Chapter Eight

Caisi’s POV

“Zayn?” I blurted out, unexpectedly. I planned to act normal, but I guess not. Can’t always do what you expect, right?

“Whaa?” Louis said, taking a sip of his tea. He purposely didn’t pronounce the ‘t’. But, it sounded like he was very confused, no matter how he said it. This whole situation was just weird.

“Well, um, Zayn and I met at a club...” I stuttered out, not sure how to explain it. We weren’t really friends considering I don’t really know who he is, and where we met. But what if his friends think badly of me now, now that they know where we’ve met?

“Zayn!” One boy, with the short brown hair said, not approving. I figured Liam was more responsible. “Why haven’t you mentioned her to us?” He said, to Zayn, curiously. My heart dropped, I had hoped they would have realized who I was… But it just shows how unimportant I am.

“Well, I didn’t think I needed too...” Zayn trailed off, as he saw the hurt in my eyes. I tried to hide it, by turning my back on them, and heading over towards the mini fridge, just filled with water. I grabbed one and opened it. I took a long sip, purposely taking my time.

It’s not my fault I’m hurt easily. I didn’t choose my father.

“Aw, you’re supposed to tell us when you meet fit girls!” The curly haired boy said, with a whine in his tone. But, anyone could tell he was only joking, hopefully.

“Yeah... She’s hot.” The blonde one said agreeing, completely.

“Well, er…” Zayn stuttered, unsure of what to make of the situation. But, I wasn’t sure either.

“I’m Liam Payne.” The short, brown haired boy said. Again with the last names!

“Harry Styles, babe.” The curly one said to me. I was speechless; no one had ever called me ‘babe’ so casually before. It was slightly uncomfortable, but also comforting at the same time. I just couldn’t explain it.

“Niall Horan, love.”  The last one said. He was the blonde one. I detected an Irish accent in his voice, which made me wonder how they all knew each other. Come to think of it, their accents were all slightly different from one another.

Something was missing.

“Um… I’m Caisi..” I said slowly. I didn’t trust them that much, and I certainly don’t give out my last name to often.

“Nice to meet you, love.” Harry said, smiling a tad bit cheekily. I caught him elbowing Zayn in his side.

“Well, I already knew that.” Louis said, with a smug smile. He had one hand on his hip, and cocked it a bit to the side. The other hand was holding his tea.

“Of course, Boo.” I said, with a bit of a joking tone. I caught Zayn’s eyes narrow at Lou and I, and I think Louis caught it too.

“Haha, Zayn, don’t worry. Caisi is all yours.” Louis said, with a bit of a laugh at the end, and beginning.

“Shut up, Lou.” Zayn muttered, a slight blush appeared on his face but quickly went away.

“Wait, where’s our tea?” Liam asked Louis questionably. I burst out laughing behind the counter, and placed my water bottle on the shelf under it.

Lou shrugged, “No idea.” And then sat down at a small booth. It was the closest to the counter, but still a distance away.

“For God sake, Lou!” Niall exclaimed, and came up to me. “I’ll have just some tea, and a blueberry muffin.”

“Sure thing!” I said, turning my back on him.

“Oh wait! You have cookies? Add that, too.” Niall said, causing me to laugh.

“Be lucky, he usually orders more.” Harry called to me.

I nodded at Niall, and went to fill up a cup of regular tea. While that was filling up, I went to go and get the blue berry muffin, and cookie. I placed them in the paper bags; we used, and then went back to the tea. I placed the cover on it, and brought it over to the counter.

I told Niall the amount of money he had to pay, and he did easily. He eagerly took his bag of food and joined Louis at the booth they were sitting at. I smiled at how Niall started eating his food almost right away.

Zayn was the next one to approach.

I swallowed as I studied the counter, deeply. I just didn’t want to meet his gaze, yet.

“Caisi? I’m so sorry I didn’t text you sooner. I was just to nervous..” Zayn said, quietly, so the rest of the boys wouldn’t here.