Little Baby Steps (Zayn Malik)

Chapter 17 {Shattered}

The night was just settling in the air. The small apartment was prepped and ready to go; all that was missing were the hosts. Zayn sat on the end of his bed, his eyes studying the back of his girlfriend meticulously as she admired herself in the mirror, fixing the last details of her outfit. It had been a couple of days since the pair had discovered that they were to have a daughter, a discovery that Zayn had deemed worth celebrating. With Claire’s painfully shy persona, she didn’t really have many female friends, but he wasn’t prepared to let her go with out.

With a lack of female friends, the responsibility of arranging a baby shower for his girlfriend had fallen upon Zayn’s shoulders, not that he minded, he adored arranging things for both his girlfriend and the daughter she was soon to gift him. It had taken a lot of convincing. Claire was struggling slightly as of late with the side effects of pregnancy, she hated the way she looked, she was tired all of the time and she seemed to be in constant pain, hence why she was reluctant to allow her boyfriend to arrange a baby shower, she was a mess in her eyes. But he had been insistent; he wanted nothing more than to watch people fuss over his girlfriend and adore her like he did.

“Well?” she asked shyly as she span away from the mirror, a particularly timid glow in her blue eyes. Zayn allowed his brown ones to scan her figure, taking in her appearance. She looked beautiful, just like she always did. Her hair was down and curled perfectly around her cheeks, making her blazing blue eyes stand out. Her skin was paler than normal, but Zayn liked that, he thought it made her all the more amazing. As for her outfit she wore a simply dress, one that clearly displayed the ever growing baby bump that was slowly becoming Zayn’s favourite feature about her. “You look beautiful love” he smiled cheekily as he wrapped his arms around her “Just as you always do” he added. Claire’s cheeks tinged red at his words. “You really didn’t have to go through all this trouble” she murmured as she placed her head on his shoulder, burying her face in the side of his neck “It would have been fine if I had have gone without” she added. He merely tilted her head back and gave her kiss, one that showed her she was worth the trouble.

The moment of romance that filled the air was soon broken by the shrill buzz of the callbox. Reluctantly, Zayn withdrew his arms from around his girlfriend’s waist and sighed, making his way towards the door to welcome his friends. Claire followed slowly and sat down awkwardly on the couch. As grateful as she was to him for trying to make her feel welcome into his social circle, she couldn’t help but dread the night ahead. One by one Zayn’s closest friends and bandmates filled the room, each greeting her with the same awkward look and the same rehearsed speech.

That was until he arrived anyways.

He strode in confidently, his handsome face lit by a wide grin as he greeted the young singer. Claire’s breathing hitched as he turned in her direction. It had completely slipped her mind in the haze that had been the last few days, how close Zayn had become to him, so close indeed that she knew Zayn was considering him of all people to be the god father to their daughter. The he she referred to of course was Dylan, her ex boyfriend. Since he had met Zayn just weeks previous, the two men had simply gravitated closer, something that unnerved Claire She knew Dylan, he was the possessive type and he always had been, she knew that he was plotting something; she just didn’t know what it was.

“Clairy” he breathed out as he came to a stop ahead of her “You look so beautiful tonight” he gushed politely as he placed a small kiss to her cheek in greeting. She forced a smile onto her lips and returned the favor by kissing his cheek softly. “I hear congratulations are in order. You’re having a daughter” he gushed. Claire smiled slightly and nodded her head.

As much as she wanted to believe that there was nothing suspicious about his nature, she knew it was a lie. In all the time she had known Dylan, he had never been so sweet, never in his life.