Acting Royal #Wattys2017

27

ZAYN

Zayn looked around the room, taking into consideration the way the light was falling. Where was the best place to put her?

"Come here," He held his hand out and she took it. He placed her on one of the many chaise lounges. The window was open, and the pale glow of the moon spilt through it. The light hit the one side of face gently. She lay back. She didn't look uncomfortable at all. He smiled at this. He was seeing another side to her that he loved.

He took out his sketchpad and pencil and opened it. Not many people knew this about him, but when he was a lonely child growing up here, he'd spent hours drawing. He could draw the things that were on his mind, or he could draw the beauty around him which made him forget the pain he was feeling. As he got older he started seeing this as a sigh of weakness, though. It was pathetic that a grown man would want to draw to feel better. A grown man could be doing other things to feel better- and so he had.

But truthfully, none of that had really made him feel better at all. It had left him empty and hollow, and it had taken meeting Jenny for him to realize this. He wanted to draw her so badly right now, and it wasn't to feel better about anything this time, it was because he wanted to capture her beauty, and the beauty of the moment and keep it forever... in case there was a possibility that this wouldn't last forever.

It was a possibility after all. He could not fool himself about that. This may not be the kind of life she wanted, or would choose. He put his pencil to the paper and lost himself.

JENNY

She was trying not to look awkward, but let's face it, lying half-naked in front of a man who was drawing you- was awkward. Right now he was staring at her, scrutinizing every tiny line and shape.

"Are you ok?" Zayn stopped drawing and looked up.

"I'm starting to feel a bit awkward." She smiled and tried to bite down a giggle.

"Ok, so talk to me." Zayn gave her a reassuring smile.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Everything."

Jenny laughed. "That's broad, care to narrow it down?"

"Um..." Zayn lowered the notepad and looked at her with a naughty grin on his face. She shivered, what was he going to ask her? It looked like the kind of question which was about to make her blush and squirm.

"Tell me about your life growing up." His response surprised her. He lifted the pad back up and continued sketching. The room was silent except for the noise of the pencil on the paper.

"Ok," Jenny started slowly. "Well, I can assure you that my childhood was totally different to yours. I'm pretty sure that while you were going to fancy balls in Europe, I was shearing sheep, feeding pigs and tossing bales of hay around."

Zayn laughed loudly at that. "You can toss hay...? Do you know how fucking hot that is?"

Now it was Jenny's turn to laugh.

"Sorry, what is sheep shearing by the way?" Zayn shot her a playful smile and she had officially forgotten that she was sprawled out on a couch, half-naked and being drawn. She felt comfortable, and started telling him everything. Her humble, dusty life in a small farming town. Running barefoot to school, swimming in dams in the summer, climbing trees, waking up at 5 am to fetch the eggs and let the chickens out.

But while she was talking, it started to really dawn on her just how different their lives were. How could a girl that grew up running around barefoot be the kind of girl that walked the halls of a palace? This was a real Cinderella moment, and she wondered when the clock struck 12 and she took off the clothes and the necklace and put her old second-hand crap back on, whether it would be the same? Would he still feel the same way about her when she was in her natural environment, and not dressed up and polished to royal perfection? But she continued to talk and tell him all about her life, so much so that she hadn't noticed that Zayn had stopped sketching and was now reclining in his chair with his legs crossed.

"Are you done?" She asked.

"Yes. But I didn't want to stop you, I was so interested in learning about your pet chicken, I've never met a person that had a pet chicken when she was younger."

Jenny burst out laughing. "Miss. Clucky was a really big part of my life."

"Miss Clucky?" Zayn laughed even more. "I've never met anyone that has made me laugh like you do."

This statement halted Jenny's laughter. It made her feel amazing that she had brought out this fun, playful side in Zayn.

"Can I see my picture?"

"Sure." Zayn turned it towards her and she gasped. It was not what at all what she'd expected.

"You... you," she stuttered. "You just drew my eyes." She looked up at him and he nodded. She'd expected him to draw her entire body, but he'd only drawn her eyes. Something about this made her feel so overwhelmed with feelings for this man.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I love you eyes." He said as he stood up and walked over to her. "Because I love you."