Soft Spot (Zayn Malik)

V

Chapter V: Tom

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"I still don't understand why you did that." I scrunched my eyebrows together, leaning my head on his shoulders.

"Did what?" He played with my hair, looking at the field in front of us.

Tom and I still haven't left the field. We've been sitting on the bleachers for almost an hour and a half, we ended up skipping English class, though I promised Aeanne I wouldn't. Lunch ended forever ago, but I didn't mind. Tom Daley was a wonder, and I wanted to explore that wonder. I wanted to know what made him do it. Was I that special to him that he'd sacrifice literally everything just to keep me safe?

We just sat there, trying to catch up and teasing each other and laughing until we were out of breath. I don't think anything could feel better than that - having your stomach hurt because of endless laughters from silly stories that you have kept all your life. They were weird, and I didn't mind being weird around Tom. Whether it's because I've known him for a long time or I owe him something, we had this click that no one else could describe. Almost like the kind of click that Aeanne and I share. Even Aeanne and Josh, perhaps.

"You know what I meant." I frowned, playfully punching his arms.

"Ow! You hit like a dude!" He teased.

"Mean!" I pouted, breaking away from him.

"No, come back!" He cried while chasing after me.

I ran away from him, giggling as he tried to catch up with my pace.

"Don't try me," he warned between pants, "I used to run miles!"

"You don't have a 'try me' button!" I sarcastically answered, increasing my pace within heavy laughs.

"Really?" He eventually caught up with my pace, tackling me on the ground.

I let out a small 'oomf', pouting when my body hit the grass, Tom's built one on top of me. We awkwardly stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, just staring at each other and having idiotic smiles playing upon our faces.

"Told you I'll catch up."

"You got lucky." I stuck my tongue out.

"You got lucky." He mimicked, helping me up as he goes.

"Stop!" I hit him again, stomping away and pouting childishly.

"I'm gonna have a bruise by tomorrow." He pouted as he rubs circles on his left arm.

"Bleeeeh." I stuck my tongue out again, straightening my shirt and fixing my pony tail.

"You're cute." He laughed.

"Shut up." I looked down, blushing furiously.

"We should probably go now," he smiled, "bad enough that we skipped English. We'd definitely have to avoid Miss Grendell in the hallways today."

"Yeah," I giggled, "seriously."

We made our way back to the bleachers, gathering all of our belongings and making sure we had everything before leaving the football field that turned out to be both of our escapes.

"Arvina." He whispered, prying my wrist ever so gently and looking straight through my almond eyes.

"Yeah?" I gulped. I've never been nervous around Tom before, but I definitely am right now.

"When you need anything - like an escape, you know..." he shrugged, "just come here. I'm always here."

I just gave him a small nod, smiling as I tugged my wrist back from him.