slow it down // zayn malik

chapter seventeen // reconsideration.

zayn's pov

"Thank you so much everyone!" Linley shouts into her microphone to be heard over the deafening screams of the audience, "This has honestly been the best night of my life," She grins, speaking nothing but the truth. 

Sable throws an arm around Linley as the two of them take their bows. I applaud with the rest of the crowd as I stand beside them, unable to stop grinning myself. I send a small wave to the lads standing in the front row who are shouting like madmen. I also take notice that Andi has conned some man into letting her sit atop his shoulders. 

With a final wave, the girls take their exit from the stage. Linley walks with a frantic pace, which causes my eyebrows to furrow together with curiosity, wondering why it is that she wants to get off stage so quickly. 

The moment we get backstage, Linley spins on her heels and gives me one hard slap to the face, causing my head to snap to the side as I let out a groan of pain. 

"What the fuck was that?" She snaps at me, spitting words through her clenched teeth. 

She's clearly referring to my little spontaneous decision to join her in a duet on stage. I should have known to be afraid by the vicious look she wore on her face when I sang the first words. If there's one thing nobody should ever get in between, it's Linley and her music. 

But to be completely honest, I don't quite have an answer for her. She places her hands on her hips, tapping her large black boots impatiently, waiting for me to feed her some pathetic excuse, or perhaps grovel at her feet, begging for forgiveness.

That's just not going to happen...

"I don't really know, I just wanted to sing with you," I confess, sounding so incredibly stupid, but I'm not going to lie to her. 

Linley stares at me as if I had just spoken a foreign language. Sable walks away from the two of us, wearing a nervous expression on her face, clearly not wanting to get in the middle of another argument of ours. So instead she goes around high-fiving crew members. 

"You just wanted to sing with me?" She repeats, disbelief dripping from her words as she glares at me, "You couldn't have just waited for some fucking campfire sing-a-long? You had to butt your way into my performance?" She shouts at me, her volume reaching a record high.

But instead of cowering and fighting back with angry words, I just smirk. I smirk because after the shock wore off on stage, she enjoyed it. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted to sing with me just as badly as I wanted to sing with her.

And when we sang together, everything was right.

"Now what are you wearing that irritating stupid smirk for?" She snaps at me, ready to yell at me for anything; she's on a roll.

"Because I know you want to sing with me again," I lean in and breathe in her ear in order to be assured that she can hear me over the bustle of the next band taking the stage and the crowd going wild. 

Linley's dark eyes look up at me, widening slightly, obviously not expecting those words to leave my mouth. Following my words, her cheeks flare up the most delicate shade of pink. This look of complete vulnerability only lasts for a few moments, but I savor it.

It never takes long for Linley to box herself up again and put on that famous Linley scowl. 

"Never in a million years," She gives my chest a shove before stomping off.

It's not going to be long before I end up getting whiplash from this girl. 

I struggle to follow behind the angry marches of Linley as she leaves the stage behind, but a loud chorus of screams causes her to freeze mid-stride, consequently causing me to stumble into her, nearly sending her to the ground.