I woke up the next morning wrapped in Zayn's arms as always, it was starting to become habit. He was already awake and had been watching me sleep. He looked at me with his caramel colored eyes like I was the most precious thing in the world and I loved it, it made me feel special, wanted; something I never thought I would feel in a million years.
"What time is it?" I mumbled against his chest.
"About nine." He cooed into my ear.
"I should probably get going then..." I groaned as I stretched my body.
"Noo" he whined as he pulled me in and held me tighter.
"I told Louis I would meet him at eleven and I still have to go home and shower.
"You can shower here, I have one."
"Yes but I would still have to go to my house for clothes."
"I have those too!"
"Zayn, I actually have to look nice today, while I'm out I'm going to meet with the manager of the store I'll be helping, I can't exactly show up in an old t-shirt and sweats of yours, I have to look like I know what I'm doing."
"What store that you'll be helping? What?"
"There's a store downtown that sells Vera Wang evening wear and their sales are a little low so Vera has been talking about pulling her line from their store but she wants me to try and whip them into shape before she does, she wants to give them every opportunity she can because they've worked with her for years."
"If she's worked with them for years then why is it a problem all of a sudden, shouldn't she have walked away awhile ago?"
"The store just went under management change, the parents passed away and now the son manages the store and he doesn’t know what he's doing so sales have plummeted."
"How did you get elected for this job?"
"I helped a store in San Francisco that was having the same problem."
"Ok…well why did you help the store in San Francisco?"
"Because Vera asked me to."
"How do you know Vera?"
"Her company is based in New York I did an internship as her assistant one summer and she hired me on as her first assistant after the internship was over."
"So you have a job here now?"
"Yeah, that's the great thing about working in the fashion industry, no matter where you go in the world, you always have a job. Now I really have to go."
"Fine." He huffed.
I stood up and gave him a quick kiss before I rushed out the door to get home. When I got there, no one was home, so I didn't have to deal with Lacey's attitude today. I took a quick shower because I knew that picking out an outfit would be difficult. I had to find something that was casual enough for a day of shopping, but professional enough to meet with the new manager, while still looking cute. I finally decided on a black and white dress with red trim and some black ballet flats. An hour and a half after I got home I was rushing out the door to meet Louis at the cafe we decided on. When I walked in he was already there.
"Hey, sorry I'm a little late."
"You're only one minute late."
"Yeah but in my world, five minutes early is on time and on time is ten minutes late."
"That doesn’t make sense."
"Well it does to me."
"But how can you go from being on time to ten minutes late in a matter of five minutes?"
"Because you just can. What were you thinking about getting El?"
"Well I have something picked out at a jewelry store I'm just having second thoughts about it and I would like your opinion."
"Yeah no problem."
"Do you want to grab lunch first and then I can show you?"
"Sure sounds great."
We ordered food from the cafe and Louis brought up the topic of family.
"So you have five siblings?" he asked.
"Yupp." I confirmed.
"You're the oldest right?"
"Yeah."
"Do they get on your nerves all the time?"
"Only the snotty 14 year old."
"Yeah I get that." he laughed.
"Yeah but you grew up with your sisters, I didn’t even know my siblings existed until I walked into their house."
"What?"
"Yeah my dad never told me about them."
"That's crazy."
"Yeah well seeing as he was still with my mom when my first three siblings were born, I can understand why he never said anything."
"So they aren't like step siblings? They're actually related to you."
"Yupp. They’re all my half siblings. My brother was born when I was 2 my sister when I was 4 my other brother when I was 6 and my dad didn’t leave my mom and I until I was 8."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"How do you feel about that?"
"You sound like a therapist." I laughed.
"Sorry. But seriously, what do you think of that?"
"Well it didn’t really hurt when I thought he had just left us but now that I know he straight up chose another family over us, it kinda hurts, and I can’t really voice any of that because I have to share a house with him, it's not like I can just leave."
"That sucks. But at least your dad came back into your life because he was worried about you."
"I honestly don’t think it had anything to do with being worried about me, he hasn’t paid a speck of attention to me since I got here and hasn’t cared that I've been spending every night out. I think he just wanted to stick it to my mother and show that he’s a better parent."
"Well then you just have to show him how fabulous you are and show him that he should've paid attention to you a long time ago."
"Thanks."
We finished eating and paid our bill before heading to the jewelry store to see the present he was thinking about getting El. We walked in and he went straight to the necklace he wanted to get. It reminded me of the necklace Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
"What do you think?"
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
"She'll hate it."
"Wow don't spare my feelings or anything."
"Sorry but you're overdoing it, stop trying so hard. Just look around and when you see something that makes you think of her, get it."
"But-"
"Look around!"
He stopped when he came to an emerald necklace that was much simpler than the other but still had a wow factor.
"What about this?" he asked holding it up.
"Much better, simple but beautiful, much more El's style." I responded.
"Thank you for helping me."
"No problem."
"Do you mind if I head out so I can spend the rest of the day with El?"
"Go for it!"
He left and I went to meet with the manager of the store I was going to help while I was in London. It wasn’t as bad as I had expected, he just didn’t know how to keep records that well and wasn’t that good of a salesman. But those are things that can be taught so it should only take a few days before the store is in shape again. When I was done I decided to surprise Zayn by stopping by. I knocked on his door and I could hear him rushing around the flat to try and get to the door, there was a loud bang and a string of curses before the door flung open.
“Hey!” he smiled.
“Are you ok?” I asked concerned.
“Yeah just stubbed my toe on the coffee table. What are you doing here? I thought you were shopping with Lou.”
“I was but he already knew what he wanted to get El he just needed some guidance in the right direction. Then he left to go hang out with her.”
“So you decided to stop by?”
“Yeah, I figured we could have an afternoon quickie.” I said with a wink as I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him softly. His eyes widened as I pulled away. “I’m kidding relax.” I said as I moved away and plopped down on the couch.
“Good.” He sighed in relief. “I don’t exactly want our first time together to be rushed.” He said as he sat down next to me.
“No?” I feigned surprise.
“No. I want it to be special, just like you.” He replied wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close to his chest.
“Look at you getting all sappy.”
“Shut up.” He chuckled.
“So what are we watching?”
“I was watching a football match but we can change it.”
“No it’s fine, continue watching.”
“Really? You’ll watch a football match with me?”
“Yeah. I mean I can’t promise to enjoy it or even pay attention but by all means continue watching.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
A few hours later the match was over and Zayn turned off the TV.
“Dinner?” he asked.
“Do you even have to ask?”
“Haha. Guess not. So you want to stay in or go out?”
“Stay in.”
“OK. Cook or order in?”
“Cook. But let me do it this time, we don’t want to burn the house down.”
“Hey now!”
“Just hush, and stay out of the kitchen.”
I scrounged up the ingredients to make some chicken with spinach, feta and red pepper sauce. It only took about 30 minutes to make before I was calling Zayn into the dining room.
“Wow babe, this looks amazing! I had the stuff to make this?” He exclaimed.
“Yeah, I know it looks pretty and complicated but it’s one of the easiest things in the world to make and there’s only like five ingredients.” I explained.
“Well I never would’ve been able to make it.”
“Probably not, no.” I teased.
He just scoffed before sitting down at the table and eating. We talked a little more about his day and we ate some in silence. But it wasn’t an awkward silence, just comfortable. When we were done eating he insisted on cleaning up, saying that I cooked so he would clean and I had to sit and relax. I waited for him in the living room flipping through channels on TV. When he was done he sat down next to me and we cuddled for a little while before heading up to bed.
“OK so I have something for you.” Zayn said as we walked into the bedroom.
“You have something for me?” I questioned.
“Yeah, it’s nothing big but it’s the thought that counts right?”
“Right! So where is it?”
“Top right hand drawer of the dresser.” He responded sitting on the bed.
“Do I have to find it or something?”
“Kind of yeah, open the drawer.”
I made my way of to the dresser and opened the indicated drawer finding it completely empty,
“Zayn, there’s nothing in here.”
“Exactly.”
“What?” I asked, now thoroughly confused.
“That’s your present.”
“Huh?”
“Oh my gosh, the drawer is your present, I’m giving you your own drawer!” He explained, slightly irritated at my confusion.
“”You’re giving me a drawer?” I asked as a smile crept over my face, this time I wasn’t confused, just shocked.
“Yeah, I mean you’re spending so much time here, I figured you could use a place to put your stuff.”
I leaped forward and flung my arms around his neck, attaching my lips to his to express my appreciation. The kiss was soft and sweet, yet passionate and heated. After a few minutes Zayn pulled away smirking.
“I take it you like your present?”
“I love it!”
I changed into one of his t-shirts to sleep in and he started to pull me into bed. I wriggled out form his grasp heading over to my discarded clothing and began folding it.
“What are you doing?” he chuckled.
“I’m folding my clothes to put them in my drawer!” I explained.
“Haha. You are so weird.”
“Yeah but you like it!” I winked.
“Yeah,” he sighed lovingly as he waited for me to come to bed.
I turned out the light and crawled into bed next to him snuggling my face into his chest. His arms wrapped around me and I felt like this was the best place in the world to be. My mind was drifting off to sleep and before I knew it my mouth was acting without my brain’s permission.
“I love you,” I sighed into his chest. My whole body tensed up as I realized what I had said. My heart raced and panic was starting to set in. What if he wasn’t ready to her that? How would he react? Did I just totally screw things up for myself? It wouldn’t be the first time. After what felt like a few minutes but was probably more like a few seconds he finally responded.
“Love you too.” He sighed pulling me in closer.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding and my body relaxed. I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal, he felt the same way. I had freaked out over nothing. I settled down and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, happy with the way my night had gone.