You're Not My Romeo. (Zayn Malik)

"I love you." Two times.

"Sophie, can you go have coffee with me after work?" Marilyn asked the red head as they catched up in the hallways.

"Nope, sorry. Too much work." She answered, smiling apologetically.

Marilyn was bummed, wanting to go to a coffee, but having the company of her best friend. Allessandro seemed everytime busier, and Zayn each minute with her stranger. Stiff, as if a piece of the puzzle had been corrompted, stolen, maybe even broken.

"Hey Malik, you think you could come pick me up and go for coffee with me?" She asked through the phone as she spoke to her best friend.

Zayn on the other end of the line wanted to be accompanied by her badly, but he was afraid. Everytime they talked he remembered what Allessandro was doing to her, and how she was choosing to ignore it. He knew Marilyn had perceived there was something odd going on with her boyfriend, but she just chose to turn her face. Zayn knew that girl more than he knew himself, and she wasn't one to be fooled.

"I don't think I can, I'm going to... Uhm... I have plans with... Uh" He started saying, but soon he realized that he had used every single excuse in the book lately. It was stupid how guilty he felt, but at some point he would have to get over it. He couldn't avoid her without her realizing it. "Wait no, I can make it, I'll meet you in the coffee shop now."

"Great, I'm on my way."

~.~.~.~

He entered the place, remembering the first time he saw Marilyn there. Her summer clothes and round glasses, the way her hair was down and the breeze was hitting it. How she was wearing this big purse that could come from Anne Frank's closet. And how he loved everything about her. How honestly disgusted and dissapointed she was to see the place had wifi and everyone seemed to be sitting wih their laptops, their 'Go Green!' eco cups by their side just working, not admiring the city outside. And Zayn understood her, even he was used to First Class Seats and bachelor pads with huge TV's and an amazing amount of beer. He actually got the point.

"Hello! Two mocha frappuchinos with wipped cream please." He ordered for the two of them, knowing exactly what his girl's favorite was.

Not 'his' girl, but his friend he had startlingly big feelings but couldn't express them until Alessandro was out of the picture.

"Hey Zayn!" She said, giving him a small hug.

He answered and smiled at her and how she was dressing and how her hair was up in a ponytail, something quite rare.

"Why are you staring?" She asked looking up at him.

"Oh it's just the hair. You look really pretty." Zayn blurted his thoughts, making Marilyn's cheeks tinge rose and smile a bit, hiding it by looking away. With his luck their names were called to go for their coffee, making it easy to drift away from the topic or any other awkward situation.

"Zayn you've been acting weird, you're like distant and bemused, is there anything wrong?" She asked right away as they sat on a couch with a small table on the middle.

"Uhm not really, I've just been tired and busy." He lied, not being able to look at her in the eye.

"Zayn, I know you better than that, what's going on?" She asked, awkwardly placing her hand on his to give him comfort.

"It's uh..." He answered, trying to come back with another lie, when the lightbulb on his head finally lighted up. "I have to go to Bradford and my parents don't want me to take Perrie, since they say it might be awkward. And I don't know how to explain that to her."

Okay, truth was Zayn's parents were dying to see Perrie again in their next visit, but first: he didn't want to take her since everyone got so attached to her, and second: he needed to have a problem so Marilyn wouldn't figure out the actual thing.