It also means I can spend my weekends hanging with him at the library, and my parents are none the wiser thinking I’m studying extra hard for my upcoming exams.
In reality, I’m talking Zayn’s ear off while he puts returned books away, gossiping quietly in the bean-bag corner with Anna while I wait for Zayn to finish his shift. Or, my favourite times are when Zayn pulls me into a quiet corner and kisses me senseless while no one else is around.
“Remember when I said there would be perks to dating Redwood’s Library’s newest employee?” he says to me lateone Saturday afternoon while I’m helping him put the last of his books away.
“I’m not dating Redwood Library’s newest employee,” I laugh as I reach up to return one of my old favourite Enid Blyton books to its rightful place. “Unless I started dating Ben without realising it?” I nod down the aisle toward Ben, who started three weeks after Zayn and is currently vacuuming the floor with even less enthusiasm than me during one of mum’s cooking lessons.
“Ben wishes.” Zayn rolls his eyes with a grin. “Come.”
He pulls my hand and leads me down the aisle with a finger pressed to his lips, telling me to be quiet. Iwasbeing quiet, we are in a library for Christ’s sake. I can’t hold back my grin at his rare display of playfulness. I love my broody, mercurial Zayn, but I absolutelyadoreplayful Zayn.
He stops when we’re two aisles over and turns to face me, backing me gently against the bookshelf.
“What are these perks you speak of?” I breathe, tilting my chin up to meet his dark eyes. Chills erupt over my skin when he reaches up and cups my face with his warm palm.
“I get to kiss my girlfriend amongst some of the most romantic words ever written,” he murmurs quietly, as he tilts his head down to mine like it doesn’t shake me to core to hear him call me his girlfriend for the first time ever. Of course I know that’s what I am, but to hear it is a bliss so high it sends me to another planet. “This is the poetry aisle,” he continues on a breath. “We’re surrounded by people who wrote the words that describe how I feel about you.“
My heart thumps wildly in my chest as Zayn draws closer.
“Oh? Like who?” I ask, my words breathy as I focus on Zayn’s soft, full lips.
“Shakespeare. E.E. Cummings.”
“Cummings, eh?” I grin, and Zayn’s eyes flash mischievously in response. Playful Zayn is my newfavourite.“What did Cummings have to say?”
“I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart. I am never without it. Anywhere I go you go, my dear, and whatever is doneby only me is your doing, my darling.”
His voice is barely a whisper as his lips lightly graze against mine. I close my eyes as the tips of our noses touch. Shivers coat the bare skin of my arms as Zayn’s hands slowly, gently trace their way up.
“Tell me more.” I whisper into his lips.
“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours?” He whispers back, “I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing you are my life.”
Before I have a chance to respond, his hands finish their ascent, gently holding my shoulders in place as he kisses me softly, our lips moulding perfectly against each other. It only lasts a moment before he pulls back again.
“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
My face feels wet, and it’s only now I realise tears are flowing freely down my cheeks. I am in a dream that I never want to wake from.
“One more,” I say, my voice sounding shaky at best.
“I knew I loved you before I met you. I think I dreamed you into life.”
I pull back and my watery eyes fly open to see Zayn’s grinning face staring back at me. “You idiot,” I laugh, shoving him playfully in the chest. “I don’t remember reading poems by Savage Garden in English Lit. And now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head all day.”
“What?” He chuckles darkly as he tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s a classic.”
“Regardless,” I look up into his eyes and pulled himcloser by his hips. He obliges easily. “I feel like you’re trying to tell me something.” My heart rate picks up even further until I’m sure he can see it pumping beneath the swell of my breast. He only tilts his head forward, the inky black strands of his hair falling haphazardly over his brow. Without a doubt, his next words are the most romantic words I have ever, and will ever hear.
“I am trying to tell you something, Gianna. I love you.”
16
Ididn’t give Zayn the chance to explain.
When Scabby chose that moment to knock on his office door and let him know his next appointment had arrived, I used the opportunity to duck out past her and leave.
I didn’t run, I left, and that’s a hill I’ll die on.
