...We're made to love
(But) you're dangerous
You're dangerous, you're dangerous
For both of us.
- "Dangerous" || The Neighbourhood
__________
"He's like, really good."
"He's like, really hot."
Zayn laughs softly. His arm's around Anais' waist, and she's pressed against his side, the both of them lounging in a booth at the club Jesse and his band are playing at as Anais' friend, Magdalena, stares open-mouthed and wide-eyed at his friend upon the stage.
"Why don't you go talk to him, then?" Anais implores.
"And say what?" She snorts in response. " 'Hi. Um, I'm the freak who you don't know that's followed you on Instagram and also possibly stalked your Facebook so I know your birthday and place of birth and also what your mother looks like! We should date!' " And her face falls. "Stop laughing, Zayn."
Anais pokes him. "You're really pretty awful about that, tonight."
"I'm sorry," he exclaims with wide eyes. "But, you've got to admit," he nods, "that was really very funny."
"See? My life is a joke."
"It's not, Mags."
"You know it is, Ana. Honestly, I should be the star of a reality show so at least I get paid for this constant struggle."
Zayn looks away, hoping that neither girl notices the smile playing on his face.
Anais rolls her eyes. "Oh my god, you're so dramatic."
Zayn leans towards her. "Says you?" He whispers, but Magdalena catches that and giggles.
She shrugs. "He's right."
"Hush," Anais replies, staring between the two of them. "You're both not helping."
"Helping what?" Zayn exclaims.
"Me live happily ever after," Magdalena replies. "I mean, all I want is for me to make my way into Jesse Rutherford's heart and him into my bed like," she pauses as her words catch Zayn off guard and he chokes again on a laugh. "Like, is that really too much to ask?"
"Is this really how you all talk on a daily basis?" He asks, eyes bright with interest even beneath the darkened ambiance of the club. They've been going on like this since they met up and it's seriously amusing him.
Anais nods. "Unfortunately."
"Yep," agrees Magdalena. "This is, 90% of the time how our conversations typically tend to go."
"It's why we're so interesting," Anais says, flashing him a grin. "It's also why you're having such a great time with us right now."
At that, Zayn only shrugs.
"Uh huh," Anais nods smugly. "Thought so."
A part of him would never admit that he's actually had a wonderful time tonight. When it was just him and Anais at dinner well, obviously he'd enjoyed himself, because there were no nerves and the two of them found themselves laughing and teasing and talking as if they were in one of the other's apartments after classes.
So, when it was time to leave the restaurant and meet Magdalena at the club, Zayn had, yes, well, he'd been hesitant. Why ruin a perfect night, right? Why risk losing Anais to one of her friends?
Except, he hadn't.
Anais had remained 'his,' and she'd stuck to his side and the night had remained about them. It was an added bonus that Magdalena was dry and witty and she and Anais together had been cracking him up since they'd all met up at the club.
"Look! Look, they're finishing up! He's coming down from the stage."
"Go!" Anais exclaims. "Go talk to him, then."
Magdalena rises from her seat, leaning towards her and Zayn. "You've got to come with me, though."
"Mags! No!"
"Please, Anais! It'll be so weird if I go by myself."
"Aren't you in class with him, though?"
"Only one and he barely comes!"
"But, he knows you?"
"I don't even know, man! He's like, hot and mysterious and shit. C'mon, Ana, please?"
"C'mon, love," Zayn says in her ear, tapping her thigh. "Let's go."
Anais whirls around, shocked. "Really?"
Zayn shrugs. "I doubt she'll let off if you don't go with her."
"Yes! God, Anais," Magdalena sighs, "you're so lucky. I want a 'Zayn.'"
He chuckles, brow furrowing. "Thank you...?"
She shoots him a wink. "You're welcome."
"Eew, you freak," laughs Anais, looking between the two of them. "Zayn, did you notice how both of her eyes closed?"
"Hey, shut up! You know I'm terrible at winking."
"Then why'd you even try it?"
"I wanted to. Shit, Anais. Rate my effort, okay."
"Okay, whatever," Anais says, shaking her head. "Zayn," she says, turning to face him as he chuckles silently behind her, "I don't even know Jesse. I'm literally only going to make this more awkward."
"I know him," he says, and he cracks a smile as Magdalena fist pumps in the air. "C'mon," he takes her hand, leading her and Magdalena towards the bar, where the boys are headed from the stage. "I'll introduce you, yeah?"
And Anais peers over her shoulder at Magdalena, who's flashing her a gigantic smile and pointing at Zayn behind his back, mouthing, "HE IS SO GREAT I AM SCREAMING."
And Anais only laughs, shaking her head as Zayn leads them straight up to the bar and right up to Jesse.
He catches sight of them immediately.
"What the fuck?!" Jesse exclaims, slapping his open palm against the bar. He nudges the boy to his right. "Zach! Zach, look who the fuck it is, man."
And the boys enter fluidly into conversation.
"Yo," laughs Zach. "Look who's crawled from beneath his hole to see us, eh?"
Jesse laughs harder, straw between his teeth as Jesse jumps from his stool to greet Zayn. "It's fuckin'..." Zach holds out his arms, shaking them, "It's Zayn, man!"
"Shut up, you prick," he exclaims as the boys rush him, clapping him on the back and laughing amongst themselves.
Magdalena grabs Anais' arm, gripping her hand. "I'm dying," she whispers. "I'm just - gah, I think I'm going to cry they're just so...All of them, they're so hot I can't..."
"Really though," Jesse nods, missing the way Anais is snorting, poorly masking her laugh. "What's got you out tonight?"
Zayn fights a smile, tongue lingering in the corner between his lips. "Figured it was about time, yeah?"
"Oh yeah?" And his eyes flicker to Anais. "How were we then for your date night entertainment?"
He shrugs, turning to her with low lids and a lazy smile.
Anais heart thuds as his eyes meet hers.
"How 'bout you ask Ana?" He suggests, holding out his arm to her, and dragging Magdalena behind her, Anais slips beneath his outstretched limb, melding into his side.
"Anas, this's Jesse and that's Zach. Guys, this is Anais and her friend Magdalena."
"Pleasure to meet you," Jesse grins, and he rolls out his hand, bowing before them.
The girls giggle, and Zach steps forward. "One day," he says to Anais, "I'll have to ask what you did to get 'im out of the house."
"What?" Anais exclaims. "Zayn? Antisocial? Y'don't say?"
"Hey," he groans as Zach of course laughs aloud. "Thought you were nicer to me than that."
"She'll make it up to you," Zach says before Anais can respond. He shoots her a quick wink, noting how she's suddenly become an extension of Zayn himself, she's tucked so tightly against him; and Zayn doesn't exactly seem to be complaining. "I can tell."
Zayn's sporting a little smile that slowly transforms into a mischievous smirk. "I don't, know, Zach, Anais - "
"Suggests that you don't finish that statement," she finishes, rolling her eyes as the two boys beside her break out into laughter.
"Right," Anais snorts, watching Zayn flinch as she pokes his side. "And look," she whispers, pointing discreetly towards Magdalena, who's tracing the tattoos along Jesse's hands. "Look at whatever that is."
"Job well done," Zayn whispers.
She startles him by placing a quick kiss against his unshaven cheek. "I'd say it was a team effort," she whispers back.
"Ooh, whispering," Zach says, leaning in towards the two. "I want in, too."
Anais laughs aloud. "It's a secret," she responds. "Sorry."
"Oh, that fuckin' blows, Ana," he replies. "First, I'm left out of a kiss and a now, a secret?" He pouts. "I'd say you owe me one."
"I'd say," Anais says, "that you remind me a lot of my friend Cara."
"Is she hot like you?"
And before she can respond, Zayn tugs her aside.
"What was that?" She exclaims. "I love your friends."
"Well, I'd say, um, you probably shouldn't start meddling in relationships, Anais."
"But, look!" Anais exclaims, pointing again at Jesse and Magdalena, "Look at the good I've done."
"Um, that like, we've done?"
"Yes, Zayn," she chuckles. "So we should help out Zach," she grins, "right?"
Zayn scrubs his face with both hands. "I don't know if this is a great idea..."
"What?" She pouts. "The least I can do is give him her number, right?"
"That is the least," he replies. "But, like, you're the girl who ends up doing the most."
She slaps him playfully. "Hey!"
"I'm right, aren't I?"
"Look, all I'm saying's that friendship is the most valuable ship of all, okay?"
He laughs and it comes out a bit high-pitched because he honestly can't understand how Anais says half of the things she does. "What?"
Anais joins in. "Look," she sighs, "I'll be right back," she whispers in his ear.
And his smile falls into a slight frown. "Where are you going?"
"Bathroom," she sings, holding up her purse. "I'd take Mags but," she shrugs, eyeing her friend as she flirts with Jesse, "I'm a better friend than that."
Zayn grins. "You're like, a saint, Anais."
"Tell me something I don't know," comes her reply, and she wriggles away from him, evading his fingertips as he attempts to pull her closer. "Be right back, okay?"
And his eyes grow darker beneath the club lights. "Don't be gone long."
"I won't," she grins, hurrying away to the toilets as Zayn rejoins Zach at the bar.
And true to her word, Anais quickly enters and exits the stall and stands at the sink, washing her hands.
And she's not alone.
"Oh," comes a voice. "Didn't see you there."
Anais turns. "No problem."
She comes face to face with a blonde with sparkling blue eyes.
The girl frowns. "I know you," she says.
"Really?" Asks Anais.
The girl nods. "You're that girl," she snaps her fingers. "Your Zayn's new girlfriend, aren't you?"
Now, Anais recognizes her. It's Perrie, the girl from the little pub.
It's Zayn's ex.
"Well," Anais shrugs, because she wouldn't exactly classify herself as a 'girlfriend' just yet. "I don't - "
"Want some advice?" Perrie asks, stepping beside her to use the sink.
Anais almost laughs. She snorts a bit, instead. "Advice?"
Perrie nods. "I'm gonna let you in on a secret," she says, eyes low, swaying a bit. "Careful..." At once Anais realizes that she's drunk.
Perrie shuts off the water, grabbing for the paper towels. "It's not worth it," she whispers, raising a shaky hand to the side of her mouth.
"What?"
"Zayn. You. Him," Perrie wrinkles her nose as if tasting something sour. "S'really not."
Anais is quiet for a beat.
"Why?"
Perrie laughs aloud. Deep and throaty and raspy, she plants her palm against the wall to keep from toppling over.
"'Cause," she exclaims, "let me tell you, hun, he'll only break your heart," and her smile falls. "Believe me, I know."
And Perrie giggles again, pointing at Anais' expression. "You're surprised? Shocked, are you, love?" She giggles harder. "Bad boys, Anais," she whispers, and Ana did not know that this girl knew her name. "They're all the same, lovie. Literally, every single one of 'em."
"Well," Anais says, fixing herself in the mirror and drying her hands. "Thanks a lot, darling, but -"
"But?" Perrie shakes her head. "S'fine, really. Just thought you oughtta know."
"Thanks," Anais replies tersely. "But - "
And she can't finish the thought, because Perrie's dropped a heavy hand on her shoulder, bringing here face closer and closer to her own. "Us girls," she begins, "we're all we've got, and - "
"Pez! Fuck, we've been lookin' all over for you!"
And Perrie's hand falls from Anais' shoulder. "Jesy, I told ya' I was comin' here."
Jesy only shakes her head of thick, curly brown hair as she grabs Perrie's hand. "Sorry 'bout that," she apologizes to Anais, who is more than shocked.
"No problem," she replies, watching the two girls exit the bathroom.
With a shake of her head, Anais quickly finishes up, practically jogging from the bathroom and running right into Zayn.
"Whoa, love," he exclaims, reaching out to grab her. "Y'alright?"
She nods, a bit out of breath. "Uh huh."
But those caramel-colored eyes are searching her own. "Y'sure?" He nods behind her. "What was all that?"
"Oh," she shakes her head, because how does she even begin to describe the encounter she'd just had?
She shakes her head more vigorously. "Nothing."
He frowns, noting how she seems reluctant to look him in the eyes. "What's the matter, Anais?"
"Nothing!" She exclaims, forcing a smile.
She grabs his hand. "I'm a girl," she sighs. "Therefore, I naturally take longer in the bathroom than you ever will," she grins because he's smiling.
"You're ready, then?" He asks, and she nods, kissing him quickly beneath his jaw where she can reach.
"Yep," she says, and he squeezes her hand. "If you are."
-~*~-
Perrie and Lucky just ruining things all day guys.
Lol.
Time out though I love Jesse and Zach! <3
Gif of Jesse.
Comment and vote!
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. <3