Is This Really Love? (One Direction, Zayn Malik FanFiction)

Chapter 6

April's P.O.V:

Entering the flat was like entering the Buckingham Palace, I'm not exaggerating. Everything was Victorian styled and looked so delicate. How on earth could five boys live here without breaking every inch of it? One of many unsolved mysteries of the human race.

"Where is the bathroom or... a first aid kit?" I asked. Harry was taking off his coat, he looked at me and smiled. Damn that smile. "I'll give you a hand. Come on" He grabbed me by my wrist and gently tugged. The hallway was utterly dark, the only thing keeping me from crashing into the wall was the sound of Harry's footsteps. 

Once in the bathroom, he gently cleaned the cut in my forehead. Or at least he tried to be gentle. He warned me it was going to sting, disinfecting a cut always stings. I cursed worse than a sailor, not like one and Harry laughed through the whole thing. After wiping the rest of the ethyl alcohol with a wet towel he took a band aid from the kit and placed it on the cut. I must've looked so bad-ass. Notice the sarcasm. 

Through the other side of the door, I heard the front door slam shut. My head snapped towards the door, my eyes big, cautious. Really loud noises were coming from the lounge area. Screaming, laughing, things getting knocked down, what was going on in there? 

I panicked.

i looked at Harry urgently, who was listening too, with an amused half-smile. He must have noticed my panic because he gently touched my hand and said reassuringly, "It's just the boys, love" My eyes eyes got bigger, if that was even possible. As if that made me feel so much better. Well, at least they are not thieves with the criminal intent to rule the world. 

What if they dislike me? What if they don't like me? What if they hate me? What if they feel I am intruding and kick me out? i don't even know how to act around them. They are after all, famous. Not all of them are like Harry, kind and funny. They could be total assholes. Besides, I don't even know these guys. I mean, I do know them because they are all my friends talk about but all the things that the media say could be utter bullshit, as far as I know. They could be egocentric assholes, but looking at Harry, it's really hard to believe they would be like that. Fingers crossed.

I should ask them to give me their shirts, no... that would be weird. But if I sell them on eBay I am positive I could get a shitload of money. It's funny though, how odd it must feel knowing that if you auctioned your toothbrush on eBay people would literally fight for it. Must feel creepy.

OKAY THIS IS THE PLAN: I run naked through the lounge to the door and then run all the way across the street to my building. Because yolo. NOPE, BAD IDEA APRIL, THEY ARE YOUR NEIGHBOURS. Wait. Naked? at what point did my clothe came of? This was bad.

When Harry hovered over me extending a hand for me to take, I snapped back to reality. I smiled at him and quickly stood up. Once again, we walked through the dark hallway. This time I didn't have Harry's hand to guide me. Instead I followed the trail of his strong cologne. 

The sudden outburst of light made my eyes squint automatically. For a second I couldn't see a thing. I waited for my eyes to adjust. What I saw was chaos.  Quite difficult to explain too.

For starters, Niall was passed out on the couch, snoring lightly with his hand dipped fully on his glass of coke. Around him were Louis and Liam chasing each other with huge Nerf guns. Throwing foam bullets at the back of each other's heads with plastic guns, chasing each other around, knocking things down and screaming as they went. Niall, who was in the middle of it all, was still sleeping. On the other hand we had Zayn who was sitting on the middle of the kitchen table, legs crossed, wearing a How to Train Your Dragon onesie, eating corn pop cereal and looking at the TV that was right across the room. What the fuck?

I looked over at Harry with my mouth slightly open. He was looking at the boys with a half amused half proud smile. Today has been the most random day of all times.  

"Hey guys" Harry called out trying to get their attention. Didn't work. He tried once again, "Hey guys" he said a little bit louder. Nada. "HEY GUYS!" He shouted. Success. Liam and Louis stopped dead on their tracks and slowly turned to look at him. Zayn put his cereal down and looked at Harry too, even Niall opened one eye and looked lazily at Harry. 

Louis stepped forward and started complaining. "Harry, what on earth could you possibly have to say to interrupt us from our really intense daily plastic gun warfare moment? You know how important it i- Oh hi" Louis said finally noticing me. All four pair of eyes were staring at me now, analyzing, investigating. I couldn't help to awkwardly smile and wave, which luckily he returned just as awkward. 

"Mates, this is April, she lives next door and I broke her kindle and cut her eyebrow with the glass, hence the bad-ass band aid" Harry said laughing, making me laugh too. I could still feel their eyes staring. This was so embarrassing. 

Thankfully, Liam was the first to step forward and introduce himself. "Hi there, I'm Liam, I am currently kicking Louis' ass massively at plastic gun warfare. It's a pleasure to meet you" He said extending his hand for me to shake. I did and added despite of myself. "Hi I'm April, It's nice to meet you too. For the record, I bet I could beat your ass at Nerf war" Liam's mouth popped open, surprise and amusement clear in his features. All of them looked impressed. Eh, what can I say? I have an older brother, I know what Nerf guns are. 

Liam stood beside me and placed his arm around my shoulder. "I like this lass. How did you know that?" I shrugged. I smiled at him and placed my arm on his waist. "I grew up with an older brother. Kill or be killed, you know?" With one swift movement, I took his gun and placed it on his chest. "Bang" I muttered with a smug smile. 

Louis who was standing with his mouth open started clapping, then the rest followed. At this point I was grinning. I couldn't believe I just did that to Liam Payne. Okay, that was bad-ass. I bowed mockingly. I looked at Harry from the corner of my eye, he was clapping too, a lazy smile on his face. When he noticed, he immediately winked at me and my smile grew bigger. 

I have to admit though, it was kind of weird being the only girl in a room with five boys. But oddly satisfying, like if I had to prove myself to them and it was really fun. I like the feeling. 

"I think that after that blow on my masculinity, we should all sit and eat Niall's brownies" Liam said patting Niall on the head. And so we did. 

***

An hour later, we were all sitting on the kitchen table, where Zayn used to sit, chatting and eating Niall's horrible brownies. For being a kid who loved eating, he was terrible cook. 

Louis, Niall and Harry were arguing relentlessly about preferences on the models in America's Next Top Model. They loved the show apparently. It was so entertaining to watch Niall defend Tyra Bank's position as 'Queen B' whilst Louis argued that she was a cold hearted bitch and that Joan Rivers was so much better in Fashion Police than Tyra in ANTM. Me? Well, I sat quietly watching this conversation flow with an amused smile. On the other side, I was struggling to eat these burnt out brownies that tasted of anything except for brownies. 

Zayn, sitting beside me must have noticed me looking at the brownie in my hand critically, because he leaned in and whispered in my ear "Piece of advice, I know the brownies are terrible, but never say that they're... uneatable. Just say you aren't hungry. Otherwise, you'll literally break Niall's heart. Sensitive lad." I laughed quietly, trying not to call attention to me or Zayn being extremely close to one another. 

I nodded once, still looking straight ahead. From the corner of my eye I could see Zayn looking down at me, smiling. I was melting inside. I could feel the heat irradiating from his body, I could even smell him, a musky and woodsy smell, mixed with peppermint. It made me crazy. Not to mention the feeling of his nose touching my ear as he whispered. Thinking of it made me shiver. 

I couldn't take it. 

I stood up suddenly and excused myself to the bathroom. I had to calm down. My heart was thrumming in my chest. Did he feel it too? Or was I the only one feeling the intensity of his presence so close to me? Did he do it on purpose to taunt me? I was going crazy, my mind was going crazy. My pulse was like and over-driven guitar. What was happening to me? Since when does my body react like this to someone I haven't met before? The electricity of his touch must mean something. It must, if not the case, then I'm going mad. Like a hatter.

.