My Beautiful King

Chapter Forty Part 1

"Budge up, you whore."

"Marcus!"

"Sorry, Mrs Jones!" Marcus blushed timidly as he stopped by the car door. "I had meant to say 'please move along to the left, lovely Ashley.'"

I folded my arms and shook my head stubbornly, remaining stationary on the car's back seats. Marcus lightly shoved against my head and we began to scratch and claw at each other childishly, screeching like street cats.

"Behave!" Mum barked as she fiddled mindlessly with her pinned up blonde hair. "Honestly, you two, why can't you just sit quietly like Finn is? He hasn't been causing any trouble; look at him!"

We both glanced over at Finn, who was seated next to me, leaning against the car's opposite door and picking at a fleck of ketchup on his jeans. He looked up in embarrassment and shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't sit down because Ashley won't let me!" Marcus whined. "And besides," he added in a low whisper. "Finn's only quiet because he's sitting there, wishing he was Zayn."

Finn's mortification peaked as he blushed fiercely. "No, I am not-"

"Marcus," my mum groaned as she peeked through the car's front window, searching for my dad to give help with handling us. "Please just get in the car."

"I can't, Ashley won't move!"

"I'm not wishing I was Zayn!" Finn pressed on firmly. He lay a hand on my lower arm. "Ashley, I swear, I'm completely cool with you being with him-"

"Ashley, can you move so Marcus can get in the car?"

"Yeah, Ashley."

Mum instantly whipped around to scold Marcus for his irrelevant input and comments. I suppressed a chuckle.

"But really, I'm happy to meet Zayn, I'm not envious or anything-"

"Finn, just shut up."

"You shut up, Marcus!"

"No, you shut up."

"No, you shut-"

"ENOUGH!" Mum bawled as she thumped her fist against the back of her seat. The escalating noise came to an instant cease. "I don't know why you all feel the need to be so loud! Ashley, move to the left - now. Finn, stop babbling on about that Zayn and Marcus please, shut up. I'd like to get to this Liam's house before three o'clock and back here by ten. At this rate we're never going to leave. Oh, here comes Simon..."

Sure enough, my dad came sauntering from inside of our house and into the vehicle we were all sitting in. Marcus started to fasten his seatbelt as Finn went back to scratching against his trousers. I brought out my phone and began to reply back to a text.

It's a bit crazy in the car & mum just screamed at us to shut up.. But other than it's going good :D I'm sure my parents will love you Zayn! I did mention that Finn is coming too, right? xxx

Today was the day. We were all packed in the car, ready to make the two hour long journey towards Zayn. At last minute (last minute being last night), I'd decided to bring Finn along, seeing as he had been indirectly nagging me to. So here it was, another person for Zayn to meet.

I was just praying that the day wouldn't end in a testosterone fuelled brawl.

Buzz. Buzz. Beep.

Yes, u mentioned it about 4 times? Should I be worried tht ur thinking more abwt him nd less about me? ;) xxx

I smiled.

Be very, very worried xxx

Looking up at my parents who were muttering in low voices, I let out a soft sigh. Telling them about my relationship rekindle hadn't been easy. In fact, thinking back on it, it had been terrible. I had stuttered and stumbled on the all-important line of 'I'm going out with Zayn again', causing my mum to repeatedly ask if I was joking. When I had shook my head 'no' four times, my dad had jumped up from his seat and started furiously gabbling at me about irresponsibility.