Kissing Fire.

Everything hurt. Everything just simply hurt. Though I suppose nothing was simple at the moment. However, everything definitely hurt. My head was reeling and my stomach was flipping like a fucking acrobat after the situation Marina and I had just encountered. My cheeks were sore from forcing silly smiles all day to make Marina think things were fine. But most importantly, my feet were absolutely screaming with pain. You see, Marina, my best friend in the whole wide world, decided to drag me around New York City today. She claimed that I had mourned the loss of my relationship for long enough and it was high time we went shopping. Whatever. I’m always game for shopping. However, Marina took it upon herself to buy me a new pair a shoes. And yes, I was in love with this pair of shoes and with Marina for getting them for me. However, these were shoes that most definitely needed to be broken in over time and not just in one go.

Like I knew that though, right?

So now, on top of this just absolutely wonderful day, I had a nasty blister on each of my ankles. Lovely. So after running into my ex, Collin, and his flavor of the week, I had told Marina that I was going to sneak out the back entrance to the quaint little café where we were eating lunch. She shook her head and told me to ignore him, but let’s be real. This boy was the reason I hadn’t left my apartment in a little over a month except for work. Ignoring him was not going to be an easy task. So I did what I did best. I ran.
As I stepped into the somewhat sketchy alley in the blustery winds of New York City, I was hoping for solitude. And a cigarette, if we’re being honest. However, I got neither, as my bag was void of smokes and there was a man, or a boy, er—a guy standing not too far from the door I had just exited.

But I did find a silver lining! This guy, who was rather attractive, might I add, had a slender cancer stick placed between his lips. Lord, he had a lovely profile. And lord, was I creepy.

“Excuse me?” I finally called, my voice coming out quieter than expected. The boy turned to face me, suddenly realizing that we were sharing the alleyway. His eyebrows shot up on his forehead and I could have sworn he looked worried.

“Yes?” he asked back, his voice full of worry. Worry? Seriously, what even? Someone was paranoid.

“Uhm, would I be able to bum a smoke?” I asked timidly, frightened that I might have found a psychopath to bum a cigarette from. However, at my words he visibly relaxed and once again I found myself immensely confused by his actions.

“Oh! Yeah, of course, love,” the brown eyed beauty spoke after letting out a not so subtle sigh of relief. Before I knew it, I was standing next to him and a cigarette was being placed into my slim fingers. As I rummaged through my bag for a lighter, the boy quickly pulled one from his back pocket and flicked it to life in front of my face. I nodded in thanks as I lit up and then took a step back from him.

Like I said before, this guy was definitely not hard on the eyes. His skin was a rich, darker color and his black hair sat on top of his head in a perfectly shaped quiff. He was stunning really, and I couldn’t help but look.

As the smoke filtered from my lips, I let out a mix of a contented sigh and a groan as my ankles once again ached. Beautiful’s eyebrows knit together as he glanced over at me.

“Erm, are you alright?” he asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah. My friend just got me these shoes and now I’ve got terrible blisters. My feet are just killing me,” I explained before inhaling from the cigarette once again.

“Ah, well let’s sit then!” he suggested before sending me a charming smile. I couldn’t help but let a small smile reach my lips as he sat against the wall and then grabbed my hand to pull me down next to him. “Better?” he asked once we were both situated. I let out a small chuckle before replying,

“Much, thank you. Also, thanks for the smoke.”

“Not a problem, babe.”

Mm, and there was that gorgeous English accent again. Could this guy get any better?

“So, I take it you’re not from around here?” I inquired as I glanced at his face once again.

“No, I’m in town with some mates. We’re in a band.” My eyebrows rose at the mention of a band. He did look sort of familiar.

“Really? That’s exciting!”

“Yeah, we’re so excited to be here. Oh, uhm, about earlier. Sorry that I probably looked like a deer in headlights when I turned around. It’s just that we’ve gotten a bigger reception over here than we thought we would. We’ve been getting swarmed by girls and when I turned and saw you, I guess I just assumed you were another fan coming for pictures and such. So I do apologize,” he spoke with sincerity, and I couldn’t help but smile and nod in response.

“No, don’t worry about it. However, now that you mention it, you do look rather familiar. I can’t put my finger on it though.” My eyes narrowed slightly as I racked my brain for this boy’s identity.

“We’re called One Direction, if that helps,” he murmured as more smoke slipped past his lips.
One Direction, One Direction, One Direction. Hmm, something about a beach? They were on a beach. Something…beautiful.

“That’s what makes you beautiful,” I muttered mostly to myself, entertaining the idea of that being the band he was from. And suddenly it hit me. Yes, that was most definitely the band I was thinking of. They were on some show in the UK. And one of them was…Scottish? Or something. Marina never shut up about them.

“Yeah, that’s our song!” the boy piped up rather suddenly and I found myself smiling once again at his enthusiasm.

“Yeah, my friend totally digs you guys. Won’t she be upset that she didn’t run out the back exit with me,” I murmured mostly to myself with a slight laugh.

“Speaking of, do you normally escape out back doors?”

“Uhm, it’s a long story. Do you normally hide in alleyways to have a cigarette?” I retorted as I turned my head to the right to look at his gorgeous face again. I mean, c’mon. You know you would, too. This kind of situation doesn’t present itself too frequently.

If only I’d known.

“Well, when I’m looking for a smoke and some solitude…” he trailed off, leaving me to chuckle considering I was looking for the exact same two things. “I mean, the fans get a little crazy and the alone time can be nice. I can’t even tell you how many girls have come ‘round asking if they can ‘show me the city’.” He faked an American, girly accent before throwing in a wink for good measure. I let out a heavy sigh.

“So I suppose now isn’t a good time to ask if I could show you the city later?” I asked before innocently biting my lip. He stared hard at me for a few seconds before we were both reduced to giggling messes on the pavement.

“That was good! You had me going for a second!” he gasped in between his laughs and I couldn’t help but let the smile on my face grow. Oh, those European boys. They do things to you.

After our laughter subsided, we sat in a comfortable silence, just getting our dose of nicotine. I liked this boy. He was charming and incredibly easy to talk to, given that he was in a world famous boy band.

“Agh, shit, how rude of me. I’m Zayn, by the way.”

“Emerson,” I replied, sticking my free hand out to shake his.

“That’s a lovely name. I like it a lot.” His smile was infectious but I couldn’t keep the blush from reaching my cheeks as I found my shoes to be the most interesting things on the planet. Throughout my entire school career I’d been teased to no end about my name. It was just “too weird”. So naturally I wasn’t used to hearing that it was “lovely”, as Zayn had so eloquently put it.

And once again we fell into a peaceful silence. I was liking this Zayn character more and more. He didn’t talk an awful lot, but that was okay. He didn’t try to force anything, and I think that’s what I cherished the most.

An hour had passed at an alarming rate and soon Zayn’s phone began buzzing.

“’lo?” he spoke into the phone. A sigh escaped his lips. “Fuck. Sorry.” Another sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I just-lost track of time, I ‘spose.” He glanced over at me with an apologetic look. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” With that, he hung up the phone and let out another sigh.

“Everything alright?” I asked hesitantly as my eyebrows crinkled slightly.

“Yeah, I’m just meant to be at soundcheck in about five minutes and the lads didn’t know where I’d gotten to,” he explained before I quickly apologized for sidetracking him. “No, no, s’not a problem, babe.” He pulled himself off the ground before extending a hand to help me up. “Any chance I’ll see you at the show tonight?” he asked hopefully as we stood and faced each other.

“I’m afraid not. That show sold out in minutes. My friend was devastated,” I answered with a small shake of my head.

“Hmm,” he started, as a frown placed itself upon his lips. “We’re not allowed to guest list anyone tonight for some reason. I don’t suppose you and your friend are free later tonight? We could all go get a late dinner,” he suggested as a small smile once again made its way to his face.

“Mm, I suppose we could pencil you guys in,” I replied with a cheeky grin, causing an adorable chuckle to float from Zayn’s lips.

“Good. Here, put your number in.” His phone was placed in my small hands and I quickly jotted my number and name down. As soon as the phone was back in his possession he apologized for leaving so abruptly, gave me a tight hug, placed a swift kiss on my cheek, and disappeared onto the busy New York City sidewalk.

---

By the time I arrived back at the apartment I shared with Marina, she was already home and in the shower. Perfect. I wanted a nap.

At roughly 9:37 PM, I stepped from my room into the expansive living room to find my best friend sprawled on the couch watching a rerun of America’s Next Top Model.

“Hey, babe,” she called as her eyes flitted to mine. I gave a nod in response as I padded to the kitchen for a glass of water. Upon returning to the living room, Marina sat up and tapped the spot next to her on the couch. As I flopped down next to her, a content sigh escaped my lips.

“Do we have any plans for tonight?” I asked as I turned in my seat to face her, placing my legs Indian style on the couch.

“Yeah, Nina wanted us to come to this party at her new boyfriend’s place,” she answered excitedly as she stared back at me with her wide eyes.

“Cancel,” I stated simply, causing her eyebrows to knit together.

“What? But Nina really wanted us to go!” she argued.

“First of all, since when do you care what Nina wants? If I remember correctly, you called her a ‘snotty, two-faced twat’-“

“Because she is,” Marina huffed, which caused me to roll my eyes.

“Whatever. Secondly, I’ve got better plans.”

“Pfft, please. Like what?” Instead of answering her, I simply flipped my phone around so she could read the text I had opened.

Zayn Malik

hey babe. are you two still up for dinner? i was thinking 11 :) x

“Is this a joke?” If I thought her eyes were wide before… Good god, you should have seen them now.

“Why would I joke about something like this?” I countered, staring her hard in the eye.

“But that means…when did you even talk to him? What the fuck, Emerson?” she exclaimed as her arms flew around wildly.

“I just sorta bumped into him earlier. So are we going?”

“Are we going? Is that seriously even a question? Shit, eleven? Oh my god, what am I going to wear?” And with that, she was out of her seat and quickly in her bedroom to search for the perfect outfit. Which left me to text Zayn back letting him know that eleven sounded great and asking where to meet them.

This night would definitely be one for the books.