me away. I saw occasional blurs of other people. I looked to the side for one second, and ran straight into something solid. I hit the ground, and I heard the thud of something else hitting the ground. The gun was knocked out of my hands. “God dammit.” I finally opened my eyes to see what I had run into. “Oh it’s you.” I said with as much venom as I could muster.
“Please don't shoot me!” Zayn pleaded.
“Gun isn’t in my hands mate.” I explained to him.
“Good, then I can shoot you.” I shuffled along the ground, crab crawling, very slowly.
“Doubt it, love.” I said as I felt the handle of the gun.
“I’m the one with the weapon.” He crawled towards me, until he was over me, practically straddling me. I smiled, tilting my head to the side. Feeling his breath on my neck sent chills down my spine. At the moment, I couldn’t tell if it was good chills, or bad ones, because I was too busy swinging my hand around to shoot him. His gun lights flashed and went red, signalling he was dead. “Seriously?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.” I smiled sweetly. Then I gave him a glare. “Get off.” I said in the best ‘pissed off’ tone I could muster. He sighed, as he sat back on his knees. He was definitely straddling me now. “I said ‘get off’.” I repeated.
“I can’t move. Rules say so.” He said.
“I’m already pissed off with you. Do you want to make that worse?” I said.
“I don't want Codie to get pissed off with me. Now that would be scary.” I glared at him again. It was a look of pure murder.
“Well if you won’t get off by choice.” I rolled him to the side and flipped our legs around, now I was straddling him. Our faces were too close for comfort. Especially with these mixed feelings I keep on having. Yes I like him. But at the moment, I am so pissed off I don't care what my heart says. My head was too busy shouting at me going ‘bash his face in, while you still have an advantage!’. It was hard to ignore that instinct, but I was.
“This isn’t helping your situation.” Zayn explained. “However it’s helping mine.” He added a little creepily on the end. I resisted the urge to slap him, and instead shot him again when the light came on again, on his gun. “Again?” he asked.
“As long as I can shoot you, I will.” I answered. I finally realised that I should stand up, from this awkward position. And I did.
“Are you going to help me?” he asked.
“No.” I answered simply.
“Do you want to talk about what happened in your car?” he asked.
“No.” I answered again.
“Why not?”
“One.” I shot him again as the light came on. “Because you are a self-centred son of an ass who should learn when to shut up.” I gave him the first reason.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Well then.”
“Well then what?” I asked bitterly.
“I see your opinion.”
“Good. Number two.” I shot him again. “Because you should know when you’re pushing it, like you were then.”
“Then?”
“Especially then.” I said through my teeth.
“Really?”
“Yes really. I told you I wouldn’t answer the question three times. And yet you still had the guts to ask me.” I said.
“Sorry.” He pleaded.
“Four.” I shot him yet again. “You shouldn't be such an ass. You have been trying to flirt, I think, and epically failing if you have. If anything, you turn out dead creepy! You’ve been creeping the shit out of me since you came here!” I shouted.
“I didn’t think I was being creepy!” he argued.
“Bullshit.” I said.
“I didn’t.”
“Yeah, you didn’t think. You knew. You knew because you saw the way I was uncomfortable.” I nearly shout, but instead my breath gets shaky.
“I had no idea. You could have told me.” he explained.
“You son of a f*cken wh*rebag!” I shouted, shooting him again.
“Hey!”
“What? What is it this time? You wanna try and kiss me again?” I asked. “Oh that’s number five!” I shot him again. My breath shuddered. Man I was getting overworked about this…
Who am I kidding? I need to let off this shit!
Zayn’s POV
“Oh, that’s number five!” Oh, there she goes shooting me again. How is it that she always knows when my life is back on before I do.
“Oh my f*cken god Jamie!” I shouted.
“What? What? Don't you like the way I'm ranting? Guess what… I don't care.” She shouted, waving the gun around. I sighed, I didn’t realise what I was doing to her. Not until now. She was getting everything out. That’s a good thing, right?
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” I said and asked. She laughed hysterically.
“No you’re not.” She said while laughing.
“I am.” I pleaded.
“No. You’re not. Because you’re bullshitting me. You’re lying, like your kind always does. They always look so good, you fall for them, and then they tell you they love you, you do what two people do in a bed and then they leave. That’s what always happens. It happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I’m here to save my friends from that. I’m here so that they don't go through heartbreak like I did.” She said. Tears were starting to form in her eyes.
“Sure, Elysse and Benji happened, but that was only two months, not two years. I made him wait, and I thought he was waiting for me. I didn’t know he had been cheating since the second month, and was getting me to fall helplessly in love with him until I let him have me.” I watched as she gripped her hair tightly. “God damn it, how could I have been so stupid?!” she shouted.
“You aren’t stupid.” I told her quietly.
“How many times have I chosen the wrong guy? Too many. I don't want to make the wrong decision again.” She said, a tear falling down her cheeks. She shot me again half-heartedly as I stepped towards her.
“Really?” I whispered.
“Yes. Because…” she paused to get her breath. “Because you remind me so much of what he was like. So dedicated at the start.” She stopped again and closed her eyes, when she did another tear fell. “He left me. He left after I had given him everything I had. God damn it, how could I be so blind?” her breath shook with the tears. I wiped away the ones that were falling down her soft cheeks and to her pink lips. Man I wanted to kiss her so much right now, it was hard to ignore the feeling. But I did.
When I had touched her, she flinched, a lot like when I had given her my jacket. I first wiped the tears that were left on the cheeks away, then I looked at her lips. Oh shit, this was going to be so… weird. I rubbed my thumb along her lips, and I felt sparks. She shivered, before she smiled. Wait, was she smiling. She actually looked relaxed for the first time ever. Well, that I had seen her being relaxed.
I was shaking from the contact, because I was so nervous. I let my breath out, and I hadn’t realised how shaky it was until I heard it. I looked up from her lips to her eyes, she was looking me straight in the eyes. I pulled my thumb away from her face, only to push some hair behind her ears. I rested my hand on her neck.
“Not yet.” She said.
“Not yet what?” I asked.
“Us. Not yet. Give me until tomorrow.” She said.
“But I want us together now.” I told her.
“I know, I need to get my thoughts together. I do like you Zayn, too much for my own good. Please, just give me until tomorrow. That’s all I ask.”
“I don't want to wait anymore. I’ve waited too long.” I said, stroking her cheeks. She smiled again. “Why do I have to wait?” I asked.
“Because the four minutes is up.” She said, confusing me.
“What?” I asked, genuinely and utterly confuddled.
“Unlimited lives. The four minutes.” She said. She shot me with the laser gun again. She smiled that evil yet sexy smile. “You’re dead sweetie.” She turned and ran away. I kinda just stood there, watching her run away. She was right, the first four minutes were up. She was confusing me more and more. But it was mysterious, and I wanted to know more. About her.
I wanted her to be mine. And I was fine with waiting for her. I think…

Notes