Arrest Me (Mature ZM)

Chapter 19

“Did you have a good time?” Zayn asked as we got to the car. He opened my door for me and I got in. The car was chilly, so Zayn turned the heat on quickly. I felt goose bumps appear on my arms as the cold air poured out of the vents. I turned my vent away from myself as it slowly warmed.

I looked over at him and he was looking at me with a big smile on his face. He looked so genuinely pleased with me and I couldn’t help but feel like I belonged. “I did,” I smiled sweetly. “Thank you. It was such a great experience. Can we do it every weekend?” He chuckled at my willingness to go back to the homeless shelter and help out.

Honestly, if he had told me that we were going to serve food to people I probably would have tried my best to get out of it. But I was so glad that I had gone. I felt so good about myself and about what I had just done. I wanted to help more people more often.

“That’s what I was planning on doing. It will be amazing on your college applications,” He smiled and took hold of my hand. His thumb stroked the back of my hand and I smiled at the small but warm gesture. The pad of his thumb slowly comforted me as he drove. I love how he absentmindedly will just reach over and touch me. It is something so small but so amazing.

“When did you start going there?” I asked after a minute. I curled my feet under my body and turned the vent back onto me. I was immediately hit with a blast of warm air.

“About two years ago when I first got the job in this town,” He shrugged. “I was just looking for ways to fill my weekend up because I didn’t have to do anything besides work. I did it once and I just fell in love with the whole experience and the people. It became the highlight of all of my weeks when I went there. I couldn’t wait until Sunday when I would go to the pantry to help cook.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t cook?” I chuckled.

“Wilma would help me,” He said as he pulled on the highway. “Anyways, I made some extra money last year so I donated all of it to the pantry. The place got a kind of makeover and got all new appliances.”

“Wow, Zayn. That’s really amazing of you,” I commented and squeezed his hand. It must have been a lot of money to give the entire place a makeover on the inside. I bet he donated more than he actually made from work.

“I guess so,” He shrugged and squeezed my hand softly.

“Is Wilma sorta like a mom to you?”

“I guess you could say that,” He smiled a little bit. “She would give me advice about certain family issues and she was always right, but I guess wisdom comes with age, right?”

“Definitely, cause I’m not wise at all,” I scoffed and heard Zayn chuckle softly. I looked out the window and saw a bunch of cars passing by. Most of them were men in dress shirts driving home from work late, but sometimes there was the occasional minivan. The sky ahead was fading to a dark blue quickly. It must have been a beautiful sunset, I wished I could have seen it.

As the heat blew on me, I realized what it must be like to live on the streets in the winter. I could just imagine sitting on the cold concrete with a cardboard box over me. I would be shivering and crying because I couldn’t get warm. My fingers would ache and my stomach would produce pains from lack of food. The cold wind that would normally be blocked by a thick coat would go right through my skin and would make me freeze half to death. People would walk by me a bundled up and holding their noses to try to hold back to disgusting smell rolling off of me because I hadn’t showered in two weeks.

“What are you thinking about?” Zayn interrupted my thoughts. I didn’t know how long I had been out of it, but I smiled sweetly at him.

“Just what it would be like to live on the streets in winter,” I sighed. “I can’t even imagine…”