Color My Senses Cherry Red

Chapter 3

"It smells in here," are Niall's first words when he enters the room late the next morning. Zayn is already awake, working on the essay he couldn't make any progress on the night before.

He turns his head to look at his friend and eyes him. "It must be you then, 'cause I haven't noticed anything unusual."

Niall frowns, then picks up Zayn's shirt from last night and sniffs it. "It smells like pub. Did you go out after all last night?"

Zayn looks back at his essay without a word and Niall gasps. "You did, didn't you? You went out without me, you cunt? Wait, did you have a date I don't know about?"

Zayn sighs. "I can go out without you and not have a secret date, you know?" he says softly. "I do have friends besides you."

"Who?" Niall demands to know, looking deep in thought. "No, seriously, who? I'm pretty sure you only know people I know as well, so I have no idea who you can have possibly gone out with, considering all our mutual friends were with me last night."

Zayn sighs. "Does it really matter?"

Niall shrugs. "Not really. I'm just surprised, is all. I didn't know you had other friends – but if you do, good for you."

He smiles and stretches, making his t-shirt ride up his flat, pale stomach. Zayn watches him for a moment and smiles. "Did you have a good time at least? Or was my absence so distressing that you couldn't get laid?"

Niall laughs. "Oh, I got laid all right. She was wild. I think I'll be sore all day."

"No details, please," Zayn groans, making Niall laugh as he's taking his clothes off. Zayn watches him, then averts his eyes when Niall pulls his boxers down and goes into the bathroom to take a shower.

Zayn looks back down at his essay and sighs heavily, knowing that with Niall here now, he definitely won't get much more work done. He gets up and shoves his books into his backpack, deciding to go to the library instead.

He knocks on the bathroom door and informs Niall of his plans, then leaves, getting some coffee on his way to the library. He has a smoke while finishing his coffee, then tosses the cup into the litter bin and goes inside, heading for his usual spot near the back of the library.

He takes a deep breath as he unpacks his books and laptop and starts typing.

He manages to focus for about ten minutes before he's distracted by someone loitering around the psychology section. He looks up when the bloke drops a book and watches him curiously. He tilts his head, watching the guy walk around the shelves; he looks more than a little lost.

Shaking his head, Zayn tries to go back to typing and taking notes, but soon finds himself looking at the (very attractive) guy again. He nibbles on the end of his pen, eyes roaming over the young man's fit body. He's very tall with short brown hair, a cute nose and a great body, from what Zayn can tell. He tries to look away again, knowing it's impolite to stare, but he can't help himself; there's something very intriguing about the man.

His heart stops for a second when the bloke turns around and is suddenly looking back at him. Zayn quickly leans over his book, pretending to have been looking at it the whole time. He doesn't risk looking up again for fear of being discovered – at least until a shadow falls over him. He raises his head slowly and comes face-to-face with the guy who is now looking down at him with a friendly smile.

"Hi!"

Zayn opens his mouth, tongue darting out to wet suddenly dry lips, and swallows hard. "Hi," he whispers, cursing his voice for not working when it's supposed to. Then again, they are in the library, so whispering is not completely out of place.