You Had Me At Hello || z.m.

Playing Soccer Under The Moon

The sky is black and star-spangled; we've reached the park: everything is so quiet and peaceful. We stay silently, as to absorb the serenity that's in the air. I hear someone coming up next to me.

"Sorry for her... she acts stupidly sometimes." Zayn looks down at the grass, apologizing for his girlfriend.

"Don't worry Zayn."

We stand side by side, staring at the sky. The others are some meters away from us, I hear their voices and their laughs.

"The sky is beautiful tonight!" Zayn comments.

"Yeah." I swallow with difficulty.

"How is it possible that you are not obese?"

"What?!" I laugh at his weird question.

"I mean, if you really eat like that in Italy...you should be fat...huge!..." he turns his eyes on me, scanning my body carefully. "...ok, everything makes sense now!" he jokes, faking disgust.

I open my mouth and slap his arm, "Zayn!" I shout while he bursts out laughing.

"I was joking, you're quite fit!"

"I'm perfectly fit!" I claim, posing like a model.

His laughter gives me goose bumps.

"Yes, you are." he concludes. "But it's cool that you are a big eater and good cook!"

"I've always been." I turn to look at him, and in that moment I notice a yin&yang tattoo on his left arm. "When did you get that?" I ask, pointing at it.

"Last year. I've got also one underneath my clavicle." He explains, touching his chest. "It's the name of my grandfather in Arabic." His big eyes sparkle while he says that.

"That's very sweet." We look into each other's eyes for awhile. "I left my grandmother in Italy. She's one of the people I've been closest to... it's the kind of bond that lasts forever, no matter what!"

He glances at me with the warmest look in his eyes. "That's true!"

"Hey guys, come over here, Louis wants to play soccer!" Liam calls us; I look at the group of our friend and immediately notice that Perrie is controlling every single move I make.

She's the most jealous girlfriend I've ever met.

"How can we play soccer? We don't even have a ball!" Zayn shouts confused as we proceed towards the others.

When we catch up with the others, we see that they're trying to play with a huge pine cone they've found: Liam, Louis and Niall are clumsily kicking it and shouting; Zayn joins them, I stroll up beside Alice and Harry that are watching the funny scene. Perrie is standing isolated, looking annoyed; I almost feel sorry for her.

"C'mon girls, play with us!" Niall shouts.

Alice shakes her head laughing. "No no no, I can't play!"

"Trust me, love, you can't be worse than Harry!" Zayn says, with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Fuck you, mate!" Harry laughs while running towards the other boys and beginning to play.

Liam comes up behind me and wraps me with his strong arms, lifting me up, and then carries me while I complain, unable not to laugh. "Irene, you have to play with us!".

Alice and Perrie join us too, forced by their respective boyfriends. We divide in two teams, Liam, Niall, Harry and me against Zayn, Perrie, Alice and Louis. We have fun like kids, laugh at the top of our lungs, fall on the ground varioustimes and forget about our age or the people that might see us. Even if Perrie and I successfully try to avoid each other, I almost forget about everything: about my dislike for her, about my crush on Zayn, about the strange episode with Harry. I've never had so much fun in a long time! All I can focus on is Niall's noisy laugh, Harry's sparkling smile, Louis sassy high voice, Alice affectionate gazes at her new boyfriend, Zayn enthusiastic laughs and his sweet way to joke with his girlfriend. I feel part of the most beautiful group of friends; while playing soccer under the moon with this bunch of people that just a few weeks ago were complete strangers to me, I can say I finally feel home.