stars and terrain (zayn malik)

Chapter 60

Zayn

I've been to Paris more times than I can count, and I speak a good amount of French. I've never really understood the appeal, why girls romanticize that tower and why people flock to an arch at the end of a street. But Charlie might convert me.

The flight was long, and at one point during turbulence I was pretty sure she broke my thumb squeezing so hard, but when we were descending she got brave enough to open the window a sliver and peek down at the city she'd been dreaming of visiting her whole life.

Once we landed even though it was midday in Paris, my poor girl was exhausted and jet lagged. So we checked into the hotel and I promised her the city would wait while we got a good night's sleep. It didn't help that we could see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony, and I had to practically drag her away from the view.

We wake up six hours later, to nighttime in the city of lights, and she's like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"I'm up! I'm awake! Let's go!" She kicks her ankles against the bed, and pokes at my chest with her fingertips. "C'mon!"

"Alright, alright!" I chuckle while I pull a sweater over my chest. "Where to first?"

"When does the tower light up?" She asks, shrugging into her leather jacket.

"At the top of every hour, I believe," I reply, running my fingers over my chin. "Are you hungry?"

"No. Twenty minutes till it lights up! Let's go!" She's grabbing at my hand and pulling with all her weight and it's adorable the way she can't move me an inch.

"Okay! Okay!" I give in and let her yank me through the doorframe, and chase her as she races down the hall.

I follow her into the lift and she's buzzing about all the things she wants to do as we drop down to the lobby floor.

"What day do we leave?"

"Whatever day you'd like. Haven't bought return tickets yet," I admit. "So we'll leave after you've done everything you want to do."

She licks her lips and looks up at me, not even trying to be sexy but making my heart race. "You realize I said I wanted to live here, right?"

I nod and shrug. "I'm fully capable of leaving you here while I tour Asia."

She giggles and we pass through the hotel doors and spill onto the Parisian street. It's still busy and I hope we're not stopped on our way to the Eiffel tower. We walk with our arms wrapped around each other tightly, and I promise her we'll still be able to make it before the top of the hour even if we stop to grab crepes on the sidewalk.

"This is incredible!" Charlie exclaims, mouth full and powdered sugar dotting the tip of her nose.

I smile down at her, and wipe it away with my thumb. The tower comes into view from the path we're walking on and I gently guide her by the small of her back toward the wall overlooking the Seine.