Finding Hope (a Zayn Malik fanfic)

Chapter 4 - Holding Hands

After me and Zayn finished smoking up we went out and got McDonald's after we both began having cravings from all the weed we were smoking.

We park at some other beach while eating our cheese burgers and listening to Chris Brown's newest album as we continue chatting away. I start to get curious about how a decent guy like Zayn got associated with street gangs in the first place. So I ask...

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get involved with gangs or meet people like your ex girlfriend?".

He's silent for a moment...until he says
"Well here's the thing, since I would go to drag races a lot, street gangs often show up there to drug deal or watch car races, so one day I stopped by with some other expensive sports car that I own and my ex happened to be there watching. She took interest that I had a cool looking car and asked me out".

"All that for a car?" I smile. "Believe it or not yeah". Zayn says.

I can't stand girls who only date guys for their cars in my opinion.
It annoys me when people date someone just for money or cars so that they can show off about it.

Zayn continues to tell me how he met gang members through his ex because she was friends with them.

"At one point they even asked me to become an official member, but I turned it down because I didn't want to get too involved. At one point though I did sell weed, but not for long".

"Are you fucking serious?" I say, shocked. Why am I so surprised?
"Yeah, they even asked me to smuggle weed and meth to Florida all across the country, but last minute I decided not to do it, just in case I would get caught".

"Okay well that's interesting, are there any other crimes you committed or almost committed that I should know about?" I ask, still surprised about all the shit he's been telling me.

"Not really, but I use to smoke up meth a lot when I was in a relationship with my ex Hana, but after we broke I quit, because I didn't like what it did to me, the feeling after recovering from taking it - and one of the reasons why I ended things with Hana".

"Wait were you like an addict or something?".
"No but I smoked it about seven times before, it would have been hard to quit if I was an addict".

Okay, thankfully he isn't one, but meth is such a dangerous drug, I hope he doesn't use again. I've never met anyone like Zayn before. I've always hung out with the right crowd of people and grew up in a stable family, and hearing Zayn telling me about his past is something else.

"I hope I'm not scaring you away now" he says.
"Oh no, you're honestly not, I've just never hung out with someone like you before, and hearing your story is a first, but when was the last time you used?" I say.

"About a month ago". Oh shit. He's only just got out of the gang life.

"Wow, so you must have just got out of your relationship too- " he interrupts and says "Yes, a month ago too, but don't worry, my feelings for her are completely gone, I'm ready to move on".
"It's okay I shouldn't really judge" I continue to say "because I just ended my engagement with my ex a month ago too".

"Wait for real?" I nod. "What are the odds then, it's perfect timing that we both got out of relationships at the same time" Zayn says.
"I know right".

We gaze into each other's eyes for a moment, then both turn to watch the stars and skyline over the water....until we hear someone knock on the car window on Zayn's side. Its a girl with a couple of her friends by her. "Excuse me!" She yells. I can tell by the way she's standing that she's really drunk. Zayn rolls down the window.