One Night (Book 1) - Zayn Malik

Chapter 64

"How's your lip?" I glance at his slowly healing lip. Surprisingly there aren't any bruises on his face, though there still are a few light red marks.

"It's alright." He nods. I glance down at his hands, the skin wasn't that broken surprisingly – they weren't that bruised up. "I shouldn't have called you last night."

"No you did the right thing, if you hadn't you might be beaten in that alleyway half dead right now." I feel my stomach twist at the though. "You owe Louis an apology though." I point out.

"Right." He sighs heavily. I quickly move on from the rough topic of last night by asking another question.

"What do you like doing with your free time?" I ask, watching him. He purses his lips, thinking about an answer for a moment.

"In my free time I like drawing." He answers. "It's a way to express myself without having to talk." He chuckles lightly. I smile at the comment – I knew he didn't like this. Talking.

Who's Caroline? I want to ask him, but I force myself not to. Him being this open right now was already enough – pushing him to tell me more would cause more issues that we were trying to resolve. I would ask him about it when the time was right or if I ever saw her.

"Can I be honest with you?" I mumble quietly, he nods. I take a deep breath and continue, "I went into your drawing room the other day..." I stare at our hands, his grip on my leg tensing at the mention. He probably knows I saw the picture of Caroline and he expects me to ask about it.

"I saw the drawing of me." I look up at him and see surprise in his eyes. I knew he wasn't expecting that.

"Oh." Is all he says.

"I loved it." I assure. He gives me a smirk before pulling me closer to him. "Do you want to ask me or tell me anything?" I ask in a quiet voice. He shakes his head.

"I don't have many questions." He admits. "Just tell me something, anything." He shrugs.

"I've never shown anyone my dancing." I tell him, staring at our hands that rest on my legs now.

"Why?"

"I just don't think it's worth showing... it's something personal. It's just nothing I've ever really wanted to share with someone." I explain. Dancing was so personal for me, it was just pure raw emotion – to have someone watch that, to see that just felt strange.

Zayn is quiet for a moment, his eyes looking down at our hands. I can tell he's debating if he should say the next thing or not. I give a smile and speak softly,

"Ask me." Zayn's eyes look to me, realizing I know he's debating what to ask.

"What's your favorite book?" My favorite book? I give him a curious smirk, where on earth did that question come from? "When you said you... the night you were drunk you asked for your favorite book." He explains softly.

"The Great Gatsby." I answer him. "Have you read it?"

"Yeah, a few years ago... Why is it your favorite?"

"I... I love the story – the tragic love affair." I shrug. "I mean Daisy... she belonged with him, she belonged with Gatsby but... everything and anything seemed to convince her not to be with him. She wasn't willing to take much of a chance, she was scared of the unknown, she was stuck in love with two different people. One that was completely right for her but wasn't exactly reliable and the other who she grew to love but he wasn't a great person to her..." I mumble.

"Sounds somewhat familiar." He mumbles without a smile. I nod.

Telling the reasons I loved it just remind me of how similar it was to me. Gatsby could easily be Zayn while Matt could be Tom. Tom cheated on Daisy with a hussy and Matt cheated on me... Gatsby just wanted to be with Daisy but she was too scared to let go of her of her 'perfect' life. There was the difference though; I wasn't desperately clinging to the past, to my old life – to Matt. Was I?

"Yeah..." I breathe. "Zayn do you still care about Erica?" I ask in a cautious voice.

"She's a good friend... She doesn't always do good things but she has a heart, she really does." He explains in a low voice. "I care about her as a friend. It's never been more than that – even when we were involved." He assures. I feel some relief in my body, I know he's being honest – his eyes tell it all.

"Did you guys do anything that night at the party? Did you guys do anything when she was shirtless?"

"No." His answer is short and he sighs. "I may be a lot of things Juliet, I'll admit I'm not a great person... but I'm not a cheater." He rubs my arm and tugs me a little closer so our faces are inches from each other. "You still care about Matt though." He states.

"I do." I admit. "But it'll never be in the way I once did. I honestly just feel like he's family." I assure. "Sometimes, other times he's just the guy who cheated on me." I explain softly.

"Zayn I know I said you didn't have to tell me everything but I didn't want you to lie... But that's not the case – not anymore. If you want me around you need to start telling me things. I don't want to pressure you but..." I think back to what Matt told me and repeat his words.

"When you care about someone... you want to share everything about yourself with them and in return you want them to share everything about themselves to you." I watch him as he nods in understanding. "I'm not asking for you to tell me everything right now... I hope that you care enough to tell me eventually though."

We're quiet for a prolonged moment. His eyes stare at me, I can see thoughts swirling around in his mind. I know he's debating whether to open up more or end this conversation.

I wouldn't be angry if he ended the conversation, he was open and that was what I wanted. Baby steps... Baby steps would get us where we – or rather I wanted us to go.

"I'll tell you about Eleanor." My eyes widen at his sentence. I stare at him waiting for him to say he is joking but it doesn't come.

"What?"

"I'll tell you what you want to know about her." He explains, sitting up on the couch more as I pull back to stare at him.

"Are you serious?" I didn't want him to feel pressured to tell me – though this is what I wanted. I wanted him to share things, I wanted to know about Eleanor especially after he hid it from me.

"I won't lie... you can even ask her if it's true." He assures quietly. I nod and stare at him, afraid to speak for I might cause him not to tell me. I see the truth in his eyes as he says the words. "Eleanor's not some ex or past fling. She's not some dirty secret and she's not some bad person..."

"She's my sister."

_______________

Please don't forget to vote!

(A/N:

1. PLOT TWIST!

2. I know those aren't his sisters actual ages but for the sake of this story that's how old they are.

3. Don't forget to check out the Zuliet video to the side!)