Just Give Up

Renee's POV

"Tell me you like me back."

I didn't know how to reply. In such a shock, I had managed to drop my bag. My fingers instead, found their way to his face and we end up kissing. My eyes slowly flutter closed afterwards. Everything else was history.

A few moments later we break away from the kiss for air. We're both lost at words. We keep stealing glances at each other, but as soon as we catch one another, we look away. What do we say next? What do we do next? I'm tempted to say, Is that a good enough answer for you? But I don't. Instead I hear my voice say,

"You should get going."

"Not until you give me your number." He grinned, the sudden change in his demeanor surprising me..

He grabbed for my hand, dropping his phone into my palm.

"Shouldn't my boyfriend know my number already?" I teased him, putting my number in.

Zayn shrugs his shoulders in reply. "My girlfriend used to hate me, so asking for her number was out of the question." He played along.

"I didn't hate you." I began to say.

"But you didn't like me either," Zayn finishes with a sad smile. "I know."

I hand him his phone back, along with my own. "Give me yours too."

After another few seconds he hands me my phone back, but our hands sluggishly pulled away. My fingers still tingling from his touch.

"Be ready tomorrow," Zayn says abruptly, changing the topic as he goes down the steps. "We're going to spend the day with the boys again. This time, in public."

I raise my eyebrows at him. "In public? What for?"

"Just 'cause. We want the fans to believe we're real, right? So we ought to make a few public appearances now that we've been caught." Zayn smirks at my annoyed expression.

"What if as soon as your fans see me, they come running at me with a pitch fork?" I crossed my arms.

"No worries, you'll live." He chuckles lightly as I continue to glare at him.

"I'm only kidding, love. You have me." He winks, walking around the car to the driver's side.

"I hate you." I shouted playfully, beginning to pout.

"Don't worry, I do too." He shot back while rolling his eyes, but I could still see a smile on his face.

-

While they said those things out loud, they both knew inside their minds, that it was the opposite.

-

I woke up at around ten that morning. Checking my phone, I find one new message from Zayn.

Good morning, love. Can't wait to spend the day with you later! ;)
We'll be there by one o'clock. xoxo

After jumping out of bed, I take a quick shower, then changing into this outfit. I even let my hair dry naturally for once, the ends turning wavy.

I rush through brunch, not bothering to take my time. Frankly, I was quite excited to see Zayn again. Francis watched me from the corner of the room, curious to see what was making me eat at the speed of lightning.

"Thanks Francis!" I yelled, jumping out of the seat at the sound of a knock on the door.

I dusted myself off, now standing right in front of the door. I wait a few seconds before turning the lock, opening the door.

"Hi Renee!" I hear four of them say in unison. Along with the boys, I noticed that Liam And Louis' girlfriends were present.

"Hi there" They say in a calmer tone. I wave in reply.

Zayn stands in the center, holding a tulip in one hand. He smiles, walking up to me. "Hi, love." He says in a quieter tone.

He tucks the tulip behind my ear. "Ready to go?"

I nodded in reply, "Where to?"



The drive to wherever we were going was quick. Approximately half an hour, at the latest. I ended up pulling the Tulip's petals apart, throwing it across the room at whomever was a good target. Niall, being one of them, threw it back. It became a tulip war with him winning.

"You smell nice." Zayn says as we get off the bus, taking a strand of my hair and smelling it.

"I smell like tulip," I faked a few coughs, "Thanks to Niall."

Niall sticks his tongue out in reply.

We turned out to be at the back entrance of a mall.

Zayn pulls me back, letting everyone go ahead of us. Eleanor and Louis, Harry and Niall who kept pushing each other, and lastly, Liam and Danielle.

"Are you ready?" he asks me, wrapping his hand in mine.

"I think I can handle it." I grinned, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

We walk into the mall. I don't think it's one I've ever been to, but it looked very grand. We're in a less populated side of the mall, people we pass by don't notice us whilst others gape from afar. My eyes travel to one of the shop windows we pass by, seeing a beautiful pair of red stilettos. I want.

We continue to walk through the mall undetected until we were deposited in the large open area in the middle of the mall. Everywhere around us, are people walking in every direction.

I turn to face Zayn with a surprised look on my face, "What's going on?" I half whispered, half yelled.

"Relax." Zayn replies.

"How the fuck can I relax when I'm in the middle of the mall, surrounded by shoppers everywhere, accompanied by five boys who belong in a famous band, along with two other girls, with the dangerous chance of us being caught by the paparazzi?" I spazz at him, releasing my grip from his hand.

"Renee, we're just standing by here to wait for Harry and Niall. Didn't you see them go to the bathroom?" Zayn grabs my hand back, pulling me to his side, wrapping his other arm around me.

I could feel my face turning red. Only a few minutes into our public appearance and I already began to spaz. I look up to see Liam and Danielle, Louis and Eleanor looking back at us with grins on their faces.

"She was too busy eyeing a pair of shoes in a window," Eleanor winked at me.

"Which store?" Danielle asks.

"I didn't read the sign." I murmured a response sheepishly.

The boys are taking forever to reply, and just like my predictions someone with a camera had been lurking around, finally spotting us and decided to announce, "I SEE THEM! LOOK EVERYONE, THERE'S ONE DIRECTION!"

This time, it's not Zayn pulling me, but the other way around. I unwrap his arm from my waist, and dragged him along down one of the mall's many directions. I don't turn back to see where everyone else goes, praying instead that they'd be safe without us.

"Renee. Renee, love, slow down! They're not following us anymore."
/
I slowly change from a sprint to a light jog, down to a slow walk.

"Where'd they go?" I asked, finally having the guts to turn and look behind me

"They followed us for a while, but they stopped. Five minutes ago. They must have gone back to pursue everyone else." Zayn explains while leaning against the wall.

I'm still a bit skeptical at the thought, still looking for any trace of someone with a camera. But what was the point? We wanted to be caught, but I had become such a pussy and ran off, dragging Zayn with me. Was I really that afraid of attention?

Was it because I never had my father's attention? That I was always used to being neglected? Could the sudden change of being shoved into the spotlight change me. For the lack of better words, frighten me?

I drop my gaze from the distance and looked down at my feet instead, the thought hitting me like a punch to the stomach. Soon after, I feel Zayn's arms wrap around my waist again, pulling me against him.

"Are you alright?" He asks me, snuggling his head with my hair. "You went quiet."

I nodded my head furiously, "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

I lied, turning around to face him with a fake smile on my face. "I'm just worried about the others s'all."

Zayn stared back at me with a look of doubt, but he doesn't push on the topic any further. "Okay then."

I let him hug me for a little while. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, inhaling the delicious smell of his cologne. People begin to notice us by the wall, snapping photos of us hugging but Zayn makes no move to stop them from doing so. I'm glad for that. I might get used to being photographed, especially when you're dating someone special.

And now was the perfect time to start.

"Look over here, Zayn!"

"Turn around and give us a smile, you love birds!"

"Zayn, just one picture facing the camera, please!"

"Renee, look up for us and show us your face!"



Soon after we get tired of hearing the paparazzi yelling at us, the sound of shutters closing and the bright flashes of light. Zayn takes me by the hand, maneuvering us throughout the crowd.

"Excuse me." He says in a polite, thick, British accent that I never noticed he had.

They move in response, but it's even harder to see when the flashes are right in front of your face. At one point in time, I can even feel someone trying to grab me from behind.

"Zayn!" I yelp, squeezing his hand.

Zayn looks over his shoulder at me with a grim expression. He must have felt it too. Flash. Someone manages to snap a shot of Zayn's dark expression. I giggle inside my head at the thought of seeing that photo on Google images. Zayn becomes more aggressive, beginning to walk more forcibly and the crowd is forced to move back. A minute later, and we're finally out of the crowd.

Zayn's phone rings, and we stop for a moment so he can answer it. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Even without the speaker on, I could hear Harry's voice loud and clear.

I look up at the ceiling, we were back at the open, middle area of the mall. On a higher level, I can see Harry's familiar brown curls in the distance. He sees me too and waves. I tap Zayn on the shoulder, pointing in Harry's direction.

"Found them." I say with a grin.

Zayn slips his phone away, and in another second we're running in the direction for the elevators.