Chapter 6:
It has been a week and he hasn't suspected a thing. Well maybe he has, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't come to the conclusion that I'm not really Perrie and the real Perrie is out somewhere on an island tanning in the sun.
Perrie hasn't even been online for Skype in a week and it's worrying me, but she has been sending me emails that she's fine. I'm not particularly sure how much longer I can handle being Perrie. Over the past week, I had learned a lot of things. Eleanor and I have been talking a lot and it seems like I'm settling into the role of Perrie Edwards.
I checked my laptop once more and sighed. No sign of Perrie again.
I just wanted to talk to Perrie. I wanted to talk to someone from my life as Penelope Edwards. I couldn't very well call my mother because she'd ask where Perrie was and she'd make me put her on the line. Mom knew Perrie better than anyone so I wouldn't be fooling her at all. What mother doesn't know her own child. Sure she's mistaken us a lot, but that's because we are identical. Once she heard a few sentences out of us, she'd immediately know the difference between us two.
I turned around to go get some food to eat from the kitchen, but my phone decided to ring. It was on the other side of the room and I wanted nothing more than to let it ring on and on. But it started to annoy me so I picked up.
"Hello?" I snapped. I hadn't even checked the caller ID so if it was either Mom or Dad, I'll probably be grounded. Even if I am legally an adult at nineteen years old.
"Why so snappy today babe?" Zayn chuckled. I immediately relaxed. There was something about Zayn's voice that made me relax. I guess it was his carefree ways that made me smile or the way he was always so goofy around me. It was great that he was absolutely unfazed by my snappy tone of voice. Most people would return the bad attitude with a bad attitude. Zayn just...put up with me which most people didn't.
"Sorry, just haven't heard from an old friend for a while. It's just kind of bugging me." I said. It was truthful since Perrie was an old friend. We've known each other for the past nineteen years and adding the nine months we were stuck in Mom's stomach together. So technically, I wasn't lying which I have been for a long time now.
"Oh," Zayn said, "I was just wondering if you would like to join me for dinner tonight. Seven o' clock. Just you and me." It was about five right now.
"Sure!" I said. "Where?"
"I'll surprise you sweetheart." Zayn said. I could almost see him winking at me if he were really here.
"What should I wear? You have to be specific too." I said.
"Formal...Just don't overdo it."
"That's not specific stupid." I chuckled.
"Fine...formal as in a nice dress, but don't overdo it like putting on a ball gown and gloves and stuff like that." Zayn answered. "But even if you dress up lik a hobo, I'd still think you look beautiful." I was extremely lucky he couldn't see how red my cheeks really were.
"Okay. See you soon babe." I said.
"See you." Zayn replied before the line went dead.
***
I absolutely adored Perrie's collection of clothing. I enveyed it really. I'm not really one to dress up. I'm actually more of a tom boy, but after laying eyes on Perrie's closet, the girly girl in me was brought out. That was good since Perrie was a girly girl. It added to me acting more like her.
The dress I chose was a cobalt blue high low dress. A thin gold belt circled my waist. I had chosen a pair of gold platform shoes to wear too.
Dangling from my ears were a pair of beautiful gold earrings and a pretty chunky bracelet adorned my wrist.
I put my phone and keys inside my gold clutch right on time since the doorbell rang. I opened the door to reveal a very handsome Zayn. He was dressed in a nice black suit. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets and nervously shifted from foot to foot.
"You look beautiful Perrie." Zayn said.
"You don't look too bad yourself." I replied with a smile.
Was it bad that I wanted him to tell me, Penelope Edwards, that I looked beautiful instead of Perrie? It was always Perrie. I just wanted someone to notice me for who I really am.
"Shall we go?" Zayn asked.
"Sure."
Soon I was in his car and we were driving to who knows where. Every time I asked where we were heading, he'd just smile and not answer or change the subject. What I'm trying to say is that it was pretty much hopeless.
I then preoccupied myself with his car's radio. I would change the station every few seconds to keep me busy. From the corner of my eye, I could see Zayn twitching every so often, It was bugging him I could tell. I knew that whenever Perrie did that, it bugged me. I was acting like Perrie, so it wouldn't be too bad.
"We're here." Zayn said.
I looked up and saw the Thames River. It was night time so I saw the crescent moon's reflection glistening on the water.
"So..."
"We're eating dinner on a yacht, love." Zayn said and kissed my forehead.
"But you're afraid of the water." I remembered from the flashcards. Perrie had actually told me a funny story about his disliking of water. They had filmed their music video What Makes You Beautiful at the beach. They filmed Gotta Be You near a lake. They filmed Live While We're Young in a pool. The world was against him these days.
"That's why I have this." Zayn said. He held up a lifevest and put it on over his suit. He fastened it and smiled.
"You are such a dork." I chuckled.
"There's an extra one if you need one too!" Zayn offered.
"I'm not wearing a life vest."
I just shook my head and intertwined my hand with his as he led me down to the awaiting boat next to the river.
He stepped in first and held his arms out to me like he was going to pick me up and set me down inside the boat.
Well here's the problem.
I am extremely ticklish. If he tries, I'll burst into a fit of giggles and then I'll be dropped into the river. So you can see why I don't exactly want him to do that.
"You don't have to do that...I'll just step in." I said.
"If you're worrying about how heavy you are, don't. Babe, you weigh a feather."
Yeah, I'm not so sure about that anymore. After that McDonald's big mac last week, junk food was easier to eat around Zayn. I took that as an advantage.
"Fine." I muttered.
I braced myself to start laughing and it happened. Once Zayn had picked me up, I was gigglings like a maniac and wouldn't stop until he set me back down. I gasped for breath. I swear I almost kicked his face with my shoes, which really wouldn't have been good.
"So you're ticklish." Zayn stated.
"Yup." I giggled once more before clearing my throat and gaining my composure back.
"Let's go eat now while the food is still hot." Zayn said.
We went inside the yacht. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was basically a house...in a super nice boat. But instead of staying there, Zayn walked out another door and I had no other choice than to follow.
I gasped at what was before me. A table for two was set up with a little candle lit up in the middle. Red rose petals were scattered on the table as well as around the table. Two plates were already there. Salad of course for the starter.
"Oh my god."
"Do you like it?" Zayn asked.
"I-I love it!"
Zayn smiled and adjusted his life vest. It looked goofy on him, but he was cute. I wrapped my arms around him. "Thank you."
He tensed up like he was surprised. "Your welcome?" It sounded more like a question. "We should eat." He cleared his throat.
It was silent at first. All you could hear was the faint whistle of the wind and the water splashing against the yacht. Zayn had left for a moment and steered the yacht to the middle of the river to give a better view.
I guess he had lessons on how to drive a yacht since we didn't crash or anything. Thank god. I would like to keep my life.
"How's the food?" Zayn asked.
"It's really good." I replied as I popped the last cruton into my mouth. I stared at my empty plate. "I finished it so yeah it was good. Did you make this?"
Zayn blushed. "Harry had taught me a few tricks. Liam supervised so I wouldn't burn anything down. I made the salad and the spaghetti is coming up!"
"Mm spaghetti." To be truthful, I had been craving for spaghetti so it was perfect.
Soon enough, I was eating the spaghetti and getting sauce all over my face...well I'm pretty sure anyways. It wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. "This is really good." I told Zayn.
He just chuckled and shook his head. All of a sudden he burst into a fit of laughter. "I had sauce somewhere on my face don't I?" I sighed.
Zayn nodded and he brought his thumb up the corner of my mouth. He wiped it off and blushed once more. "Thanks." I said. He nodded in reply.
We talked about any random stuff we could come up with. It went from the weather to my childhood, to his. I almost started talking about family and was about to get a little carried away. When I mentioned my sister, I almost said Perrie instead of my own name Penelope.
Zayn talked about his sisters and we had a great time. Before I knew it, there was a slice of cake in front of me. "Dessert." Zayn said. "Specialty of Chef Malik." He winked.
"Cake mix?"
"Yup!"
~~~
Sorry for such a long wait! I didn't even realize how long it had been! It's been two weeks! It rarely ever takes me that long, but I've been preoccupied and I apologize for that! Vote, comment, and fan me! :)
-Adriana <3