January. // z.m. au

Chapter 40

Fall In Love | Phantogram

I woke up to a room that was far too light for my liking, an empty bed, and an overly excited dog licking stripes across my face. I groaned loudly, cursing not so quietly to myself as my eyes fluttered open to take in the scene that was unraveling before me.

My first thought, oddly, was not why Trouble had been trying to eat my face off, no, but where was Zayn? I was lying in his bed, wearing his clothes, but he was nowhere to be found. I frowned, rubbing tiredly at my eyes as I sat up.

I expected to see Zayn here when I woke up simply because I knew how he was about his sleep, how he'd probably date it instead of me it were an actual person. But seeing that he was gone instead of staying asleep, I figured he must've been doing something rather important.

I was just about to get out of bed, but before I could I noticed something sitting on too of the bed sheets in place of where Zayn would've been if he were here. There were two small, neatly wrapped boxes stacked on top of each other; one smaller than the other, but both topped with shiny, golden bows. I smiled a little only assuming that these were the gifts Zayn was going to give me when we exchanged for Christmas. There was also a folded in half piece of paper resting against the boxes.

I quickly picked it up noticing that it was a note written to me.

went to take saf and wali back to mum's, be back soon x
DON'T OPEN UNTIL I GET BACK :D
(please)

I giggled at the note, imagining Zayn's voice in my head as I read it. Even the little voice in the back of my mind was cute, I wanted to kiss it's cheeks and tell it to stop being so adorable. But then again I could just wait until Zayn got back to do so.

In the meantime, I had Trouble here to keep me company, who was now prancing into my lap, still trying to eat my face off like she had been when I first woke up. She was such a precious dog but a bit too needy if you asked me.

"Pipe down, alright," I spoke to her even though I knew she wouldn't be able to understand my language. "C'mon, let's go wait for your caretaker to come back in the living room."

I patted the side of the bed once I'd gotten out of it to get Trouble's attention, grabbing the wrapped boxes with me as I led myself into the next room. I shook the boxes close to my ear like I would do when I was a child and wanted to know what my parents had gotten me for Christmas. Sadly, it didn't work that way. I still had no clue what was inside of them.

I placed the boxes on the coffee table next to where I'd left my gift for Zayn the night before as I sat down on the floor to play with Trouble to help pass time.

Every now and then I would sneak a peak at the table as if the gifts would magically open themselves if I kept looking at them. No luck, though. I suddenly couldn't contain the excitement I held knowing that soon I'd finally get to see what it was that Zayn had given me. I could hardly wait.

***

I was in the middle of an intense game of Tug Of War with Trouble the dog when I heard the front door opening and closing. You see, Trouble, being the naughty little dog she was (hence her name), had thought it would be funny if she kept pulling at the sock that covered my foot until it was completely off and settling in between her teeth. I swear she was like one of those scheming toddlers you'd babysit in high school, only in puppy form.

I'd chased her around the house for a good ten minutes before I got a hold of the sock and began tugging it to try and pry it out of her mouth. It didn't work so well because then I ended up falling flat on my ass while Trouble tried to jump all over me. Now it became like a game for her while I was only trying to get my sock back. It was probably all stretched out by now, so there was really no point.