Chapter 17
(Kat's POV)
"What's wrong?" Zayn asked when we had both sat down in the car, and I didn't talk for a while.
"What?" I snapped out of my thoughts, "oh, no, I'm fine."
"No," he said, "you're not."
I sighed, not wanting to defend myself against the truth. I was really not fine. "I don't know Zayn, a lot has been happening lately and," I sighed again, "you're the only person who notices that I'm really tired."
He put his hand on my knee, signaling me to continue.
"I can't lose you Zayn." I said straight out.
He stopped at a stop sign then turned to look at me, "and who said you are going to lose me?"
I shut my eyes, "if dad doesn't like you, I will lose you."
He began to drive slowly, "to tell you the truth, I'm nervous myself."
"Really?" I said looking up to him.
He nodded, "well, yeah. This is the first time I'm meeting your dad and I don't want to make a bad impression."
"You won't," I said, "believe me."
"But what if I do? What of he doesn't like me at all?" He took in a breath.
"Well," I took his hand, "whatever happens, I'm not leaving you."
He smiled at me, and I smiled back. But we both knew that none of us were sure about what was about to happen.
We stepped out of the car after pulling up in front of a restaurant named The Last Chance.
I spotted dad and Cora sitting at their table, and very soon dad noticed us, examining Zayn before even laying eyes on the car.
Just as we stepped inside, my stomach twisted. Zayn walked beside me as we walked up to Cora and Dad who stood up off their chairs to greet us.
"Hello, sweetheart." Dad said, kissing my forehead lightly.
I said hi back, very quietly the moved on to Cora who just smiled at me.
I looked back at Zayn who walked to Dad and extended his hand, "Zayn Malik, nice to meet you sir." Zayn said, his voice shaking a bit.
But dad didn't seem to take notice as he shook his hand simply saying, "Mark."
That's it? I thought. All he said was his name. I was clearly astonished as a new roll of nerve hit me.
Zayn smiled at Cora politely, "nice to see you again Cora. You look lovely today."
"Why thank you Zayn," Cora smiled back.
When Dad had announced for each of us to take our seats, Zayn walked over and pulled out my chair like a gentlemen. I was hoping for dad to notice but he didn't. Instead he just asked Cora what she wanted to order.
As for Zayn and I, there was only one menu on our side of the table.
"Here," Zayn said in a low voice, "you can go first. And remember, order something that will fill you up."
I nodded at him and took the menu from his hand, but couldn't think straight as I saw dad examining Zayn from over my menu. Obviously, I looked nervous, because I felt Zayn's hand grasp mine from under the table as he stroked it gently, as a reassurance that everything was going to be fine. And I believed him, until dad spoke up.
"So Zayn, I heard you got a job at Caroline's. Am I right?"
"Yes, sir," Zayn smiled.
Dad nodded, "what are you going to be doing there?" Question number one, here we go.
"Oh," Zayn breathed, "I'll be the one singing as entertainment."
Again, dad nodded, "so you like singing?"
"Yes sir," My thumb ran over Zayn's soft hand after noticing that he felt unsure, "I enjoy it a lot."
"Okay," dad shut his menu while putting his full attention on Zayn. He opened his mouth to ask Zayn another question.
But luckily, the waiter came to our table and said, "welcome to the Last Chance, what would you like to order?"
Cora ordered first, then me, then dad looked at Zayn and waited for him to order but Zayn said,"you go first, please," then smiled which added to his charm. So dad ordered, then Zayn, and he ordered about the same thing as dad but still slightly different.
When the waiter left, my stomach immediately sank. I expected another question from dad but instead Cora spoke up, saying, "so, how did you and Kat meet?"
I was grateful for her question when I replied, "Carlee's birthday party."
"Really?" Dad said raising an eyebrow, "it's been almost 3 months since then."
Zayn and I both nodded at him at the same time.
Dad didn't talk much about that topic, instead I felt him examining Zayn's tattoos, then his attire and after that, sneaking in questions that he's never asked any of my past dates before.
After a while, the food arrived. While eating, Zayn's hand never left mine and we talked. Zayn made Cora and I laugh and managed to get a chuckle out of dad while talking about something that happened to him at the local supermarket.
Before we knew it, it was already time for dessert. Dad asked everyone what they wanted, then asked Zayn, "alright Zayn, what would you like to get for dessert?"
So Zayn replied, telling him what he wanted.
We ate our dessert while I worried that dad was thinking Zayn was "money and time consuming" but when it came time to pay for dessert, all weight was lifted off my shoulders.
"Okay," the waiter had said, "the total for dessert is 38.24."
Dad reached for his pocket to take out his wallet but Zayn said, "no, please. You paid for dinner, I'll pay for dessert."
Zayn took out his wallet and handed the waiter his credit card.
"I'll bring it back as soon as I swipe it," the waiter replied, walking away.
Dad looked at Zayn as if he was surprised, "thank you Zayn."
"It's no problem," Zayn replied, smiling.
We waited for the waiter to come back while making small talk. Dad finally noticed that my throat was fine and asked me on how it happened. I replied telling him that Zayn helped me.
When we stood up to go, Dad said, "alright. Cora and I will be heading home but we'll need to stop by at the market. So Zayn, can you drop Kat back home on your way?"
Zayn nodded, "yeah. Of course."
When Zayn and I sat in the car, Zayn took a breath. We saw dad pull out of the driveway but we just sat there, like we had just came running from a marathon and we were exhausted.
We both turned to each other, not saying anything. So he cupped my chin lightly, his fingers tracing my jaw as he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. His lips felt so soft towards mine, it was perfect. After everything that happened these past couple of days, I felt as if his touch erased all my stress.
We pulled apart, his touch still where it was, his eyes locked mine as his lips hovered over mine while he said, "that was if we can't be together anymore."
"Don't say that," I breathed, "you were great."
"No, I wasn't."
"Yes Zayn, you were."
His hands left my face and ran through his dark hair stressfully as he shook his head, "I don't think your dad likes me."
"It doesn't matter Zayn, I'm not going to-"
"Yes it does," he said, cutting me off, "Kat, it matters to me. He can take you away from me. He's your dad and all I wanted to do was leave a good impression but I didn't "
I took his hand and locked my eyes with his, "you did fine. I promise."
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