wild life | l.p

Chapter Seven.

Zayn sits on the opposite side of the table to Arianne, staring intently at the wooden letters in front of him, trying to find a way to build a word off of the scrabble board they've started.

"So, he's not dating her?"

"I don't know." Arianne says, plopping down four letters to create the word 'ANALS'

Zayn gives her a look like she's ridiculous, because she is. "Did you ask?"

"Yeah, Zayn." Arianne scoffs, "That was the first thing I asked him when I sat down at the dinner table. Then we booked a trip to Honolulu. We're getting married, and you're invited--"

"Okay, okay." Zayn rolls his eyes, creating the word "STORMY' off of Ari's last play.

"I can't ask him. It would be super weird."

"I don't think it would be that weird. It's common knowledge that you hate that girl Katie. Just tell him you want to know in case you two ever hang out or something."

Arianne shrugs, "I don't think we're going to hang out anytime soon. He just pities me because my family is messed up."

"Your family and your best friend." Zayn smirks.

Arianne plays the word 'MUM', "You're not messed up. You're just..."

"Messed up." Zayn laughs, "It's okay. I know it. There's no shame anymore. Also 'Mum' isn't a word. It's 'Mom', with an 'O'."

"Not if you're British." Arianne counters.

"You talk to one English person one time and suddenly you're one of them?"

"Zayn!" Arianne whines, "All I have are Q's, I's and T's. What do you want from me! Our board is so condensed it's impossible to do anything."

"You could have made the word 'Tit'."

"You're a tit." Arianne frowns, changing her letters out.

"Maybe, but I'm also winning." Zayn smiles Ari returns it with a glare. "I've played this a lot since I've been here."

"I'm bad at board games." Arianne frowns, sitting back in her seat and giving up.

Zayn laughs, "No one is bad at board games. they're all based off of chance."

"You're based off of chance." Ari pouts, and when Zayn gives her the look that tells her to stop she does. "Okay, fine. Let's do something else."

"Can't." Zayn says, "It's almost time for lunch."

"Oh." Arianne says lowly, "Do you like..."

"Eat?" Zayn chuckles, "Yeah. I have to."

"Right." Arianne nods awkwardly.

Zayn smiles, "You're allowed to ask me questions. Think of it as a topic as casual as you and the Intern. It's just something I'm doing."

"I'm not doing the intern."

"You wish though."

Arianne rolls her eyes, regardless of what Zayn says being right or wrong, she doesn't like having the attention entirely on her.

"Well, should I come back after lunch?" Arianne asks, standing up while Zayn dumps the contents of their scrabble board into the beaten up box. He sighs, "No, I don't think so. It's group after and then we're doing some kind of activity together for the evening. Not sure how that's going to go, but I figured I should at least participate this time."

"Oh, okay." Arianne nods, "Well maybe I'll come back tomorrow."

"I'll be here." Zayn smiles. "And Ari, don't be a loser. Just text the guy back."