Just Give Up

I laughed at the look on Zayn's face. It was one full of rage, but he made no move to hit me. He did, on the other hand, look ready to burst. His hands, I could see in the corner of my eye, kept clenching and unclenching. I was laughing so hard now, that no sounds were coming out. I must have looked like a retarded seal, just clapping like an idiot.

"Stop laughing!" Zayn glared.

"I can't!" I tried to breath, but I couldn't stop.

Zayn glared, an evident frown on his face. He sat there for a while, watching me laugh it out.. And after about five minutes, I had finally calmed down.

"Did you delete it?" I asked.

"No, there's no point. Most of them have already seen it by now." Zayn grumbled in reply.

"Well then check! Let's see what everyone is saying!" I grinned, reaching for his phone.

But as soon as I start to do this, Zayn already has it high above his head. "NO!"

"Well at least read them out then!" I pouted, crossing my arms.

I continue to try and grab for his iPhone, but He does a good job at keeping it out of my reach. "Just wait a second," he tells me.

I pout, sitting there, ready to jump up in excitement.

Wait. Why am I so excited? Why do I want to read their tweets about what they thought of Zayn and I so-called dating? Their opinions didn't matter to me..right? This was a whole hoax, after all.

I hear Zayn cough, causing my train of thought to end. "Here's a few of them."

I braced myself, in the inside of course. Hit me with your worst, crazy fan girls.

I@aliyanzaynhmalik omg!!! can't believe this! Zayn must have been hacked, right every1?

@the1direction2me AWEEEEEEEEEE Congrats on the girlfriend, Zayn!

@monecapham omg! congrats on the gf! where's a pic? ;)

@shainnadirectioner better not be that girl from the mall! -.-

@niamorenomalik in reply to @shainnadirectioner it better not be!!! he deserves SO MUCH better...like me ;)

@hannahstylesss wait...if you're dating this Renee chick.. then what about Perrie?

"Enough." I interrupted him before he could read out another tweet.

The pounding in my head was coming back again. All the thoughts were jumbled all around in my head. I could feel them bouncing up and down, hitting walls and getting reflected off.

They were happy to hear that Zayn was in a relationship. But at the same time, half of his fans were unhappy. And I had a feeling that they'd be more upset if they found out I was the girlfriend. More importantly, who was that Perrie chick? Not once did I ever hear Zayn mention her name.

I heard the snap of his fingers right in front of my face. I blinked. "Are you alright?"

I only noticed then that he was leaning forward. Our faces were about a foot away from each other. I could feel his eyes looking into my soul. And I didn't like that. I turn away, resisting his beautiful eyes.

"I'm fine." I lied.

I felt as if my heart was forced inside a large dictionary and had been slammed shut.

Was I unhappy? Was I jealous? Was I disappointed?

The feeling of confusion from kissing Zayn earlier that morning had returned again.

"You look a bit pale." Zayn commented. "Do you want me to call Francis and bring in the left over food? We never actually ate back there."

I turn to look back at him, his eyes showed a look of genuine concern. He almost looked like Francis. Francis always wore a similar look of worry whenever I came home late at night.

"I'm not that hungry," I admitted, playing with the fabric of my baggy sweater.

"Too bad, we're eating anyway." Zayn said before walking over to my bed and pressing the blue button on the head board.

How did he know what that button was for?

In a moment, Francis appeared at the door way. "Yes, Ms. Colton?" He said automatically.

"I didn't call you, He did." I pointed in Zayn's direction.

"Would you mind bringing us up some left over food from awhile ago?" He asked.

Francis bowed, "But of course, Sir-" he hesitated, not knowing what to call him.

"His name is Zayn." I helped him.

Zayn walked over after Francis left, this time, sitting beside me. "They're starting to trend this new tag." I heard him announce.

"Like what?" I asked, peering over his shoulder.

On the tiny display screen, I could make out the words,

@zaynmalikgirlfriend
@the1direction2me Zayn should upload a photo of him and his girlfriend!!!!
@mayapriljuneee i'm curious to see what Zayn's girlfriend looks like..
@jessacorrico help trend this tag so zayn can see it! POST A PIC OF UR GF POST A PIC OF UR GF POST A PIC OF UR GF ZAYN!!!!
@annielouisstylinson RETWEET THIS IF U WANT ZAYN TO UPLOAD A PHOTO OF HIS GF!!!!!!

I smiled, reading some of the tweets. "They really want to see me now, don't they?" I faked a giggle.

"Yeah." Zayn agreed.

We continued to read more tweets in silence, waiting for Francis to reply. We didn't see as many negative tweets like before. But there was one in every ten-twelve saying that if he did post a photo, that it better not be me. And if it was, they'd hunt me down and burn me at a stake.

Okay, maybe not like that. But there were some pretty serious death threats.

"Don't worry about them." Zayn assured me. "I won't let them hurt you, it's my job."

I smiled gratefully.

Francis arrives with two plates of food, along with Nina whom carried two glasses and a pitcher full of soda. For a table, we put my blanket down on the floor like a picnic sheet, and put the food on top. Before we could thank them, they were already halfway out the door.

"So.." I say, thinking of a good topic. "Why did you continue to follow your dad's order, protect his company, even though he treats you like shit?" I asked him, taking a bite of potato salad.

Zayn, I noticed, judging by his actions, was hesitant to reply. He played around with his spoon, moving his food all around on his plate. "To be honest," He began. "I don't really know."

I nodded my head in response, I understood where he was coming from. I continue to take slow bites, waiting for him to go into further detail, but he doesn't. I don't push the topic any further, and instead, we finish eating our food in a peaceful quietness.

"I guess I should get going," He mumbled, helping me clean up the dishes while I toss my blanket into the laundry shoot,

We had managed to stain it with ketchup and other sauce.

"Already?" I heard myself saying out loud. "It's only.."

"3:40 PM." He finished my sentence, handing the stack of dishes to Francis, who came back.

"Right." I nodded.

"I'm sure you'll be fine without me.. You don't have any plans on going to any functions tonight, am I right?" Zayn asked.

I shook my head in reply. "No, I just thought you'd like to stick around more, you know? Spend time with your girlfriend?"

"Maybe another time," Zayn plays along. "She, in the mean time, should finish resting up and maybe we could go out tomorrow afternoon instead."

I scoffed at his reply, getting out of character. "What do you mean by maybe going out tomorrow afternoon? Of course we're going out. I need to get out of this hell hole."

Zayn chuckled lightly, shaking his head. We both get up, stretching our bodies after sitting down for at least a half an hour. Zayn begins to make his way out the doorway.

"Wait." He says, right behind the doorway.

"Huh?"

"Before I leave, do you want to take a photo with me? For the fans?" He asked.

"But what if they get mad at you for seeing me?" I frowned, not really liking the idea of my face showing up on the internet.

"They'll burn the photo maybe, but they'll never light a flame on that face of your's as long as I'm around. Have you forgotten already?" Zayn paused. "I'm your body guard."

I bit my lip.

Contain yourself, Renee. He is hot and all, but you can't show him how excited you are. You absolutely cannot show him, tell him that you like him. Not anytime soon, at least.

"I guess.." I finally agreed to it, after having a thirty-second argument in my head.

"Where should we take it?" I ask him.

We stand there in silence until I finally remember a good spot.

"Why not outside, in my mother's garden? She has a bench by the water fountain.. And the flowers have all finally bloomed!"

"Sure." Zayn replies calmly, and I blush at how excited I had sounded like.

I lead him to the garden, taking the shortcut that my mother had showed me. It took longer than I had expected to, but we got there none the less. Zayn wasn't complaining either.

"Here we are!" I stretched out my arms, pointing towards the fountain in the distance.

Thanks to the gardeners, the fountain looked in tip-top shape. It wasn't stained white because of moss that would usually grow around this time of year. The porcelain was perfectly white, as if it had been newly painted.

"So.." I mumbled, shifting my weight back and fourth.

I should have thought it over, things were getting a bit more awkward by the minute. Zayn doesn't notice this, and instead takes a seat on the bench. I raise my eyebrows at him, but he pays me no attention. The light reflects off his hair nicely and I had to admit, Zayn looked very hot from the way he was posing.

"What are you waiting for?" Zayn asked, his phone was already out by then.

I zoned out again, didn't I?

I made my way over to him, awkwardly sitting on the edge of the bench.

"Um.. Renee, by the way you're sitting, people won't think you're my girlfriend." Zayn pointed out.

I blushed, "Sorry." I scooted over, close enough to be in the frame, but not exactly touching.

"A little closer."

I scooted over more until we were finally touching. Arm to arm, and leg to leg.

"Good enough?" I heard my own voice say.

Before I could hear reply, I feel someone's arm wrap around my shoulder, pulling me in closer. "This, is better."

My eyes grew wide in realization. "Close your mouth and smile." I heard Zayn say.

I try to fake a smile but the shutter goes off before I am fully ready. I end up looking constipated instead of happy and in love. He shakes his head, deleting the photo. Rejected.

"Okay. This time just smile naturally. Don't force it."

I nodded my head, "I got it."

Zayn wraps his arm around me one more time. I tilt my head towards his, this time, with a more natural smile. I could feel a weird sensation inside of me. Not unhappy, not mad, but somewhere between calm and happy. But I couldn't pinpoint what.

"3, 2, 1, Smile!" I hear Zayn countdown just before the sound of the shutter button goes off.

"Let me see!" I say as Zayn pulls his arm away.

I feel the excess weight on my shoulder disappear as he does this. I start to feel the breeze attack my bare neck again. I hadn't realize the warmth I felt with being so close to Zayn until then. Like an instinct, I shiver as the wind tickled my skin.

I lean in to look at the picture on his phone. The photo's lighting was perfect, my hair looked bright red, and Zayn's eyes had an extra shine on them than usual. For another thing, we actually looked like a couple.

"What should the caption say?" Zayn asks.

"Say something corny..like.. 'Just thought I'd let you meet someone special in my life..' and a heart or winky face." I say, trying to sound nonchalantly.

Hopefully it was working.

We sat there in the sunlight, watching the progress bar increase.

25%

50%

75%

And finally..

100%