Blame. (Book 1.)

Fin.

I crossed my arms over my chest, my fingers playing with the small locket my father gave me ages ago. It gave me a sense of hope, safe haven.

"Lauren?!"

Ugh. Her again.

When will she leave me alone?

I slowly turned to my right only to see Gigi and a very annoyed Zayn behind her.

I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I plastered a fake smile as she walked over to me with open arms.

I had no choice but to hug her back. She had the incredible idea to pick me up and spin me around. Which wasn't a good idea because I was in a small red dress. I simply laughed it off. Demanding her to put me down.

"Sorryyy." She giggled, placing me down on the ground.

I smoothed out my dress, fixing my hair as I looked at her up and down. She was wearing a little black dress. Almost too little to be wearing here. Not that I cared.

"How have you been? Have you been grieving okay?" She tilted her head as she spoke, a genuine smile on her face.

Zayn started approaching us soon after. I shrugged my shoulders and played with my fingers, not interested in talking to her whatsoever. "Good, good."

"Hey, Lauren." Zayn spoke up from behind Gigi, giving me a warm smile.

"Hey, Zayn." I replied back, giving him the same warm smile as I checked him out. He looked great in button ups.

"You look beautiful." He complimented, looking at me up and down.

I playfully curtsied, bowing my head sightly. "Why, thank you. I tried. You don't look too bad yourself, Malik."

We stood there. Staring at each other, big smiles on our faces, with Gigi too distracted by the chandeliers above us. Soon, she broke the silence.

"We should get going. It was nice seeing you!" Gigi bubbled up, taking Zayn's hand and carefully walking away.

Behind Gigi's back, Zayn grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles before gently letting go.

I couldn't help but blush at his actions, smiling at him like an idiot.

If only he wasn't with her.

***

"Camila, where is he?" I pondered while speaking into my earpiece. I was at the top floor, close to the roof of the building. Waiting for Zayn and the information on the mission since I had no idea.

"He's coming up, Lo. No worries. I told him about the mission while he was in the bathroom." Camila deadpanned, typing into her computer.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Well, can you at least tell me, then? That would help a lot."

Camila rolled her eyes as she typed into her computer at a rapid pace. "Listen, there's a helicopter that will land on the building to exchange with another helicopter. The businesses are unknown, though. They'll be exchanging 1 million bucks stollen from the bank downtown. Get the money, take it back here so we can give it back."

I leaned up against the wall, listening to her words. I tilted my head, the mission not sounding right. "Why would they land here and exchange?"