Chapter 26
Arianna's POV~
Zayn looked so excited, you could see it in his eyes.
I could always tell when he was happy or sad, and right now I'm sure he couldn't be any happier, and that's what made me worry.
He liked me so much more than I imagined.
His feelings we're deeper for me than I had thought.
The thing was, I'm never going to be able to give back the same amount of feelings he felt for me.
My feelings we're already taken by someone else. I know I was leading him on, but was I really? I had feelings for him too.
My heart just couldn't tell him no.
"Should we eat first?" Zayn asked me, as he pulled his car out of the lot.
I nodded in response, "Yeah, I'm starving!"
"Me too, and I know exactly where to take you." he winked.
"Hmm... and where is that?" I grinned, and he just shrugged, keeping quiet to himself and not telling me where we were going.
This was a date, so I knew already that he was probably taking me to a better restaurant than the usual ones we go to after work almost every night.
But where?
With Zayn, the things he did were so unexpected...
Like how he felt for me. Who knew he thought of me this way?
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
We arrived in front of a cute little restaurant in the middle of the city.
I heard that it was a really, really romantic place for couples to go to.
Wait... did Zayn already see us as a couple?
Nah, I'm jumping to conclusions again.
But the way he's been staring at me lately made me kind think maybe I wasn't. Maybe he already saw us like that.
I don't know if I was ready for it either. Was I?
"Hey, are you okay?" Zayn pulled me back to reality.
I guess I was just standing there in the middle of the parking lot, while Zayn was already way ahead of me.
He stood firm on his feet, his head turned looking at me with a concerned expression on his face, both his hands tucked into his front pockets.
Now that I looked at him as someone I had feelings for, and not just a close friend, he really was hot.
Like bad boy hot.
I couldn't tell you how hot he looked just standing there looking at me with his big dark eyes. He was beautifully sculpted by his creator.
Wow, that was an incredibly weird moment now that I thought about it.
Was I really checking him out just now?
"Arie?" He asked again, his voice a little louder this time.
"Oh, um, yeah- sorry I got a little sidetracked." I giggled to myself silently so he wouldn't hear it.
"You were eyeing me just now, weren't you?" He smirked.
My eyes widened. Crap, he noticed.
"No I wasn't?" I denied him.
"Arie, you're blushing like crazy."
I covered my cheeks with my hands quickly.
"No I'm not! I'm starving, why don't we go in now?" I rushed to the front door.
He shook his head and laughed it off.
He pulled the door open, and while I walked inside, I heard him whisper something to himself that made him chuckle, but I didn't hear. Though I wanted to know what he was thinking.
"Hello! Dinner for two?" A man greeted us.
Zayn nodded and the man led us to our table.
The place was quiet, and a bit dark. I guess that made it more romantic in a sort of way.
I saw couples as we walked to our table.
Was this place only for lovers or what?
Zayn pulled out a chair for me, and I took the seat. "Thank you." I told him.
"You're welcome." he smiled.
We ate our meal, while we talked and laughed about pretty much everything.
Zayn knew exactly how to make me laugh.
Especially when I had food in my mouth, I tried so hard not to accidentally spit it out on him.
That would be bad... and embarassing, but Zayn has seen me do pretty much everything so I don't know if that would be embrassing in front of him anymore.
"Okay, I think I'm full now." I laughed.
Zayn just smiled at me, while I rubbed my hand over my stomach.
"You would still be cute if you we're fat," I widened my eyes at him when he said this.
"Then I guess I have nothing to worry about." I laughed, and so did he.
The waiter finally came back with change for Zayn, and afterwards we we're already out the door.
"Where do you wanna go next?" Zayn asked as we we walked to his car. "I don't want this to be just a meal kind of date... I wanna do something else with you still." He explained, and I kind of blushed at the thought.
He wanted to spend more time with me. And so did I with him.
"Do ya wanna go to the Riverwalk just down the street?" He asked.
It wasn't that far away and it was already getting dark, so I nodded.
Going to the walk by the river...
Can this get anymore romantic?
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Wow..." I said, seeing the water.
It looked so magnificent with the city lights reflecting on it.
Zayn walked beside me as we headed towards the river.
It was nice out, not too cold or too hot. Just perfect.
I saw people around, couples and families laughing together.
I love going here. It made you feel so happy.
"Arie," Zayn showed me his hand. I looked at it confused.
Is he trying to show me something?
"Is your hand okay? What's wrong?" I asked, and he pulled his hand away, shaking his head as he laughed.
"Never mind, you're such a dummy."
"What? Tell me!" I laughed. What was going on?
"Hey, let's get some ice cream." Zayn ignored it, and motioned me to follow me him towards an ice cream booth.
"Two cones please," The man in the booth nodded and prepared our ice cream.
"Zayn, what's wrong with your hand?" I asked, grasping his hand in my two hands to take a look at it.
He shook his head and grinned.
While I looked at his hand, his hand suddenly pushed my other hand off, and his fingers climbed into mine.
He held it tightly, and I took response by holding his.
"Do you get it now?" He raised his eyebrows at me.
I giggled at my dumb realization. "Zayn!" I smacked him gently with my free hand.
"Hey, I'm not the dummy here." He chuckled.
I could feel his thumb rubbing over my fingers as he held my hand.
No one has ever done that before, and I liked it.
"Here you go, sir." The man leaned over and handed both of us our ice cream cones and we held it in our free hands.
Zayn didn't seem like he was going to let go of mine soon, but that was okay because I wanted to hold his hand too.
We walked away from the booth, licking our ice cream.
"Mhmmm!" Zayn moaned.
I laughed so hard because it sounded like he was having an orgasm or something.
Then together we walked towards the river, taking in the view.
After a few minutes of licking, I stopped and started to speak.
"Thanks, Zayn." He looked at me confused when I said this.
"For the ice cream, dummy." I teased.
He widened his eyes at me, his mouth full of ice cream.
"No, thank you actually." He finally spoke.
I looked at him. "Why thank me?" I asked.
He licked his lips and hesitated. "For agreeing to go on a date with me. I know you're probably still not over that other boy.. But whatever I can get from you is enough." He didn't look at me when he spoke.
"So again, thanks."
I rolled my eyes at him.
He had such a tough look but deep inside, he could be the sweetest.
Maybe it was the ice cream taking over? I laughed.
"It's nothing. You shouldn't be thanking me. I have feelings for Niall still, yeah... But I also have feelings for you too, Zayn. You should hate me right now. What I'm doing is wrong." I told him.
His hand tightened his hold on mine.
"Don't think like that. I would never hate you for something as stupid as that." His response kind of shocked me.
He wasn't mad that I loved two guys?
"Because..." he started to speak again, and this time he turned his head to look at me.
His deep brown eyes staring into mine.
"Maybe one day... You'll love me more than him." He said quietly, leaving me quiet.
How was I supposed to reply to that?
"Say something." He says.
But I couldn't. I was too taken over by his eyes.
My stomach had thousands, maybe millions of butterflies flying around in there and they weren't disappearing any time soon.
I smiled a little, dropping my ice cream, and wrapped my arms around him.
Zayn dropped his ice cream too, not caring about that right now, and hugged me back.
"You're such a dummy," He muttered.
I giggled, wanting to be in his arms longer, to be warmed by his body.
He made me feel so protected when he held me like this.
"But I'm in love with this dummy." He whispered, kissing me softly on my cheek, and I giggled into his chest, making my heart beat faster than it already was.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Niall's POV~
"Hello? Dad?" I asked when the phone stopped ringing.
"Yeah it's me. What's the matter, Niall?"
"I need to talk to you... and mom too." I answered.
This was making me nervous already and I wasn't even face to face with them yet.
"What's so important that you need to talk to us about? Are you and Amy alright by yourselves?"
"No, I mean.. We're alright, but I need to talk you guys about something else. Please, if you can, stop by the house?"
"Alright, we'll try. We've been too busy and all, but we'll make sure to go there soon. You sound a bit nervous... I hope everything is okay." His tone seemed more concerned now.
"No really, everything's good. Don't worry, please just come by when you can."
As soon after I said this, we said goodbye and hung up.
I rested back on the chair on the porch, letting out a big sigh.
Amy was inside the house, and I purposely went out so she wouldn't hear my phone call.
I didn't know how to tell her yet about what I was going to ask my parents.
How am I supposed to leave them all again?
If only they could just let me be.
If only Amy would forget about me.