If I were to take the lead
Teach me how to turn the key
Tell me how to set you free.
Now it's all coming true
What's a boy supposed to do
With a girl, a girl like you.
- "Coming True" || Guards
_____
Think you could possibly do me a huge favor?
And what the hell would THAT be?
Jesse's band is playing at a club tmrrw
Pls come
Tomorrow is friday and clubs are crowded!
PLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
GET CHANEL OR CARA OR SOMEONE WHO IS NOT ME
ANA PLSSSSSSSS?
And I need you to come so I don't look lik e a stalker
You ARE A stalker mags!!!!
IM LONELY ANAIS PLEASE LET ME FIND LOVE LIKE YOU
Anais laughs aloud.
"What?" Asks Zayn.
Anais only shakes her head, eyes falling back to her phone. "Magdalena," she replies, a slight chuckle and a little sigh escaping her lips.
Zayn inadvertently frowns.
Anais has too many friends.
They're everywhere, he realizes.
From Louis to Soo to Cara to Lucky to the whole other group of very beautiful girls and (fucking unfortunately kind of maybe) attractive guys, Zayn is realizing that the world of beauty that Anais is so thoroughly a part of, he, himself, does not belong.
And more and more he's been thinking lately that maybe it won't work.
This thing between them.
Maybe the universe has a twisted sense of humor, in putting the two together. Maybe it was for him to lose his mind, sitting next to a beautiful girl with big brown eyes in a night class he should have never signed up for in the first place.
Maybe it won't work.
Except when he thinks that, another voice in his head tells him that it does. It does work.
Maybe they're just too different.
Except that voice says they're not. They're not that different and he's well aware.
Maybe its just a crush.
Maybe it's just a slight infatuation that he'll get over soon, yeah?
Maybe they can just be friends.
Except it's the way he smiles each time he hears her name, or the way she cheers him up after a shit day, or the inescapable discomfort that overcomes him each time she's with another guy. It's the way his heart beats harder when she lays against him or the way his friends tease him for lighting up each time he notices her in a room. It's Anais, and even he can't make himself believe that he doesn't have feelings for this new but prominent fixture in his life.
It's Anais, and even Zayn can't make himself believe that this girl doesn't make him forget that there are other girls who exist, too.
And lately, Anais has been extra busy.
The pattern of not seeing her has continued, unfortunately.
She hasn't been around, and Zayn's mind has conjured up nearly nothing but thoughts of her. During the day when he's not with her he thinks of her. When he finally gets to see her at night on Wednesday's or at night after a shoot or at night after she's left the library, and she sits in his apartment with him and the boys when they're home, and she laughs and snuggles against him and tells them all about her day and her friends and she complains about her homework and her lack of sleep, he sits there and listens and laughs and his friends end up teasing him because apparently his infatuation shines through his eyes or something and the boys tease him relentlessly because he's started to dread that time she decides to return to her apartment and sleep or pretend to do homework as she says or eat or whatever - and Louis especially won't let up on him about the way he pouts because when she leaves it means that another stretch of time will go without him seeing her - and Zayn hates it because when she's away he misses her and when he's with her he's in love and that, the feeling of falling head first for another person; the feeling of drowning in emotion and not realizing it until you're alone; the feeling of handing your heart over to someone else and praying they won't drop it, well, that feeling pretty much sucks.
And that's what's scary.
It's scary, because Anais is busy.
It's scary, because Anais is constantly surrounded by other guys who she could have if she wanted.
It's scary, because Anais is beautiful and funny and well-known and well-liked and it's terrifying, because the choice is entirely in her hands.
It's terrifying, because Zayn wants her to choose him.
"Zayn? Zayn, are you alright?"
He looks up. "Huh? Uh, yeah," he replies, although Anais is frowning since he was just frowning, chin on his wrist, gaze fixed out the window of the little cafe he'd taken her for breakfast that Anais now frequents instead of Nero. "Yeah," he fixes a small grin onto his face. "M'fine, love."
Anais' brow is still furrowed. "Are you sure?"
He hums, and as she opens her mouth to continue, he reaches out and grabs her hand. "Please tell me you don't have plans this weekend?"
Anais pauses.
It's the beginning of February and New York City is buried in snow.
"I don't," she replies slowly, dragging out the 'o.'
His face lights up.
She grimaces. "Well..."
"Ugh," Zayn groans, slipping his hand from hers to run it across his face. "God, what is it, Anais?"
She sighs. "Magdalena wants me to go with her to some place where Jesse," she pauses, lifting a brow, "you know Jesse Rutherford?"
Zayn nods. "I do."
They were quite good friends, actually.
"So you know his band is playing tomorrow night?"
Zayn nods again. "They play every Friday," he chuckles. "S'like, not new actually."
Anais frowns, chewing on her lip. "Oh," she says.
And Zayn sits back in his chair. A slight smirk is on his face as Anais' mouth fixes into a slight pout.
He's watching the way her brows furrow, creasing in the center, lips tugged down at the ends.
It's cute.
She's cute.
She's honestly so cute.
And a little giggle escapes his lips.
Anais' eyebrow raises sharply. "Did you just giggle?"
He leans towards her. "Nope."
She seems very unconvinced. "I swear I just heard a little giggle."
"Maybe you're hearing things," he smirks, and he leans forward more, a boyish grin on his face. "Let's go."
"Where?" Anais laughs, shocked.
"To the club," he says matter-of-factly. "Tomorrow night. You and me," he taps his rings against the table. "Let's go."
"To see Jesse?"
He nods, fueled by some spurt of excitement. "We can get dinner first, yeah? And then like, we can go see him, for your friend," he adds. "But, tomorrow's for us, okay? Like, tell your friends you're not leavin' my side 'cause tomorrow night you're mine."
And Anais stares, mouth slightly agape.
Zayn from the first week of classes would not have called her 'his.'
"Okay."
Zayn smirks. "Okay?"
"Okay," Anais laughs. "Okay, Zayn," she replies. "That sounds like fun. Let's do it."
He turns his head. "Do 'what,' Anais?"
She laughs again, eyes rolling around the shop. "Okay, tomorrow I'm yours , then."
He grins, chuckling as people shoot them quick glances throughout the shop.
"Mine, yeah?" He nods, rubbing his chin. "Think I could get used to the sound of that, actually."
"You know," Anais hums, lifting her cup of tea, "I think I could, too."
Zayn's heart beats happily, and he smiles one of those smiles that's got all teeth and squinted eyes.
Anais grins. "You're so cute," she sighs, eyes moving from his own to her tea.
He pauses, laughing nervously. "What?"
"You're adorable," she replies truthfully, and Zayn hasn't really heard those words since he lived with his sisters and his mum.
"Really," she says. She holds her cup, suspended in the air between her fingertips, "It makes me so happy. You're so adorable, Zayn."
Perrie definitely never called him 'adorable.'
He laughs a bit, mostly out of shock. "What?" He asks.
She hums, sipping her tea. She meets his eyes with her own.
Anais nods. "Adorable. Like a little kitten. Meow."
"Alright, so um, now I'm feeling a bit differently about you calling me 'cute.'"
"Kidding, kidding," she laughs. "But, honestly," she says. "You should really see you sometime."
Zayn scoots forward. He leans across the table, wishing there wasn't wood and tea cups between them; wishing he could touch her.
"I think you're the cute one," he shrugs. "Way cuter than me."
"Cute like a blood-thirsty shark or something similar, maybe."
He laughs. "What does that even mean, Anais?"
"I dunno," she laughs. "Sometimes I think I just talk and let the words form themselves."
"So, you calling me 'cute,' wasn't premeditated then?" He pouts. "Should I be offended?"
"Oh, no," she says with a shake of her head. "I've been thinking that thought for a while, now. You were just extra cute today, so I had to share." She shrugs. "Felt like the right time to let you know."
A smiles grows on his face. "So, you were flirting with me then, huh? Because, y'know," he shrugs, "I'd like to fully and completely understand what just happened."
Anais laughs. "Maybe," she shrugs nonchalantly. "So what if I was? Sure doesn't make you any less adorable."
He laughs aloud. Running his hand through his hair, he shakes his head. "Where did you come from, Anais?"
She smiles, pointing her eyes to the ceiling and shrugging cutely. "I dunno," she sings. "You tell me."
And Zayn wants, in that moment, nothing more but to hold her. He wants her against him like she's beside him on his couch. He wants to feel her skin beneath his fingers or her lips...
"Have anywhere to be?" He asks at once.
Anais shakes her head, sipping the last of her tea.
"You're sure?" He prods. "Like, you're out of classes?"
Anais laughs aloud. "Yep. Can you believe it? For once I've got nothing left to do for the day."
"No more Diego?"
She giggles, shaking her head. "No more Diego, Zayn."
Zayn slaps money on the table. "Let's go, then."
"Where?" Asks Anais incredulously, watching as Zayn shrugs on his coat and hat and scarf.
"Anywhere," he grins, offering her a hand with her things. "Anywhere you want, love."
"Okay," she says slowly, because she's surprised by Zayn's spontaneity today, although she's got to admit, she likes it.
He smirks, mimicking her confusion. "Okay," he repeats, slipping his arms around her waist.
"Zayn," Anais laughs as he kisses her. Her grin is against his lips. "What's with you, today?"
"What?" He asks as he peppers kisses across her face.
"Zayn!" She exclaims, wriggling beneath his grasp. "Zayn, stop!"
"No," he replies, ignoring her and the looks and whispers coming from the few others in the shop.
"Please?" She pouts. "People are staring."
"I don't care," he mutters, before he attaches his lips to hers.
And before Anais can get lost in him, she pulls away. "Alright," she laughs, sucking in air. "Alright, alright, c'mon, then. Let's go."
Zayn slips his fingers between hers after kissing her again (because why not?), and leads her from the cafe.
But, then again, maybe it won't work.
Maybe they're just too different.
It could just be a crush.
Or a slight infatuation that he'll get over soon, yeah?
Maybe they can just be friends.
Yeah.
Right.
-~*~-
Yay a real date yayyyyyyyY!!!!
Excited for this next chapter?
I AM SO YOU SHOULD BE.
Is this true about Perrie and Zayn actually getting married or is this just wrong again? I'M CURIOUS.
Love you guys. Comment and vote xx.