Ladies First (Zayn Malik) Book 4

Chapter 38

Zayn’s POV

 I let out another yawn as I walk into the studio. I’d switched times with Niall so I could have the last shift to make sure I was back in time. Unfortunately that meant I’d be up for over 24 hours. I had troubles sleeping on planes so the only sleep I’d really gotten was the short time which I’d fallen asleep on the date. The date, I think to myself with a smile. For how awfully planned it was, she’d said she had had fun and that was all that mattered. I wanted to prove myself good enough for her. To prove I wasn’t some guy who was just looking to hook up.

“Hey mate. Seem a little jet lagged” Harry remarks cheekily as he emerges from the sound booth.

“Yea, yea, yea” I wave off his comment. “How did you find out?”

“It’s all over twitter. I can’t believe you did that,” he says with a laugh. “I can’t believe you got away with it.” He adds. “Management would have torn me limb for limb if I pulled a stunt like that.” I shrug, a smile on my face.

“A great date by the sound of it” Harry says amused. “What was it? Denny’s and Walmart?” he asks amused.

“IHOP” I correct with a chuckle. “And she said she had fun.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind then. Here I was taking girls to concerts and nice restaurants. I could have been saving so much” he jokes.

“I flew down for 6 hours. I think that was the important part of that date,” I say with a laugh. “If you surprise a girl on a different country, showing up for only a few hours before having to fly out again, you could probably take her anywhere. If you just took a girl around here to Tesco I think even you would be stood up” I say with a laugh. He concedes with a nod of his head, a smile on his face as he starts packing up his things having finished his part for the day.

“Well I wish you the best mate.” He says giving me a slap on the back. “Don’t let management see you too tired or they’ll be angry,” he warns when I give a nod of thanks, stifling another yawn. With that, he heads out the door of the studio while I walk in to record my part. It takes me longer than it should have to record my part, having to take a break midway through and get some coffee to boost my energy. By the time I’m done, it’s already getting dark outside and I’m about ready to collapse with exhaustion. Don’t forget to call Emily, a voice in my head reminds me as I head home. I start dialing her number as I head up to my room, getting ready for bed as it rings. It was only 8, but I was tired enough to sleep straight through the night.

“Hey” her voice rings out, causing a smile to appear on my face.

“Hey” I reply, “How are you?”

“I’m good. We’ve just arrived in Ohio. We have sound check in like 2 hours or something. What about you? How was the flight?” she asks

“It was long. I’m really tired” I chuckle “Who’d have thought that sitting around could leave me so exhausted” I joke.

“Aww sorry.” She says worriedly.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say shaking my head even though she couldn’t see. “It was worth it.”  The line is silent and I can just imagine that beautiful smile of hers that lights up her whole face. “We should do it again sometime” I add after a moment.

“Yea, we should” she replies happily. “But maybe not at one in the morning or when you have to leave so quickly” she teases. I chuckle, nodding to myself, my eyes closing as I listen to her.

“Sounds like a deal” I confirm, a smile twitching on my face. “So how’s your day been so far?” I ask. Her voice washes over me as she tells me what they’d done so far and I feel myself relaxing more and more until the darkness finally takes over and I drift off to sleep.