I gritted my teeth and stood up, my legs shaking. When I peered around the corner, Zayn was gazing up at the sky. I wasn't sure if he really knew I was there. But I had to talk to him tonight. I'd promised Mrs. Muck I would.
I carefully climbed onto the roof, balancing myself by holding out my arms. I sat down next to Zayn and dangled my legs over the side like he was. I tried my best not to look down.
"How'd you know I was there?" I asked.
"You aren't very good at being quiet," he said. "Not during any of the other nights either."
I gulped. Not only had he known I'd been following him, but now he was actually talking to me. His voice caused shivers to run through me, and I found it hard to focus. I could feel his body heat though he sat a foot away from me. Even Harry didn't make me feel like this.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
I thought through Mrs. Muck's advice. She told me not to pry for answers righ away, but to just be there for him. "I was just listening to your singing," I answered.
He didn't respond. We sat there in a peaceful silence, studying the stars.
"Did you write that song?" I asked.
He nodded.
"I really like it," I said. "You should share it with the boys, and maybe you guys could put it on your next album."
He looked down at his lap and bit his lip. "I can't do that."
"Why not?"
He didn't answer.
My eyes wandered to his open notebook. There was a drawing of the flowers from Mrs. Muck's garden. He saw me looking, and quickly slapped the notebook closed.
"Did you draw those?" I asked.
He didn't reply and diddled with his fingers.
I decided to let it go. Mrs. Muck told me not to expect any answers at first. It'd take time for him to open up. "Well, those are really good drawings."
The corners of his lips turned up, closer to a smile than I'd seen on his face before. He laid down on his back, folding his hands on his chest. I lay down, trying to discretely scoot closer to him. Feeling more of his body heat made me shiver.
"You cold?" he asked.
"A little," I lied. Don't judge. I'm sure you would do more just to get Zayn closer to you.
As I'd hoped, he put his arm around me, scooting me closer. "Better?" he asked.
I put my finger to my lips. "Hrm... not quite." I pulled the beanie off his head and put it on my own. "Better," I said, tilting my head up to smile at him.
His body shook, and I heard a small chuckling noise.
Was he... laughing? I got Zayn Malik to laugh? Sure, it was a small laugh. But I could deal with it. I found myself grinning like an idiot at my small success.
The next two hours passed like minutes. I fought to keep my eyes open and stifled back a yawn.
"You tired?" he asked.
I shook my head no, but my body chose the perfect time to force out a yawn.
"You should go to bed," he said.
I rubbed my eyes while I nodded. I precariously stood up, struggling to balance on the slope of the roof.
"Wait." Zayn grabbed me by the wrist, and electricity shot up my arm.
"Y-yes?" I stuttered.
"You coming out tomorrow night?" he asked.
I smiled at him. "Of course."
He let go and said a simple, "Okay."
I held up my arms for balance and made my way back to the fire-escape stairs. I hustled to the balcony and hopped back inside the house.
Once I got back to bed, I lay down, sighing in contentment. I'd done it. I talked to Zayn; he talked back; he even laughed. Sort of...
I fell asleep, a smile on my face.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
I woke up, turning over and looking at the clock on the nightstand.
Shit! It was almost noon!
I got up and almost ran out the door, but I reeked of outdoor smell. I ran back to my bathroom, getting a hot shower. The hot water woke me up, and I hummed a random tune as I got ready. It was Zayn's song, I realized.
I decided to just let my hair down since I didn't know yet what we were doing today.
I ran across the living room and slid across the wood floor of the kitchen.
"You seem happy this morning," Louis commented, slathering strawberry cream cheese on a bagel.
The other boys eyed me curiously, Zayn's eyes glued to his bowl of cereal.
"What, I can't be happy?" I asked, picking up the carton of chocolate milk and taking a swig.
Harry stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Ew! That is so gross! You don't do that often, do you?" He glanced at his glass of chocolate milk.
"Nope," I said with a sly smile. "That was my first time ever doing that."
Louis took his phone out and snapped a picture as I took another swig of chocolate milk. He started tapping on the screen, obviously typing something. He set his phone on the counter with a playful smirk on his lips.
I gave him a dirty look before pulling my phone out of my bra to see what he'd posted on Twitter. (By now the boys were used to me using my bra as a pocket.) I tapped on the Twitter app. My mentions were blowing up and I had gotten about five-hundred new followers. I quickly went to Louis' profile to see what he tweeted. It was an unattractive picture of me gulping down chocolate milk from the carton. Louis tweeted with the picture, "@oxPaigexo drinking from the carton. #gross"
I opened up a new tweet, mentioning Louis in it and typing, "Louis making out with his pillow in his sleep." I attached a picture I'd taken of Louis all wrapped around his pillow when he fell asleep on the couch.
"What did you post?" Louis asked me as I triumphantly set down my phone.
Niall got out his phone, eager to get in on the Twitter war. He chuckled as he saw our tweets. He replied to both of us, tweeting, "Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Can we have breakfast now?"
I laughed in apprectiation at his reference to the movie Megamind, where he got that quote from.
"Very funny, Niall," I said.
He grinned back at me.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a paper plate.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
We'd ended up just having a lazy day. By the time it was seven o'clock, we all reeked of chlorine, and we were on the second Lord of the Rings movie. Suprisingly, the boys hadn't seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, so I'd forced them to watch them. They got sucked in right away and were all now watching the screen intently as Aragorn fell off the cliff.
My phone started ringing, and all the boys' heads whipped around towards me and they hissed, "Shhhh!"
I chuckled and went to my room to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Darcy. My mom said that I could spend the night tonight!"
"Really?" I tried my best to sound excited, but it was hard to. All I could think of is how the heck I'd get around her so I could sneak out with Zayn tonight.
"Are you too busy or something?" she asked. "Because we're already on our way and I'll be there in a few minutes."
"No! Come on over!" I said quickly, shaking my head even though she couldn't see me.
"Okay then. I guess I'll see you there."
"Yup. Bye." I hung up. I walked back to the living room, grabbed the remote, and paused the movie right as the screen showed the almost-dead Aragorn on the ground. I got whines and complaints in return.
"Oh, hush up. Darcy is coming. She'll be here in a few minutes," I said.
Niall immediately jumped up and ran to his room, probably to put some pants on, considering he was only wearing boxers and a white t-shirt. He wouldn't dare wear that in front of his beloved Darcy. I chuckled to myself just thinking about it.
Louis pouted and crossed his arms. "We're finishing this movie after Darcy comes."
I mock saluted him. "Aye, aye, cap'n."
He gave me a look and turned his attention back to the television screen, as if staring at it long enough would make it start playing again.
As if on cue, Darcy came in and Niall came back out, now fully clothed with red sweatpants on over his boxers. They met each others' eyes and simultaneously looked away. An idea came to mind-a way to get Darcy and Niall together.
"Let's start the movie now!" Louis whined.
"Oh, Louis! Stop your whining!" Liam ordered.
Louis indignantly shut his mouth and huffed.
"I have a better idea," I spoke up.
All eyes looked at me, making me suddenly feel awkward. After a few seconds of dreadful silence, Harry asked, "What is it?"
I cleared my throat. "I thought it'd be fun to play Truth or Dare."
Harry smirked in approval, and Louis exclaimed, "Yes!"
The only ones that were hesitant were Niall and Liam. And of course, Zayn said nothing. I doubted he'd play.
"Oh, come on, guys," Harry pressured. "Have a little fun. YOLO."
Those of us that wanted to play sat in a circle on the living room carpet. Liam and Niall exchanged nervous glances before finally joining us. Zayn stayed on the couch, which wasn't a shocker.
"Who's first?" I asked.
Immediately, Louis raised his hand. "I am! What are the rules?"
I shrugged. "Let's just make it simple. You dare someone else to do anything you come up with. Anyone who is too chicken to do it sleeps outside tonight."
He raised his eyebrows. "I can do anything?"
I smirked. "Anything."
He tapped his finger to his chin in thought as he looked around the circle. "I pick... Hazza."
Harry's eyes snapped up to meet Louis' mischievous ones.
Louis continued, "I dare you to lick the seat of the loo."
Horror flashed across Harry's face. "No way," he stated.
"Do you want to sleep outside tonight?" Lou challenged.
Harry gulped and stood up, the rest of us standing up with him. We followed him to the first floor's bathroom, which was next to my parents' room. The door was already cracked open; Harry pushed it, and it swung open the rest of the way. All focus was on the distance between him and the toilet.
He straightened his back and cut the distance one step at a time. We all held our breaths as he got down on his knees and leaned down. His tongue poked out and he inched closer and closer to the deceptively clean porcelain. The tip of his tongue met the seat, and he quickly slid it across. We groaned and make vomiting noises in disgust.
"Louis, when I said anything, I didn't mean for you to try to think of the worst thing you could come up with," I said.
"You were practically begging me to," Louis said, flashing me a smile.
After Harry washed his mouth out under the sink, we returned to our circle formation on the living room floor.
"Who's next?" Louis asked, excited to go on from the thrill of the previous dare.
I couldn't wait any longer. "I will," I volunteered.
Every turned to me expectantly.
I pretended to think for a minute, though I already knew what I was going to do. "Um... I choose... Niall. I dare you to kiss Darcy."
He flicked his eyes up to meet mine. "What?" His expression was a mixture of anxiety and disbelief.
I nodded in conformation, and added, "It has to be mouth to mouth."
Darcy looked at me, her face reading, I can't believe you right now.
To make it more awkward, they were already sitting next to each other and shifted uncomfortably.
He muttered something to Darcy as if asking for permission. She curtly nodded. They both turned to face each other, Niall putting his fingers under her chin. He tilted her head upwards and pressed his lips to hers. They were both hesitant and stiff at first, but they soon melted into the kiss, just as I had hoped and predicted would happen. I can't deny that I had been nervous.
They finally broke away many seconds later, their breathing slightly heavy and their cheeks a light shade of red. They met each others' gaze for a short amount of time before shyly looking away from each other.
We continued the game (Liam had to jump into the pool with his clothes on; Darcy had to chug a glass of milk with mustard mixed into it; and I had to run around the house screaming, "I'm sexy and I know it," from the song by LMFAO). Afterwards, we finished watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Now it was after one in the morning, and no one could speak without yawning.
"I think we should all get to bed," Liam said, getting up and trudging up the stairs.
The boys took that as a precedent for them to do the same. Only Niall stayed behind, saying that he was still hungry. He took off for the kitchen.
"We should go to bed too," Darcy said, wrapping a couple of fingers around mine and leading me to my room. She closed the door and plopped onto my queen-sized bed.
"I can find my room on my own, Darcy," I muttered.
She pointed her finger at me. "Shut up! I know you did that on purpose!"
"Did what?" I asked innocently.
" 'Oh, how about we play Truth or Dare?' " she said, mocking me. She continued, " 'Oh, I think I'll randomly dare Niall to kiss Darcy. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she likes him.' "
I grinned widely. "You like him?"
Her eyes widened when she realized what she'd just revealed. "No-I mean-that's not important!"
"I could tell that you two really enjoyed that kiss," I teased, wiggling my eyes brows. "Didn't you?"
"No-Yes-No?" she said like a question.
I chuckled.
A clanging sound came from the kitchen.
"Is that...?" she started.
"Niall," I finished for her. "Why don't you go talk to him?"
She gave me a nervous glance. "Right now? Should I?"
I rolled my eyes at her ignorance. "Yes! Get your ass out there!"
She let out a shaky breath and wrung her hands together.
"Go, Darcy," I said.
That seemed to be the last push she needed. She straightened her back and marched out the door.
I laughed silently to myself. I subconsciously glanced at the clock. It was two o'clock. My eyed returned to my bed and I started to lay down.
Wait. It was two o'clock?! Shit!
I shot up, turned off my light, and tip-toed out of my room. I could hear Darcy and Niall's voices coming from the kitchen. I slipped past the kitchen entrance easily, since Niall and Darcy were so deeply caught up in their conversation.
I skipped every other step to get to the second floor quicker. I peeked into Zayn's room to make sure he'd already left. Fortunately, I didn't see him in there. I continued until I reached my destination: the roof.
I sat down next to Zayn's dark figure, shadows covering half his face.
"You came back," he stated, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Yeah," I said as if it was obvious. "I did."
"Why?"
I looked at his face; his eyes were fixed straight ahead. "I wanted to hear your voice again."
He quietly huffed. "You wanted to hear me sing?"
"I meant hearing you talk." I shrugged. "But if you wanted to sing again, that'd be nice also."
He turned his head slightly to sneak a glance at me before staring straight forward again.
"Have you drawn anything new?" I asked, noticing a new sketch of flowers from Mrs. Muck's garden in his open sketchbook.
He didn't close it this time and shook his head.
"Why not draw something other than flowers?" I asked.
He shrugged. "What's there to draw?"
"Just draw something that inspires you," I suggested.
"Something that inspires me?" he echoed.
I nodded.
"Yeah, well, not a lot of things are inspiring these days," he said.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing." He shook his head.
The next hour was practically silent, except for the sound of the crickets. I started getting tired, but refused to leave; I lay back on the roof to compromise between my free will and the urges of my body. It wasn't very comfortable, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to leave Zayn when he needed me the most.
My eyelids became heavy, and I was about to fall into sleep when Zayn started singing, strumming his guitar to the song I knew all too well.
I started to hum along. I knew I was off key, but he didn't seem to mind. He continued like he'd started, and like he had done countless nights before.
When he was done, I was almost completely asleep, only half conscious. He set his guitar aside and slid his arms underneath me. He somehow picked me up while balancing on the slope of the roof, and he carried me back to my room. He lay me down, and I sank into the covers. I fell asleep just as I saw Darcy's sleeping figure on the other half of the bed.
Good thing she's asleep, I thought to myself.
I finally slipped into nothingness.
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I've decided that I will do a chapter in Zayn's POV later on in the story, and I will add a bonus chapter in Darcy's POV with her encounter with Niall in the kitchen soon(:
Please comment and feel free to criticize and leave suggestions!(:
~:Paige:~