She's Not Afraid

(Elena's POV)

I had two missed calls and one text message from Rachel telling me to call her as soon as I was alone. Damn it. Now she's going to harass me about Harry. Why did she have to forget her bag tonight? No... Why did Harry and I have to run into each other again tonight?

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the questions she was going to pounce on me.

"What do you wa-"

"Now I'm not going to yell at you, so I'm just going to listen while you explain who that gorgeous boy is." She stayed quiet waiting for me to speak.

I never win any arguments I have between her, so I just sucked it up and told her. "I met Harry a few nights ago when I was getting off of work and we talked for like two seconds. Then the next morning, when I was going for coffee at the Starbucks that no one ever goes to, he ran into me spilling his tray of drinks on me. Then we spoke for a while. That's it."

"Are you into him?" I could practically hear her excitement over me and this guy already.

"Uh, no. I don't even know him. Plus, there's another guy. I was just about to tell you about him until you left me with Harry." I tried to make her feel guilt, but it wasn't like her to feel bad about anything. "His name is Zayn. And he is so gorgeous! He even asked for my number and is going to call to take me out soon." I grinned talking about the guy.

"Is he now? So what's this guy have that Mr. Harry doesn't? Because I highly doubt you knew Zayn before hand."

"It's not like Harry asked me out. Besides, even if he did, he's not my type at all!"

She mumbled, not believing my words. I quickly lied about needing to get home right away to feed my cat and hung up.

I'm not stupid. I know Harry is really attractive. He's got the dimples, the curly hair and is quite the charmer. But I know guys like him. They will charm you to believe they're the right guy for you then all of a sudden -when you've fallen for them- they break you. I'm not ready to deal with someone like that. Not again. The first time was bad enough.

•

I groaned as I rolled out of bed to grab by cell phone that was ringing on my desk across my room. I didn't bother to check the caller ID due to my grogginess.

"What?" I mumbled to whoever was calling me so early in the morning on my day off.

"Elena? It's Zayn. Did I wake you?" I got butterflies in my tummy just hearing his soft voice on the other line.

"Oh. Hi Zayn! No, you didn't wake me. Uh..what's up?" I probably sounded stupid, from first sounding grumpy to ecstatic.

"Just wanted to call, see if you were free tonight."

Ohmygod. "I have tonight off actually." I tried my best to compose myself and not sound over joyed that a very attractive guy is asking me out.

"Great! Wanna go out then? We can go to a movie, or for dinner if you'd like?" He sounded kind of nervous to ask, but I found it made him that much more adorable.

"I'd love to. I'll uh..just text you my address then?" I asked as my voice squeaked in the end.

"Perfect. See you tonight, love." I mumbled a goodbye and the line went dead.

A huge grin was plastered on my face for the rest of the day.

•

Me and Zayn have been hanging out almost everyday for the rest of the week after we had our first date. When I had to work, he would come to visit me.

Our first date was lovely, him being such a gentleman, something I hadn't been so used to. I liked the fact that he was so mysterious. His appearance was dark, but was quite the softy when you were alone with him.

On the date, after the movie, he took me out for some ice cream and we walked hand in hand for a couple hours. He even gave me a kiss goodnight.

Everytime when he has to go back home or go back to work on his music, he would give me a kiss, giving me butterflies each time. He didn't talk too much about his work, just that he was in a group recording new songs.

It's Saturday now, and I'm off work in about half an hour. Zayn was planning on taking me to his house to meet the guys in his band or whatever they are. All of us are going to watch a movie.

"What are your plans for the night?" Rachel asked me as she hopped on the counter in the store.

"Zayn wants me to meet some of his friends at their house. Supposed to watch some movies tonight." I replied, looking through my camera.

Rachel cooed and pinched my cheeks. "Awe, Elena's got a boyfriend!"

I couldn't help but smile at that, even though it wasn't true. "No, I don't. Zayn even told me, things are still complicated between him and his ex girlfriend." I frowned.

"Go on." She pressed.

"Well, he said they're broken up, but she still calls and they'll talk sometimes. But he wants to still hang out with me. We both just decided to not put any label on it just yet." She nodded and I went back to playing on my camera.

I went through all the recent photos I'd just taken. The ones from the other night when me and Harry were walking around. I came across the first one I snapped of him, his eyes so intently focused on me. He had beautiful green eyes, like the ocean.

"Elena!" I looked up from the screen to see Zayn making his way towards me.

"Hi Zayn." I smiled softly at him.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, just let me go get my bag." He nodded, and I gathered all my things together and told Rachel I was heading off.

Zayn was looking through some CDs while he waited. When I reached him, he turned to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Rachel!" I called out as Zayn wrapped an arm around my waist as we walked outside.

"So what are your friends like?" I asked as we both buckled in his car.

"Uh... They're pretty crazy. So be warned." He said as he pulled away from the curb.

The ride to his house wasn't too far from down town. He lived in a fairly large house, perfect size for five boys. It was a hell of a lot nicer than my small apartment or the house I used to live in back home.

"Holy shit. Nice place." I said in awe. He chuckled as he grabbed hold of my hand and led me inside.

The first thing I saw was a huge flat screen tv in the living room with a large couch, a love seat and a rocking chair. On the wall were multiple framed pictures of what I assumed was him and the other guys that occupied the place.

I didn't have much time to analyze the photos or the rest of my surroundings as Zayn pulled me towards the hallway to the kitchen. There was three boys sitting near the island.

"You must be Elena!" A blonde boy bounced over to me and ingulfed me into his arms. "Pleasure to meet you. My names Niall."

"Nice to meet you too." I smiled and made my way towards the other two boys.

"I'm Liam. This here, is Louis." The tall boy with a shaved head said as he pointed over to the last boy.

I shook their hands kindly. "Nice to meet you boys finally. Isn't there another one?" I asked Zayn.

Just as I asked, I heard a cough from behind me. I turned to see the mop of curly hair and the dimpled smirk that I knew from a mile away. Harry stood behind me, shirtless, only in boxers.

"Harry?" I asked shocked.

"Hello Elena." His lips now held a cheeky grin and his eyes scanned my body, only me being able to notice.

I took a look around the room at the four boys with furrowed eyebrows.

I lowered my head as I laughed silently to myself. I finally looked up to Zayn. "You're in One Direction, aren't you?"

He chuckled cutely. "Guilty." He blushed slightly.

"You hadn't told her yet? Your own girlfriend." Harry said.

I couldn't help but laugh. "It's okay. I'm not angry or anything. And I'm not his girlfriend." I said to Harry in particular. I patted his bare chest before going back to Zayn.

"Sorry. I was going to tell you." I covered his mouth with my hand to stop him from feeling guilty.

"Don't be." I said. "So are we going to watch this movie or what?"

We all made our way to the living room and me and Zayn sat on the love seat as I cuddled in his arms. Niall decided to put on the movie Possesion to get us good and scared. I was never one to get scared and need protection when watching scary movies, plus I'd already saw this movie once.

"I'll go make us some popcorn." I said as I got up from my seat and made my way to the kitchen before Zayn could stop me. I heard soft mumbling behind me in the living room.

I dug through some of the cupboards until I found boxes of popcorn and grabbed two bags for the six of us.

"Need some help?" I heard a husky voice, right in my ear. The voice sent chills down my spine as I spun around, expecting to see Zayn.

Seeing as how I was only 5'2, my vision was only met with someone's bare chest covered in tattoos. Harry of course.

"God! Personal space, please?" I said looking up into his eyes past my dark bangs.

He smirked at me and his dimples appeared on his cheeks. "Don't worry, I'm just playing." He backed away and went to another cupboard and got some cups for everyone.

I watched him work his way to the fridge as the popcorn poped in the microwave behind my back. I had to admit, Harry had a nice body. The tattoos that covered parts of him were pretty random, but still a great body.

"Take a picture. It lasts longer." He said. I turned my head to face the ground.

"Let me ask you something." I started and he turned to face me, waiting. "Did you know that me and Zayn were dating each other? And that I didn't know he was in One Direction?"

"I actually only found out that he knew you the night you and I hung out for the evening." He stated.

I mumbled and got two separate bowls for the popcorn and we both made our way to the living room.

Harry sat on the large couch with Liam and Louis as Niall sat on the rocking chair. I set the bowls on the coffee table as Harry handed out the cups filled with pop. After me and Zayn both had a sip of the fizzy drink, I layed back down beside him, cuddling close to his warm body for the remander of the movie.

When the movie was done, Niall and Liam made their way to their room upstairs and said goodnight.

"Goodnight Elena. Hope to see you again soon." Liam said to me from the bottom of the staircase.

"Bye Elena!" Niall practically yelled to me, even though he was only a few feet away.

"Goodnight you two. Nice meeting you." I waved and gave them a smile before they tiredly made their way upstairs.

Louis had gone out to meet up with his girlfriend when the movie was halfway over. He wanted to be alone with her for awhile considering that they haven't seen each other in weeks.

That left me alone with Zayn and Harry. "How are you not shitting yourself? That was the scariest movie I've ever seen in a long time!" Zayn asked, still holding me tightly.

"I grew up watching scary movies. With my dad when he had time. They get so predictable." I said simply.

Harry chuckled as Zayn shook his head in disbelief.

"I should get home." I sat up along with Zayn and patted his knee, expecting him to drive me back. But his phone started ringing.

He held up a finger before answering the call. "Hello?" He smiled when the other person spoke. He covered the speaker. "Harry, could you take Elena home? This might take awhile.." He asked Harry.

"My pleasure." Harry got up from his seat and went to get the keys and to get a shirt on.

"Sorry about this. I'll text you tomorrow." Zayn said to me, quietly, and gave me a kiss on the cheek as apposed to the usual kiss on the lips.

He got up from his seat and went to the kitchen. I frowned slightly, wanting it to be Zayn to take me. Harry made his way back to me.

"Ready?"

I nodded and we slipped our shoes on and went to his Range Rover outside.

"Does he do that a lot?" I asked Harry when we buckled in the car.

"Do what?"

"You know...answer phone calls from his ex-girlfriend when he's on a date? He's done it about three times now since we've started seeing each other.."

"Honestly, yes. They just have something together. Something that keeps Zayn going back. Why? Are you jealous, love?" He asked, his accent showing more than usual.

I scoffed. "No. I'm not the jealous type. It's just nice to know. Just so I know whether to get my hopes up about little things or not." I said.

He nodded as he continued to drive, taking my direction when needed.

"You know...why don't you just drop me off at that park we were the other night instead? I don't want to go home quite yet." I asked.

"Okay. What are you planning to do there in the middle of the night?" He asked, facing me.

"Stuff." I said and gave him my smirk that played on my red lips most of the time.

He laughed and drove until we reached the park. He stopped so I could get out. "Thanks for the ride Harry." I said and grabbed my bag.

He nodded and gave me a smile. I could feel his eyes still following me when I walked away, and I knew his eyebrows were furrowed.

I heard the car drive away and eventually the sound disappeared completely.

I walked to the bench that was right underneath the light. I got out my headphones and plugged them in my phone. I started searching for a song to listen to when I heard foot steps walking toward where I was sitting.

"I didn't think you should be alone tonight. Not when it's this late." The voice was husky, and the British accent gave away who it was immediately.

I sighed when he came into view and rolled my eyes playfully.

"Come sit, popstar."