Zephaniah // z.m

Thirty

Hannah

Waking up, I felt much better than I had been feeling for the past few days. After we had bought the things we needed at the store, we came back home, cooked dinner and ate and I went back home so we could start early today.

He had been nothing but nice towards me yesterday, and although I still didn't really understand, I tried to shrug those thoughts off and enjoy the moments he was acting the way I'd like him to.

I pushed the duvets off me and got out of bed, cringing when my warm bare feet hit the cold floor. I stepped into my warm grey slippers and walked over to my wardrobe, picking out a red sweater and denim jeans as they were both slightly older.

And knowing how clumsy I could be at times, I was definitely going to mess my clothes with paint or whatsoever.

I took a quick shower, put on my clothes and very natural make up before moving on to breakfast, cuddling Cooper as he greeted me downstairs.

I slowly ate my breakfast, staring at Cooper as I did so. "I wonder how much more you know about Zeph than I do," I mumbled to myself, knowing Zephaniah didn't have trouble talking to Cooper at all. Would he share the things that bothered him? His feelings? The things that happened at school?

Cooper wiggled his tail and rested his head on my lap. I kissed his nose and kept petting him for a while, "You like him, huh?" He wiggled his tail harder and I smiled.

"Give me your paw," I said clearly. Cooper whined and laid down on the floor, "Oh, come on! What makes you listen to a seven years old and not to me?!" I exclaimed, pouting.

"You're something else," I mumbled, placing my dishes in the dishwasher and running upstairs to brush my teeth.

Once I was done, I locked the door, climbed into my car and drove off towards Zayn's house, arriving about twenty minutes later.

When I stepped out of my car, I noticed that the curtains were still closed, no sign of life downstairs in the living room either. I glanced at my watch, frowning when I saw it was almost nine am. We had agreed to start that time.

My frown faded when I heard shower water running when I approached his door, his voice quietly singing along with some music.

I smiled by myself and unlocked the door with the keys he gave me, quietly entering, but then deciding to close the door a bit louder, so he would know I was there.

It worked, because soon his singing stopped and the sound of running water faded. I heard a few drawers opening and closing, the door unlocking and opening but I decided to keep it safe and stay downstairs, until he'd come himself.

After I had neatly put away my own stuff, I sat down on the couch and secretly prayed for him to be in the same good mood as yesterday, because honestly, you'd never know with him.

He came downstairs a few minutes later, his hair looking extremely fluffy and rather long, as it almost covered his eyes. His beard was freshly shaved and I could smell the aftershave he wore from where I was sitting.

"Hey," I said, my hands starting to feel clammy. I didn't really know why, but I somehow felt like what I was doing was wrong. I was Zephaniah's caregiver, and I would be alone with his father the whole week long.

He asked for it, so it shouldn't be a bad thing, but why did it feel like it? His looks surely didn't really help.

"Helloo," Zayn sang quietly, running his fingers through his hair to remove his fringe from his eyes. "Sorry 'bout being late. The warm water didn't want me to leave," He mumbled as he pulled his paint splattered jeans further up his slim waist.