Zayn
"I heard that a certain person from Bradford has a giiiiiiiiirl!" The very distinct voice of Autumn broke into my thoughts after we had gone through another listening of our newest CD.
"We want details of who would ever want to date you." Moni added into the teasing, both girls placing themselves on either side of me.
I crossed my arms to give both the girls a 'I'm not amused' glare, but they ignored it, instead they both continued to pester me about this girl. I shook my head in annoyance. "How did you even hear about her?"
"We have eyes everywhere," Moni stated factually. There was an accent to her words, as if to tell people that the twenty-two year old had moved from Chile six years prior. With curly black hair, she had such a unique beauty to her that she denied no matter how many times the boys and I tried to tell her. Same thing with Autumn, both had such intriguing features to them. They had grown to be our tour sisters, whether we were actually on tour or just hanging in London on break, they would be there to bug us just like any sibling would.
Autumn Rivers was the daughter of one of our stylists, so she came along to help her. She was also in charge of our Instagram account, and a few other things, since she had a good knowledge of what the fans wanted, being a very intuitive nineteen year old. We had met her a year before, with her being a shy girl with her hair in a braid. Since then, she had come out of her shell quite a bit and loved every second of teasing us.
Moni was hired just over a year ago when management decided that an employed journalist would be a great addition to the team. She had moments from our lives recorded down on paper since she had joined the crew, it was cool to know that I could read about anything - whether it was a certain concert where Louis spilled water on his pants or a rehearsal where Harry tripped over Niall. So she came along and was constantly scribbling stuff down in her journal. She also helped with all the 'official' books we've written. Autumn and Moni both helped keeping management up to date on what the fans wanted.
"Harry told us." Autumn finally caved and told me the truth, before grinning wildly and started poking me. "So there is a girl! I want to know all about her! What's her name? Her address? Her uncle's name? What's her social security number?"
"The sooner you tell us, the sooner we go away." Moni said wisely.
"She doesn't want to be known right now, she's really hesitant about the whole thing."
"C'mon Zayn! That's not fair. You love us, don't you? Because if you loved us, you would tell us who she was." The nineteen year old girl resembled a puppy when she pouted. Even though I could tell her eyes were twinkling and it was all a scam to get me to tell her a name, I still felt inclined to tell her the truth. I knew both girls well enough that they wouldn't go blabbing names or anything, though I was still hesitant to tell them. I wasn't even sure if Joelle and I were 'dating' or if we were just hanging out.
"Aha! Her name's Joelle." Moni had an evil grin as she held my iPhone in her left hand, while Autumn giggled to herself.
"Give it back," I asked with a sigh. They, of course, ignored me as they started to scroll through the texts that Joelle and I had been sending back and forth to each other. They consisted of setting up a place and a time for tonight's 'get together' as she called it, as well as both of us asking how the other was. It ended with a text from her saying she had to get to work and that she'd text when she was at the theater.
"Ooh, you got a date tonight! I'm proud of you, Malik." Moni smirked one last time before handing me my phone back. "Now, I'm off to write. I got a novel in the works!"
"You know I hate reading, but I want to be one of the first to read the manuscript, you hear?" I told her. She said 'no' while walking away, but I knew that I would have the book in my hands a few minutes after it was finished.
Autumn lingered for a second before winking at me. "Good for you, finally taking action when you like someone. I'm proud!" She then pranced off into the direction of the doors.
It was nice to have people like that around you, and I think that's the reason the other boys and I are so grounded. We aren't treated like we own the world, we're treated like normal teenagers. Except that we can get away with a few things that normal teenagers can't - like accidentally destroying things. We get teased, prodded and lectured whenever we do anything wrong. We don't necessarily listen, but hey, the sentiment helps. It helped when we were so far away from home.
"I don't know why I walked away, I have nowhere else to be. Mum's finishing up your tour wardrobe and Moni left, since she only came by to drop off a finished document. I read it and it's about the times that you guys went to New York for The Today Show and the shenanigans that went down over there. Quite amusing stuff. Wish I had been allowed to go, but noooo, I was stuck at home." Autumn rambled off, leaning back in the chair she had plopped herself down into.
"Next time." I told her, knowing that since she had graduated from school, she'd go with us on a lot more trips.
"True," she grinned. "So about this Joelle girl… Is it serious? I haven't seen you this serious about a girl since Taryn. Don't freak out on me, because I just want to make sure you don't jump in before testing the waters."
"We're taking it slow. It's different than Taryn." I said with adamancy, before standing up and stretching my arms upward. There was no way I was going to delve into this subject right now, not when I was actually okay with everything going on. It would never be easy to discuss whatever happened with Taryn, but it was over now and going back to think about it would only ask for problems.
"I'm sorry," Autumn immediately took on a apologetic expression, standing up as well. "You know you're one of the people I care most about in the world, I don't want you to get hurt again. But I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry."
"It's cool, Autumn. I know." I replied before smiling at her. "I'm heading out, see you later?"
"You know it!"
~
Joelle hurried up to me just as I glanced at my Rolex for the tenth time, her breathing was off and there was a flush to her cheeks. "I'm so sorry! I guess I'm getting a label as the girl who is always late to meet you?"
"If I start showing up fifteen minutes later, we'd arrive at the same time. I'll keep that in mind, always schedule things at least twenty minutes earlier than it needs to be." I smirked, as she tucked her hair behind her ear and grinned. So unbelievably beautiful, even when she wasn't trying.
"Not funny," she said, although her smile gave away the fact that she thought it was funny. Even if it was just a little bit. "I was just hanging out with my brother, I haven't seen him in a while."
"I know what that's like, not seeing family very often." The words came out of my mouth before I really processed what I was saying, and I was suddenly overcome by the realization that I really missed my mum and sisters. We were silent as we stood in front of the restaurant for at least five minutes, both trying to think of something to say. Eventually, I nodded towards the door. "I have reservations, are you ready?"
At her nod, I pulled the door open for her. My mum taught me well. We were seated almost immediately, and I kept my gaze lowered. People aren't as confident when coming to celebrities when they don't make eye contact, something I had learned over the years trying to keep a low profile. I also picked a restaurant that wasn't necessarily 'well-known' and made sure we went before the dinner rush. I was determined to make it right for her, because she seemed like if it got uncomfortable, she wouldn't even try.
I didn't know if it really was the attention she was afraid of, or if it was the potential hate? Having people know your name isn't easy, but you ease into it - getting to the point where it's second nature to hear your name mentioned on the news. There was so much about this girl that I wanted to know.
"I don't talk much." She spoke up, after we had been flipping through the menus for a while.
It wasn't one of those awkward silences, we both acknowledged each other and the fact that nothing really needed to be said. It was different than most silences, where you are constantly trying to think of something to say. Instead it was comfortable. A very welcomed change.
"I've noticed," I said back.
"You don't either." Joelle stated the fact.
"True." I nodded.
"I'm used to listening, but it's really hard to listen when the other person won't talk." A smile tugged at her lips, and though she struggled to hide it, she didn't do a very good job. Her fingernails tapped against the white marble table as she talked.
"How about we both contribute to the conversation? Learn more about each other?" I offered, shrugging my shoulders in an unsure way. Most dates I went on, the girls couldn't talk about themselves enough. I don't know if it was because they wanted to impress me or because they knew I wasn't going to add much. This was a strange, but nice, difference to my normal date.
"How many siblings do you have?" She asked, as she sipped at her water. She had a bit of a smirk and I felt like she knew that questions like that I wasn't as familiar with getting asked, since it was easy to google those answers.
"Three. Your favorite band?" I fired right back at her.
"Paradise Fears." Joelle didn't even have to think about it and I reminded myself to look them up when I got home. "Most regretted decision?"
"I don't know if it's classified as a decision, but I didn't really pay attention in school and now I wish I had. If you had to choose between having ears or having eyes, which would you pick?" It seemed like a silly, funny question, but her answer could be taken very seriously. If she would rather have eyes, then it means she appreciates the beauty in every day life. If she picked ears, then it means she liked the ability of hearing. I had a inkling that I knew what she would choose, though.
"I would rather have ears. Without them, I wouldn't be able to submerse myself into music. I wouldn't be able to hear stories or listen to people talk. I honestly don't think I could live without hearing." Joelle responded and I knew that I was grinning like a madman at her answer, but I didn't even care.
Two hours passed by and I wasn't even sure how that was possible. We took forever to order, we took forever to eat, and we took forever to pay the bill (she somehow managed to convince me to go half). It didn't seem like that long, though, because we learned about each other. We laughed, we nodded, we listened and we talked. I learned all the small things about her, like what her favorite pizza toppings were. She asked me things that I hadn't been asked in forever, since everyone assumed they already knew the answer.
I felt like a normal guy on a normal date with an extraordinary girl.