HIGH

Chapter 12 Alone

brvdfordmalik.tumblr.com******

I want to get addicted to you*****

I'm pretty sure Zayn could see the question clearly written on my face. I wanted to know what he meant by business. But I knew better than to ask. I figured that the less I talked around him the less I'd be hit. Zayn stared at me expectantly waiting for my mouth to open. I stayed mute.

"Well? Don't you want to know where we're going?" There was a light note of taunting in his voice.

I shrugged. Of course I wanted to know.

"We're going to dinner." Zayn said after a few minutes. Fear seized my stomach, my eyes widened.

"Like a date?" I asked horrified. People were sure to see us if we went out. It was definite. I could feel everything slowly sinking around me.

It all was beginning to feel real. It was real. This was happening. I was pulled into all of this and now I couldn't figure out how to get out.

There was a funny side to all of this. Zayn isn't a badass. He isn't as harsh as the others. Zayn was different. But he was still cruel and twisted. He upheld an image with the people of the town and even the people in his gang. With me he was, in a word, lazy. There wasn't much discipline. It was mostly empty threats. Even his threat about it being not being empty threats was an empty threat. I'm not defending him and saying he isn't a monster. Let's just first establish that he is in fact a monster. It's just he isn't as bad as the others. I'd rather be here with him instead of any of the others.

"No it's not a date. Are you fucking stupid? We're going over Niall's and Alec is going to be there. It's not necessarily a dinner, more of a meeting. I'm required to bring you." He made sure to show his disgust. "And before you even ask, it's required because you're my girl. They all need to see you just so if they ever saw you somewhere without me they'd know to keep their distance. That would never happen, I'll always be close enough to you so it won't be an issue." Zayn's voice faltered on those last few words. Emotion clouded his usually angry eyes. He appeared to be lost in thought.

The only good thing was that I'd be able to go home and be able to get my own clothes. Wearing Zayn's shirts and pants were getting annoying. I hated the feeling they gave me. Only couples shared clothes. Not us.

"Zayn." I snapped my fingers in attempt to snap him out of his little trace. He jerked his eyes back up to mine and shook himself.

"We should get going." He said gruffly.

"I can't go out in public like this! These are yours!" I protested. If wearing his clothes didn't say I was his then I don't know what would.

"Leave them on."

"Zayn please-"

"Ava it's better that way. Listen to me, I'm not fucking around." Zayn trudged up the stairs and reached for my arm. I complied, following him out the door.

***

Zayn was put together. Black jeans, white shirt, leather jacket. His hair was styled perfectly as it always is.

And I was a mess. I was in his oversized shirt and extra-large sweatpants which I had to roll the waistband up four times. I had tried putting my hair up on the top of my head but it ended up looking like a huge matted clump. I kept looking at myself in the side mirror, making faces at my horrifying appearance.

I could see Zayn smirking at me from the corner of my eye. I ignored him and continued trying to make myself presentable.

"You can freshen up when we get to your place. Grab some shit and then we'll leave." He said softly.