Take a Good Guess

The sound of chattering of people jolted me awake. Shadows of golden light filtered through the dim balcony door, telling me that it was way too early for that amount of noise. Someone with heavy boots walked across the corridor as I tried to get a hold of the time was from my phone – it was only 8 AM, a rather early time for the boys to wake up.

I heard the sound of the door slammed open and I only sighed when I took a good look of who the person was, of course, I regretted giving my room key to Liam, now all the boys could mindlessly walk in and out of my room any time they want.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Harry asked from the door.

“No, that’s okay, Harry,” I said, my voice was muffled as my face was buried in the pillows.

“You’ll be all alone,” he said again, “And we don’t know what time we’ll come back.”

“It’s fine,” I waved him off, “You guys go have some fun.”

I heard Harry sighed as I shifted from my spot. He was leaning on the doorframe already dressed in his attire – black coat, beige sweater and his favorite pair of skinny jeans – I rubbed off my sleepiness from my eyes, hoping he would see me as a sick dog.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I said again, sitting up. “Just grab some Starbucks for me, will you?”

“I’ll try,” Harry responded. Just in time when Liam’s head suddenly popped up beside him.

“Hannah, why are still in bed?”

“She doesn’t want to go,” I heard Harry answered Liam for me. His voice was almost a whisper, but still loud enough for me to hear. “I don’t think she’s feeling well.”

Bless his soul, I really didn’t feel like having an argument with Liam at this early in the morning. I heard some footsteps coming towards the direction of the bed and felt the other side sunk.

“You look fine,” Liam mumbled as he put the back of his hand on my forehead to check my body temperature.

“I am fine, Liam.” I yawned. “I just don’t feel like going out today.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup,” I said, making the popping sound at the end.

“Do you want me to grab you something?”

“I already asked Harry to buy me some coffee,” I smiled, “Thanks.”

“Alright,” Liam only nodded and ruffled my already messy bed hair. “Get some sleep, you.”

“Will do,” I nodded.

I saw Harry and Liam waved goodbye as the two walked out of the room, finally giving me some peace inside my suite. I only leaned back on the bed as I closed my eyes, forcing myself to doze off again, which clearly failed, bearing in mind that those two snatched away the sleepiness from my eyes, now the last thing I could do was sleep.

I flipped the television on just for the sake of having some noise so it wouldn’t be so quiet inside. The local news was airing as I spotted the face of a news anchor blabbering about some middle east tourists that weren't very happy with the way the local police treated them at the JFK airport, but I just couldn't find a good reason to put my eyes on it.

Now I was alone – again – at the hotel, while everyone was out and having some fun loitering around the streets of New York. The only thing I could do was hope that they wouldn’t get molested with sea of girls trying to touch them. I couldn’t help but to wander back to the conversation that Louis and I had yesterday. I still couldn’t get a hold on what to believe of what he was saying though, it just sounded so weird coming from somebody else’s mouth, thinking about it would only make me frustrated so I pushed myself off the bed, yanking out the cover as I ran a hand through my messy hair and dragged my feet towards the bathroom.

After throwing myself some clean clothes, I turned my hair to a ponytail and applied some lip-gloss to my chapped lips, and slipping on my favorite pair of beat up converse shoes before making my way out of the door. I flashed a warm smile to the bellboy as I walked inside the elevator leading me to the coffee shop. I saw him returning my smile.

“What floor, miss?” he asked.

“To the coffee shop, please.”

I saw him pushing one button on the elevator and I waited in silence. I could feel he was stealing glances in my direction once in a while though. He was awfully a bit too young to be working as a bell boy, he looked pretty much the same age as me, with a dirty blonde hair and warm green eyes that reminds me too much of Harry’s. His face was rather sweet.

“Lazy day?”

“I’m sorry?” my eyes snapped in his direction, meeting his gaze.

“Prefer to stay in while everyone is having a quite nice time outside?” he asked, “I saw them leaving the hotel this morning.”

“Them?” I raised my eyebrows at him; he had quite an attitude for a bellboy, most of the time they just preferred to stay quite.

“I noticed you’re from the crowd – that One Direction crowd, I mean.” He said, “You look terribly close to the group.”

“You awfully know a lot for a bellboy,” I mumbled, smiling. “Have you been spying on us?”

He only threw me a tight smile. “I have my sources.” I only chuckled as the elevator door slid open. “Have a nice day, miss.”

“You too,” I tried to sneak my eyes up to the flashing silver nametag pinned on his uniform. “Eric.”

I noticed he was smiling from the corner of my eyes as I waltzed outside the elevator. Meeting a sea of people who were trying to slip inside the coffee shop to have some breakfast, the loudness of the chattering already made my head to pound badly as I brought my feet to the shop. I noticed a group of girls who had their dreadfully intimidating gaze on me as I stumbled upon children who was running around the packed place. I really had no idea what’s on their mind though, it was as if we were enemies the whole time – the only thing was – we didn’t even know each other.

I chose to ignore their glares as I walked towards the table where they served loaves of bread and stacks of jams and butter. I could still feel their eyes leaving trails behind me as I now was in queue to grab some milk. The thing that made me jump was when I noticed one of the girls was no longer with them anymore and found her standing behind me – with her eyes still on me – I tried to reason with her, just for the sake of knowing what her problem was.

“Can I help you?” I asked, I could no longer take their glares anymore.

“No,” She said in her high-pitched voice, smiling.

“Then can you tell your friends there to lay off the stares?”

“They can do whatever they want,” she said again, flipping her long black curls. “They just want to take a good look of you.”

“Uh, do we know each other?”

“No,” a mischievous smirk was gracing her lips now, “But we do know you.”

I really didn’t know what this girl was talking about. I only shook my head in annoyance as I went on to get my glass of milk, hoping she would understand that I was currently in a condition of not wanting to have a pointless conversation with a person I barely know. But she seemed to get the wrong memo, because she stayed in her spot.

“Don’t you have any idea how famous you are on the Internet?”

That was enough to make my head turned to her again, with already a glass of milk in my hand, I was ready to leave her. But what she said made me stop since I felt intrigued by her choice of words.

“What do you mean famous?”

The girl then shoved her hand to her jean pocket, letting out her phone as she flipped it open, reveling the faces of the five boys smiling at us.

What are the odds. Of course, I should’ve known that she was just another fan of the boys. To the fact that I thought they had another problem with me was plain pathetic.

I waited her impatiently as she typed in something to her phone, then my eyes went wide as she showed me several of candid pictures of Zayn and I.

“Where did you get all of these?” I said, snatching away her phone from her hand. My fingers kept swiping on the device as countless of pictures flashed before my eyes, from when we went to the central park to that time we lingered on Strands, it seemed like everyone was stalking us.

“So you are Zayn’s girlfriend,” She said, smiling.

“No – no,” I tried to say, I saw that she even had the picture of us with Zayn’s arms draped around me.

“You’re a terrible liar!” she exclaimed, letting out a giggle.

I only flashed her a funny look when she spoke the words. And I noticed that she wasn’t the first one who said that to me.

“Don’t believe anything you read on the Internet, girl,” I sighed, handing back her phone. “We’re not even dating.” Sadly

“But you two look so cute together!” She said. I fought back the smile that was starting to grow on my lips.

“We’re just good friends,” I said, even though part of me was screaming inside to deny it.

“Too bad, the chemistry between you two just kills me,” she was pouting now, which I thought to be a complete fake. I knew inside she was ecstatic knowing her idol was not taken yet. “But I could definitely tell that you like him, you do want to date him, don’t you?”

Is it that obvious? “Well, who wouldn’t?” I only chuckled.

I saw the girl’s face flickered with surprise as her dark eyes went wide when she fixed her gaze of whatever it was behind me. I only looked at her strangely and followed her gaze. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

“Zayn?”

“Hey,” He smiled, looking down at the two of us.

“What are you doing here?” I blatantly spoke out the words, “I thought you’re gone with the group.”

“No, I was here the whole the time actually,” He said, “Mind if I take her away now?” I noticed he was talking to the girl who had that deer-in-the-headlights look plastered on her face. She only nodded slowly as Zayn led me away from her, leading me to an empty table on the corner of the coffee shop.

“I was looking for you,” He said as he slid in to his seat.

“I didn’t know you were here the whole time,” I responded, my voice sounded so shaky since his sudden presence.

“Well, once I knew you weren’t coming, I immediately made my own excuse,” He explained, chuckling.

I lost my interest in eating my breakfast since he came, now I really didn’t feel like putting anything inside my stomach, it was like anything could make my stomach turned, joining the butterflies and the nausea that was attacking me at the same time.

“I won’t keep you from eating your breakfast now,” he said, nodding towards my untouched plate.

I only shook my head and said, “No, I lost my appetite.”

“But you need to eat,” he stated, “Harry said you aren’t feeling well.”

“I’m fine now, really,” Thanks to you.

“But you really need to eat.”

I only sighed as I sipped my glass of milk, I didn’t think he would be giving up anytime soon now. “How about if I just wrap those up and go back to our rooms?”

“Promise me you’ll eat?”

“I promise,” I rolled my eyes playfully, I took a handful of tissues and wrapped the croissants before putting them inside the paper bag. We walked towards the elevator in silence at the two of us refused to make a move, if only we weren’t in a situation like we were in now, I was pretty sure his hand was somewhere on me now.

“I heard everything you said to her, you know,” he suddenly said, we were already inside the elevator, leading us back to our floor.

“Really, now?” I said, warmth already swelled in my cheeks.

“Yes,” I could tell that he was smiling from the tone of his voice.

“Are you happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

I laughed silently as silence overcame the tight space between us again, the elevator door slid open and the two of us walked out. I couldn’t bear the silence between us anymore, I missed the way he would come up with something witty to talk about, knowing his unpredictability that he always seemed so proud to have.

“Stay with me, will you?” he suddenly said, nodding towards his room. I felt his hand on mine for a second there.

“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say to him anymore. My heart was slamming off my chest when he led me to his room, as if I would burst any second.

I plopped down on the edge of the bed as I let him took care of his own business in the bathroom. His room was awfully clean compared to the other four boys’; I had to shout constantly at Liam and Harry every time I went to their suites.

I’ve been trying to ignore the sickness I felt in my stomach from my nervousness being inside the room. The fact that I was currently alone with him, with nobody else to save me – texting Liam would be a bad idea considering that he would turn up in seconds, and I had no plans in ruining my alone time with Zayn. I missed it too much.

“You promised me something, you know,” I heard him said, his voice was muffled by the bathroom.

“What is that?”

“That you’re gonna give me a haircut again.”

I smiled to the fact the he – indeed – remembered everything. I peeked through the bathroom door and saw him already shirtless, with only his pair of dark jeans wrapped below his waist. He flashed the smile of his that always made me weak in the knees.

“I have no problem giving you one right now.”

“Please?”

With that, I turned on my heel to grab the equipments needed in my room, and sauntered back to Zayn’s and found him already sitting in front of the mirror. I carefully ran a hand through his hair and did a quick wash to wet them a little bit. As I cut and trimmed his hair, he began to wriggle, rubbing at his neck and shoulders where the old hair had landed.

“Stop moving,” I muttered, “It’s gonna end up uneven.”

“I’m trying to,” Zayn said, ”It just itches.”

“Well, that’s hair for you,” I mumbled again, trying to focus on the task in hand.

We carried on the hair cut process in silence; each of us had our own way of occupying our thoughts as I kept my attention to the hair between my fingers. I couldn’t help but to notice that he would steal glances at me once in a while. After I caught his eyes at me for the third time, I finally gave in and asked just for the sake of my curiosity.

“What’s with the stares?” I mumbled

“Nothing,” he shrugged, “I just missed you.”

I stopped when he spoke those words, my heart made a rather funny beat as I almost lost my grip of the scissor in my hand. My cheeks began to turn the shade of red as I caught him smiling.

“What are you talking about? I’m always here.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Hannah.”

Since there was nothing else I could say to him, I only returned his smile. I missed you too, you jackass.

I was starting to wonder if what Louis said yesterday was true after all.

“Zayn,” I said as I put the scissor beside the sink, “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” he said, as I let him scratch his neck all the way to the shoulders where the hair has landed. I only chuckled at the sight of it.

“I heard you just made a confession yesterday.”

His head snapped towards me, his eyes were flicking with confusion for a second there, but it was quickly replaced by the awareness that he knew what I was talking about.

“They told you, didn’t they?” he said, his eyes went softened.

“Well, Louis told me.”

“I should’ve known,” he mumbled under his breath, turning away, but still loud enough for me to hear. “I guess the secret’s out then.”

“Is – is it true?” I tried to hide the hopefulness in my voice. I even already felt the butterflies that were starting to form in my stomach.

“I hate lying, Hannah,” he said, looking up to me, “So why should I tell one?”

I was just too lost in his eyes, the words never left my mouth as I kept my eyes on his warm stare. My heart was pounding so fast, I thought it would jump right out my system any second. I just didn’t know what to say anymore.

“But you said—“

“I know what I said,” he cut me off, pushing himself from the toilet. “And I regret every single word coming from my mouth.”

“I still don’t understand,” I croaked, almost a whisper. Shaking my head as I hugged myself. He was only inches away from me now, our bodies almost touching. I could hear his steady breathing on top of me.

“I don’t expect you to,” Zayn gave me a slight smile, “I even confused myself for a second there.”

I only looked up to him to meet his eyes. The smile on his face never for once left his perfectly curved lips. He eyed me meaningfully, as if there were thousands of things he wanted to let out.

“Funny thing, love is,” he said. “They mess with our minds.”

I didn’t say anything; instead, I remained in spot. Looking down to my feet even though I still could feel his eyes on me. He was right about everything, though, it gave us the feelings that we all never expected to feel; the funny, warming tingles that we feel in our stomach every time we saw the person we like, or the way that it would put smiles on our face even if we were in our shittiest conditions, it even effect us in how we think.

I suddenly felt his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me towards him, feeling his lips on my forehead for a brief second before he pulled away. I almost felt lost when his touch was no longer on me; I hadn’t realized that I missed it this bad.

I grabbed his wrist before he could walk away from the bathroom and pulled him in again, bringing myself to do something that I never expected to do. I tiptoed so I was in a same height as him and kissed him full on the lips. It was like a jolt of electricity as our lips touched, I tried to pull away after seconds passed, but he only held me even tighter as he put his arms on my back, holding me closer as he pressed his lips on mine again. We stayed like that for another moment, finally pulling away to catch our breaths.

I buried my head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around me, we let the silence took over once more. My whole body was trembling as he held me in his arms, slowly taking in the moment as none of us said anything. I had no time to regret what I did; in fact, I didn’t regret it at all. I was just thankful that I get to be with him again.

I must have done something right to deserve him in my life.