The Tattoo (zayn)

Part 8

I walked into our apartment, slamming the door behind me.
Arielle rushed out of her room.
"Hey hey hey. You alright?" She asked. I'm sure it was very obvious that I was mad. After the Uber dropped off Asher, my mood changed quickly from relieved to frustrated.
"No I'm not fucking alright." I tended to use the f-word very often when I was upset.
"What happened?" She looked scared of my wrath.
"Zayn fucking happened."
"What?"
"He is here. In LA. He lives here." I went to a wall and set my forehead against it.
"Well that's great..oh. Oh wait." Arielle figured out my dilemma. "He is still with her isn't he? And you're with Asher."
I didn't say anything. I just nodded my head against the wall.
"Oh no. Rach this is bad." She flopped down on the couch.
"What am I going to do?" I whined.
"Whatever you want to do." She gave me the answer that I didn't want. I didn't know what I wanted to do.
"Ugh." I trudged into my room.
After about 20 minutes of lying down on the bed, I got a text.

Need to see you tonight x

I knew from the 'x' that it was Zayn. Most of his tweets ended with an 'x'.
He sent an address immediately after. What I should have done, was considered my options or thought about Asher or ask questions what this was about. But I didn't. I just changed out of my dress, into a comfortable romper, and left.
I told Arielle I was going to get food.
I arrived 20 minutes later at the address he had texted me.
It was a rather nice large apartment complex which I'm assuming housed more celebrities than just him.
I knocked on his door.
He opened it, wearing a white shirt and some joggers. He still looked extremely impeccable. Not much has changed from the last year that I had met him. When I met him he had grey hair and now it was back to black. He still had a nice stubble and eyes that sparkled.
"Hey." He smiled. And moved aside to let me in.
Upon first glance, it was a nice place. Most things were really modern and looked really cool.
"This is a nice place." I said as I turned back toward him.
"Thanks."
I wandered around, eventually finding myself in the kitchen where he followed right behind me.
I placed my elbows on the counter and my head in my hands. He stood across from me on the other side.
"So." I said to break the silence.
"I came back to find you." He said. "That night I mean."
"I meant to tell you that I was moving. It just never came up." I regretted so much, not telling him when I had the chance.
"And now you are seeing someone." He looked down.
"Yah so are you. Where is she anyway?" I asked.
"She had to catch a flight to Milan for a fashion thing." He waved it off like it was no big deal.
"Oh." There was another moment of silence between us.
"So what now?" I asked.
"We could be friends?" He sounded unsure.
"I'd like that." Whether or not I thought he was one if the most attractive people ever, we still connected the last time and I'm sure we could do the whole friend thing.
Something sparked between us and we talked like the night we first met. Just on end about every little thing.
"Oh my god it's 3 am." I noticed my phone time.
"Oh shit really?" He looked surprised.
"I should really get going." I dreaded having to drive back to my apartment when I was already so tired.
"No no you can stay over. I have a guest room." He sounded sincere. It wouldn't be the worst thing.
"Ok fine." I said. He showed me to the guest room. It was rather basic and was perfectly fine.
He offered my a shirt of his and some sweatpants. Of course they were all too big but I didn't mind.
I walked out into the living room to say goodnight to Zayn.
He was standing there checking his phone but put it away when I came up to him.
"Goodnight." I said to him.
"Goodnight." He smiled softly. By some weird instinct I went in to hug him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and he put his arms around me.
It lasted longer than a hug between friends should have lasted but I didn't mind. After we both let go, he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"We have terrible timing don't we?" He asked with a laugh. I knew he didn't mean to be serious but both of us knew it was true.
"Yah we really do." I responded. And I turned around and walked to the guest bedroom.
I laid in the bed for about half an hour before I decided I couldn't sleep. I decided to get up and try and find the bathroom.
I walked down the long hallway and walked past Zayn's room. Weirdly enough he had the door open slightly and he was still awake. He seemed to be checking his phone.
"Rachel?" He must have heard me walking down the hall.
"Yah." I stood in his door frame.
"You alright?" He asked. I tried not to notice that his shirt was off and I could see all of his gorgeous tattoos.
"Yah just couldn't sleep." I answered.
"Me either." He replied.
He then outstretched his arm to signal me to come to sit next to him. So I did.
Not long after I found myself drifting off to sleep with his arm around me and my head cuddled up to his chest. And I wasn't even thinking about Asher.