“Where are we going?” I asked Zayn. We had left an hour ago and still weren’t wherever Zayn was taking us.
“I’m not telling yet!” Zayn replied and I looked down at my dress defeated.
“Close your eyes.” He told me.
“Why are we almost there?” I asked excitedly looking around.
“Yes! Close your eyes!” He said throwing his hand over my eyes.
I waited for the car to stop for what felt like hours but was only seconds.
“Keep your eyes closed and take your shoes off. You won’t be able to walk in those heels.” He instructed. I slid my heels off blindly as he came around and helped me out of the car. I felt grass tickle the bottom of my feet and fresh air surrounded us. Zayn took me by the shoulders and led me to an unknown area. “Open your eyes.” He whispered from behind me and my eyes fluttered open.
“Oh my god.” I breathed. Zayn had strung little twinkly lights on a large oak tree and paper lanterns were hanging from the branches. He had a big blanket laid out under the tree with a little picnick set up for us.
“Do you like it?” Zayn asked me worried. Do I like it? What type of question is that?
“It’s beautiful. I love it Zayn.” I said intertwining my fingers with his.
“Good.” He said. “Let’s eat.” He pulled me down onto his lap on the blanket and took food out of the basket. I would tell you what we ate, but everything about that night was so overwhelmingly perfect that I can’t even remember.
We spent our time lying side-by-side staring at the stars with our fingers intertwined and talking about our lives and how much they have changed since we first met. The conversation started to get too serious, and drift too close to my traumatizing incident, so I jumped up from where I was, “Catch me if you can!” I yelled and ran away from him. He shot up from where he was and started chasing me around the grassy field.
After running around the field once I though I had gained enough distance to stop and catch my breath back at the tree. I leaned against the large tree trunk and closed my eyes while taking in a deep breath.
“Caught you,” Zayn whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes and he was leaning his hands on the tree for balance but they were on either side of my head. He was only a foot away from me and he was staring at my lips. We both were breathing heavily and our noses were toughing now. I realized that by this point I was breathing heavily because of how close I was to Zayn, not because I was out of breath. My chest was heaving and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.
“You’ll have to catch me again,” I giggled and tried to slip away from him but his arm caught me strongly around the waist and pulled me back to the tree.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he grinned.
“Za-” he cut me off and pressed his lips down on mine gently. I let out a small gasp upon the contact of his lips on mine and pulled away.
“I-I’m sorry, it’s just, I thou-” I cut him off by placing my hands on his cheeks and standing on my tiptoes to kiss him again. This kiss was less gentle and filled with hunger and need.
“I love you, I love you so much and I can’t begin to wrap my head around the fact that you’re finally mine,” he said breathlessly and kissed me again.
“I love you too. I’ve always been your, even if I didn’t know it.” I pulled him closer and we kissed yet again.
This. This should have been our first kiss. But even though this was perfect , I don’t think it could compare to our imperfect first kiss in park. That was the kiss that made me realize that I was in love with Zayn. I would cherish that kiss just as much as this one.
Funny how my favorite kisses with Zayn both involve being pressed against a tree. Both so similar, yet so different.
