The Etiquette of Flux (1D fanfic)

Chapter 4

The room stunk, reeked. I had a bad feeling about this. But it was different, the bad feeling wasn't exactly because something entirely bad was going to happen. I guess I would find out once I reached the room.

"This is it, who I am." Zayn told me upon entering a room.

At the top of the stairs was a fairly large room, very dark except for a few cigarette, or is that, blunt lights? Euphoric smoke penetrated the air and Frank Ocean blasted from an iPod. 

Wow, I did not expect this, or anticipate. But, I'm very pleasantly surprised. Zayn took a seat next to a girl and I sat next to him. The girl was next to three other guys other than Zayn.

"This is Jasmine, Anthony, Trevor, and Leon." Zayn introduced.

"Rachel." I announced. Sitting next to them, I noticed that it was blunts, no cigarettes.

"So, how do you like it so far?" Zayn whispered in my ear.

"It's alright from what I can tell, roll me one of those and I'll let you know."

Zayn took a bit of the weed and slowly rolled the paper on itself, slow and steady. I started to feel dizzy already from the smoky air. Jasmine grabbed a bottle of vodka and poured it into a red solo cup, mixing it with an unknown liquid in an unlabeled bottle.

"Here." Zayn put the blunt in my mouth softly, placing it between my two lips. I sat there and waited until he took the lighter and lit the stick until it smoked. I exhaled quickly and felt a wave of relief. 

The noise levels changed. Frank Ocean was quieter, and our calm silence was louder. The inhales, exhales, swigs of alcohol, sounds of lighters, all seemed to go up. Everything looked more beautiful than ever, Zayn looked more beautiful than ever. His eyes were red from the bud. His lips seemed redder and swollen, while his completion was angelic. I didn't waste a second to rest my head on his leather jacket. It felt like cloud, and it felt like a blanket. Zayn noticed my action and he right away got up, took my hand lightly and delicately, and guided me to an isolated corner of the room. There, we sat and resumed our positions. Except this time, we leaned against a pillow and he put his arm around my shoulder. Everything was floating and we were air. 

"I like you a lot." His words were oxygen.

"Why is that?" 

"I don't know, if I'm honest. For one, you're really hot. You're compelling."

"Thank you Zayn Malik."

"Don't mention that Rachel..."

"Marino."

"I like that. Rachel Marino." 

We were quiet for a very long time. Smoking, smoking, smoking, drinking. Smoking, smoking, smoking, drinking. The music changed from Frank to Chris, Chris to Drake, Drake to Ne-Yo. Everything but us moved.

"Why do you do this, Zayn Malik?"

"What, smoke?" I nodded.

"You have a great future and singing voice, what's your reason?"

"Sometimes it's too much, and there's no other way. What about you, what's your reason?"

That moment was when I realized what my reason was.

"You just said it." 

I carelessly let my body fall onto his. My hand rested on his midsection, head in his neck, legs on his legs, breath on his neck, our bodies covering our thoughts. My mind was bare, like a sandy desert. My eyes fluttered shut and I held a little tighter. The feeling of his flat stomach rhythmically rising and falling lulled and carried me into a dark, peaceful place.

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Rays of sun blinded my raw eyes. I woke up and I was sprawled across Zayn, him still sleeping. There was a crusty and leftover taste in my mouth, contained by very chapped lips. Everyone else in the room were sleeping. I cringed, witnessing the sleeping remnants of Jasmine and Leon about to have some fun, but fell asleep halfway. I walked over to the corner of the room near the stairs, picking up my shoes, purse, and sweatshirt. Taking out my phone, I noticed the time, 6 am. Just enough time to get ready and to the building by 8. Once I was ready to leave, I took Zayn's phone and set an alarm to go off in 15 minutes. "Can't be late to song writing can we?" was what I wrote as the name. Hopefully, he will catch my drift. Before I left him be, I kissed his cheek, leaving a red lipstick stain.

I made my way downstairs when I noticed that the shop is closed, and the doors are locked. "Shit." I whispered to myself. After trying to open the front two windows with no luck, I looked around for keys. All the drawers were not to my liking until I noticed a ring of about forty keys on it in the janitors closet. "Motherfucker." I muttered as I realized how long it will take me to find out which is the right key, if there is one. I was basically hopeless until I had an epiphany. I looked at the lock to see the brand name "Blackstone" engraved upon it. I smiled as I looked through the available keys and found one that matched names, and I chuckled in satisfaction as the key and lock were a perfect fit.

Once I got to my house's lawn, I was dumbstruck. My dad will kill me if he sees that I've been out all night. Unfortunately, I've only had practice sneaking out of other people's houses, not into my own. I took a peak into the window and discovered that the kitchen was vacant, a good sign that nobody is awake. Now, my dad is a rich white man. That should imply that he definitely has a security system. This was going to be a lot more difficult than I had intended. That basically means, I cannot sneak into windows, so my opening of the door needs to be silent. 

The key went in fairly smoothly, but opening the door made a little more noise. I pushed it closed and slowly, very slowly, locked it. I stood frozen when I thought I heard someone coming downstairs. Thankfully, it was just my imagination. I scurried over to my room, shutting the door behind me. My hands were nearly black from wiping off all of my makeup. I slipped off my shirt, jeans, jacket, and slipped on some new and fresh clothes. I also sprayed on some perfume to try not to smell like old weed. Once I was finally done up, I looked at the time; 7:05. I faintly heard Victoria walking down the stairs and the refrigerator opening. As I opened the door to my bedroom walking to go eat breakfast, I couldn't help but congratulate myself on pulling off smoking and sneaking in, all in one night.