Chapter 2 ― Mila

“Moni!” I screamed out loud whilst still looking for the damn phone. Where the hell did I put it? “Have you seen my fucking phone?” I asked my best friend. She was in her room, probably reading or writing something. Or maybe she was fangirling over one of her celebrity husbands.

I didn’t know why I was so nervous, it was just a date, a date that Alex settled for me with a guy I didn’t know at all. I just hoped she just set me up with a nice lad or I would kill her later. I still didn’t understand why I agreed to this stupidity, but here I was, looking for my damn mobile phone so I could go to that club where I was going to meet her, her boyfriend and her friend. Yes, I knew she was dating the oh-so-famous Niall Horan from One Direction. Honestly, I liked their music but I knew very little about them. There was one I liked and my best friend told me his name was Liam, but he was taken. She is more of a fan of them.

Talking about the devil, Móniren, AKA Moni, walked into my room with a humungous mug of tea. She was smiling, her long brown hair falling over her shoulders and chest with big curls and her amused smile that always reached her dark brown eyes. “What did you lose now?” She asked taking a sip of her drink.

“My fucking phone!” I replied crossing my arms and pouting like a little girl. She smiled and let the mug on my nightstand where she always kept a coaster. “I don’t know where I put that damn thing.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she chuckled as she started looking for my mobile. “You probably left it in the fridge again,” the brunette mused and I just gasped. That happened just one time and it was because I was drunk, it didn’t count.

“You’re never gonna let me hear the end of that, are you?” She chuckled again looking at me over her shoulder with an evil grin.

“Nope. That’s what friends are for, to remind you all the stupid things you’ve done.” Moni got to her knees and looked under my bed. I already looked there so I knew she wasn’t going to find it.

“I think this is a sign that I shouldn’t go. I should call Alex and tell her that I can’t go and—” One of my stuffed animals hit me, cutting me off in the middle of my sentence. “Oi! What was that for?”

“For stupid. You’ve told not only me but Alex that you want a boyfriend and she’s helping you, so stop moaning and looking for lame excuses. It’s just a date; it won’t kill you. How do you expect to meet a good guy if don’t want to have dates?” My friend inquired staring at me intensely, I just rolled my eyes.

“I don’t know this lad! What if he’s a psychopath and wants to kill me? Or worse! Get expelled!”

Moni chuckled at my Harry Potter reference before replying, “Alex is gonna be near all the time and, oh for God’s sake, you’re gonna be in a club, not in a dark alley.” She rose to her feet and walked to my bathroom.

We shared a flat, it was small and cosy and we loved it. It had two rooms, each one with a bathroom, a small kitchen and a living-dining room. We didn’t have much furniture, but we had all what we needed and it was enough for us. We had, though, many bookshelves. We weren’t the kind of girls who needed thousands of things in order to be happy. Give us food, Internet connection, a bed and books and we didn’t need anything else.

“You dumbass! You left it here!” She screamed from my bathroom and I felt my cheeks burning. She came back holding my iPhone and with a cheeky smile plastered on her face. “Now you don’t have an excuse.”

“Why is it only me that has to go out on a blind date? You want a boyfriend, too!” I protested frowning lightly.

“That’s different. I’m waiting till David gets the divorce so we can be together. Or Tom. Whoever gets the papers first. That if I want to stay in the country, I could also go to America and marry Zac Efron… or Ryan Reynolds…” she trailed off handing me my gadget. I giggled thinking of her list of husbands. David Tennant, Tom Fletcher, Zac Efron and Ryan Reynolds, among others, were a few men of that list. David and Tom were currently married. She even cried the days those marriages were held.

“I have a list, too, but I have to go on a date.” I folded my arms. “My list is even longer than yours! This is not fair.”

“Camila Green, stop moaning and go to that club. They are probably already there. Don’t make them wait.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and she just smiled brightly like I just blew her a kiss. Silly woman that one, but I loved her anyways.

I grabbed my other things as Moni took her mug back and I walked out of my room to the parking lot where my car was waiting for me. I just hoped he was at least hot.

+ + + + +

I was breathless. He wasn’t just hot— he was beyond words. He was tall and muscular; he had a tan skin and dark hair and eyes, tempting perfectly shaped lips and very manly features. I liked his hairstyle, though normally I wouldn’t like a guy with a quiff, but it suited him so damn good.

At the beginning when our eyes met, I just felt like tingles all over my body and my heart raced. His stare was so intense and even if I wanted, I couldn’t pretend he wasn’t there, staring at me. I focused on Alex, my friend and whom had me come here.

Lately we got pretty close friends. During this semester, we would met at least once a week and to talk about different things. We had loads of things in common and we were similar in several aspects, yet very different in others, and as she was so patient and tolerant, we got along pretty well.

She introduced me to the two boys with her; one was her boyfriend, Niall. A cute blond boy with piercing blue eyes who was evidently crazy about the black-haired girl, you could tell by the way he looked at her, like she was the only girl in the world.

The other boy, the one who had caught my attention and who had that intense look that kept me all tensed up, was Zayn and it wasn’t until I heard his name that all clicked. I didn’t know them, if I saw them in the street I wouldn’t know who they were, but I heard his name a couple of times and Alex had talked about them several times. Niall, Liam, Louis, Harry and Zayn, the five boys who formed One Direction. And my blind date that night was one of them.

Now I understood why Alex didn’t tell me his name. She knew that if I had known he was part of the boy band, a celebrity, I wouldn’t have accepted it. I didn’t have anything against famous people; I was just too lazy to deal with them and all the consequences that they brought up.

Something funny happened when Alex introduced me, all that intensity that kept my heart beating before disappeared and his stare turned into a cold one, like I was everything he despised in someone. I didn’t understand why the sudden change and, in a way that I wasn’t ready to accept, it hurt.

I held out my hand and he refused to accept it and I just got mad at him. He wanted to be rude, fine. I could play the same thing. No one had told me I had to be nice to him and certainly I wasn’t going to act like miss congeniality when it was evident he didn’t like me at all. Well, I was going to give him reasons to hate me then.

“So, you’re in this boy band, too?” I asked him raising one eyebrow and resting my elbow on the bar. Alex and Niall went to the dance floor to give us some time alone, but Zayn still was acting all cold and indifferent, kind of mysterious.

“Yes,” was his answer and I rolled my eyes. I just wanted to make conversation because I didn’t want to bore to death, but he wasn’t helping. I probably should go and talk to someone else cause I couldn’t drink. Why did I have to come in my own car? Maybe I could call Moni and she would pick me so I could drink, because otherwise I was going to get so bored with an unfriendly boy like Zayn.

“Has someone ever told you that you’re a smooth talker?” I asked ironically and I just felt his eyes on me for a couple of seconds. “If they did, they lied to you.”

“I don’t feel like talking. That’s all,” he replied in that cold voice. Ugh, I wanted to hit him. Luckily, Moni wasn’t with me; she would probably had hit him by now. She hated when people didn’t treat me right according to her and I could bet my life she would consider the way Zayn was treating me like a bad example.

“And I don’t wanna get bored. Look, I didn’t want this either but if I had known you were, well… you, I wouldn’t have come. No offence.”

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a glimpse of a smile, but he quickly hid it and looked away. “None taken. I just accepted this because Alex begged me.”

And there I noticed another thing about Zayn, a very evident thing that I didn’t know how I missed that at the beginning. He fancied Alex, pretty much. The way his eyes softened when he said her name, they way his whole expression changed and his smile got warmer. It was obvious he had strong feelings for her and probably Alex knew about it.

Oh, that made total sense! Yes, Alex cared big time about Zayn and probably she knew Zayn had feelings for her, feelings she couldn’t reply because she loved Niall —everyone knew that last bit—, so she wanted to do something about it and maybe getting him with another girl would solve everything. And I was that girl in her eyes.

I didn’t know if I was pissed off by her attitude or just amused that she would believe that Zayn would look at me and consider me in any way. It was evident that he practically hated my guts and just wanted me as far away as possible, and as if that wasn’t enough, he was head over heels for her.

Alex’s plan was futile from the very beginning and probably I should feel sorry for her and Zayn. More for him because he couldn’t get the girl he wanted and the same girl wanted him with another, someone he couldn’t care less about.

Well… I felt rejected. I couldn’t help it, even if I didn’t care about him either, it was a pride thing that he didn’t even consider me and that I was just a plan to get Zayn over Alex. I wasn’t a toy; I wasn’t something they could use at their will. I was going to talk to Alex about it and leave clear that I wasn’t going to play this game.

Ah, fuck this shit. I was going to drink. My blind date was crazy about my friend and he seemed to hate me. My friend was just using me. Moni better came to pick me later because I didn’t want to feel miserable and if I remained sober, I would end up like that. It was obvious when I had next to me Mr I-have-a-stick-in-my-arse-and-I-boldly-hate-you.

“Bring the rum! Mojito, please,” I asked the barman and decided to ignore Zayn whom I could feel was staring at me. “Don’t look at me ‘cause I’m not gonna share so ask for your own drinks,” you arsehole, I added mentally.

“I wasn’t and I don’t care ‘bout what you do.”

“Fine. Then leave me alone ‘cos your face annoys me right now,” I snapped not caring about being an arsehole myself.

“My face? My face’s nothing wrong,” he complained and I knew I’ve hit a nerve, what made me smile mischievously.

“Oh, you don’t wanna know. Plus, I don’t wanna be mean and tell you what’s wrong with your face. Oh, yay, my mojito!” I cheered when the barman came with my drink whilst Zayn’s face fell and his jaw almost hit the floor. Oh, how I wanted to burst out laughing but I had to control myself. “Now excuse me, you’re boring as hell and I wanna have a good time. Bye!”

And I didn’t wait for an answer as I turned around and walked to the dance floor where I expected to find some better company than Zayn.

-:-:-:-

Chapter dedicated to Aimy @1DMockingjay because she was my favourite comment on the last chapter, and also I love her so much.

Bel, xx