Ladies First (Zayn Malik) Book 4

Chapter 35

Zayn’s POV

“Zayn, what the hell’s your problem?” Louis asks angrily as I snap at Niall for the 3rd time today.

“It’s fine Lou” Niall says and I look over guiltily at the blond boy. I’d been in a bad mood pretty much all day. The day before, hadn’t gone at all like I’d expected. First Emily had pretty much blown me off, not responding to any texts I’d sent her. Sure she’d been on a plane for part of it, but that wasn’t an excuse as to why she hadn’t after they’d landed. And besides that, the stories hit the news. I hadn’t bothered to hide the hickey, kind of proud of it. I thought it meant something was starting between the two of us, but apparently that’s not what she thought. From the looks of it, she wanted to pretend like it didn’t happen. That hurt. And today wasn’t any better. I’d been trying to text her all day and nothing. 

“Sorry Nialler” I apologize and he shoots me a half smile.

“Have you tried anything besides texting? Maybe she lost her charger and her phone died,” he suggests, guessing the reason for my frustration.

“Her phone’s not dead” I say positively. He raises an eyebrow wondering how I know that.

“I asked Demi to text her to see if she’d respond to her” I mutter embarrassed at my desperation. Niall lets out a low whistle.

“Wow mate, I’ve never seen you like this before” he says.

“I know” I groan. I couldn’t get this girl off my mind. I needed a distraction.

“So how’ve you been?” I ask, looking at her over the table, taking a sip of my coffee.

“I’ve been good’ she says with a nod, “We’ve been super busy promoting our album, but you know how it is” she says with a shrug. I nod my head as we lapse into silence. Finally she sighs, setting down her drink.

“What am I doing here Zayn?” she asks calmly. I’m actually surprised that it took her so long to ask. We hadn’t really talked for months.

“I dunno Perrie” I say with a shrug “I just thought it would be nice to catch up.” She nods, not entirely convinced by my explanation.

“You know I’m seeing someone,” she says after another moment of silence. I nod my head. I’d seen that on some interview a month or so ago.

“Are you happy?” I ask. She nods her head, a small smile on her face.

“Yea” she says softly. “Yea I am”

“I’m glad,” I say honestly. She smiles, nodding her head as she looks down at her coffee and I can tell she’s thinking of the lucky guy.

“What about you?” she asks, looking back up at me. “You’ve been talking with that one girl from Ladies First right?” she asks. “Emily? right” I nod, surprised that she’d been keeping up with the news about me.

“Yea” I say, feeling the familiar throb in my chest as her name is brought up. It had been a week since the kiss and she had yet to respond to any form of communication with more than three words.

“I’m happy for you Zayn” she says warmly, covering my hand with hers. “You deserve to find someone who can make you happy. Someone who can handle the hate” she adds and I see a flash of guilt across her eyes, telling me she was thinking of our breakup.

“Thanks Perr” I say, not wanting to burden her with my girl problems. She smiles and I can tell she’s relieved that I found someone, or so she thought. Perrie holds my gaze for a second before looking around the outdoor coffee shop. A smile fills her face and she releases my hand to wave at someone. I look over to see a few girls standing across the street and I realize it must be some fans that had discovered us.