Sweet Lover | z.m. + n.k

019

"I swear to God he hates me." I whined, I was on the phone with Camila and Lauren telling them about my date with Zayn, I had just gotten home and was finally relaxing a little but my shoulders were still tense. I finally met Zayn's father and he hated me. He absolutely  hated me, I could feel it. 

"Come on he doesn't hate you." 

"He does." 

"How do you know that?" Camila said back and at that I rolled my eyes 

"Dude you should've seen the way he was looking me up and down, like I wasn't anything he wanted in his house." 

"You're dating his kid! That's they usually act!" Lauren speaks up "Isn't it?" 

I said No at the same time Camila said Yes. 

"Dad's are meant to be nice to the girlfriends. They are never mean to the girl unless they don't like them! And like, I didn't give him a reason to not like me. What the hell could it be? Why the cold shoulder?" I told my two best friends they wanted me to be confident in myself and yet I still felt small under his gaze. 

"Stop worrying, why don't you do something nice for both boys? Like... maybe cook them dinner?" Camila started and I could practically see her thinking face "You do make the best gumbo in town! Give that a go! See what he says! No one can deny your food." 

"Oh yeah,"  Lauren added "When we came over last week, it was sooooo good and thanks for letting me take some home by the way. I really appreciate it." 

"Oh my gosh, you guys are totally right!" I told them and it was true I had been cooking gumbo from since before the hurricane that made my family move to Miami. It was a pretty perfect idea, I was too busy felling small to think of it myself. I found myself thanking the gods I had my two friends to keep me grounded. 

"I'll text Zayn right now and see when he and his dad are free for dinner!" 

"See their you go! Text us the results okay? Because I need to take a bubble bath, talk to you babes later!" Camila said right before hanging up leaving me and Lauren alone on the phone. 

"Seriously Normani, stop worrying. I think everything will go perfectly if you just be yourself and I don't mean the scared version of yourself. I mean the one who is totally sure of who she is. Don't be afraid to bring her out." 

I smiled into the phone, "Thanks Lauren, and thanks for always having my back." 

"I will always have your back, I got you, and Camila does too." 

Lauren and I said our goodbyes and I took a deep breath. I wanted everything to work out, I was completely and totally into Zayn. I didn't ever want to lose him. I know how families work, one minute the person you'e with can say they love you and then they next they're breaking your heart because you don't fit into the image they want for their child. 

I rubbed my hand down my face and took a deep breath before looking at my phone again and calling my boyfriend. 

"Hey Love," he said smoothly "Miss me already huh?" 

"Totally," I said being sarcastic "I feel like I haven't heard from you in three months" 

My boyfriend cracked up and I smiled knowing that I had made it happen. "So I was thinking, that I could make you and your dad dinner. Meeting him earlier felt kind of messy, I wanna do it the right way this time around." 

"Mani, it wasn't messy at all." Zayn said but I didn't bother listening to his kind words, they wouldn't change the knot in my stomach. 

"So just let me know when the best time to come over is and I can make you guys some of my famous gumbo and you're gonna love me even more than you did before." 

"Well that sound good Mani," he said "Let's do it, I'll talk to dad but I don't see why some time next week won't work. That'll be fun to do." 

"I was thinking the same thing, thanks love." 

"You're welcome," Zayn said 

We hung up and I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly some ( but not many) of my fears going along with it. 

-

"We're gonna do it next Wednesday," I told the girls who were sitting down on the beach with me. My two companions were covered in sunscreen praying that they wouldn't burn. The talent show was this weekend and they wanted to look perfect. 

I didn't wear sunscreen, in fact, I was in my smallest bikini I could afford to get browner from the sun and since my brown skin protected from harmful sun rays I didn't see why not. I also knew one thing Zayn liked so much about me was my skin tone and the way our skin looked next to each other when we laid in bed together. The contrast reminded him of one of his favorite art pieces. 

"Hopefully this will pull Zayn's dad over, I really want him to like me and right before Mr. Malik came in Zayn and I were having a pretty serious conversation." 

"What were you guys talking about?" Camila questioned turning her head to me , her curls bouncing all around her as her hands ran through the white sand. 

"Zayn was saying we rushed into things, and we did, but the way he said it... like he was so sad. I couldn't believe that was my boyfriend I was talking too. He sounded like his heart was already broken." 

Lauren raised her eyebrows under her hand, Lauren had some serious green eyes which also meant that her eyes were ridiculously sensitive to the sun. But she still looked great in her blue swim suit and her pale skin would do well in the summer sun. Color would look great on her. 

"Why would his heart already be broken? You guys don't even fight." 

"Right!" Camila added "You guys should still be in the cupcake phase, I don't get it." 

"I feel like there's something he's not telling me." I told them quietly. 

"Then their probably is," Lauren said, rather bluntly "Always follow your first gut, but just because he isn't telling you something doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. He could be insecure about something - probably about the idea of losing you." 

Camila and I just looked at her, obviously neither of us had come to that idea or even dreamt of it. 

"Lauren is totally right, as always, he's probably worried that because you fell in love so fast you're going to fall out of love fast too." 

"But that's not going to happen," I told them back "And if that's the case then I'm going to love him like I'm going to lose him." 

"Good, love him endlessly. I know he'll do the same." Lauren smiled again and I nodded, turning back to the sun. 

Everything suddenly felt all up in the air, with the whole father thing and Zayn's sad and quiet voice in my head. I didn't feel to sure about anything anymore. So I pulled my phone out of my bag and texted my boyfriend. 

Manibear: Guess who's having the best time on the beach but would be having a much better time if her boyfriend were here? 

Zayn: I love her more. 

I put my phone away and smiled trying to calm what felt like a bundle of nerves that never realized, I still felt anxious and confused. I knew I was going to have a serious conversation with Zayn again but I didn't know if I would like what he had to say. 

-

Hi loves, I am such TRASH for not updating but here I am again! Trying to update like a good human being. But thank you so freaking much for liking this story so much and being so supportive and I'm sorry that I don't always answer when you send me messages asking me to update. Like I said before... I'm trash. 

BYEEEEEE!