Finding The Courage (a Ziam Mayne AU)

Chapter Twenty-Five "Official"

Zayn's POV

It had been about two weeks since I'd told Liam I loved him. We never talked about it. It was like it never happened.

Except it did. And I meant it.

Maybe he didn't feel the same. Maybe I was just one step ahead. Or too many steps ahead.

But it didn't seem to have changed anything about us. He didn't stop kissing me on the cheek when he said goodbye. He didn't stop playing with my hair when we were sitting around somewhere. He didn't stop smiling at me when we woke up in the morning as if I was the only thing he needed to start his day.

I had to just give him the time he wanted and needed. Just because we weren't in the same page, we were still reading the same book and he would get there eventually. At least, that's what I made myself believe, hoping I was right...

We were sitting in our university's cafeteria with the others and he had his hand on my head, twisting his fingers through my hair - I loved it when he did that!

Get a grip, Zayn! Just listen to yourself!

It was Harry's birthday, so we were trying to figure out something to do in the evening but Harry didn't really bother joining the conversation. He was sat on Louis' lab, feeding him Jelly Babies, garnishing each one with a peck on the lips.

"Maybe we should just go to some fancy restaurant.", Niall sighed, after we'd rejected every new idea.

"Yeah, I mean, that could be really nice, too.", Chrissy agreed. "Like a triple-date."

Liam chuckled beside me. "Please don't call it that."

She smiled. "Just kidding."

From the corner of my eye I noticed a familiar figure walking towards us. The girl with the fiery red hair put one arm around my shoulder, the other around Niall's and cuddled us tightly. "Hey, you two. Aren't you gonna say Hi to me?"

"Alexis!", we shouted in unison and got up to give her a proper hug.

"Since when are you back?", Niall asked, excitedly and threw his arms around her once again.

"Few days only. But I had to see my little boys again.", she said, toddling our hair.

I noticed my friends staring at us, obviously overwhelmed by our behavior, and chuckled. "Oh dear.", I said, shaking my head. "Where are my manners? This is Alexis, an old friend of ours. She's been in Portugal for - what? - two years?"

Niall nodded.

I pointed at my friends one after the other. "These are my friends, Louis and Harry, my boyfriend, Liam, and Chrissy, Niall's girlfriend."

"Well, I've certainly missed out on a couple of things." She smirked. "I really gotta go now but we need to hook up sometime and catch up." She pressed a big smacker on both Niall's and my cheek - which earned him a jealous look from Chrissy which faded immediately when he pulled her towards her and kissed her gently - and disappeared as quickly as she'd arrived.

I sat down - still little baffled at what just happened - next to Liam, who rested his chin on my shoulder, clearing his throat. "Something wrong?", I whispered, suddenly concerned.

"You introduced me as your boyfriend.", he whispered back.

My heart stopped for a second. "Did I? Sorry... I di-"

He cut me off: "Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" He smiled at me as I turned my head to face him. "Boyfriend." His voice was barely more than the soft sensation of his breath on my neck.

"So you're okay with that?", I asked carefully.

He brought his fingers to my chin and pulled my face closer to his until our lips almost touched. "More than okay.", he breathed and kissed me tenderly, shooting a welcome warmth through my body. "Boyfriend.", he whispered into my mouth, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

I must have been grinning like an idiot because Niall shoved his elbow between my ribs, smirking at me. "Anything we could be interested in?"

"Nah...", I mumbled, keeping my eyes locked on Liam's. "Just kissing my boyfriend. No big deal."

Louis smiled at me. "So now it's official."

Liam beside me stiffened a little, but then relaxed again, as if noticing he was okay with this. "Guess so.", he said, giving me another kiss.