Under Summer Sky • Zarry

11. Firefly forest

I laid around sleeping for most of that day, just gathering my energy and I wondered what exactly it was that Zayn had in store for me later on. By now it was an hour before the glorious Tuscan sunset and right after family dinner, which Zayn had been absent from.

Gio said to everyone at the table earlier that Zayn had asked to skip it in order to 'run some errands' and he ended up grabbing some quick dinner on the go instead.

So I hadn't seen or heard from Zayn all day, but apparently our plans were still on.

The air was a bit cooler that evening with a slight, gentle breeze drifting through the trees. It was practically the perfect temperature to be outside, probably one of the nicest days so far that whole summer.

And I felt much better by then, all clean and fresh out of the shower, dressed in cut off jean shorts and a baggy white and grey raglan t-shirt, black vans and matching black Ray-Ban sunglasses that I had perched on top of my tousled brown curls.

My nails were still painted both turquoise and black from when Zayn did them the night before and I wanted to leave them just like that, so I never bothered to remove the polish at all.

And I was still admiring the paint job as I looked down at my hand where I held my phone out, reading a text message that I had just received from Zayn.

Meet me out front.

I instantly heard the revving of what sounded like a motorcycle off in the near distance and I left out the front door of the guest house, moseying on over towards the driveway. There was Zayn idling and sitting on top of this sick black and purple Kawasaki Ninja 400 motorcycle.

He donned a leather jacket worn over a white t-shirt and his usual fit of ripped jeans and black doc marten boots. Zayn looked over at me as I approached him and casually ran a ring fingered hand through his messy bleached blonde hair that was now starting to grow out a bit more, making his roots much darker and he held a black helmet in his other hand.

Fuck. How was it humanly possible for Zayn to be even hotter than usual?

I attempted to keep my thirst down at a reasonable level and tried my best not to stare at him for too long but it was really, really difficult. As I walked closer to Zayn I noticed that he had traded in his former stud nose ring for a silver hoop instead and he also appeared to have a subtle hint of eyeliner on the bottom of his lids on the waterline, which made his eyes even more round and doe-like.

He had unbelievably gorgeous eyes.

"Damn," I murmured, not even realizing that I said it out loud.

"A beaver's favorite swear word, yeah?" Zayn quipped back, handing me the motorcycle helmet that he was holding, eyes dancing at me with amusement.

I cracked a smile. "Look who's got jokes now."

"I'm spending too much time around you. It's rubbing off, unfortunately," he teased.

I let out a short laugh in return and removed my sunglasses from on my head, now placing them on the collar of my shirt instead before I put on the helmet, and then climbed onto the back of Zayn's motorcycle. I had never been on the back of a bike like that before and I felt extremely excited by it.

"Hold on," he instructed.

So I swiftly leaned forward next, wrapping my arms around his torso rather tight. I also noticed that Zayn smelled different this time; not bad, not ever bad, but really sexy; some new fragrance I hadn't recognized before.

"What's this scent you're wearing?"

"Gucci," he answered as he kicked the motorcycle into drive and we sped off.