"What do you think about these?" I giggled, trying on a bright blue pair of sunglasses that were way too big. "You look lovely, you always do," Zayn winked. Yes, Zayn. Zayn Malik of One Direction is my boyfriend and I love him to death! He's the sweetest guy on the planet! "Oh come on, you cannot honestly think these look good!" I teased. "Oh, but I do."
Zayn and I left "Sunglasses World" and headed back out into the mall. Zayn had his arm around me, and it makes me feel so special. As Zayn and I are just walking through the mall, trying to decide what store to go to next, I hear someone shout "OHMYGOD IT'S ZAYN MALIK!" I turn and see a group of about seven girls running our way. "We can get out if you want," Zayn whispers in my ear. We aren't exactly "official" yet, my choice. He's always asking what will make me comfortable. "It's fine, it's who you are," I reply. Zayn steps away from me and towards the oncoming stampede. I heard girls asking for pictures and saw them hugging him, and totally fan girling. I started walking over to Zayn, so he wouldn't be too worried about me, and I saw some girls pointing at me and laughing. I knew what they were laughing at. I have cerebral palsy, and I limp on my right side. I usually don't let people get to me, so I didn't mind too much. That is, until one of them piped up and said, "Who's that? Some girl you're hanging out with for charity work?" She and her friend fell out laughing over that comment, and I turned beet red. Zayn obviously hadn't heard their comment, he was still engrossed in autograph signing and picture taking. I decided I didn't want to go into the crowd, so I stood back a ways until Zayn called me over.
I walked over to him as straight as I possibly could, smiling the whole way. "What do you need, Zayn?" I asked, eyeing the girls who'd made fun of me. Zayn just smiled and turned to the group of fans. "I want you all to be the first to meet my amazing girlfriend, Cathy!" Zayn was grinning from ear to ear. I saw a few girls smiling at me, a few looking confused, and a few who looked like they wanted to murder me right there in broad daylight. "Hi, everyone, nice to meet you," I fake smiled. Most of the girls said hi back, and a few even wanted pictures and follows on twitter. I did notice four or five girls glaring at me and laughing every time I walked. I knew they were judging me, and I tried not to let it get to me.
After Zayn said his goodbye's we left the mall. Zayn took me back to my house and we popped some popcorn, settling in for a long movie night. "I thought the fans today liked you," Zayn said, nudging me. "Mmm," I replied. I knew Zayn could tell when I was upset, so I wasn't surprised when he got quiet, trying to figure out what was bugging me. "Okay, I got nothing, what's wrong?" He finally asked. "It's nothing, really," I lied. He saw right through me. He turned the movie off and turned to face me, staring intensely into my eyes. "Cathy, tell me what's wrong, I want to help you." I took a deep breath, trying not to let my emotions take over, they were just petty insults from hormonal teen girls. "Not all the fans today liked me. They were judging me, I could tell. They thought I wasn't worthy of you." There. I'd said it. I waited for Zayn's reaction, but got nothing. "You can't be serious, they loved you!" He said, getting defensive. "Some did, some didn't. Look at my twitter mentions." I pulled out my phone and scrolled down to a picture of me and Zayn before we got mobbed.
'Look who Zayn's dating! Omg I can't, it's so ridiculous! Does she seriously think he'll stay with her? She's got nothing on Perrie!'
"There are a bunch more like that," I whispered. I saw Zayn looking very angry, and he got up and took out his phone, storming into the kitchen.
I decided not to follow him, he needed his space. I turned the movie back on and for a little engrossed in it, so I didn't hear him come back in. "I fixed it," he said quietly. I gave him a puzzled look, and he gestured to my phone. I picked it up and say that I had a ton of notifications from twitter. The first one was a picture of Zayn and I that said we were officially a couple. And then I saw the message that went with it:
'I just announced that Cathy and I are official, and she's already getting hate!?!? WTH is that!? I love her, and you would too if you actually got to know her and didn't judge her from afar!! She is an amazing, beautiful, talented woman, and if you knew that you would be sorry you ever said anything mean about her! Shame on you "fans" of mine. If you can't love the people I love, then you are NOT my fans!'
I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks as I read wonderfully encouraging replies to Zayn's message. "You love me?" I mumbled, trying to hide my tears. I felt Zayn sit down beside me and his arm go around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. "Of course I do, who wouldn't?" I smiled through my tears and looked up at him. "I love you too, Zayn. Thank you for standing up for me." Zayn smiled down at me and put his left hand under my chin, tilting my head up a little bit. Then, he kissed me. Now, I'd been very against kissing when we first met, because I'd never kissed anyone. I hadn't been ready to just kiss him because he was Zayn Malik, I wanted it to be right. And it was. It was short, but it was absolutely, positively, perfect.
