Before Zayn can take Harry to meet his friends, he must first make the proper arrangements with Niall about the Blue Balloon Dog at The Broad.
He actually did have work to do.
And he meets Niall in the offices on the topmost floor of The Broad, sitting beside Harry at his desk above the museum.
"Nice to see you two," Niall says, shaking hands with both men after his secretary has led them into his office. "How's California treating you both so far?"
"Great," Harry exclaims excitedly. "I can't wait to see more of it."
Zayn redirects the conversation, "Glad we could make arrangements for the piece on such short notice."
Niall's blue eyes glint with mirth. "Right, Zayn. Way to keep me from getting derailed, right?"
Harry claps his friend on the back. "Always the working one, y'know. S'just Zayn, I guess."
"And I gotta commend you for that," Niall continues, although Zayn himself is shaking his head. He really wasn't trying to be the workaholic, but he had to finish in order to find his friends, wherever they were, across this giant city.
Niall taps the pads of his fingers together, "I'll get straight to the point. So, here at The Broad we have three Koons currently. They've been our permanent fixtures, but we're happy to lend you one for the time being. We've established a pretty great relationship with the artist, and--"
Niall pauses.
"C'mon," he says, rising from his chair. "Why don't ya' see if for yourselves."
And Niall rises from his desk, leading both Harry and Zayn downstairs and into the museum.
"This is one of our most popular exhibits," Niall explains, leading them inside the main lobby and through the halls of visitors. "As you can see, the museum, and these pieces in particular, draw a lot of foot traffic."
Niall is obviously right about that. There are tons of visitors inside.
And Zayn is led into the gallery, listening to Niall curate and Harry comment, and it's all reminding him of the countless museums and churches and historical buildings he'd been led through by either Leo or Marcello while he was on vacation.
And there's an overwhelming wave of nostalgia he attempts to shake, especially since Niall continues on about measurements and dimensions and other things he'll need to know before shipping the sculpture across the country.
"Here it is, then."
As the big dog comes into view, there's a light touch upon his arm.
And Zayn does an actual double take, as Aspen's familiar red hair and freckled smile are in his face.
She's waving at him.
"Hey, stranger."
Zayn blinks, wondering if he even heard her correctly, her voice is but a whisper in the hushed voices. "I...Hey," he says, shocked as he loses her in the crowd with...The Barka twins?
Was that actually...?
And Zayn is searching for them, Aspen especially. His eyes are scanning for the redhead, wondering what she's doing in L.A. and The Broad of all places.
Maybe she'd come to see Lennon, too?
And that's when he sees her.
There's Lenn. She's standing next to a dark skinned woman with a large smile and dimples and an amazing figure, and he almost doesn't believe it's really Lennon until Marcello comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.
"That's it right there."
"It's a beaut, innit?"
"I--"
This is blowing Zayn's mind. Here is nearly all of Oasis, standing in the museum like old times. Was this planned? Was this a surprise? Was this a joke?
And where was--?
And the crowd parts like the Red Sea, as Niall leads him and Harry across the gallery towards the giant balloon dog, and up to the young woman already standing before it.
She looks up at the newcomers, and she smiles politely at first Niall and then Harry and that smile falters at once as she locks eyes with Zayn.
He's shocked. Floored, even, but there's that familiar attraction resurfacing as she gawks at him and fiddles nervously with her purse and tries not to look as completely shocked as she's already let on, especially as he draws nearer.
Zayn pushes through his friends. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"
His eyes are hard as he stares at her and she waves, obviously still shocked.
He grows closer and he can hear her whispered, "Hi, Zayn--"
He lifts a ring-clad finger for emphasis. "We," he growls at her, "need to fucking talk."
Niall lifts a brow, watching as Zayn stalks up to the girl before them and takes her elbow in his hand.
"Need a minute, mate?"
"Just a sec," he calls back, dragging her across the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mari hisses, as she's literally waltzed from the exhibit and out into the hallway. "What's going on-?"
It takes everything within him to retain his composure because his head is swimming with sharp remarks that he'd rather not share in front of everyone.
His jaw is clenched tightly and Zayn remains silent until the two are alone, and when they finally are off in a new, quieter hall, he spins Mari around and snaps.
"What the fuck, Mari? What the actual fuck? What is this, a joke? I really have to run into you in a fucking museum in fucking Los Angeles to see you? To know how you're doing?"
"Hey," she snaps back, "don't act like you couldn't have called me," she hisses, poking him squarely in his chest. "Don't act innocent in this, Zayn."
"Oh, so this is about me, now? I lay everything out for you and--"
"Lay everything out?" She laughs. "Yeah, right. Who're you trying to fool, boy?"
His eyes are burning with an intensity that has her recoiling a bit, his voice steely and barely above a whisper. "I mean are you fucking serious? There's no text, no call, no...no, anything?"
"I could ask you the same shit, Zayn! You like a few IG posts and think you're reaching out!?"
"I did!"
"How?" She laughs. "When? You send me a homing pigeon that got lost!?"
"Oh my god," he rolls his head on his neck, "I mean, honestly, Mari, did you even read my fucking letter?"
"What letter, Zayn?"
"The letter I wrote you, Marjani!"
"Well?" She implores. "What'd it say? Because honestly," she folds her arms, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I--" he frowns. "Forget about it."
"Oh hell no," she exclaims. "You yell at me and then wanna drop it? Absolutely not. Tell me. If it was so important, you ought to be able to share," she challenges, eyebrow raised. "Right?"
"I--" He scowls, pissed that this has been turned around on him all of a sudden.
"What'd it say, Zayn?"
"I--" He takes a deep breath. "Why'd you think I fucking wrote you, huh? It's 'cause I'm not good at this shit..."
"Fine," she shrugs simply, taking a few small steps from him. "It was nice seeing you, and I wish you all the be--"
He reaches out, gripping her waist with his hands. "I didn't want this to end," he grits, eyes narrowed and dark and never wavering from her own. "I didn't--I didn't know how to tell you, face-to-face. I slipped you that letter in the airport 'cause I didn't know how to say that I didn't want you to leave; that I wanted you to come with me."
"You're telling me now, though," Mari says softly.
"Yeah, 'cause I miss you," he chuckles humorlessly. "'Cause I feel like I've lost something. I don't..." He sucks a sharp breath, "Feels like we broke up and we were never really dating."
"Zayn..."
"Like, all vacation I wasn't worried about anything. I was relaxed and not stressed and--"
"It was a vacation, Zayn."
"True," he chuckles, "But, there's something about you, Mari. You make me," he sighs, "better, y'know? Lately, when I feel like I'm drowning I think about you and I don't feel so fucking overwhelmed and tense," he smiles a little smile, "I just want you to sleep on my shoulder again."
And he breathes deeply, staring at her staring at him, wondering what the hell she could be thinking after he just bared his soul to her.
Mari shakes her head, "You're so cute, Zayn."
"I--Wow, Mari. Wow."
And she grins, "I miss you, too."
He smirks. "Deadass?"
"Deadass."
He cups her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "I wrote that, too. Like, in the letter."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Oh," she nods, snapping her fingers all of a sudden, "you mean this letter?"
And she pulls it with a little smirk from her purse.
"I fucking swear to god--"
"Yesterday's when I found it," she says. "It's the first time I read it."
"I--What?"
"I found it, like, actually yesterday," she giggles with a little shrug. "Fell in my iPad case. I just unpacked so...There's that, too."
"You..." He bites sharply on his bottom lip, "You read it then?"
She nods. "But, it was a million times better hearing it straight from you."
Ans Zayn sticks his tongue against his cheek.
"Mari?" He lifts a brow.
"Yeah?"
And Zayn doesn't think as he crashes his lips upon hers.
He grips her tight, like she might slip away, holding onto her little waist and tasting her lipstick and her tongue and the inside of her own lips. She throws her arms over his shoulders, gripping at his hair and his shirt, and Zayn inhales deeply and breathes in her shampoo and her perfume and allows his mind to recreate those memories they'd made together in South America, as he can't help himself from wondering how she's changed and if she's different now and how they'll make things work. He kisses her hard, nipping at her bottom lip and taking the skin between his teeth.
She moans in her throat and the vibration goes through him, into the pit of his stomach and igniting something hot between his legs.
"You're fucking up my lipstick," she mutters, giggling softly as he kisses her nose and her forehead and her cheeks and her chin.
"Good," he breathes, dropping kisses behind her ear and down her neck and into the hollow of her collar. "S'not like everyone doesn't already know..."
"Zayn," she pants, "Not now."
"But," he whines, "I haven't seen you."
"I know," she whispers, wiggling in his arms. "But, we're in public, remember?"
"But," he pouts, stroking her lips with his thumb, "I haven't seen you."
"I'm not going anywhere," she laughs, and to that he tuts.
"That a promise?"
"That, Zayn, is a promise."
"Good," and he sweeps her into another searing kiss. "Because I don't think I can leave you again."
The two eventually make it back into the gallery, and with their fingers laced between him, Zayn is really having serious spells of déja vu.
And as he looks for his friends, Mari catches sight of a tall, dimpled man flirting heavily with Bonnie.
"Do you know him?"
"Yeah. That's Harry," he says, searching for Ni, now. "My mate from New York. We work together."
She nods. "Seems like he's enjoying Bonnie."
"That's Bonnie?"
"Yep," she grins, elbowing him as he stares. She had that effect on everyone. "That's my best friend," she sings. And she shakes her head, "Apparently, Lennon's got like, a crush on her, or something."
"Actually?" Zayn's eyes widen. "She does?"
"True story, man."
He swings their hands gently between them. "What about Marcello?"
"I mean," she shrugs, "when isn't Lenn caught in an awkward love triangle?"
And Zayn laughs, garnering looks from visitors in the exhibit.
He nods, as Mari melts hearing that laugh again.
There's a light in his eyes that had been missing for a while, and he turns that bright brown gaze to her.
"True."
word count: 1971
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i think one more chapter left guysssss. :)