Paint My Love

Chapter 9 : We've got all night

Zayn's POV

So Dane had gone and had left her in my care. How cool was that?

 "So you want me to walk you home" I teased.

 "Yeah it's gonna be a humbling experience buh I think I can survive it" she gave a cheeky wink that was damn cute.

 "Well I'm just about done here..."

 "Then let's go"

 And so we walked out of the church side by side. I would've liked hand in hand, but you know. My house isn't very far from the church, which is why I walked. Gia's house I hadn't been to before but I had an idea of where it was. Like she told me where she lives and stuff. Anyway the point is it’s a long walk to her house if you take the main road. However there is a short cut, but I wasn't sure if she'd wanna go that way with me.

 "You are allowed to speak" she said snapping me out of my thoughts.

 "Uh yeah sorry"

 "It’s ok I know I'm boring"

 "No noht at all, it’s just..."

 "What?" I had her full attention now and it was kinda awkward.

 "I know this short cut we could take..."

 "Yeah..." she seemed a little impatient.

 "But we'd havta go past the ramps" I was so hoping she'd say we could go there, but I was so sure she'd say no.

 "Ok then" she shrugged.

 "Ok what?"

 "I'd like a lil detour" there it was again that cheeky wink. I was excited now but I tried to hide my smile in a failed attempt to act cool.

Gia's POV

We got to the ramps and it was really dark and I'd have to admit I was pretty scared.

 "You okeh?" he asked seeing the expression on my face.

 "Uh yeah...it’s really dark, buh I'm fine" I was trying to act brave, but he saw right through it. He offered me his hand and I took it.

 "The place is abandoned, so chill" he laughed.

 "Are those yours?" I asked pointing to some pretty strongly worded graffiti on one of the walls.

 "No, why'd you think that?"

 "I didn't, was just checking"

 "Ok, come here I wanna show you somethin" he led me through a dark alley kind of thing that was covered in all kinds of obscenities and I held Zayn's hand just a little bit tighter.

 "Tell me if you're gehtin too freaked out and we can go" he said gripping my hand just as tightly. We eventually came to a place that was just a few empty crates and a wall covered in art work. And taking one look at it I knew it was his. He picked up one of the crates, which actually wasn't empty, and took out some kinda lantern which he lit with the lighter he had in his pocket.

 "You smoke?" the words just came out before I could stop them.

 "Yeah, sorry" he set the lantern down in front of the wall and then put down another crate. The light was reflecting on the wall and I was awed.

It was covered in cartoon characters that he'd no doubt created. And there were some cool sayings and a 'zap' design that I recognized as the tattoo on his arm.

 "You did all this" I said more than asked as I ran my hand over the wall.

 "Yup" he nodded.

 "Can you do somethin now?" I asked fascinated at the whole concept. He nodded and then pulled out his handkerchief and spread it out over the crate that he'd put on the floor.

 "Take a seat?" he gestured to the crated and I obliged. He started unbuttoning his shirt and I was starting to freak out and was about to say something. But he happened to have a black t-shirt inside and he wasn't even looking at me. Anyway he took off his shirt (the white one), folded it neatly, and then gave it to me to keep for him. He started digging inside the crate he'd found the lantern in and pulled out a few cans of spray paint. And then he started painting and I have never been so mesmerized in my life. Watching him paint was just I don't know, phenomenal. He started painting some kinda dragon thing that reminded me of the little dragon from Mulan.

 "What is it?" I asked just to break the silence.

 "A dragon" he answered matter -of -factly.

 "Oh"

 "A friendly dragon" he emphasised the friendly in this weirdly cute way.

 "It’s good" Ok this was getting awkward fast. And I'm pretty sure he's telepathic cause he read my mind.

 "Sorreh, am I boring you?"

 "Boring never"

 "Okeh buh we should probableh goh" he put down the can just in time to see a sweeping torch and he jumped back. We both froze for a moment as we heard heavy footsteps coming in our direction and for the first time I realized how illegal this was. I looked at him to see what we should do and he motioned for me to follow him. There was a dark corner not far from where I'd been sitting and we tried to hide in it. It was a pretty tight squeeze, I had my back against the wall and he was right in front of me. His one hand was on the wall behind me and other was holding his finger over my lips so I didn't make any noise. He kept on looking around for some kind of escape as the footsteps got even louder and a voice called out.

 "Malik!" Zayn turned to look at me and took his finger away from my lips.

 "Ok, when I tell you...you run" he whispered two inches away from my ear. I looked into his eyes and I realised he was just as scared as I was. I nodded and he took my freezing cold hand in his.

 "I'm sorry Gia" he whispered and the look in his eyes was more sincere than I'd ever seen.