Taking Chances

I woke up in the morning to the sound of someone stepping right next to my head, almost catching some of my hair underneath their foot. I kept my eyes open in slits as I watched Rebecca walk out of the room as quietly as she could, only stopping for a second to pick some clothes out of her suitcase, before she disappeared around the corner on the way to the bathroom.

Rubbing my eyes and suppressing a yawn, I grabbed my phone, which was sitting next to me on the floor, to check the time. 8:27.

Struggling not to groan, I got to my feet, knowing that there was no way I was getting back to sleep without knowing why Rebecca was up and getting ready so early. Because, while she was an early riser, she wasn’t usually in such a rush.

As I waited, I readied the coffee pot, figuring that it would be nice to be useful for once. I set it off, hearing the water bubble as it heated up, before settling down at the kitchen table in the seat facing the hallway that led to the bathroom, leaning my head on my hand.

About fifteen minutes later, she reappeared, dressed in jeans, a pretty top, and a sweatshirt. Her hair was actually down for once, curling beautifully and freely without much of the usual product she put in it.

She startled at the sight of me sitting down and expecting her. “Uh, good morning, Bailey.”

“Good morning,” I grinned. “Going somewhere?”

“Um…” She looked down at herself and shrugged. “Nope.”

“Just felt like getting dressed the second you woke up?”

“Yup. You can’t be lazy every day.”

I could. And to prove my point, I looked down at my pajamas and raised an eyebrow.

Her face flushed as she sat down across from me. “Alright. Liam texted me.”

My entire body almost exploded with excitement, but I took a deep breath to calm myself down. “Oh, did he?”

“Yeah. He asked if I wanted to hang out with him for the day. Go to breakfast, hang out at his apartment.” She gave me a small smile. “And I promised I’d cook him dinner.”

“Oh my God!” I squealed. Immediately, I slapped my hand over my mouth, flushing, knowing that I could have just woken up Zayn. “Rebecca,” I continued when I didn’t hear any stirring from my boyfriend’s bedroom, “that’s incredibly fantastic. And you have to make him your baked ziti. He will fall in love with you.”

She laughed and shook her head. “That’s not what I’m trying to do, really. It’s just…it’s going to be great getting to know him in person. Do you want to come?”

I stared at her for a second. “No, honey. It sounds like he wants a date. And I’m not going to encroach on that.”

She bit her lip for a second before saying, “I don’t know. I guess I’m just…nervous. I’ve only dated a couple of people, if I can even use the word ‘dated’, and they were all complete disasters.” I already knew that, since she had told me before. “I just want Liam to be different. And I’m always better in a small group instead of one-on-one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Calm down, Rebecca. We always have fun when it’s just the two of us.”

“But you’re not my potential boyfriend,” she reminded me pointedly.

“I could if you wanted me to be,” I teased back, wiggling my eyebrows at her suggestively.

She let out a burst out laughter before getting to her feet. “You know what? I’m just going to stop worrying about it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Not at all. It’s going to be easier, now that you’re face-to-face. Way easier than carrying a conversation over the phone.”

“Carrying a conversation while writing a midterm paper,” she elaborated. “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck!” I called after her.

She closed the door behind her softly just as the coffee maker beeped to warn me that all the grinds had been brewed.

I got up and readied myself a cup with cream and sugar before making some for Zayn. A quick look at the clock let me know that it was a little past nine, which meant that it was perfectly reasonable for me to go in and wake him up.

Mug in hand, I tiptoed into his bedroom and shut the door behind me. He was sleeping facedown on his bed, his face buried in his pillow.

As gently as I could, I sat next to him and shook his shoulder.

He woke up like a shot, blinking rapidly with disorientation. His hair was a mess, and he looked so much younger than usual. “Bailey?” he asked, yawning.

“I made coffee,” I explained, handing the mug to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his forehead. “What time is it?”

“Uh…almost nine fifteen.”

He nodded. “Okay. Is Rebecca in the living room?”

I grinned widely as I replied, “Nope. She’s with Liam.”

He gave me an approving look. “He finally got the balls to ask her to hang out, huh?”

“Yup. She tried to sneak out without waking me up, but she almost stepped on my face, so it wasn’t too successful.”

Zayn laughed lightly as he took a sip of his coffee. “This is perfect, Bails. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So what are the plans for today?”

I gnawed on my lip as I stared at a point on his wall, trying to remember. “I don’t think we really have any plans. Gabby’s going to call later to tell me exactly what time she’s coming in tomorrow to finish the deal, but I think that’s it.”

“Is she going to tell you in her time or our time?” he teased, knowing that time zones weren’t among her expertise.

“Probably her time,” I laughed. “But it’s fine. I’ll Google it.”

“My little researcher,” he teased, reaching over to ruffle my hair.

I blew a stray piece out of my face and smiled.

“So I was wondering if you wanted to go out to see a movie tonight,” he voiced out of nowhere. I gave him a confused laugh, so he elaborated. “I mean, we just never really seem to go out on dates, and I thought it’d be nice to do for a change.”

“You know I’m okay with staying in, though, right?” I told him, remembering the speech from last night.

He grinned widely at me, understanding my allusion. “I know you’re fine with it. Are you fine with going out?”

“Of course. What movie do you want to see?”

“Um…I was thinking the new Spiderman movie…if that’s okay with you? I know that you hate Spiderman, but-”

“I do hate Spiderman,” I interrupted, “but we can absolutely see that movie. I love Emma Stone. She’s such a sweetheart.”

“Of course you’ve met her,” he chuckled. “But cool. We’ll do that then?”

“Absolutely.” I got to my feet and pulled my hair out of the bun I’d thrown it into after my shower the night before. It fell to my shoulder blades, wavy at the top until the ends, which curled softly, banana-style.

Zayn reached out and pulled one of the curls, watching it bounce back into place and smiling. “It looks really pretty like that.”

“Thanks,” I chuckled as I got to my feet. “I’m going to go try to make breakfast. Want to watch me fail?”

“Sure,” he agreed enthusiastically. He climbed out of bed, careful not to spill the coffee in his hand, as we were off to have a breakfast adventure.