A Penny For Your Tears [Z.M]

Forty Seven

I felt the floor vibrate underneath my feet as music resounded throughout the room, my hips swayed from side to side, arms raised in the air as I closed my eyes for a second and allowed myself to get lost in the rhythm of the beat. A large grin was on display seeing Harry dancing ridiculously in front of me, a goofy smile on his face as he attempted to do the macarena, I laughed loudly, eyes traveling the vicinity until they settled on the person I was searching for. Zayn was looking around aimlessly until he found my gaze, he tipped the drink he was holding towards me before taking a long, seductive sip from it. After the kiss we had shared weeks ago in his kitchen, nothing else had happened between us but my lord was he being a tease. Accidentally bumping into me, working shirtless in the garden or cleverly placing his hands on my waist, all things he knew drove me crazy. I wanted him, I wanted him so bad but I had to respect the boundaries Zayn had placed and until he was ready, I wasn't going to do anything, despite it feeling like he wanted me to do something.

"Malik, "I said, leaving Harry to dance on his own while I approached Zayn who was leaning against a counter, watching the groups of people that were currently occupying his home. "Come on, dance with me." I begged, latching on to his arm as I attempted to pull him away from the counter. Zayn shook his head with a laugh, not moving from his position.

"I don't want to dance."

"Come on, it's my birthday please." I pouted but he shook his head, my pleas doing nothing to move him. "Fine," I huffed, crossing my arms like a child, "Clearly, you don't care about me."

"Please." Zayn scoffed with a playful eye-roll. "If I don't care about you, I wouldn't have bothered with all this now would I?" He asked, raising his arm to gesture towards the party that was raging around us. A sheepish smile and a red tint found it's way to my face as I thought of the events that lead to this moment. I had woken up this morning expecting everyone to have forgotten about today, hell, even I forgot it was my birthday. But after a large birthday breakfast, presents, a nature walk and an overall pleasant afternoon with my grandparents, I returned home to find a gorgeous dress on my bed and note waiting for me, telling me to get dressed and head downstairs. Excitedly, I got dressed as quickly as I could, putting on minimal makeup and grabbing a pair of heels before rushing down to see a dapper-looking Zayn in a white shirt and slacks, waiting for me with a grin and a large bouquet of flowers. He lead me to the surprise party that was being held for me at his house. I had been so overwhelmed with surprise and emotion that I was hardly able to speak for the first hour, just looking around stunned while everyone came to congratulate me. I was surprised for several reasons, with everything that had happened, I had thought Zayn had forgotten when my birthday even was, I didn't think he still cared enough for me to do all this and lastly, he had been so occupied with trying to find Luca this last few days, spending so many late nights at the base, that I didn't know how he even had time to make all of this possible.

"Thank you, Zayn, thank you for all of this." I said softly, taking his hand in my own. He smiled, gently, placing his drink down before taking a step closer to me.

"You needed this, you deserve this, normalcy, not caring about who's coming to take you away. I want you to be safe, I want you to be happy and I'm sorry that I can't give you that security of being away from that Italian fucker but -"

"Zayn," I interrupted, taking an equal step closer to him, so that we were now mere inches apart, staring intently into each other's eyes. "Don't do that, don't beat yourself about that, because we can't control what happens tomorrow. We can do our best to avoid it but we aren't God, we aren't immortal and all powerful, we are mere humans only doing as good as we physically can. Zayn, you've done so much for me, so, so much for me, I'll never be able to thank you for it but I want you know that I love you, every day I find myself in your presence the more I seem to fall in love with you and what I feel for you transcends the meaning of literally everything I know, or what I thought I knew. " I paused, letting out a breath before continuing. "I know you're not ready to be with me again, and you might never be and I understand but just know that what I feel for you, is the realest thing I've ever felt." Zayn didn't say anything for a long time, causing anxiety to build up within me, he raised his hand and brought his thumb to my bottom lip, stroking it gently, eyes darkened with love and lust.

"Zayn," I said softly, "You have to stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" He asked, eyes still trained on my lips.

"Teasing me." I breathed, as I felt him place a hand on the sides of waist, pulling me towards him our middles now touching. "I-I know you want your space and I'm trying to give you that but, but you make me want to, you make want t-"

"Want to what?" He whispered, head bent down so that our lips were just moments away from connecting. I looked between him and his lips and I don't know if it was all the alcohol I had consumed, the confidence of it being my birthday, my love for him or just pure lust, but before either of us knew what was happening, I had grabbed the side of his face and crashed my lips against his, kissing him like my life depended on it. He responded quickly, grabbing onto the back of my dress as he deepened it, both of us knowing what we wanted. Somehow, we had managed to leave the jam-packed living room and sneak up to his room, bursting through the door and falling on to the bed with a thud, unable to take our hands off of each other. He unzipped my dress while I helped him out of his trousers, a love-filled expression on both of our faces, my heart and stomach filling with the familiar warmth I had felt the first time I kissed him, something that felt like it happened decades ago.

"I love you," I moaned as I straddled him, knees on either side of him as he laid on the bed and I bend down to kiss him.

"I love you more." He responded breathless as he flipped us over so he was now hovering over on me and I was laying on my back. "God, I fucking love you Olivia Gray, I love you so fucking much." He grunted, as his strong and passionate thrust filled me with him, with his love and with joy of being his. Giving me the best birthday present a girl could ask for.

°°°

"Happy birthday to you." The crowd sang loudly before interrupting into a cheers, I smiled shyly, still disoriented from what had just happened between Zayn and I in his bedroom. We were still walking down the stairs, Zayn buttoning up his shirt when suddenly Niall ran and grabbed my arm, telling me it was time for cake, giving me no time to gather myself. The crowd eventually dispersed back to what they were doing as Harry told them that the cake would be passed around soon and I walked to where Zayn was standing with the others, thanking everyone, even Alexia and Louis, who I was surprised to see here honestly, with a large grin on my face.

"Thank you guys, thank you for all of this, and everything you've done for me this past year. " I said getting slightly emotional and to my absolute surprise, Louis took a step forward and pulled me into his embrace.

"It's no problem Liv, you know we love you." He slurred, granted, he was piss drunk but how does the saying go? A drunk man's actions are a sober man's thoughts, which means that he must feel the same sort of respect for me. I laughed, allowing him to hold me in his embrace.

"Group hug for the birthday girl!" Niall yelled and soon I was being crushed by four stronger boys.

"Guys, I can't breath." I choked out through my laughter, able to peek over the shoulder to see Zayn smiling at us fondly, I stretched out a hand which he gladly took, joining the hug and at that moment, nothing could have been more perfect.

Sadly all good things must always come to an end.

A/N: Oh shit, it's happening, this is the last filler chapter, now time for the real action to begin! I'm so excited and anxious for the ending but I guess we'll see :) Sorry for the smut guys, some you wanted it and I tried my hand but turns out I'm not so good at it so prob won't be trying it again lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember to vote and comment!