zayn's pov
Soft music plays in the background as the champagne bubbles between my lips, feeling like a kiss from sunshine, but I can't concentrate on anything besides the beautiful woman sitting across from me, concentrating so intently on what to order off her menu. Her soft blonde curled in soft waves and pinned back falls lightly in front of her face.
I've never seen Linley look so beautiful before, of course I think that every single time I see her, this time it's different. She's dressed in an incredibly classy black dress that fits tight to her petite body, cut with a high neck, but plunges down in the back to reveal those small little dimples at the small of her back.
The waiter scurries away with our orders, causing Linley's dark eyes to fall upon me once again. The corners of my lips turn up involuntarily, causing Linley to mirror my expression.
"You look beautiful," I whisper quietly to her across the table as she takes a sip from her tall glass of champagne.
"Are you sure? You've only told me a thousand times," She shakes her head, shooting me a playful grin as her red lipstick stained lips grace the edge of the champagne glass, causing me to become jealous of an inanimate object.
"I'm going to keep telling you until you believe me," I shrug, leaning back in my chair wearing that smug grin of mine that Linley hates so much.
She rolls her eyes and leans back, mimicking my actions, trying her hardest - but failing miserably - to hide her grin.
Loud laughter from down the table catches my attention, causing both Linley and I to rejoin the conversation at our table. The lads all laugh as Niall piles small candy after small candy on his forehead. Even at a formal event, they all act like a pack of idiots.
It's been over six months since the music festival, and I've enjoyed every day of it. My eyes flicker back and forth between my group of friends and Linley's amused expression as I recall the past few months as the happiest moments of my life.
The lads and I have things ready for another tour - which I have been avoiding thinking too intensely about, considering I'll have to leave Linley behind - and our success continues to climb every day. But I'm not the only one climbing up the fame ladder, Linley and Sable's band Starry Eyes has been all over the indie-rock scene. They were just on a late night talk show the other day.
I couldn't be more proud.
"Ladies and Gentleman, let's welcome the happy couple to the dance floor for their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Delark!" The best man takes the microphone, grabbing the attention of everyone in attendance.
Linley perks up, sitting on the edge of her seat, a brilliant and dazzling smile plastered all over her face. Smiling as well, I glance over to the dancefloor to see Johnny and Kenzi laughing to one another as they take the dance floor, all alone.
Kenzi looks absolutely beautiful in her white gown, like a princess really. And you can tell by the blissful look on Johnny's face that he couldn't agree more. He actually cleaned up quite nicely in his all black tuxedo.
Johnny wraps his arms around Kenzi's waist and they embrace, slowly dancing around to a beautiful orchestral song. I can't help but to get goosebumps on my flesh as my eyes wander over to Linley, picturing how breathtaking she'll look on our wedding day.
Of course that's far in the future, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely positive that I will be spending the rest of my life with this girl.
Linley wipes away a tear that spilled over her cheek, smiling so lovingly at the beautiful couple. She glances at me across the table, catching my grin, causing her cheeks to flush an embarrassed shade of pink.
Slowly I reach across the table to take Linley's hands in my own, giving them a tight squeeze. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Olivia resting her head upon Harry's shoulder, snuggling close to him. Even Mia and Louis, who are rather private with their PDA exchange a small secret little kiss.
Love is contagious, that's for sure.
"Now, the newlywed couple would love to invite up any other couples who would like to share a dance with them," The main singer of the wedding band says into his microphone after finishing their beautiful song, with everyone giving the couple a standing ovation.
I glance over the table to a completely oblivious Linley, smiling around at all the other couples without even looking in my direction. Shaking my head, I get to my feet, heading around the table so I'm standing directly in front of her. She looks up at me with confusion, her dark brown eyes wide and beautiful.
"May I have this dance?" I hold out my hand for her, flashing her my most dazzling smile possible.
"You may," She says quietly, nodding her head. Her small hand clasps inside my own, gripping it tightly as we weave our way through tables, earning a few grins and looks of recognition.
Johnny and Kenzi both flash us excited smiles as they dance around the dancefloor, trying to socialize with as many people as possible. I never thought performers like them could ever settle down, but they're a perfect married couple and I couldn't be happier for them.
I wrap my arms around Linley's waist, clasping them at the small of her delicate back, barely touching the bare skin of her exposed back. She drapes her arms around my neck, playing with the hair at the nape of my neck mindlessly as she smiles up at me.
Music starts to play from the band, a slow jazzy piece full of soul that makes it incredibly easy - even for a boy like me who has two left feet when it comes to dancing - to move effortlessly to the music. Of course Linley floats above the ground, moving like a perfect angel, to the point that it's really not fair to anyone else in the room.
The corner of her lips turn up in the most seductive, appetizing way ever, making me grip her tighter in an effort to minimize the space between us.
I can't believe I've been blessed enough to have her as a permanent fixture in my life these past six months. We spent the last days of the festival in a complete state of ecstasy, just basking beneath the sun and learning every inch of each other.
Then we had to leave the festival and enter the real world. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified that all that we had built inside those isolated festival grounds would go crumbling down once we left it, but it was the complete opposite actually. Leaving Ragstock caused us to grow closer in so many ways.
I stayed with her in New York for a few weeks, going to small gigs of hers that sold out in a matter of minutes, forcing Sable and her to head to bigger and better venues. I watched them grow before my own eyes.
Then it was time for me to head back to London to start getting ready for our new album and new tour, and after weeks and weeks of pestering her, Linley packed up her bags and put her life on pause for awhile to come with me.
Bringing her home with me was as satisfying and wonderful as I thought it would be. Despite how absolutely terrified she was to meet my family, she fit in like the missing puzzle piece. I've never seen my sisters warm up to anyone as quickly as they did with Linley. They fell in love with her just as quickly as I had.
Even my mum, who is very picky with the girls I bring around, claiming no one is good enough for her baby boy, absolutely adored Linley. I could tell she was a little put off in the beginning just looking at Linley with her shaved side of her head and edgy fashion sense, but the initial impression melted away the moment Linley and I looked at each other, according to my mum. She said she could just see the love pouring from our eyes everytime we looked at one another.
Though it wouldn't have changed anything, having my family's approval just made me feel as if I had everything in my hands; my life was untouchable.
Linley and I stayed with Louis and Mia at their lovely home just outside of London so that the girls would have someone to spend time with while we were in and out of the studio and management headquarters.
Mia and Linley quickly bonded together into a tight friendship that could easily be mistaken for sisterhood - if Linley didn't look like the polar opposite of Mia's dark features with her pastel features.
"What do you keep grinning about?" Linley asks as the wedding singer steps to the microphone, his voice carrying all throughout the reception hall,
"At last, my love has come along,
My lonely days are over."
"I'm just thinking about the past six months and how incredibly it has been," I admit to her, causing a grin to appear over her soft pink lips and her dark eyes to twinkle beneath the dim reception hall lighting.
"You're so romantic," She coos, teasing me lightly, though I can see the nostalgia running through her eyes.
The red tint to the twinkle lights decorating the reception hall beam against her skin, giving her a pink-ish tint that makes her look like something out of a dream. Mix her in with the band playing Etta James' 'At Last' in the background and I'd swear I had died and gone to heaven. If I couldn't feel Linley in my arms, I might have believed that as well.
"The skies above are blue,
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked you."
"I'm going to miss you a lot while we're on tour, you know?" I whisper to her, resting my forehead against hers so our noses are just barely grazing against each other's. I can feel her hot breath tangling with mine as she tightens her grip around my neck.
"I'll miss you more," She says quietly before reaching up to peck me lightly on my lips, "You know, while you're out there busying winning over the hearts of every girl in the world," She jokes, something she's found incredibly humorous as she's learned the intensity of the one direction fandom.
Though I can't help but to be worried as I see fans send Linley hate over every social media possible, or even in some extreme cases, right to her face, but Linley's assured me that there's nothing that they can say that will hurt her. She's got a thick backbone, that's for sure. Instead she just makes a joke out of the whole situation. She's tried on several occasions to post naked pictures of me on her twitter just to piss everyone else off.
Still a handfull, six months later.
"Says the girl who'll be busy tattooing her name on every man's ass in America," I chuckle, referring to the time after one of her concerts she was approached by a fan who had requested that of her, and of course she did it.
The crinles beside her eye appear as she tries to contain her laughter, shaking her head. Seeing her so blissfully happy makes the smile on my face multiply by a thousand times.
"Is it clingy of me to ask if we can talk on the phone every night?" She asks, a smirk dancing on the edges of her lips, causing me to laugh - something I do a lot of when I'm around Linley.
"Not clingy at all, I'd expect nothing less. I'm going to take a step further and ask if we can skype every once in awhile?" I nod as her smile continues to grow, lighting her dark eyes up, giving her this beautiful glow that she can never seem to get rid of; even when she's just woken up and her hair is sticking up in every direction and has the remains of last night's make up under her eyes.
She's never not beautiful.
"Let's stop talking about it or I'm going to cry and that would be a trainwreck and I'd have to bury my head in the ground and never resurface," She laughs, blinking away tears that have welled up in her big, beautiful eyes.
Seeing her get all emotional - something that never happens - makes me wish that the two of us had normal jobs that allowed us to come home every night to each other. But if that were the case, it wouldn't be us, if that makes any sense. Our jobs are two things that we're very passionate about, and the fact that we share that passion brings this fire in our relationship that's hard to diminish.
"But you're going to have so much fun with Mia as your tour manager, you won't even have time to miss me," I promise her, planting a kiss on her forehead and sharing an encouraging smile with her.
After Mia and Linley got so close these past few months, Linley managed to convince her management team that Mia was the only one she wanted as tour manager, seeing as she had such an awful one the last time.
"Oh shut up," She rolls her eyes, grabbing my neck and brings my face down to give her a great big kiss yet again.
"You two can't keep your hands off one another for longer than a second, can you?" Harry's familiar deep voice pops out of nowhere as Olivia and him waltz past us, wearing smug little smirks as Linley and I both scowl at the two of them.
But I just shake my head and smile down at Linley, knowing Harry was right. I couldn't keep my hands of my eyes off Linley for very long. How in the hell am I supposed to spend half a year without her on tour? I'm going to end up driving the boys crazy. But I won't feel too awful, both Harry and Louis did that when they left Olivia and Mia for the first time.
It's crazy how love can take you and change you into this completely irrational person; it's the mostterrifying, and the most wonderful thing in the world. I wouldn't trade this insanity that comes along with Linley for normality ever.
"Oh yeah, yeah,
You smiled, you smiled
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine...
At last."
I gaze into Linley's eyes as the song reaches its slow ending, the wedding singer pouring his heart, knowing exactly what the song is about. And as I look into Linley's eyes, I know what the song is about; it's all about Linley.
Slowly, I press my lips against hers, wishing we could stay like this forever. It just all feels far too perfect to be real; her in my grip, her lips against mine, both utterly and completely happy for once in our lives.
As we hang on to each other's lips, fighting to hold on to this beautiful moment, I smile against her lips, unable to help myself. As we pull away, my smile sticks, feeling as if it were a permanent fixture on my face whenever I'm around her.
Because everything about Linley and our life together makes me so...
happy.
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an: fjkds;alfdsa i can't believe this story is over. i love zinley too much for it to be healthy. i hope you guys like how it all ended and tied together. don't worry, we'll see more of this couple in the next story, which will be reveal very very soon! <3
i'll be posting in the next little bit, all the names of the songs that i used in this story, because there were an awful lot and already people have been asking me to just make a list of them all! you should all give them a listen, because i put a lot of my favorite songs in this story!
thank you all so so much for going along on this crazy journey with me as i finish yet /another/ story. it's insane that i finished one, but to be finishing my third. fklsafjds;a ahh it's all just so insane to me!
i love you all so so so much; you mean the world to me!
love always,
perksofbeingaweirdo
[ps. you can follow me on instagram @moniquescheidler and on 8tracks @macklemonique!]