Chapter 7: Seasonal Party Spectacular!

Sam could hear the loud music from outside Niall's house. Pineview High School teenagers were spilling out of the place, and she could already sense the excitement of the party inside. Louis and Niall were both known for throwing amazing parties, and Sam knew that she was in store for a good time tonight.

Opening the front door, Sam peered into the house where she saw her classmates chatting, dancing, and hanging by a food table. She overheard several conversations about how the Winter Formal was quickly approaching and that people needed to find dates. As she walked down the main hallway, she hoped to see a familiar blonde boy to spend alone time with, but everyone but Ni-yall seemed to be present.

"Excuse me!" Sam said to a boy leaning against the stairs, talking to some friends. The back of his dark dirty blonde head looked very familiar…

He didn't change his position as he replied, "Yep?"

"Have you seen Ni-yall?" she asked.

"Niall? Oh yeah, he's downstairs." The boy faced her directly, and that's when Sam recognized his piercing brown eyes and full lips.

Her face lit up. "You're Maya's twin! So you're like, the male version of Maya!" she exclaimed, leading Liam to give her a quizzical look.

"Yes…" he said slowly.

"That means your name must be Mayo!"

"No…"

Sam gave him a knowing look as if to say, I'm not stupid, you know.

"My name is actually, Liam," Liam informed her. "Nice to meet you, though!"

"No, Mayo… You know like the abbreviated form of mayonnaise?" She looked at him expectantly, and when all she saw was him staring open-mouthed, not knowing what to say, she sighed. "Well, thanks for telling me where Ni-yall was, Mayo."

As Sam walked away, Liam stared after her long ponytail, still feeling lost. He looked at his soda curiously, wondering if someone had spiked it. But eventually, he just gave up and continued talking to his friends.

Sam made her way down the stairs into Niall's basement where she saw several boys clustered around a video game. There were large groups around the foosball and pool tables. Finally, she spotted Niall talking to Maya Payne and a tall, ruggedly handsome boy by deck.

"It's really nice to meet you, Zayn," Niall was saying. "It's a wonder I haven't seen you around before."

"I don't usually come to these," Zayn admitted.

Sam took in Zayn's mysterious eyes, thick hair, tall stature, black polo… and his hand that was casually placed at Maya's waist. She knew at once that her friend had some very important news to tell her when the time came.

"Well, once you come to one, you'll never want to stop!" Niall encouraged him. "I hope you both enjoy yourselves. Let me know if I can do anything for either of you."

Maya thanked Niall, and she walked away with Zayn. Sam saw her opening, and she swiftly walked toward Niall –

– when someone slammed into her from the other direction. The collision caused his drink to spill on his dark jeans in a very inconvenient place.

"I'm sorry!" Sam was immediately flooded with guilt. "Didn't see you there." She looked up and saw Louis Tomlinson staring in shock at his wet pants.

"It's fine, Sam," he told her as he frantically looked around for paper towels. Sam was surprised to not hear a string of insults following his statement.

As usual, James Diamond and Carlos Garcia were trailing close behind. Fortunately, Louis' striped t-shirt had avoided the soda splash. Unfortunately, James hadn't seen that Louis stopped, so he kept walking and slammed into Louis' back. The empty plastic cup skittered to the floor.

"James!" Louis snapped, and Sam was surprised again to not hear a string of insults following his outburst.

"Why are you acting so weird?" she asked her childhood friend. "Are you on some strange medication that I should know about, Lois?"

"Nah, he's just been hanging out with Gr –" James began.

"I'm not acting weird. Why'd you think I'm acting weird?" Louis interrupted.

"You're being very… patient." Sam paused. "And I have never before used your name and that word in a sentence together before."

"No way, I just saw Harry, there's no way I'm being patient."

"Hairy Styles?"

Louis' expression twisted, and he demanded, "How come you pronounce his name correctly but not mine?"

"Because she likes me more," a new voice entered the conversation.

Sam saw Harry catch a glimpse at Louis' pants and start laughing uncontrollably. Louis's face turned tomato red.

"Did someone have an accident?" chortled Harry.

"Were you born on the highway?" Sam asked him. "Because that's where most accidents happen."

All four boys stared at her.

"Excuse me?" Harry choked.

"Yeah, I said it. Now buh-bye, Hairy, we were in the middle of a conversation," Sam said, wiggling her fingers at the confused boy who didn't realize he was being insulted by being called 'Hairy.'

Harry sputtered, "You can't just insult me and then tell me good-bye!"

"Boy, you so ugly that Hello Kitty told you good-bye," she said with a roll of her large blue eyes. "Now leave."

With a huff, Harry stormed away, knowing it probably wasn't a good idea to engage varsity football star Sam Sheffield in a fight. Louis, Carlos, and James stared at her with a newfound appreciation.

"Thanks, Sam," Louis said.

"It's what I do, Lois. Now if you and your strange medication will excuse me, I have someone to talk to."

"I'm not on medication!" he called after her, but she ignored this as she moved past the boys to pursue Niall.

When she finally caught up with him at the foosball table, he embraced her in a hug that had her head spinning. "Glad you could make it!" he said.

Sam felt giddy butterflies in her heart, and when he let her go, she leaned against the wooden table. She gave him a coy look that would have any other boy drooling, and in the most suave voice she could muster, she said, "Come here often?"

After talking to Niall, Maya led Zayn upstairs where they grabbed sodas. They moved out onto a wooden deck where there were less people.

"How do you like Niall?" she asked him casually, opening her can of Coke.

"He seemed nice enough," Zayn said quietly.

"But you're still uncomfortable," Maya completed.

"It's fine."

She touched his arm and said, "I want you to have a good time, and I don't want you to feel obligated to stay here."

Zayn swallowed, and even though he did want to leave, he managed a small smile. "I'm having a good time with you. As long as you don't leave my side, I'll be fine."

"I won't."

Zayn set his soda down on the wood ledge and took her hand, ignoring the distant music coming from inside the house. He pulled her closer to him so their mouths were scarcely inches apart. Gently, he ran his fingers through her soft hair, then leaned in. As his eyes closed, he felt Maya place her warm hand on his cheek, and –

"Maya?"

Zayn paused and opened his eyes. He saw recognition in Maya's gaze as she laid eyes on a handsome boy standing in the glass doorway, holding an alcoholic beverage. Something about this guy's face was so familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

The boy leaned against the doorframe. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Maya hesitated, her body still against Zayn's. "Can it wait, Harry?"

Harry. Harry Styles. The name made Zayn's skin crawl, and he was immediately flooded with hatred. If this guy was anything like his father, Zayn would rip his heart out and feed it to him with a rusty spoon…

"Your brother just wanted me to remind you of something," Harry said smoothly, ignoring Zayn completely. "Just thought you should know."

A thick silence overtook the brief exchange, in which Maya let go of Zayn and stared Harry down with steely eyes. Harry tipped his drink toward her and with a seductive-looking smirk, said, "Good night, Ms. Payne."

Zayn watched Harry saunter back into the party and talk it up with a few other girls. In less than a minute, as he watched Harry and the party girls dancing, he remembered exactly why he hated homecoming so much. Maya shuddered beside him.

"What a creep," she muttered. "A sleazy, drunk creep. He's going to get in so much trouble one day, I can feel it."

The romance and warmth of their previous conversation seemed to have vacated the deck. Zayn knew that he didn't have enough nerve to kiss Maya now.

"What did he mean by that?" he asked instead.

Maya leaned against Zayn again, resting her head on his strong shoulder, but she was still clearly tense. "It's nothing, just something stupid."

"If it's bothering you, then I wouldn't say it's stupid." She didn't speak, and Zayn placed his hand on top of hers. "You can trust me, I promise."

"When we first started seeing each other, Liam got overprotective," she told him at last. "He didn't want me to go out with you, which is stupid since you don't even know each other. Now, I guess, he's expressed his concerns with Harry, which is also stupid," she said bitterly. "Just because they're both on the basketball team doesn't mean they're suddenly best friends! I mean, basketball season hasn't even started yet."

Zayn swallowed hard. "Listen, Maya, I really like you. But the last thing I want to do is cause discontent in your family."

"He doesn't know you, Zayn."

When Zayn didn't reply, Maya knew that he must be thinking that she didn't know him either, but he didn't want to say it and risk offending her. She took his hands and looked at him.

"I know that we haven't known each other for long, Zayn. But I also know that I like the person I see in front of me, and I care about him more than I ever imagined. I have no idea why Liam feels the way he does, but it's not that hard to convince him of something once I put my mind to it, and I'm sure if we keep hanging out, I'll think –"

But she was cut off suddenly when Zayn leaned in and pressed his lips against hers in an electric kiss.

His eyes closed, and he felt her sink into him. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. Her fingers played with his tangled hair, and he deepened the kiss. He hardly cared if Liam or Harry could see them. He was blinded by everything except this smart, beautiful girl he was lucky enough to be kissing.

When they finally released each other, Zayn pulled her into a hug. He stroked her back and quietly said, "No one actually knows me, Maya. But if someone ever did, I'd want them to be you."

Maya intertwined her fingers in his and whispered, "Is that what you tell all the girls?"

"No, and if you don't believe me, maybe you can get to know me better at the Winter Formal next Saturday."

A coy smile crossed Maya's lips. "That hardly made sense, but it's a date, Romeo."

Zayn is busting out the moves! And I don't know about you, but I would definitely want Sam on my side in a fight. What did you think of this chapter?

Sneak Peak: Zayn tackles math once and for all, and Louis learns some startling news about Harry and Grace…