Pretty Venom |N.H|

53

Niall Horan

I watch Jasey's head lift up as she takes in her surroundings, looking at the interior of this restaurant with her lips parted, gazing at every inch of the place as if she has never seen it before.

It looks nice to me.

Zayn stands at my side, following along with whatever Jasey says, and I'm doing the same.

It hasn't really hit me yet that he's here. I saw him yesterday, and he's standing next to me right now, but I'm worried that it won't end up hitting me until we go our separate ways again.

Who I am assuming is Jasey's friend runs by us, shouting things as she goes by, but stopping right in front of us when she notices me here with Jasey. Her friend's eyes widen for a second and she says, "Woah," while staring at me. I quickly look down at Jasey, wondering if something is wrong, but before I can ask what that reaction was about, her friend is already gone.

I notice the sudden worry displayed on Jasey's face when she sees her friend run by, while I'm growing with excitement to get to talk to Zayn after four years. I was nervous at first, but after talking to him a little in the car, I feel a lot better about it all.

Jasey looks like she has just seen a ghost though, her nerves clearly taking over her. I hope she can get through this conversation with her friend. I don't know anything about her or their friendship, if there is even a friendship left between them, but whatever it is, I hope she can handle it.

I look ahead of me and find Zayn sitting down at a booth with his back to us, taking this moment of privacy to pull Jasey into my side, stepping closer to her and pressing my lips to her temple in an act of reassurance, watching her body relax at my touch.

I give her a small smile as I follow where Zayn had gone off to, sitting down at the booth across from him and watching Jasey head to a table across the restaurant, but still in my vision.

I take a second to stare at Zayn in front of me, trying to process that this is real and he's here before it is too late.

"I'll be honest," he states through a laugh, "I don't even know what to say to you right now. I feel like there is so much I could say, but I don't want to waste time talking about stupid shit. Truth is, I fucking missed you."

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"A while?" he asks as if he's shocked by my lack of enthusiasm, but on the inside I'm really happy to see him. "Four years, Niall. It's crazy. Are you well? Like... are you alright?"

His question throws me for a loop, wondering if he's referring to what I think he could be. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs as he places his phone and wallet on the table, his eyes finding the waiter approaching our table with a pen and notepad in his hands.

"Can I get you guys something to drink?" the waiter asks us, and Zayn and I both order a water, just trying to get back to our conversation.

"I just mean when people say 'Oh how have you been'," Zayn clarifies, catching onto what I thought he had been asking about. "I didn't mean 'Are you better?'"

The waiter returns quickly with our drinks, tossing down two straws with them.

I tear open the wrapper and plunge the straw into my drink, taking a sip before saying, "I've been good. Really good. But now since you're asking 'Am I better?' the truth is I'm--"

"Don't answer. I didn't mean it that way," Zayn tries to speak over me, but I'm already finishing my sentence, and I don't plan on stopping because of his interruption.