Saving Zayn Malik

The Last Person He Needed To See

Chapter Sixteen: The Last Person He Needed To See

A Week Later

I drummed my fingers along to the song playing off Zayn's iPod dock. I didn't recognise the song, but it was pretty good. Zayn came through the door holding two cans of coke and a bag of chips. I grabbed the chips, so he wouldn't drop them, and we both settled into his bed. As he started telling me a story about a fight he had with Josh, I looked around his room. I loved Zayn's room. I knew he didn't exactly like it, but it was just so...different. Just like Zayn. The walls were black and he had a few photographs and drawings tacked up. Along with some band posters. One picture caught my eye. It was Zayn at maybe thirteen or fourteen with his arms wrapped around a guy with nearly black hair. Zayn looked genuinely happy with this guy. But who was he?

"Zayn?" I asked, interrupting his story. He raised his eyebrow. "Who's that guy in that picture?" I indicated the picture I meant and Zayn visibly tensed.

"Dan. I don't want to talk about him." Zayn leaped off the bed and tore the picture from the wall. He shoved it in his desk drawer and rejoined me on the bed. I looked at him in awe. Where did that come from? "Anyway. Do you want to do something...fun?" Zayn asked. I looked at him warily.

"What do you mean, 'fun'?" I asked him. He smiled.

"Oh, I don't know. How about something...like...this." Zayn leaned over and pressed his lips against mine softly. I smiled against his lips and pushed him back, so he was lying on the bed. Our lips still connected, I swung my leg over his hips, so I was straddling him. He brought his hands back to intertwine them in my hair, and I placed mine on his chest. Just as I was sliding my hands up his shirt, Civia Reemer's stupid ass barged in his room. She screamed, and I sighed against Zayn's lips. "Well..." he whispered against my lips. I pushed up off of him.

"What do you want?" I said, crossly.

"I came to ask for some advice," I looked at her expectantly. "You know that guy in grade eleven, Ed Sheeran? Well, I really like him and I feel like he likes me too, but I don't know how to... get to know him better." She looked at us hopefully and I rolled my eyes.

"Harry is, like, best friends with him. Ask Harry to "put in a good word" for you." I instructed her. She beamed at me and kissed me sloppily on the cheek. I grimaced and Zayn made a weird noise. I turned to look at him, and he gave me an upset smile. I shook my head at him and smirked before turning back to Civia.

"Oh! And Keith said to call him. Something about going out to lunch," I nodded, and she got up to leave. "And sorry for interrupting your snog. I ruin everything." she laughed and walked out the door. I snuggled against Zayn's chest.

"I should really call Keith. I can't stand leaving people hanging, y'know?" Zayn nodded and kissed the top of my head. I got up to grab my phone off his desk. As I searched through my phone for Keith's number, I considered my relationship with Zayn. It was crazy how fast this had happened. Or rather how fast it had seemed. I had known Zayn for about two months at this point, and everything felt like forever. I don't even know what it is we're playing at. I mean, we kiss and act like a couple, but we had never classified ourselves as dating. What if Zayn doesn't think of it that way? This is so confusing.

I clicked on Keith's contact, and put my phone on speaker. To be honest, it annoyed me to hold it to my ear. Plus, I always seemed to end the call with my cheek. It rang twice before a guy answered. "Hello, this is Keith's phone. How may I help you?" I laughed and responded.

"Can I talk to Keith? Keith Howell?" The guy made a noise that I took to mean yes, and the phone was handed off.

"Hey, Niall. Civia talked to you, I presume. I was wondering if you wanted to go to Parmesia's with me? I heard it's really good, but I wanted to go with a local." I smiled.