Hidden Beneath Brown Eyes (A Zayn Malik Fanfiction)

Chapter 17 - No Matching Mansion?

"We're going to my house." He said it as if it were so obvious, as if I should have known. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen." I raised both of my eyebrows, my forehead wrinkles that I hate so much clearly visible, folded my arms across my chest, and shook my head in disagreement.

Zayn didn't seem at all surprised at my reluctance to go to his house. Of course I'm sure he knew that I would object to it, seeing as the night had been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I didn't think he would have been this calm about it. I guess "I've got everything under control" Zayn was taking the stage now.

"I don't think you've got much of a choice." he laughed, his lips tugging up into some kind of a half grin. "Oh really? And why not?" I asked, my eyebrows still raised but now I was leaning my head against my hand in mock interest.

He looked at me as if I was playing a game that he was certain I would lose. He shook his head and laughed silently to himself.

"Well, I guess if you really don't want to go to my house...I could always drop you off at Liam's and leave you stranded in the cold to wait for him to get home."

He was testing me. He wanted to know if I would fight him, or break down and apologize, admitting that he was right and stay silent for the rest of the ride. But I wasn't one to keep silent. I knew what game he was playing, and I knew I could play it better.

I looked up at Zayn, putting my game face on and twirling a strand of my hair. "You wouldn't do that." My tone was confident, verging on cocky. He raised an eyebrow and I caught the playful smile that came across his face. He was amused that I was playing along, and excited by the challenge.

"How do you know? I mean, I'm not exactly a predictable person." He had just as much cockiness to his tone as I did, and I knew that he wasn't talking about the same subject anymore.

I was more than slightly intimidated by the double meaning behind what he had just said. My confidence level dropped by a little bit. The bit that was lost being replaced by fear, anxiety, dread? I wasn't sure if it was just one, or all 3. I knew that I was treading in deep water, but maybe there was a little bit of excitement mixed in there somewhere.

"Maybe that's a risk that I'm willing to take." I sounded almost seductive as the words rolled off of my lips.

Zayn's eyes widened. Obviously he hadn't expected me to say that and for a second I wondered if I had gone too far.

Suddenly, I found myself hanging onto every breath that came out of his mouth. I was waiting for him to answer, because whatever he said would either continue the game, or make the rest of this car ride horribly awkward.

"Hahaha! Oh my god! Are you trying to seduce me?" Laughter hadn't exactly been the response that I was hoping for or the one that I was preparing for, but I have to say that it felt better than both of the scenarios I had envisioned in my head.

He continued laughing, and the longer he laughed, the more I realized how beautiful it was. He sounded so happy, so carefree, just like a child. It warmed my heart to hear this dark and mysterious bad boy who smoked cigarettes, laugh like a little kid. I felt my lips pull back over my teeth into a smile and a laugh sneak out of my own mouth.

"Maybe I was. Grrrr." I over exaggerated the roll on the r's and mimicked a claw with my fingers.

He threw his head back as the laughter poured from out from his perfect lips. I could've listened to him laugh for hours. I wanted to.

Zayn looked so different when he was like this. The sound of him laughing made the butterflies in my stomach start dancing.

"Has anyone ever told you how adorable your accent is? You sound like a little southern bell." He was still laughing loudly, but mine quieted as I thought about his compliment.