Just Give Up

I never had such an eventful day ever since quitting the band. Things were cool and collected until we got out of the car on the way to visit the boys. One moment, we're out of the car like two normal people, and then the next, we're forced to act like a couple, stuck in the middle of a crowd.

I could sense her fear in the air as we trudged through the paps. I could hear Renee's breathing getting harder, and her grip tightening around my hand, but I don't mention a word to her. Instead I let go of her hand and pulling her closer to me.

"We're almost there." I whisper in her ear as an attempt to calm her down.

Renee was already unhappy at the fact that our 'date' would have to be cancelled another time. I just wanted to meet the guys so badly instead. And If it were possible, she seemed even more unhappy after telling her about Perrie and I. Hopefully it reassured her even just a tad bit.

I sighed in relief at the sight of Pauly. With his assistance, we manage to escape the bright flashes of light and onto an elevator safely.

"Here we are!" I grin at her, knocking on the door.

The door swings open and Harry and I share a millisecond of eye contact before getting tackled on the ground. "ZAYN!" He shouts.

"'arry, Hi!" I try to reply just as excited, wrapping my arms around him.

The boys soon come running after, yelling their hello's as well. I try my best to reply, but having Harry on top of you kind of makes that difficult. Louis and Liam offer their hands, and I take them generously. We all lean in for a group hug, and I laugh at the sight of us.

"You must be Renee," I hear Niall says, breaking away from the group to walk over to Renee. "I'm Niall." He smiles, and they shake hands.

"Yeah, I-I know." She stutters, and I watch her tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

I raise my eyebrows at her response, but I don't say anything. Next to say hello is Louis, running over to Niall and wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"So. You're Zayn's girlfriend." I can't see his face, but I can tell he's giving her some kind of look which is making her blush.

"Pretend girlfriend." She corrects him.

For some unknown reason, I feel a tug at my heart. Was it the way she said it? No. She was only correcting Louis. She was saying the truth. Why should I care?

"That's not what we heard!" Harry explains from beside me, and I elbow him in reply.

"It's nice to finally meet you Renee," Liam says next. "Why don't we go inside?"

Everyone shuffles in except Renee. I wait for her at the door, wanting to say something but not knowing how.

"What?" She asks me.

"Nothing." I try to sound casual, letting her by and closing the door behind her.

Just like I predicted, the boys would isolate usl They all took over the big couch. I glared at Louis who snickered when he saw us coming. I wait for Renee to take a seat and then sit down beside her.

Don't make this awkward for her, Zayn. Look relaxed.

I stretch my arms across the back of the love seat, but she doesn't lean in like before. It's an awkward silence besides Niall chewing and a movie playing on the tele.

"How's things going?" I say.

"Good." They all reply at the same time.

The conversation ends up just being me and Harry talking while the rest just listening to us talk. I could see in the corner of my eye that Renee and Liam were busy having eye sex.

I pretend not to notice them. But I could feel my blood boiling on the inside. First Niall, and now Liam?

Harry notices my divided attention and decides to switch over to music time. Harry's on the drums while Niall takes his guitar out.

"Hopefully your voice hasn't changed." He jokes, and I rolled my eyes. I was singing two days ago.

Renee isn't paying attention to me. Instead, she's playing against Liam/Louis on the 3DS. Son of a..



Finally the time comes to go home. I hug the boys goodbye, one by one. We promised to hang out sometime soon again, if Renee would allow it. Renee gives the guys hugs too. One-armed hugs with Louis & Harry, a five second hug with Niall, and a long-lasting hug which I assumed to have lasted ten seconds with Liam. I wait by the door, car keys in hand.

"Want me to call Pauly?" Liam offers, but I shake my head.

Renee walks over to me, taking one last glance behind her. "It was nice to meet you guys, Goodnight!"

The boys wave in reply, and we're finally out the door.

The drive home is a silent one. Halfway through, I decide to finally bring it up.

"So.. had fun bonding with Liam?"

"It was alright. How about you? Did you have fun making music with the guys?" She ignores my attitude.

"Lots." I say bitterly, biting the inside of my cheek.

"What do you think of Liam, then?" I try to sound more casual.

"What do you mean? He's nice and caring. A good guy."

"Well, don't get your hopes up. He's taken." I grumble, slowing down at a red light.

She scoffs, turning to look at me, with an amused smile on her face. "Zayn Malik, are you jealous?"

I glanced at her face, green eyes waiting with expectation for a reply. I turned away, looking back on the road. "No." I replied scornfully.

"Yes you are." She grinned, poking my cheek with her finger, "You are so jealous!"

"Stop it." I snapped.

"Stop what?" She smiled, poking my cheek again. "Teasing my boyfriend for being jealous?"

"Pretend boyfriend." I mocked her from earlier.

She immediately stops poking me, her once amused expression morphing into one with unhappiness.

"Zayn." She says in a more serious tone.

I don't reply, and instead pull into the Colton's driveway.

"Zayn." She says again, but I unbuckle my seat belt and got out of the car, running over to her side and opening her door.

"Zayn fucking Malik, reply to me right now!" She literally yells in my ear as she gets out of the car.

"Are you jealous?"

I shut the door behind her, biting my lip. Should I tell her? I should.

"Yes. I'm jealous, okay?"

I paused for a moment, looking at her face for a reaction.

"I'm jealous that you can give Niall a smile, or how your cheeks turned red at the sight of him. I'm jealous how you gave all o' your attention to Liam tonight. You barely even looked at me. I'm mad because when Louis said you were my girlfriend, you corrected him and said pretend girlfriend. Renee, I think I like you. And all of those signs of affection I showed you from before wasn't an act. I would have done all of those things even if we weren't dating." I panted, running out of breath.

"I like you Renee. and it hurts me because I know you don't feel the same way. You're forced into this whole situation because of my father. I'm hurt because you're pretending, and I'm not."

Renee doesn't reply, but looks away. "I have to go." She says after a while, and I can feel my heart breaking.

She walks up the steps, and I follow her. "Renee." I plead, grabbing her wrist.

"Zayn, let go." She whispers.

"No, please, Renee, talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?" She asks, finally looking up at me.

"Tell me you like me back."

1, 2, 3, She drops her bag onto the floor.

4, 5, She cups my face in her fingers.

6, 7, 8, I feel my hands finding their way to hers, and I lean in.

9, 10. Our lips finally touch, and I feel fireworks going off somewhere inside of me.