Take Care. [Zayn Malik Fic] (ON HOLD)

Eating Out

Along at the table we’re sitting at, two girls join us. I can tell by their fluid and sure movement that these two weren’t fans. One has medium length brown hair, and the other has olive skin and long curly hair. “Oh, I forgot to introduce you.” Louis says. “Taj, this,” — he points to the brown haired girl — “is my girlfriend Eleanor.”

“And this,” — Liam says, pointing to the olive-skinned one, — “is my girlfriend Danielle.”

“Hi Danielle, hi Eleanor.” I say, waving.

“Hi there, uh, Taj is it?” Eleanor says.

“Yeah.”

“Cool name. Like the Taj Mahal. Heh. Mine’s boring.”

“Zayn, why didn’t you bring Perrie along?” Danielle asks. Wait, wait, wait, hold up.

“Who’s Perrie?” I say quickly, not even noticing that I had made a mistake.

“Uh, she’s a friend of mine. And I didn’t call her because I — well, we were so busy picking up little miss blondie over here,” he says, pointing to me. So suddenly this is my fault. Okay.

Finally, the waitress comes to take our order. “Hello, my name’s Marcie, how can I help you today?” she says eagerly. She must be a fan.

“Hi, can I get a mushroom & halloumi burger?” Liam says.

“I’ll have the same,” says Danielle; Eleanor agrees.“Me too.”

“We’ll all have the same thing,” Harry firmly says. I pipe up, since I’m not hungry at all. “Not me,” I say.

“What would you like?” says Marcie.

“Um, I think I’ll just have a water.”

“Okay, so that’s 7 mushroom burgers and 1 water?”

“Correct.”

“Okay, that’ll be £42.50. I’ll bring your food out a little later.”

“Thanks.”

There’s a bit of a silence at the table for a while. Finally, Danielle speaks. “So, uh, Taj, where are you from?”

“I’m from Essex,” I say, lying. “But I’ve, erm, lived in London my whole life.” Yeah, sure. Lived.

“Well you sure are a beaut,” Eleanor says, and I can feel myself blushing. “And I, personally, think you and Zayn would look absolutely cute together.” She whispers. Wow. Thanks.

“What?” Zayn asks, apparently hearing his name brought up in the conversation.

“Oh, nothing.”

“What do you think of the boys so far?” Danielle says. “Are they being—” she starts to whisper “— arseholes?” she says, chuckling.

“I heard that,” Liam says.

“No, they’re, um, fine. They’re quite the gentlemen, actually.”

The two girls gasp in mock horror, then laugh. “We’re just kidding. They’re very nice to us, too. But Louis told me that you were sharing a room with him and Harry, what’s that like?”

“Oh, it’s—”

“Great,” says Harry, finishing my sentence. “She’s…quite the roommate.” He says, grasping my hand in his. I squiggle my hand free.

“Ooh, I sense a fling coming on,” Eleanor mumbles.

“Oh, shush, El,” Danielle says, “They most likely don’t fancy each other. Isn’t that right?”