The Strings Attached | Zayn Malik

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

"Don't share your heart with someone for a plan."

"I'll be careful."

"Yes, you will."

Tony and I decided to take a stroll through the plastic seeming city of London. I was raised here, the walk making it like a trip down memory lane, which I was ecstatic to venture through.

"So, what have you been up to?" Tony asks unsure of what to say. We were walking in an uncomfortable silence and it was killing me inside knowing I couldn't talk to my own father figure.

"You mean plans? Or life-"

"Your life," Tony laughs.

I shrugged unsure what to say. "Nothing much, just seeing a guy named Zayn Malik."

There was a slight jerk in Tony's next step and he looks at me strangely. "Zayn Malik?! As in the famous guy? And you say nothing much? How long have you been dating? Is it serious? When was the last time you've dated someone? This is improvement!" Each question clouded my thoughts as I tried to tell him my answers.

"You asked about my life. I told you. You never asked about my plans." I murmur wanting to ditch this conversation.

He stops abruptly. "No," he denies. I sigh. "You wouldn't go that low!" Hearing this made my vision blurry not wanting to hear his disappointment. "You're messing with a boy's heart?" His voice suddenly soft. I nod. His voice changing once again saying, "I did not raise you this way!"

"Which way?" I shout back, regaining my posture.

My confidence appears. I have never stood up to Tony, but before I never had to.

"Which way? Which way! The way I raised you, to be the sweet and generous person you are!"

We were at a familiar deserted ally.

"You raised me as a crook." My voice steady, but soft.

We stop and face each other. Tony puts one of his strong, rough hands on my covered shoulder and the other lifting my round chin to meet his piercing blue eyes. "Please, I don't like to fight." He says. I nod at his statement agreeing.

"I know what I'm doing is wrong and I promise I don't want to, but Jack was so happy I couldn't take his happiness away because of me." I sigh.

Tony just shakes his head not wanting to further speak. When we meet eyes again he smiles. "Guess where we are?" I smile wide knowing exactly where we were.

In bright yellow letters Tony's Pizzeria was above the little shack of a restaurant. Tony raised me here and it took all courage and strength not to cry at the beautiful sight.

The scene reminded me of the movie Lady and the Tramp.

Couples were everywhere laughing, kissing, and plainly having a great time. I watch as everyone smiles at another, never looking miserable as the rest of the world. If they weren't eating they were laughing at their partners' jokes or stories. I smiled watching them, my heart aching with love for my life.

The smell of newly made pizza made me realize how hungry I was. My stomach grumbles. Tony hears and chuckles at my weird noises my stomach was creating. "Hungry?" I nod and take a seat next to a small garden full of different colors and strange smells that mixed with the freshly cooked sauce from behind closed doors. From the long walk I took with Tony the time was about ten pm. I will probably have to find a motel of some sort after I eat.

"The usual?" I look away from the gorgeous surroundings to see my good friend Daniel.

"Dan!" I sprung from my seat and give him a huge hug. He was my ex-boyfriend and my first, and only real, boyfriend. After the breakup we mutually agreed to stay friends not wanting our romance failures to get in the way of our connections as people.