Agitated Afternoons// h.s

Bright

I was mesmerized by Zayn's voice, filling the completely quiet conference room. He hadn't noticed that I walked in, he was facing away from me after all, looking out the window. I guess the door was just quiet enough for him to not hear me. "I wanna see you bright." He sings out again. "I wanna see you bright." He turns around slowly. "I wanna see you." He stops upon seeing me and turns red. "Oh.. Hi Terra."

"Zayn! That was beautiful!" I cry out rushing towards him. Zayn laughs as I give him a hug. He wraps his arms around me lightly.

"Thanks.. When did you walk in?" I shrug, letting go of him.

"I don't know but I want to hear the rest of it." I insist, taking his hand and jumping up and down like an excited school girl. Zayn laughs at my enthusiasm.

"Maybe some other time. Did you come in here to ask me something? Or summon me to the studio?" I shake my head.

"Nope. No excuses mister. You're going to show me that song. I only came in here on Liam's request. He wanted me to make sure you were okay. He's recording right now, otherwise he would have done it himself." I say plopping myself down on one of the many seats surrounding the wooden table in the room. He smirks a little.

"Okay, fine. I'll show you the song." I smile happily as he sits in front of me and pulls over his notebook. It's open to a drawing of a girl and a rather curly haired looking guy. "You and Harry." Zayn explains, showing me the drawing. "You guys looked cute for once." I gasp, pretending to be offended by his joking tone.

"How dare you Mr. Malik! Harry and I are always cute." Zayn laughs loudly before flipping through the book some more and stopping on a page filled with song lyrics. The top proclaims the song as being called, Bright and I smile happily as I begin to read the lyrics.

I found my life in between shots and getting high. The cage I was in fell away when she asked me to dance again.

"I feel like there should be more here." Zayn says, pointing at the space just between the lines I read and the next.

I'm loving the colour white, surrounding your colored eyes. Though she is the kryptonite. She stays in my crib tonight.

"I like the flow but.. Yeah maybe just one more verse." I smile up at him and offer no suggestion as to what the line in between it should be which is probably why he raises an eyebrow at me.

"Well, do you want to help?" I laugh.

"Of course! But I didn't want to be presumptuous." Zayn smirks softly.

"You can always help me write signs Terra. I love what we've been able to create together and I appreciate how much you've helped me." I nudge him lightly, my eyes getting watery.

"Any more sweet words like that and I might just cry." I tell him honestly. Zayn laughs.

"Sorry love. So what do you think about the first verse?" I push the book closer to him.

"Sing it for me. I want to hear it." I say, repeating the same words he said to me about Fool's Gold. Zayn notices and nods, chuckling as he moves the book towards him. Again, his melodic voice fills the entire room and I'm taken back by the amount of sheer talent he has. It's astounding. As he finishes the chorus I heard upon first walking in, inspiration strikes.

"Got something?" Zayn asks, handing over his pen to me.

"Don't I always?" I begin to carefully pen down the lyrics running through my head, filling the space just between the first verse and the pre-chorus.

I found my life in between a first kiss and a last goodbye. The dust settled down, now I can see through the crowd.

"Sing it again." I command. Zayn nods and re-sings the first verse, smiling as he does.