stars and terrain (zayn malik)

Chapter 36

Zayn

"Hi!"

It's the sweetest sound in the world, and I can't get myself into the passenger seat of the Mercedes quick enough.

"Hello!" I'm leaning across the center console in the next second, wrapping my fingers through her hair and pulling her face to mine. I don't let her go for a good minute, not wanting to pull away from her lips. They're soft and perfect and I've missed them too much.

The only thing that makes me break away is needing to get a good look at her face. Her eyes look so light, and her smile is so genuine. It must look exactly like the one I feel on my face.

"I missed you." I say, the biggest understatement in the world.

"I missed you too. Did anyone see you?"

It was risky having her pick me up at LAX, but she parked in the place that has become our routine, tucked away at the top level.

"No!" I exclaim gleefully. I'm not quite sure how, but for the first time in months I got through LAX undetected. I think it might be the combination of the beard, the Yankees hat obscuring my face, and the fact that it's still only eight in the morning.

"So where do we have to go first?" Charlie asks, referring to my very full itinerary for the day. The Grammys are tonight, and I have a laundry list of things to do before the show.

"I have to go to my stylist," I say. "Maybe I should drive."

"Okay," Charlie nods, sliding herself out the driver's side door. I wait for her to round the car before I scoop her into a hug.

"God, I missed you so much," I sigh into her hair, everything in my body relaxing now that I'm in the presence of my girl.

"We should be careful," she says softly, reluctantly. There are people walking by and I forget we're not the only people in the world right now.

"Right. You're always right," I grin, pressing one more kiss to her lips before sealing her away in the passenger's seat.

The ride to my stylist is almost traffic free, despite having to take four different freeways. We finally get to her office space and Charlotte offers to hang out in a nearby Starbucks.

"I want you to come," I insist. "Unless you don't want to."

"No, I just didn't want to get in the way."

I wish this beautiful woman knew that there is literally nothing she will ever be in the way of when it comes to me.

I don't dignify her silly comment with a response and instead hold her hand and lead her into the office.

I really like my stylist, Zoe. She's British, from a town over from mine, so when we first started working together we found out we knew a lot of the same people. It was nice, back then, to meet someone that reminded me of home when I was just getting big in America.

Zoe's pretty, but nothing compared to Charlotte. We've slept together a few times, but I hope Charlie doesn't figure that out. I don't really think about this until we step through the door, and wonder if I should have encouraged her to wait at Starbucks.

"Z!" She coos as soon as we enter, looking a little too shocked to see the brunette follow in after me. "Oh, hello!"

"Hi, I'm Charlotte," Charlie extends her hand, looking unsteady and she appraises the blonde. Does she not like that Zoe calls me Z? Is she going to have some weird female intuition about us hooking up? Should I have told her beforehand? Fuck I'm shit at relationships.