Azalea ♡ Z.M

♡ Chapter 14 ♡

Since we're alone ~ Niall Horan

Azalea's hazel green irises reflected the fiery orange flames that crackled and sizzled in front of her as tails of gloomy smoke reached the stars and blended into the night star filled sky.

She and Zayn both knew that making bonfires at the park was forbidden, but Zayn brought out a wild side of her that she didn't even know she had. She admired that he was so fearless, from leaving everything he knew and venturing into a country unknown to him, to covering his body in tattoos without caring about what anyone else thought and dying his hair vibrant colors.

"Zayn?"

"Yeah?"

"I, um, where'd you get that scar that you have on your forearm?"

It was a question she had been dying to know the answer to ever since she had noticed the permanent mark on his inked skin. She was finally comfortable enough with him to ask.

"You mean this one?" Zayn pushed the sleeve of his peach cotton sweater up to reveal the thick scar located on his forearm near his wrist.

"Yeah."

"Javaad and I were like thirteen and we were playing around with firecrackers." A grin appeared on his face recalling the experience.

"Our parents had no idea. We had saved up a couple pounds and bought them off some lad Javaad knew from school. We were in Javaad's backyard just fooling around having a good laugh. So, uh, I got a container that was lying around somewhere. I didn't know that my uncle had poured gasoline into it, though. I don't even know what he had used it for. I just saw it was empty and got it. So, I put the firecracker into it and when I lit it with the match, the flame came up onto my hand."

"Oh my gosh." Azalea exclaimed with wide surprised eyes.

"I pooped my pants. Seriously."

Azalea let out a laugh. The type where her eyes flicker brighter than the celestial bodies adorning the night sky.

"I was so scared. Javaad rushed to me like 'Are you alright, are you alright!' I was like 'Yeah, yeah I'm alright.' But I was so scared I just kept thinking 'They're going to amputate my arm.'"

Azalea giggled."Did you guys cry for help?"

"No, I was like 'Don't say anything, don't say anything. I'm alright.'" Azalea grinned shaking her head of mocha brown curls.

"You guys were crazy."

"I know. Still are to be fair." Zayn let out a throaty chuckle. "We went inside, and ran cold water on my hand and then put ice on it. But it really started to hurt so Javaad called my dad."

"Oh gosh, what'd he do?"

Cussed me out." Zayn laughed and Azalea admired how his Adam's apple bobbled up and down.

"He took me to the hospital to get my hand healed and then I was grounded for two months. Me and Javaad."

Azalea laughed. "You guys deserved it."

"We did. I don't know what we were thinking. I could've killed myself or started a fire and burned the house down. It was insane. Our parents wouldn't let us be alone together anymore 'cause we did the craziest stuff. The good thing was I was wearing a really thick sweater so the flame didn't burn my skin so much." Zayn's eyes scanned over his scar, a faint smile on his mouth. "I love it, though."

"What?"

"My scar. I love it. I love that my skin isn't a perfect canvas, that'd be so boring. Things that have marked me like these, I'll take with me till I die." He told Azalea with a certain depth in his caramel eyes.

Azalea didn't even know her breath was caught in her lungs. Zayn's spot in her heart grew with every little new thing she learned of him. The way his rosy pink lips moved when he talked was being slowly engraved into her memory.

"I got one right here." Azalea pushed up the sleeve of the black hoodie she was wearing. The same black hoodie that Zayn had given her; that had Zayn staring at her with a warmth in his heart that no bonfire could ever emit.

"I got this from a race." Azalea points to the stripe like scar on the inside of her forearm almost near her elbow.

"Dominic loves riding dirt bikes ever since he was little but I was really scared of it. So, when I was like eight years old my mom tried to get me to overcome my fear and convinced me to hop onto a dirt bike."

"Oh, yikes." Zayn grinned.

"Yeah, exactly. She rode with me a couple of times on a quad until I felt comfortable. I felt safe with her so it was okay. Once I wasn't so scared riding the quad, I rode a dirt bike but I was still terrified. And well, one day my dad was a bit drunk and he thought it'd be a good idea for him and Dominic to race on the street in front of the house. I sat outside watching them and my dad kept telling me to join them and race Dominic and I was like 'No, no' but he kept insisting. He actually went up to the doorstep, picked me up, put me on the dirt bike, and brought me onto the street. I was so scared. When he yelled 'Go!' and I saw Dominic zoom down the street and I started panicking. I closed my eyes and just stepped on the gas.

"What the heck? Why'd you close your eyes? Did you think the dirt bike had auto pilot or something like that?"

Azalea laughed at his comment. "I don't know! Instinct? I was freaking out."

Zayn let out a loud laugh, the sound was melody to her ears."Oh my god."

"I crashed into trash can and the dirt bike flew over me and I slid down the pavement. I felt like my heart leaped out of my chest. I screamed so hard. I actually thought I would die."

Empathy rushed over Zayn's facial expression. "You could have."

"I was scraped all over my knees, elbows, hands. Dominic came back, picked me up and my dad rushed me to the hospital. It wasn't life-threatening or anything like that, but I was pretty bruised up. My mom got so mad at him when she got home. And well, I ended up with this."

Zayn reached out with his cold hand to touch the rough texture of Azalea's scar. Her skin was still warm from being protected from the sleeve of the hoodie. Azalea's eyes remained on him as he traced circles on her scar with his thumb.

"It's actually pretty if you look close enough." He lowly whispered just for Azalea to hear.

"You think so?" Azalea's voice cracked and she cleared her throat.

"Yeah." He answered, admiration laced in his beautiful voice. It was only a scar on her body but Zayn was becoming fonder of it every second that passed. He was becoming fonder of her second by second.

He reached down a placed a gentle kiss on her scar cementing his love inside of her so she would never tear or break or crumble, so she could stand firm like a skyscraper.

One more chapter left, how do you think it'll end?

Btw, if the font is kinda weird its cause I wrote this on Word and just copied and pasted it. I will go back a edit it later :)