Dirty Laundry

I wasn’t as excited for my date with Zayn as I had been before I saw Liam again – probably because he had a way of making me feel like absolute shit for doing my job well. Or something like that.

Zayn greeted me with a large smile, pulling me in with a simple, friendly kiss on the cheek, as we walked side by side into the restaurant. It was a fancy one on the outskirts of town, far enough away that no one either of us knew would see us there, I assumed. Nothing in Zayn’s head went on without a bit of strategic planning, and I imagined this was one of those things.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Zayn said, smiling as he pulled out my chair for me.

I smiled back and nodded my head as I tucked the sides of my coral dress underneath my thighs. “It’s good to see you, too. How was work?”

“It wasn’t bad,” Zayn said, shrugging his shoulders as he took the seat across from me. “I will admit I was thinking about you most of the day, though.”

My smile widened, and my cheeks instantly went a deep shade of red, which I tried to mask by tilting my head to the side. That caused a chuckle to fall from Zayn’s lips, and I felt his foot brush against my leg underneath the table, though it could have been an accident.

“You look beautiful, by the way,” he continued, nodding his head in my direction as he smiled. “I should have told you as soon as I saw you.”

I chuckled and smiled back at him. “Thank you. You look handsome as well.”

And he did with his black suit jacket and blue button up – probably the same outfit he’d worn to work that day. Zayn always looked good, I thought, which probably made being his girlfriend that much more difficult for Marissa. A guy like him could have practically anyone, and the more time he spent with me, the more likely it seemed he was going to do just that.

Zayn’s phone began ringing in his pocket, and he quickly moved his hand down to silence it. A small sigh escaped his lips when he looked at the screen, but he just shoved it deeper into his pocket.

“Is it your girlfriend again?” I asked bravely as I took a drink from the wine glass in front of me. I thought with the way Zayn was it was better to be blunt with things more often than not.

He nodded, letting out a long, deep sigh. “She’s angry at me again.” He breathed and moved his napkin to fold it across his lap. “I had to tell her I was working late so I could see you again, and I don’t think she’s taking it very well.”

I was listening to Zayn intently until my eyes caught sight of the table behind him, where a handsome blonde gentleman was passing a bouquet of pink roses to his female companion across the table. She smiled and took them before reaching her hand across the table to squeeze his hand.

My breathing stopped as I looked at them, my mind suddenly flooding with thoughts of Liam as though just the sight of those stupid pink roses had opened the flood gates. It felt like my head was spinning, and I don’t know how long I was zoned out before Zayn noticed.

“Mia?” He asked, curling his lip up as he looked at me. “Is everything alright?”

I nodded my head quickly and snapped myself out of it. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“It’s the girlfriend thing, isn’t it?” Zayn assumed, biting his lip as he looked at me nervously. That wasn’t it, but of course it was what Zayn’s cheating mind led to. “I’m sorry, Mia. It’s just – it’s complicated.”

Elle, as smart as she was, probably would have found a way to twist the conversation and use it to her advantage. But, I wasn’t nearly as smart as Elle was, and my head certainly wasn’t in the game, because no matter what I did all I could look at was those stupid pink roses.

“I know, Zayn. It’s fine.”

“It’s not, Mia, and I’m sorry.” Zayn let out a deep breath and shook his head. “I adore you, Mia. I really do.” Another long breath. “It’s just that Marissa and I – well, we have a history together, and that’s not something I want to give up on just yet.” His eyes met mine, and I probably had some strange expression on my face because he continued speaking. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to pursue things with you. I don’t want you to think that at all.”

“It’s okay, Zayn,” I said quietly as I nodded my head. “I understand.”

He reached his hands across the table and wrapped them around mine, squeezing them tightly. “I don’t know where this is going to go, but I’m not ready to give up on you yet, either.”

For a moment, I almost thought that Zayn’s little speech was sweet and sort of endearing, but then I just thought what a douchebag thing to say. I don’t know what it was that made guys like him think it was okay to string one girl along while they tried things out with another, but it was almost jaw dropping. And the fact that he was admitting it openly to me just made it a little bit worse.

I knew guys like Zayn. I had worked with them far too long not to, and still, every single time I met a new one of them, I always felt like I was inches away from falling for their smooth talk and good looks. It was hard not to, when they were so good at being charming, but I should have known better.

I let out a long breath as my eyes fell back behind Zayn’s head again, to the bouquet of pink roses on the happy couple’s table, and my heart ached a little bit. I wondered if Liam was as good at smooth talking girls he liked as Zayn was. He seemed like he would be, as handsome as he was.

And then I hated myself for thinking anything like that about Liam at all. I couldn’t forget what he had said to me in my office just a few days before. Liam thought that I couldn’t love, and as I sat with Zayn and did my best to swoon him even more so I could be one step closer to my paycheck, I started to wonder if he was right.

Funny how the boy who thought that I couldn’t love at all was the one who had bought me flowers to try to get me to forgive him.