I'm In love with the Bradford bad boi

Snowflake

“Hey, I’m outside your house right now,” Zayn said. He had just called Denise, and they were about to go to the park and make their new ‘relationship’ more public.

“Alright, be right out,” Denise replied. She hung up and looked in the mirror, going over what she’s wearing and making sure her makeup was perfect. She knew it was a fake date and all, but she still wanted to look good for it. Denise grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

Zayn smiled when he saw her heading to his car. She looked too adorable, wearing a yellow sundress and black gladiators.

“You look great,” he commented as she got in the car.

Denise gave him a tiny smile, “Thanks. So what are we doing?”

“Though we could maybe have a picnic and watch the sun set,” Zayn replied.

“Since when were you so romantic?” Denise teased.

“I’m only romantic when I want to impress a girl,” winked Zayn.

They arrived at the park and Denise took a deep breath.

“You ready for this?” asked Zayn, glancing at Denise. 

Denise nodded, “Yeah, but I’m probably going to act like an awkward turtle. There’s a reason why I’m a singer and not an actress.”

Zayn smirked, “You’ll do fine babe,” he reached back and grabbed a picnic basket. “Let’s do this.”

They got out of the car and Zayn instantly took Denise’s hand and gave it a slight squeeze. Not only to make it obvious that they’re ‘dating’, but also to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. There were little kids playing around them, oblivious to the fact that they were celebrities. Elders were sitting on the benches, feeding pigeons and just relaxing. They were too tired to care about who Denise and Zayn were. But there was also a bunch of teenagers that were hanging out at the park. They would definitely know who they were. 

Denise and Zayn chose to sit at a slightly remote place. Not too far so no one could see them, but not too close to people either, because that would be too obvious. People are smart; they would quickly catch on that Zayn and Denise wanted them to know they’re dating.

Zayn placed a blanket on the ground and gestured to the picnic basket. “Dig in.”

A huge grin appeared on Denise’s face. She loved to eat almost as much as Niall did. “Did you make this?” She asked, referring to the sandwich she was about to take a bite of.

“Uh huh,” Zayn grinned, pouring her some wine.

Denise took a bite out of the sandwich. “Mmm, peanut butter and jelly, with wine. How classy.”

Zayn gave her a cheeky grin and leaned back on his arms. “Isn’t this a great way to spend our evening? Pretending to date each other…Yeah, just great.”

Denise rolled her eyes, “Don’t even start. You’re the one that brought this upon us.”

“You’re a mean girlfriend,” Zayn said, pretending to be offended. 

Denise shoved him, causing his hand to smush a pb & j sandwich.

“Hey! Look what you’ve done,” scolded Zayn. He was holding back a smile.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to I swear!” Denise exclaimed, looking like she was about to cry.

Zayn’s face instantly softened. “Hey, I was just kidding babe. It’s just peanut butter and jelly, I can wipe it off.”

“…Gotcha.” Denise said, a wide smile spreading across her face.

Zayn laughed, “You sure you’re not going to consider acting? You had me fooled.”

Denise was going to reply, but a flash of light cut her off. Her body instantly went rigid.

“Hey, it’s okay. This is part of the plan.” Zayn reassured, grabbing her hand and slowly rubbing his thumb on her palm to comfort her.

Denise smiled weakly, “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I’m just overacting,” she scooched closer to Zayn and snuggled next to him to give the paparazzi something to work with.

“Remember when we first met?” Zayn asked, out of the blue.

“Hm, a bit random but yes. Didn’t you ‘accidently’ spill water on me? I was wearing a white shirt too, what a coincidence.”

Zayn laughed, “Yeah, I felt so bad.”

“Suuuree you did,” Denise drawled. “It wasn’t an accident was it?” 

“No…” Zayn said sheepishly. 

“Hmph, I always figured you perv,” Denise answered.

“Hey, you know you’re my snowflake. Besides, I wouldn’t even think about doing something like that again. You would kill me.” Zayn replied.

“Damn right I would. And snowflake? How cringe worthy,” Denise scoffed.

“Hm, you don’t like it?” asked Zayn. “It was the first thing that came to my mind.”

“Not particularly,” Said Denise.

“Alright, then that’s going to be your permanent nickname, snowflake.” Zayn said, putting emphasis on the word snowflake.

“I hate you,” replied Denise.

“Love you too snowflake,” Zayn, his eyes crinkling as he was laughing. After the laughter subsided, he swiftly leaned down and kissed Denise’s cheek. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Denise met Zayn’s eyes, a faint blush on her cheeks. She then did the unexpected. She kissed Zayn back, and not on the cheek, but on the lips.

You could practically hear the fireworks going off. She pulled back quickly, and it wasn’t hard to tell that she was embarrassed. “Uh…”

“Just for the paps right?” Zayn asked, trying to cover for her. He was equally embarrassed because he didn’t want her to pull away and he had no clue why.

“Right,” Denise nodded. “Just for the paps…” Zayn always knew the right things to say.

The whole date was pretty normal after that. They bantered and teased each other like usual, but there was an unmistakable hint of awkwardness in the air. Denise managed to act calm, but when she got home, she exploded. “Oh my god. Did that just happen?” she wondered to herself, touching her lips as if this was all a dream.

“Did what just happen?” a voice behind her asked.

Denise jumped, turning around. “Louis? Eleanor? What are you guys doing in my house?”

Eleanor shrugged, “We heard you were going out with Zayn tonight and we wanted to be here to make sure you were okay when you got back.”

“That, and we were going to watch this movie, but it was sold out so we had nothing better to do,” Louis added.

“Hm, interesting,” Denise replied, plopping down on a couch across from Lou and El.

“You’re avoiding my question,” Louis pointed out, impatient. “What happened?”

“Uh, it was a spur of the moment thing, but I kissed Zayn. And yes, I did it, not him.”

Eleanor clapped, “Yay! It’s about time. He kissed back right?”

Denise nodded, “Yeah, but it was so embarrassing after! He thinks I did it for the paps…”

Louis groaned, “Denise… why didn’t you just tell him you like him? That was a perfect time to do so.”

“I don’t know…” Denise whined. “I’m stupid okay?”

Louis crossed his arms and shook his head. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. But when you decide that you should’ve told him the truth, don’t come crying to me.”

Denise stuck her tongue out at him. “Fine. But I’m not going to regret it.”

Yeah, she was totally going to regret it…