11.
“H-hey, Zain, what are you doing here?” I plastered a bright smile on my face.
“Um…I am here for the date…?” he replied, uncertainly.
“What?!” I exclaimed in horror.
I turned around and narrowed my eyes at Caleb who was standing at the pizza counter. He gave me a nervous wave. Now, it made sense…why my friends wanted to go to the mall all of a sudden.
I glanced towards the table…Noah’s table.
Oh my! He was standing up, talking to Mia and Sophia, and looking around. More like searching around. No, it was my imagination. Noah didn’t know Caleb, Mia and Soph were my friends and he didn’t know that I was here. I was most certainly getting paranoid!
But, my friends were traitors, I am telling you. I wouldn’t be surprised if they already told him that I was here. Thank the lord that this was a big ass food court and there was no way for Noah to spot me just by looking around.
I hastily turned around to run but realized Zain was still standing in my way, his hands on my shoulders.
I took a deep breath, “Look, Zain, I don’t know what Caleb told you-”
“Oh, yeah, he told me that you are really nervous,” Zain cut off.
I frowned, “How do you know I am nervous?” Of course, I was fricking nervous! Noah was here and he could see me anytime if I didn’t bolt out!
Zain’s expression became serious and he maintained eye contact with me, “It’s okay, Chloe. I know you like me. I like you too. You don’t have to be nervous around me. I am very easy going-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I interjected, “I don’t like you, Zain. Caleb fed you a bunch of lies-”
I stopped midway when I saw Zain’s hurt expression. Like really hurt…
Oh no! I couldn’t break his heart like this…it would surely haunt me in my nightmares if he started crying or something.
“Um, look, Zain, you are a nice guy-”
“I thought you liked me too. I thought there was something special between us. I was so hyped up for this date. I skipped my sister’s piano recital for you, because I thought you would want to give this a shot too,” he mumbled solemnly.
Now, I felt bad…
I turned to shoot Caleb a glare, but, he had already disappeared from the pizza counter and was now sitting with Noah.
Damn it!
“Look, buddy,” I started, meeting Zain’s eyes, “I am in a kind of hurry. If you Will excuse me-”
My mouth fell open, when I saw his eyes watering. What the hell?! So, he was actually going to swim in a pool of tears if I rejected him?
“Omg! Fine!” I exclaimed, “Let’s have this date. But, stop crying, okay?”
Zain beamed at me, fist bumping the air, then, “Thanks for giving me a chance, Chloe. By the way, I was not crying. Something went in my eye,”
What?!
“Come, let’s look for a seat,” he declared, pulling me with him.
“Wait! If we are going to have this date, we Will go somewhere else!” I told him, firmly.
There was no use backing out now. I would show Zain, in this date, that, I was not the type of girl he would ever want to like in future.
“Uh, we can’t go somewhere else. I already booked a private booth for us,” he replied.
“What? Why would you do that? Cancel the booking!”
“It’s non refundable. Sorry, Chloe.”
I fisted my hands on the side, but, plastered a fake smile on my face.
It was okay, I told myself, it’s a booth. Noah couldn’t see us there.
Now, the only problem that remained was, getting past Noah’s table to reach the booth which was situated in the corner, near the floor to ceiling windows.
I texted Caleb:
Chloe_awesome_scott
Take care of Noah for me and distract him while I pass your table
p.s. you are a dead meat. Just let me get out of this sticky situation.
Cereal_killer (Caleb)
Aye! Consider it done, captain.
p.s. I am not afraid :p
“Okay, give me those shades,” I reached for the shades hanging from the side of his jeans pocket, “and keep your mouth shut on the way,”
Zain looked like he wanted to say something but kept his mouth wisely shut.
I put on the shades, made sure that my hair was falling all over my face, took Zain’s hand and started walking.
Caleb gave me a thumbs up. I nodded at him and increased my pace.
Everything was going fine, until Zain, the idiot, decided to open his mouth at the exact time we were passing Noah’s table, “Whoa, what’s the hurry, Chloe? Slow down!”
I was so shocked by this that I tripped over my own steps. I was about to fall face first on the floor, along with Zain. But, Zain the traitor left my hand at the last moment, ditching me to fall on my own.
Or not.
“Whoa! Watch it!” Noah exclaimed, turning around in his chair and grabbing my hand.
Big mistake. On Noah’s part, of course.
My clumsy hands, instead of holding onto him, pulled him along. And, this is how Noah ended up taking the fall with me.
Or should I say, the fall on me?
Because, boy, he was on top of me now.
I was lying on my back, as still as a log, my eyes widened to the size of the light bulbs on the ceiling. And, your highness, Noah was still recovering from the fall, looking at me in confusion.
What was he looking at? My hair was all over my face.
“Get off me, you bulldozer,” I grunted, through heavy breathing.
Noah’s mouth fell open in surprise and he looked down at my clothes. Very carefully.
Oh no! He recognized me! No! No! No!
“You are-you are-”
I pushed him off of me, while he was still shocked and was putting two and two together.
Curse my clumsiness! I was so doomed today!
I was starting to get up, to make a run for it, but, Noah’s hand on my shoulder halted my movements. He reached up to remove my hair from my face.
My breath hitched in my throat.
“You are my Chloe!” he declared, “You are ‘Chloe awesome Scott!’”
Oh my god!
“Woohoo, and, here we have the moment of discovery!”
I snapped my head towards the table, at Liam’s voice. He was filming the whole thing with his phone. Beside him, Sophia was licking an ice cream; watching us like we were a rom-com. Caleb and Mia were sharing a bucket of popcorns amongst themselves, watching us like we were the best source of entertainment in the whole wide world. The unknown girl, who was with Noah and Liam earlier, was watching us in confusion.
Some friends I got.
“Excuse me, ‘your Chloe?’” Zain finally decided to open his mouth and offered me a hand.
I took it gratefully and got up to my feet. Noah got up too, glancing at Zain curiously.
“FYI, she is with me and we are on a date,” Zain continued, “if you Will excuse us,”
And, with that Zain pulled me towards the booth. I didn’t protest. I didn’t know what to do. I was still suffering from the after effects of the whole incident. My brain was unable to process anything. It would be safe to say that I was shook to the core.
I vaguely registered entering a booth, sitting down robotically with Zain sitting beside me.
“What happened back there?” Zain suddenly asked.
I ignored him, still trying to wrap my mind around the whole incident.
“Chloe?” Zain snapped his fingers in front of me, “come back to the real world. We are on a date.”
I was going to ignore him again, but, I had to snap out of whatever trance I was in when the booth door slid open, revealing Noah.
He looked between Zain and me, and shook his head, tsking.
“That’s my soul mate, weirdo,” Noah smiled at Zain, then, entered the booth and forcefully wedged himself between Zain and me, pushing Zain to the wall and placing his arm around my shoulder.
“Now, continue.” Noah smirked.
A/N: now, don’t ask questions like how much time did it take for her to fall? -_- it is writing. It’s been described in slow motion. Anyway, the plan was to not update today because again I am struggling with major writer’s block. But, somehow, I managed to write this crap. Vote, comment and follow if you like it! if I don’t update for a few days, then, the possible reasons would be: 1) writer’s block 2) exams 3) laziness.
Now, let’s come to the bigger news. TBBTBAM has hit o-one m-million. (that’s me stuttering) I am still wrapping my head around it. I have only three magical words for you all: I love you. And, I can never stress this enough.
Now, about cc. so, cc and I decided to creep out the creep by sending him text from an unknown number. Cc’s friends and my friends are also involved in this. I don’t have much details right now, but, this is how the first part of the plan went:
Unknown(to the creep): Hewo
Creep: hi, beautiful
Can you believe it guys? Just how much more insufferable could this creep get? (NO, he is nothing like Noah, if that’s what you are thinking.) He didn’t know who was texting him, whether it was a boy or a girl…or some old man…and, still that’s his reply! Cc and I and our friends, were laughing our asses off behind the screens. I Will tell you all more, when I get to know what happened next.