Chapter 25 ― Zayn
Mila led me away from the rest in this secretive way. I liked how we were acting, like real friends, like partners in crime. I felt close to her and this whole afternoon with her had been great. I finally felt like we were moving on, like this was the beginning of something and I also felt like there was hope. As I watched Alex and Niall together, I realised it didn’t hurt that much, it almost didn’t hurt at all! I saw them and I just wanted that for me, I wanted Mila looking at me that way, I wanted her to hold my hand like Alex held Niall’s.
That afternoon I started to consider if I ever was really in love with Alex as I thought I was. I knew in some point I really loved her, but maybe after a while those feelings changed. Maybe all I wanted was to be loved like she loved Niall. I just wanted someone to love me for who I really was, I wanted someone to see the real me, like Alex did.
That afternoon I understood why Mila hated that I compared her to Alex. She felt like I wasn’t seeing the real her and that hurt her. Now I could understand that because it was what really made me feel so down and so hurt every time I saw Niall and Alex together.
And now that I understood that, I was only focused on Mila. I really wanted her, I wanted to try to make things work with her, I wanted to make her like me for the real me. That was why this afternoon —and night— was going so great, because we were getting to know each other better, we were discovering more things about ourselves and how we could get along quite well.
“Okay, here’s the thing. Liam doesn’t like Phebs. Not romantically speaking,” she clarified and I just nodded leaning a bit closer as she was whispering. “This is a very normal thing and probably he doesn’t realise it either. He’s used to Phebs loving him, you know? Looking at him with these puppy eyes and even if it was inconvenient, that fed his ego. And now that she doesn’t look at him like that, now that she doesn’t love him that way… he’s missing that. Well, his ego, at least. It’s not a conscious thing and I would say it’s a human thing. We like to have someone loving us, we like to know we are special for someone. He will get over that pretty soon, so we don’t have to worry about it,” she finished and I just looked at her surprised, my eyes wide open.
She just made a whole analysis in a mater of seconds and explained everything to me so easily. It impressed me how fast her mind worked and with just a few things. She didn’t even know Liam that well and even though she could figure out what was going on with him immediately. What she told me made total sense! Why didn’t I see that earlier?
“Impressive,” I told her in awe. “You just figured that out from looking at him…”
“I’m quite good at reading people. Plus, it makes sense ‘cos I know he loves Danielle and for the way he reacted when we asked him, I know he’s not confused. So it has to be that,” she mused and I nodded, following her reasoning.
“That’s how you read me the day we met. No one had done that with me before,” I commented and for a second I saw a shadow crossing her eyes. Could it be because when she read me that easily she discovered my feelings for Alex?
For some reason, I kind of liked that she didn’t react well to the possibility of me having —still having— feelings for Alex. I wanted to let her know I was moving on, that I was finally leaving those feelings behind and that everything was becoming about her.
“Let’s see what can you say about me now, shall we?” I asked her, challenging her to see that everything was different now. I wanted her to see that for herself, I wanted her to notice I really liked her.
I looked her in the eyes; a cocky little smile was playing on my lips as I leaned in closer to her. I saw her blushing a bit but she didn’t step back, she stood there holding my gaze with an eyebrow arched. “What can you see?” I pressured and I didn’t stop getting closer to her. Maybe two inches divided our bodies and it still didn’t feel close enough.
We were far away from the rest yet I still could hear them laughing or even arguing —Louis and Moni, at least. Definitely, they weren’t paying attention to us or even missing that we weren’t there next to the bonfire laughing with them. In that moment, there were only Mila and I and I rather quickly felt like the rest of the world was fading away around us, like everything was out of focus except of Mila.
“Why don’t we do this easier and tell me what you want me to see, because it’s obvious you’re expecting something from this. You want me so see something in particular,” she said and I smiled. She was indeed good.
“It’s no fun if you don’t discover that by yourself,” I taunted her putting my hand on her waist and she raised her other eyebrow.
“What do you expect from this, Malik?” She asked and I could sense her flirtatious tone. And I liked it.
“Nothing. I’m just testing your amazing reading skills,” I replied to her, my smile still there teasing her. “Can you tell what’s happening with me right now?”
“I can see what you want, Zayn. You’re not gonna get it,” she told me but even I could see that she didn’t really meant it. For the way her eyes were shining in that moment, I knew she was just playing along.
The hand I had on her waist sneaked to the small of her back and I pulled her closer to me, her small body against mine and I loved how she had to held her head back a bit to meet my eyes. I really liked our height difference.
“You think? And what’s what I want, according to you, Mila?” I asked her in a low voice, almost whispering and leaning my head closer to hers.
Her small hand went to my hair and she softly ran her fingers through my hair strands. I normally wouldn’t like someone to mess with my hair, but I liked the way her hand felt whilst ruffling my hair.
“I like your hair,” she said not answering my question, her eyes locked with mine.
In that moment my heart was beating stronger, hammering against my ribs like trying to set free. I pulled her closer and wrapped my other arm around her waist, my head leaning close until my nose was touching hers. She didn’t pull away, she didn’t broke eye contact and that made me think that maybe she wanted this, too. I looked at her lips for a few seconds and I couldn’t help thinking of how they would taste, how they would feel against mine.
I needed to know.
I stared into her eyes again before pressing my lips against hers not giving her the chance to say anything. I immediately closed my eyes as I felt her kissing me back.
Her lips were soft and sweet and addictive. It felt incredible, beyond words to finally being kissing her. I hugged her tighter as I deepened the kiss and I loved the way she put the same emotion into this, how she held on to me for dear life, like this moment was all what we needed.
The way she felt in my arms was unique, so hard to describe, so different yet it felt natural, like this was supposed to happen from the very beginning. Whilst I was holding here and kissing her I realised I didn’t care about anything else. I didn’t care what was happening with the lads in that moment, or if they were seeing us or not. I only cared about Mila in that moment, that I was finally kissing her and it felt just perfect.
I couldn’t get enough of her and, most certainly, I didn’t want to let her go, but I needed to keep living if I planned to kiss her again and, oh man, I was planning to do that. Often. So I pulled away reluctantly still holding her tight and looking into her eyes. We both were breathing heavily and I couldn’t help noticed how their lips looked redder and a bit swollen due to our kiss.
She gave me a little smile, her arms still surrounding my neck and her fingers in my hair. I bit my lower lip, dying to kiss her again but I refrained myself just to say, “You were saying about me not getting what I wanted?”
She laughed. “You arrogant bastard,” said the girl in my arms still laughing. “Don’t think that will happen again.”
“Oh, I see you like being proved wrong, uh?”
And as she just arched and eyebrow, challenging me, I didn’t have another option but kissed her again. Man, she didn’t leave another option.
“Oh my fucking God!” I heard someone screaming and Mila and I pulled away immediately, scared.
As we turned around we saw Moni with her hands over her mouth looking at us with such a happy expression. “OTP. Real. Best day of my life,” she mumbled and I could hear her as everyone had shut up due to her scream. And yes, everyone was watching us.
Suddenly, I felt very self-conscious and I could imagine Mila in a very similar state. I wanted to take her far away, somewhere where no one could make her feel uncomfortable.
“Moni! You’ve just interrupted them! How dare you?” Alex yelled at the brunette grabbing her by the arm to wake her up. Mila’s friend looked like a dream had come true for her. “Everyone, leave them alone!” Alex kept yelling at everyone else.
All our friends laughed as they resumed what they were doing and I saw how Alex looked at us one more time over her shoulder, a flashing smile on her lips and I could see how happy she was for what had just happened between Mila and I. I smiled back because I was the happiest of all.
“Moni won’t let me hear the end of this,” Mila sighed and I chuckled as I saw her shiver ever so slightly. I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
“She’ll get tired, eventually,” I replied but Mila just shook her head.
“You don’t know her as I do. She’ll never let me hear the end of this. I’m telling you.”
Still chuckling, I looked at her. “I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I’m not. And to be honest, I’m planning to give her more to talk about. After all, if I can help her to be happy with her OTP, I must do something, don’t you think?”
She laughed shaking her head from side to side. “You can be very cocky, you know?”
“Blame the alcohol,” I told her defensively, though I was still joking.
“Lies! You’re an arrogant bastard,” she accused me and I just leaned in to kiss her lips one more time, softly and slowly.
“And you like it that way,” I stated still brushing her lips.
“Oh, shut up!” She snapped but she was holding her laugterh and to prevent me from saying another thing, she kissed me.
This had been, by far, one of the best day ever.
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Finally. #Zila is official. Did you like the chapter? Are you happy? I hope so! Please let me know in your comments. I really wanna know what you think of this.
Bel, xx
PS: Dedication for @kissmeifyourebritish because today Wednesday is her birthday! Hope you have a nice day, dear.