Taken -- A Zayn Malik Love Story

Chapter 3

Zayn, Kate and I were all sitting in the living room of Kate's flat with me on the floor at Zayn's feet and him sitting in my chair. My eyes were closed and he was idly stroking my long, curly black hair. We promptly heard a knock at the door and I hopped up to answer it.

It turned out to be the rest of the boys. I let them in, whirling around to let Zayn know that they were here. They nearly filled the rest of the living room. Liam was biting his lip, nervous. The rest of the boys were just being random and Harry was playing with my cat. I giggled at him as the cat curled up in his lap and fell asleep, a little orange-striped puffball. Niall ran into the kitchen, probably smelling the remnants of breakfast, and came back nibbling on a leftover piece of bacon.

Zayn came over to us, grabbing my hand. "Ready?" he asked me. My bright blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you serious?" I asked incredulously.

Zayn laughed. "Of course. We're in New York tonight, aren't we?" he asked the rest of the boys. Everyone else nodded.

"But I was going to spend a girl's night with Kate."

Zayn looked crestfallen. But then he brightened. "We'll come get you after the show when you DM Liam?" He grinned.

"Let me go ask my mom." I ran out the door and down the stairs. I opened the door to my flat and shouted, "Mom!! I need to ask you something!"

"What do you want? Money?" My mom looked up from her cross-stitching, looking over her glasses again.

I laughed. "No. Permission to spend the night with Kate and five boys for an undetermined amount of time."

My mom raised her eyebrow, but relented. "As long as Kate's okay with it. And text me where you'll be and when you need to come home."

"Will do!" I was already halfway out the door and up the stairs before she could finish her sentence. I ran back upstairs with a huge grin on my face. "SHE SAID YES!" I shouted, bursting into the apartment. Everyone applauded and Zayn hugged me. I grinned again, pleased with myself.

"So," I asked, "we spend the day together, I come back here when it's time, and I DM Liam after we're all done?"

Zayn nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me." He smiled sweetly at me, and I hugged him. I couldn't wait until tonight.

After we got back to the apartment so the boys could go get ready for their show, I asked Kate what I should wear.

"Grab your bag and let me help you," she said, halting her own preparations.

I ran into the living room and grabbed my Forever 21 bag and went back into Kate's room. She hummed a song that I didn't recognize as she went through the bag. I hadn't noticed that there was more stuff. She pulled out a baggy purple T-shirt and blue skinny jeans with a pair of pink high-tops. "Wear these. We're just going to go to the diner on 5th Avenue, so you don't need anything too fancy."

"Thanks!" I ran into the bathroom to change out of my white shorts/red T-shirt/wedge heels outfit.

I grabbed my purse and dug through it until I found my makeup bag. I ran back into the bathroom and rimmed my eyes with thick black liner and smeared a little bit of shimmery white eyeshadow on my lids. I ran a wine-colored lipstick across my lips, blotting them on a piece of toilet paper. "Ready!" I called, shoving my makeup back into my purse and poking my head out the bathroom door.

"Give me a few more minutes," Kate called back. I heard her turn on "Shut Up And Drive" by Rhianna and sing along. So that's what she was humming, I thought, dancing a little bit as I went into Kate's room to help her get ready.

"So, I saw that you seemed quite taken with Zayn," Kate said, applying a thick coat of blue mascara.

"He has a girlfriend," I shot back, my stomach tying itself into knots as I spoke.

"Lucky her. He's hot!" Kate smiled. "I can see why you like him." She put down her mascara and turned around, looking over her shoulder at the braid I made in her long, brown hair while she was applying her makeup. "Now, where was that..." She fished around on her table, looking for something. She picked up a bobby pin and stuck it in the end of her braid, pinning it to the rest of her hair. "There. Ready." She grabbed her purse, slipped her feet in to a pair of blue TOMS, and we were off.

When we got to the diner, a group of women looked up and cried, "Katie!! You're here!" One specific one, with bright green-and-purple hair, stood up and grabbed my hand. I recognized her as my mom's best friend and Kate's ex-girlfriend.

"So, is this the hot niece you were talking about?" the woman, who I remember as Mercedes, asked my aunt.

"Yeah. She's spending the night with me and some of her guy friends." Kate winked.

"Ooh," chorused the women's table. I stuck my tongue out at them, and some of them returned the gesture. I laughed and sat down.

"So, for those of you who haven't met me, I'm Sadie, Kate's niece." I grinned and grabbed one of the mozzarella sticks that was already at the table.

My phone buzzed, and I slid it open to find a text from Zayn that said, "dedicated "I Want" to you...Perrie's not going to be happy..."

I texted back, "Um...neither is James. he texted me earlier saying he wanted me back...and I kinda accepted..." I turned red and bit my lip. Mercedes noticed and looked questioningly at Kate.

"She's probably texting her new guy friend Zayn." She winked, and everyone at the table giggled.

I stood up. "I have to go," I said, grabbing my jacket and hurrying out the door to Kate's midnight blue sedan. I sat in the passenger seat and slammed the door behind me, dialing Zayn's number as I did so.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Baby, it's me. I need to talk to you."

"What about? What happened?"

"What I texted you earlier. He called me on the way here and I just reacted. I didn't know what I was doing. He's the one who dumped me on my ass a few weeks ago and -- " I broke off, sobbing, and unable to articulate why.

He was immediately comforting and said, "Shh, shh, you're going to be all right. It was just a misunderstanding. Let me talk to him."

"Thank you!" I sniffed. "You're the best."

"I'll see you in fifteen minutes. We're in the car right now. Where are you?"

"The diner on 5th. I'm sitting in the parking lot in Kate's sedan."

"All right." I heard him relate my information to Louis, who I guessed was driving.

--Zayn's POV--

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and I hopped out of the car before it had stopped and I sprinted over to the sedan. Sadie had fallen asleep in the passenger seat of the car, and I gently opened the door and woke her up. She sat up, looked around for a minute, then threw her arms around me and whispered, "I'm sorry."