I’m going over to my best friend’s house today! I haven’t seen her in ages. I can’t wait to see her and also her family. The Maliks are the sweetest people I’ve ever known. I always feel welcome in their home. I’ve been friends with Donyia since birth so they basically took me in as their own. It’ll be nice to see all of them again and catch up.

Also, Donyia’s older brother Zayn is leaving to audition for X Factor tomorrow so they’re having a mini goodbye thing for him today that they included me in. I’m Zayn’s friend too and we’re particularly close. I don’t know why, but whenever he’s around I feel something in my stomach.

I walk up to their front door and hold my hand up to knock, but then remember that I’m practically family and just open the door, walk in, and shout “I’m home!” I hear a chorus of “Dalila!!!” as the whole family comes out and greets me, all of them coming to embrace me. I was counting the number of people and I noticed there was one missing. Right away I knew who.

“Um…where’s Zayn?” I said looking around, “He’s supposed to be here…”

“Oh about that...we won't be having a goodbye gathering for Zayn. He had to leave early to go to X Factor auditions. Sorry, love...” Mrs. Malik said.

“Oh…that’s too baaaaad!” I screamed as I felt someone behind me pinching my sides. I whipped around to see Zayn smiling at me.

“Just kidding!”

“Zayn!!” I screamed hugging him.

“How are you?! It’s been ages since you’ve come here.”

“I know..I’ve been all right. I’m just happy that I get to spend time with you all today before you leave.”

“Me too. C’mon let’s eat!”

We all ate a delicious meal and talked catching up on new things going on. I get on really well with them. It really is like I’m a blood relation. Zayn was sitting next to me, laughing and smiling. I can’t believe he’s leaving tomorrow. If he makes it through, I won’t see him for even longer. I know I will really miss him.

That feeling is coming back…what’s up with me? I gotta talk to Donyia about this. We’re all done eating and I pull my best friend forever aside. “I need to talk to you about something. It’s kind of important.”

“Okay…let’s go up to my room. Is everything all right?” she asks worried.

“I’m not sure…”

We walk up to her room and close the door, sitting on her bed she asks, “So what’s going on? You seem stressed out.”

“It’s about your brother..”

“Zayn? How could he stress you out? You’re really good friends and you'll keep in touch when he's away.”

“I realized that every time I’m around him…I have this feeling. Like in the pit of my stomach. A great feeling, but…it feels kind of…fluttery?”

“Oh my god.” she says getting off her bed and starting to pace around her room.

“What?...” I say watching her move back and forth.

“I never thought this would happen.”

“Thought what would happen, Donyia?”

“I thought you would be different than my other friends…oh my god!”

“What?! Just tell me!” I say shaking her trying to calm her down.

“Are you really that thick?! What you’re feeling are butterflies! You have a crush on my brother oh my god I am going to die.” she says holding her head like she’s going insane.

“Whoa! Calm down I do NOT like Zayn that way. We are just close friends and nothing more. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Oh please! You say that now, but just wait. You’ll find I was right and you’ll hopelessly go after him with no luck like all my other friends who fell for him!”

“Whatever, that will never happen.” I say walking out. She follows me downstairs shaking her head. We come back downstairs to find that dessert is here! They got pudding for all of us.

We ate and watched some TV, I tried my best to avoid looking at Zayn too much. I loved this feeling I got, but I could tell Donyia didn’t. After dessert we all went to bed. I knew I had to sleep this off and just prepare to say goodbye to my really good friend tomorrow morning.

---

I woke up and heard noise from downstairs remembering Zayn was leaving any time now. I ran down just in time to see Zayn hugging his family goodbye. He heard me coming and looked up smiling.

I got to him and he said, “Well good morning sunshine! Haha...I guess this is it then. I’ll see you soon, Dalila.”

“See you soon, mate.” I said while we hugged. He hugged me really tight which surprised me. We let go and looked at each other. He just kind of gazed at me and moved some hair out of my face. My heart raced. We both snapped out of it.

“Well I better be going. I’ll see you all when I get back!” he says walking out the door. The door closes and we all get ready to eat breakfast. Everyone else moved…but I just stood there frozen. What just happened there? It was like him and I had a…moment or something. Wait you can only have a moment if you like someone.

…Maybe Donyia is right and I do like Zayn as more than my close friend. I have to tell him as soon as he gets home! Maybe he’ll like me too. I know Donyia thinks I'll only be wasting my time, but I'm taking a chance and going for it. What's the worst that could happen?

Notes

Yeah...I made my characters abnormally naïve in these short stories for no good reason, so please forgive me for that. Until tomorrow, take care lovelies! <3