Vulnerable (Zayn Malik AU)

Chapter 10

I was standing in front of the stove waiting to flip my pancake when I heard the door. I took the pan, put it on a cold burner, and put down my spatula before running to answer my impatient visitor.

"Well, good morning." I smiled at Zayn.

"Morning." He pulled me in for a hug, his musky cologne filling my senses. If I could take that subtle, vanilla backed scent mixed with his mint body wash and bottle it up, I would. He smelt so good.

"Do you realize how early it is...are you hungry?" I asked.

"Depends. Are you as good a cook as me?" His arms were still wrapped around me.

"I've never burnt anything if that's what you're asking." I laughed.

"Very funny." He scoffed. "What's for breakfast?" He let me go and I walked back into the kitchen, Zayn on my heels.

"Pancakes. And I'm gonna cut up some strawberries."

"Can you put sugar on my strawberries?" He asked as I turned the stove back on and put the pan on its previous burner.

"Doesn't the syrup have enough sugar..." I asked, flipping my pancake.

"Just...please."

"You want whipped cream too?"

"That sounds lovely, yeah." His face lit up.

"How many pancakes?"

"Um....three?"

"Ok. Go sit at the table... so spoiled." I joked and he laughed, following his instructions.

After about ten minutes of flipping, the pancakes were ready. I pulled out the strawberries that I cleaned before I even began the pancakes. I chopped them longways, cutting mine in threes. Zayns on the other hand, I cut in half. I wet them and dipped the outside of each half in sugar before placing them intricately in the center making sort of a strawberry flower. Once it looked good I took the syrup and put lines from the center out, avoiding the strawberries. Wouldn't wanna ruin the needed sugar on his precious berries, I mocked him to myself, stifling a laugh.

Once I put the syrup, I put a little bit of whipped cream. Like the center of the flower.

"My foods gonna get cold if you take any longer preparing it." He called from the table.

"I'll throw it on the floor RIGHT now." I laughed and carried it over.

"Wouldn't want that." I placed it down and went to prepare my own. "Wow... Why is everything you do so perfect."

"Don't be silly." I said taking a seat across from him at my round kitchen table.

"I'm not." I gave him a stern look, telling him I didn't want him to continue.

"Oh my god." He said, his mouth full of food. "You're definitely cooking from now on." I laughed and my stomach fluttered. 'From now on....' He said from now on. As in this is gonna happen again. And again. I silently freaked out over his words. "So good." He continued to praise me.

"So, why'd you come over?" I tried to start a conversation, rather than listen to his appreciative moans.

"I just really wanted to hang out. I like being with you." He smiled and I swore I could feel my heart leap out of my chest.

"What are we gonna do?"

"What do you normally do?" He asked.

Do I tell him? Should I just lie and say something cool? Better not.

"Um..." I began nervously. "Normally I'd either paint...or play video games."

"Let's play video games." He said finishing off his final bite.

"Alright. Which one?" I cleared our plates, but he tried to stop me. "You cleaned at your house, I'll clean at mine." I smiled and he rolled his eyes in defeat.

"What games do you have?"

"They're all stacked next to the Xbox. Go have a look." I pointed to the living room and went to clean the dishes.

After I had rinsed off the pesky syrup, and placed everything in the dishwasher, I joined Zayn in the living room.

"What'd you decide?" I asked. He was already sat on the couch with a controller in hand.

"I put in Black Ops. The first one. I remember you saying that was your favorite, and I'm not too shabby myself." He beamed and handed me a controller of my own.

"We'll see about that." I took a seat next to him.

The game lit up and I asked Zayn if he wanted to play online or practice first. He claimed he was good, and that I shouldn't worry, so I went online. After the first two minutes he had already died 12 times and it was pretty obvious he needed more practice. I tried my best not to laugh at him, and went onto combat training. We set it to ten minutes and played computers on the same team. It was us two agaist 8, and I died once in the whole ten minutes. Zayn on the other hand died 43 times and killed 6.

"Whataya say we play some MLB or something." I laughed.

"No I think I've embarrassed myself enough." He put down the controller.

"Aww." I laughed and pinched his cheek. "Lets not grovel, now."

"Oh, buzz off would ya?" He laughed and swatted my hand away.

"What do you wanna do then?"

"What time is it?" He asked and I pulled my phone out of my pajama pants.

"Almost eleven."

"Ok. I have an idea." He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled.

"Oh gosh. What."

"Go get ready. I'll be back in an hour."

"What are we-"

"We're going on a date, love." He kissed my forehead and within seconds he was out the door without giving me the chance to protest. Not that I would.



•••••



Zayn gave me a whole hour to get ready, but I definitely didn't need it. In twenty minutes I had on pants and a t-shirt with very little makeup. My hair was still up in a bun, but I always kept it up until right before I walk out the door. I was waiting on the couch playing a round of Black Ops when I heard my phone go off, but I finished the round before I read it.



From: Zayn Malik

- Make sure you wear something light, and bring a bathing suit :) Xx



CRAP. I thought. I definitely hadn't dressed light. I shut down the Xbox and went back to my room shifting through my closet. I never hung up anything but dresses and fancy shirts. Everything else was in my dresser. I looked over my dresses and pulled out one of the new ones I had bought the other day. The front of it stopped a little before my knees, and the back nearly went to the floor thanks to my shorter-than-a-stump height. I really admired the dress. It looked even better out of the store. The strapless top of the dress - the part that covered the breasts - was black lace, and the rest of the dress was a light, pastel teal. I decided to just wear my bathing suit under, just in case there was nowhere to change where he was taking me.

I walked over to my dresser and pulled a bikini top that coincidentally resembled my dress. It was black lace. It actually wasn't even mine, it was Lilly's. But she wore my stuff all the time, and she left it so I decided it was perfectly ok to wear it.

After sliding on the black, strapless, lace bikini top, I found some pastel, floral bikini bottoms that were practically the same color as the bottom of my dress. I generally suck at matching colors, so I was pretty impressed with what I had put together.

I grabbed some black sandals from the bottom of my closet, then slid the mirror-door closed. I stepped back and looked at myself all together, pretty satisfied, but then I remembered my makeup. I had already put on foundation and mascara, not knowing I would be getting wet. I grabbed my makeup bag and pulled out some waterproof mascara.

Please don't clump. Please don't clump. Please don't clump. I repeated over and over again as I applied the black liquid.

I stepped back again and examined myself. That should be good, I thought.

I pulled out my phone to check the time and it was one minute until noon. I grabbed my satchel purse and wrapped it across my chest. I reached up and undid my folded-pony bun. Right on time, there was a knock on the door.

I turned off my bedroom light, shut the door, and ran to the living room. Zayn was the kind of person that never stopped knocking until you answered the door. I found it endearing at first, but sometimes it was nerve-racking and it drove me crazy.

"Well, hello. Haven't seen you in awhile." I joked as I swung the door open.

"Took you long enough." He laughed. "Is your dad up?" He asked. No matter how much I told him my dad never comes downstairs he still tried to meet him. I felt like he just didn't believe me, like I was hiding something, but the truth of the matter was my dad was nonexistent. Just a man who left me money when I left him a text or note saying I needed it.

"Nope. Sorry."

"No worries. I'll meet him eventually." He shrugged and took my hand, walking me out to the car once I had locked up the house.

I don't know how my dad would react to meeting Zayn. He's never met any of my friends but Lilly. He tried to meet my boyfriend freshman year, but it ended it before he could. That guy was a fool, and if my dad had met him, he wouldn't have left the house alive. I'm kind of afraid for him to meet Zayn. My thoughts went wild as Zayn started driving.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem quiet."

"Oh. No I'm fine. Just thinking." I assured him. I noticed the radio wasn't on. "Do you prefer quiet car rides?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, music wise? You never have it playing."

"Oh, no I play music when I'm alone, but I don't know what you like so whenever you're with me I've just kept it off." He shrugged.

"I like everything." I laughed.

"Nobody likes everything."

"No I genuinely do. Everything but like, screamo." I turned to face him. "Makes my throat hurt imagining how they sing like that." He laughed.

"What about R&B?" He asked.

"I love it. Usually. Some artists try too hard, I guess. But all of the old stuff is good. I grew up on like Usher, R Kelly, Nelly...yeah."

"Really?! Me too." He shook his head and laughed again.

"Yeah. That's what I listened to myself. My dad was more into classic rock, and my mom was all over the pop scene." I laughed.

"They're not bad either."

"No, they're not."

"Who do you listen to the most?"

"Um...Sublime is a childhood favorite. Red Hot Chili Peppers, too. I think present day ..... The Arctic Monkeys are good...don't know if you've heard of them. And I like The Neighbourhood, The 1975....Yeah. Mostly bands, I guess." I said nervously. Not many people know about the last two. Lilly didn't like them when I showed her. Ever since then I'd just kept them as my little secret.

"So you prefer bands, then. You'll have to show me some of your favorite songs."

"What about you?" I asked, trying to get the focus off of myself.

"I just love R&B. Tupac, Bob Marley, The Weeknd, Jhene Aiko... Stuff like that. And I've kinda been diggin Bruno Mars lately."

"Oh I love him! I love all of the ones you said. Is Bruno really considered R&B, though?"

"I don't think so. But I like him." He smiled.

"Me too." I faced the front of the car again. I noticed we were taking a similar route that I'd been on with Zayn a couple times already. "Zayn, where are we going?"

"You'll see." He smiled.

He continued to drive the familiar route, passing all of the same shops, passing all of the random kids we knew from school making the most of the extra day off.

It wasnt until we reached the outskirts of town and pulled onto the gravel road that I caught on.

"You made me put on a swim suit for your house..." Don't get me wrong, our first date was amazing...but I had expected more for the second.

He pulled the car in front of his house, but instead of reaching up and opening the garage, he turned off the car.

"C'mon." He was opening my door before I could process a thing.

"Zayn what are we-"

"Shh." He put his finger to my lips. "Just enjoy it."

He intertwined our fingers, and we began to walk away from his house.

As much as I wanted to question him, I silenced my curiosity.

We walked over the gravel road, and he pulled me down the little trail that lead to the creek.

"Oh, we're just swimming in the creek!"

"No."

"What? You're lying." He stopped and turned to me.

"I would never lie to you, Dais." My eyebrows scrunched, but I nodded anyway, and he continued walking.

As we reached the end of the path, I could start to see the little opening where Zayn parked his bike. There was something set up, but it just looked like a big blue ball. The trail ended, and my eyes were right. It was a rolled up blanket.

Well ok...

Zayn walked up and unfolded the large, blue tapestry, revealing a cute wicker basket.

"We're having a picnic!" He cheered. "I went to the store while you were getting ready and got a bunch of sandwich stuff. I didn't know what you liked, so I got meats, condiments, a couple types of cheese, two types of bread, and peanut butter and jelly." I stood there, just smiling....hoping this while buying-multiple-things-just-to-please-you wasn't becoming a habit. "You hate it. Oh god, Dais. I'm sorry. We can go do something else." He started to put all of the food he had pulled out away.

"No, Zayn! Stop!" I laughed. "It's lovely. Honest." I joined him on the tapestry. "You didn't have to get so much stuff, though. A nice pb&j is all I need." I smiled.

"You wanna make it?"

"Actually can I? There has to be the right amount of peanut butter or else it'll dry your mouth." I laughed, a little nervous that he'd be judging me.

"Here you go." He said handing me a napkin and a knife, allowing me to grab the ingredients myself. "And in case you mess up and put too much peanut butter, I have soda." He laughed.

"Do you have chips too? I like to put them in my sandwich..." He stared at me for a second before pulling some cheddar chips out of the picnic basket.

"....So weird." He shook his head and started to make his own. "You know, before coming to the states, I had never even heard of a 'pb&j'." I tilted my head at him, genuinely confused. "Honest. It's not a thing in the UK. Not that I know of, anyway." He laughed.

"But....what did you eat as a kid? PB&J's are like, the tastiest way that parents can get their kids to eat something semi-beneficial."

"I mean, I think I ate a nice chip butty more than anything."

"A nice what now?" I was convinced he wasn't speaking English.

"A chip butty. It's like...buttered bread with chips...erm French fries. But, like..thick fries. Not like the ones you lot have here."

"So it's bread...butter....and thick fries? Like, potato wedges? That sounds....dry. Awful, actually." I took a sip of water just imagining that mess.

"No, not potato wedges. That's something else....pretty sure. And, it's great, actually! Most people add to it with mayonnaise, ketchup, stuff like that. I myself was raised off of brown sauce."

"Brown sauce? Do you mean gravy?"

"No, I think it's different. Gravy is made from meat." He chuckled as I tried to understand the foreign life he once knew.

•••
Zayns POV
•••

After watching Daisy intensely eat her crisp-filled pb&j, and trying one for myself when she practically shoved it down my throat, I was ready for a swim.

"Is it hot out here or is it just you?" I joked. She was laying back on the blanket, her hair fanned all around her. She looked so beautiful.

"Oh my gosh, did you really!" She laughed at me.

"What! I thought that'd be cute!" I laughed and plucked some grass, throwing it at her the best I could. "Do you wanna swim or not?"

"You said we weren't swimming in the creek when I asked you earlier."

"No. You said 'Oh we're JUST summing in the creek'. And we're not. We had a picnic too." I smirked at my cheeky comment.

"I could go for a dip." She smiled and stood up, offering her hand. "Did you bring trunks..." She asked, examining my pants, probably wondering how I was able to fit anything in them.

"Yes." I laughed and dropped my jeans, revealing my plain black trunks with white stripes down the sides. "Have you got your swimming costume?"

"Costume?" She looked at me quizzically, but answered her own question. "British thing. Noted. Okay, turn around." I found it ridiculous, but I turned. "Ok you're good." I turned back to see her in a suit that actually matched her dress quite well.

"Did you buy that with the dress or what?" I laughed.

"No, just a coincidence." Her cheeks lit up a fiery red with embarrassment.

"You gonna jump in like last time?" I asked.

"I have to. Or else I won't get used to the water."

"Well then lets do it together, yeah?" I asked, extending my arm. She nodded and placed her hand in mine, the two of us walking through some trees and over to the creek. We stopped a few steps away, I remembered that she needed a running start last time. "Ready?" I asked.

"Yeah." She smiled and I squeezed her hand. It wasn't like, a big deal to jump into the water, but I was nervous. And I wanted to make sure she wasn't.

"Go!" I shouted and we both took off. I made smaller strides to cope with her short legs and we jumped together.

As we resurfaced I couldn't help but pull her in for a kiss. The way her hair was perfectly slicked back, and a deep black from the water rather than her normal chocolate brown. The way the water dripped off of her cute, button nose. The water that glistened on her eyelashes as she tried to blink her eyes open...

"Zayn..."

I pressed my forehead to hers. "Yeah?"

"I really like you." She said incredibly fast and dropped back into the water. Way to ruin the moment, Daisy. I thought to myself. I reached down and pulled her back up trying to contain my laughter.

"Dais."

"Yeah?" She asked nervously, and I pulled her to me, keeping both of us afloat.

"I really like you too." I stared at her much too long, afraid to ask her what I'd spent what felt like my whole life practicing in the mirror.. "Be my girlfriend?"