Lacey

I sat on the stairs scrolling through my phone as people moved around me.

“Hey I’m here.” Tamzyn announced scaring the hell out of me as I looked up to see her standing in front of me.

“God, a little warning,” I gasped out trying to calm my heart rate.

“That was why I announced myself.” She said rolling her eyes. “This place is really cool.”

I smiled and glanced around the slowly changing ballroom. Everything had been cleaned immaculately and now tables and chairs were being set up as well as the replacement of the moth eaten curtains. A stage was also being set up in one corner for the music.

“Do you have the table decorations?” Tamzyn asked me.

“Yeah, I’ve got fairy lights and candles to decorate the whole place and the decorations for the table coming in tomorrow.” I told her as I smiled at the way everything was coming together.

“Great, mum’s almost finished making both of our dresses.” She told me collapsing down on the stair next to me. I smiled happily before glancing at my phone as it vibrated. Zayn’s name flashed across the front of the phone.

“Are you going to answer it or just stare at it?” Tamzyn’s voice said from next to me. I pressed ignore on the phone before standing up.

“I should keep supervising.” I told her, she frowned at me.

“Did something happen Lace? Do you need to talk about it?” She asked me softly.

“I need to supervise the event, that’s all.” I told her shooting her a smile before walking in the direction of people setting up the stage. My phone vibrated again. I frowned and turned it off before slipping it back in my pocket. I needed space to think at this point in time and him calling and texting all the time wasn’t helping.

I was greeted by the sounds technicians for the night as they chatted about how smoothly everything was going. I thanked them all before moving on to the other business I had to do. I glanced around for Tamzyn and couldn’t find her. I shrugged before moving over to ensure that the tables and chairs were being set how I wanted them to be.

“Wow, this looks amazing.” I spun around to see Danielle and Tate standing in the large doorway to the room. I smiled at them both.

“Eleanor didn’t do this place justice when she told us about it.” Danielle said pulling me into a hug after I hugged Tate.

“It is beautiful isn’t it?” I giggled dreamily as I stared around the room.

“Hey is your phone not working, we tried to contact you.” Tate commented. I frowned and pulled out my phone.

“I uh must have accidentally turned it off.” I lied to them both before pressing the power button for it to come back on.

“Woah that’s a lot of calls. Someone’s been trying to contact you.” Tate said noticing all the missed call I had received on my phone.

“We’ll have a look around while you talk to whoever that is,” Dani said smiling before linking her arms with Tate’s and walking away. I sighed and glanced back down at my phone.

I quickly pulled up a new message on my phone and sent Zayn a text telling him to stop texting me. Not long after I had sent the message my phone started to ring. Sighing, I didn’t check the caller ID and pressed the answer button.

“Stop calling Zayn,” I hissed into the phone. There was a pause at the other end.

“It’s Edmund.” Edmund’s voice floated through the phone. My body froze and my stomach dropped as I felt a lump form in my throat. “Why is Zayn calling you?”

“He uh, has just been pranking me that’s all. Just annoying childish stuff.” I lied quickly and pathetically. Edmund was silent for a moment.

“I was just wondering how you event was coming a long?” I refrained from letting out a breath in relief as he changed the subject.

“Yeah it’s coming along great.” I said before continuing to fill him in on everything that I had done so far and the plans that were on their way of becoming a reality. Edmund was good to talk to about this stuff, he was a business man and had a lot of influence. He was able to cut me deals and ensure that I wasn’t getting ripped off. Being his fiancé was a perk as I often got deals on certain things when I made events, companies were more willing to donate money to charity knowing that I would soon be a part of the Nightly family tree.

“It sounds like it’s working out well. Did you want to meet up for dinner tonight to discuss it better?” I bit my lip slightly at his question, knowing that it was a sweet gesture for him to offer to go out to dinner during the week. He was normally extremely busy and we could only go out on weekends.

“I would love that.” I responded politely.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at 7. Goodbye Lacey.”

“Bye Edmund.” I said just before I met the dial tone. I froze on the spot as I heard loud laughter coming from behind me. Loud obnoxious laughter that were coming from a group of boys. Biting my lip, I debated whether I could make it out of the place before they noticed me.

“LACEY!” I heard an Irish accent call. I cursed under my breath before plastering on a smile and turning around to face the four boys walking over to me. My eyes stayed frozen on Niall who was the first to reach me.

“This place looks fucking awesome.” He announced loudly, looking around. I saw the disapproving looks from workers walking past at his choice of words.

“Tone it down a bit mate,” Louis said clapping him on the shoulder. Niall threw me an apologetic look.

“What are you doing here?” I asked them curiously.

“Well we wanted to have a look at the place. Eleanor was raving about it the other night.” Liam explained.

“I tried to call to let you know but you weren’t answering.” Zayn said from next to Liam. My eyes involuntarily shifted to him. He stood there smirking at me, hands buried deep in his pockets.

“Sorry, I had it turned off.” I muttered looking away from him and back to Liam who smiled at me happily.

“I think you’re stalking me,” Eleanor announced as she walked up beside Louis. He smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her before placing kisses all over her face. Her squeals filled the room as she pretended to push him away.

“Come on we will give you a tour.” Tate said happily before grabbing onto Niall’s hand and pulled him away from us. The others followed as I stood there.

“You coming?” Zayn asked turning around to stare at me. I was about to shake my head before Eleanor walked back and grabbed my hand, pulling me forward.

“Of course she is.” She said happily, I shot her an annoyed look. “Remember what I said, it would only hurt you both if you ignore him.” She whispered into my ear. I sighed and glanced down at the floor.

“Besides, he’s not letting you avoid him easily anyway.” She said before letting go of my arm and moving forward to walk with Tamzyn. I didn’t even have to turn my head to know that Zayn was walking next to me now.

“It’s a nice place.” He said conversationally. I continued to look ahead and didn’t answer. “So you’re just going to ignore me now?” He asked. I sighed and stopped walking. He stopped too and stared down at me.

“Wouldn’t it be easier on both of us if we both just ignored this, if we both just stayed away from each other.” I tried to reason with him.

“No, I would not find it easier to avoid you.” He said softly as a few workers walked past us. I waited until they were out of earshot before glancing up into his eyes.

“Zayn please.” I whispered softly, tears building in my eyes. I was so confused and frustrated by this point that I had no idea what to do anymore. His hand reached up to touch my cheek but I stepped back out of his reach before he could.

“We should go find the others.” I said softly before beginning to walk in the direction they all disappeared. I heard Zayn sigh before he caught up with me. We walked in silence the rest of the way until we found everyone.

Eleanor watched me wearily as I followed silently behind everyone, not really paying attention to the conversation carrying on. Someone wrapped there arm around my waist. I jumped and glanced over to see Tamzyn standing next to me offering a small smile.

I smiled back before resting my head on her shoulder and lightly closing my eyes. She pressed a kiss to my head and rubbed my side in comfort. That’s one of the many things that I loved about Tamzyn, she didn’t need to know what was wrong with me she just knew that I needed to be comforted so that’s what she did. That’s all she had to do and it was enough.

“Hey we were all thinking of going out tonight, you know have a few drinks.” Louis said turning to both of us. I lifted my head up as Tamzyn said she would love to.

“I can’t. I have plans.” I apologised to them.

“Just cancel them.” Zayn said shrugging, I rolled my eyes at him.

“They can’t be more important than us.” Liam said pouting at me. I giggled at him.

“Yeah what’s more important that us.” Dani said from next to him also pouting. I smiled at them both.

“Sorry,” I said shrugging.

“Well you at least have to tell us what we’re being traded in for.” Tate reasoned. I bit my lip as my eyes met Zayn’s.

“I just have a dinner planned with Edmund, that’s all.” I said softly. Everyone went quiet. I watched as Zayn’s eyes stayed trained on mine. His face didn’t betray any emotion except the hardness that appeared in his eyes the moment I mentioned Edmund’s name.

“Next time then, yeah?” Liam said breaking the tension. I smiled at him gratefully and nodded.

-

“This place is really nice Edmund,” I said to him softly as he opened the door to an expensive looking restaurant. He smiled at me before placing his hand on my back and guiding me forwards. We were seated instantly and Edmund ordered the dearest wine in the place.

I smiled at him softly before picking up the menu and glancing through it. We stayed silent until we were poured wine and both our meals had been ordered.

“So how was your day?” I asked politely. He sighed before going into a long conversation about the market and the business deal he had been trying to make all day. I nodded and smiled at the right times while trying to focus on what he was saying. It just wasn’t interesting.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to talk about business so much.” He said smiling at me softly and reaching over to touch his hand to mine. I smiled and grazed my finger over the back of his hand as he linked our hands together.

“How is the venue coming a long?” He asked me smiling, seeming interested. I felt the excitement bubble up and a large smiled took over my face as I thought about the ballroom.

“It looks so amazing! You should come and see it. I absolutely love it, I’m getting all the candles and fairy lights tomorrow to be set up. The tables, chairs and stage were done today. I’m really excited about it.” I told him. He chuckled.

“I can tell. I might come around tomorrow in my lunch break.” He stated to me. I nodded happily wanting his approval knowing that he would give me some good advice.

“How are you parents holiday in Spain? They will be back in time for the event right?” I asked him as our food was placed down in front of us. He released my hand to grab his knife and fork. I frowned down at my hand noticing the lack of tingles or worries the moment he let go.

“Yeah, they should be back tomorrow night. They are really enjoying it...” I heard Edmund start but I blocked him out as I watched him speak, Edmund wasn’t ugly. No definitely not he was actually extremely handsome. His short blonde locks was styled neatly on his head, his matching blue eyes lit up his face easily. He had a strong jaw line and nice cheekbones. He was young and built.

But he wasn’t my type and his personality didn’t match. Sure he was polite and a gentlemen. But he was always about money and business. He was kind to me but he was also extremely indifferent to the important things about me. Like what I liked, what I didn’t like. He obviously wasn’t aware I was allergic to seafood since that was what he ordered.

By the time he dropped me off back home I was exhausted. I was exhausted from smiling and laughing politely. I was exhausted from restraining myself from laughing to loud or smiling too large, from being inappropriate in public at all. Edmund was nice and lovely but he wasn’t what I wanted, he wasn’t what I needed.

I tried not to think too much about what I was doing as I threw my bag onto the passenger seat of my car before pulling out of the garage and began the drive to a familiar place.

It only took three knocks before the door was opened. I met his brown eyes for a moment before he stepped aside to allow me in. We stood there awkwardly in the foyer as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. My eyes raked down his body and I noticed his attire. He was wearing just a pair of black sweatpants hanging low on his hips. His hair was sticking out in every direction. I must have woken him up.

“Sorry if I woke you,” I mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

“S’okay,” He muttered in reply as we continued to stand there.

“How was your date?” He asked gruffly. I sighed and lifted my eyes to meet his.

“It was nice,” I told him softly. He rolled his eyes.

“That’s great,” He grumbled sarcastically. I bit my lip as I looked into his eyes, my own watered slightly. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“I don’t want nice,” I said my voice breaking slightly. “I don’t want nice for the rest of my life. You yell at me, you are rude to me, you’re so sarcastic that it confuses me and pisses me off. But you’re also incredibly sweet to me. For some reason you can understand me better than most other people. I don’t want nice, I want whatever this is.”

I stepped forward and leant up on the tips of my toes before pressing my lips to his. Zayn responded immediately, resting his hands on my hips and he angled my head slightly.

“Are you sure?” He asked pulling away slightly to look down at me.

“No,” I mumbled against his lips before moving forward to press our lips together again. He went to pull back but I wrapped my arms around his neck keeping him there. He sighed into the kiss before his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I felt the few tears roll down my cheeks as I made the decision that I knew would eventually break me.

Notes

Okay so apparently I can't count. I realised that I only did 2 updates yesterday instead of 3 so I will update twice today to make up for the one I missed yesterday :)