"Ready? Okay, Zayn? Stevie?...Rolling."

__

"What's got you smiling?"

"What?" He looks up, jumping as Stevie appears in the doorway, stepping out onto the outdoor balcony. "I'm not."

"You so are," she grins, picking her way towards him. She's wearing a matching crop top, shorts set that shows mostly skin. "You're out here smiling to yourself," she nudges him--he hadn't heard her come out of his--their--bedroom.

"It's pretty cute."

"Funny," he deadpans as she laughs, "'Cause I don't remember smiling."

"Something's obviously made you happy."

"I mean..." he throws his arms around her waist, "It's Moving Day."

She pulls a face, as her family and friends enter and exit Zayn's apartment, picking around the boxes she'd brought to Zayn's, the rest of her things now in storage.

"Gross."

"Tell me," he continues smugly, "you excited to move in with me? Excited to live here, yeah?"

"Nope."

"But, also kind of."

"More like dreading it."

"More like...? More like, can't wait, Zayn," he hums, kissing her cheek. "Knew it. You didn't even have to tell me, babe."

"Someone's really in a good mood," she turns in his arms. "That someone is you, in case you weren't aware."

"Maybe 'cause this is a huge step--"

"Huge is right."

"--in the right direction."

"We haven't lived together since college," she muses, "when all of your things used to live in my room."

"Your housing was better," he replies. "My dorm was so fucking far."

"Perks of an athlete," she grins.

"You were the shortest little volleyball player I knew."

"On scholarship," she adds. "Cute and feisty."

"And weird."

"And hot."

"Except everyone hated you."

"Except they didn't," she laughs. "My boyfriend was really jealous about it, too."

"I doubt he was."

"Oh, I mean it. True story. He was like, green, Zayn. And all the time."

"Eh, we'll agree to disagree," he mimics, quoting her favorite line.

And as Stevie laughs, Zayn looks up and makes eye contact with a cameraman and frowns.

"Oop," she pauses. "You're frowning...?"

"These fucking," he murmurs in her hair, "fucking cameras."

"Ignore them," she replies, slipping her hands around his waist. She presses her lips to his. "Ignore it, Zayn."

"But--"

"Ignore it," she hums, kissing him repeatedly. "Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it."

Words she herself is trying to live by.

Stevie's got a ton of missed messages from St. Anne's that she hasn't had the heart to open.

Not yet, anyway.

This was her last day of real vacation before she was back to work.

And she wasn't really trying to think about work.

As much as she loved those girls, what she really wanted to do was to stay in Hawaii.

Why? Because her going back to work meant that Zayn was also going back to work, and he was a pilot and he flew everywhere all the time and he was rarely home.

And she just wasn't ready to face that reality just yet.

"Tell me," she muses, "You get your dick sucked this morning?"

"I mean..." A smile plays on his face as she laughs aloud. "I did, but--"

"Seriously--"

"Guys, c'mon--"

The two jump.

"I mean, seriously? There are other people in this place, remember?"

And Zayn and Stevie both laugh as Liam slides a box into the living room.

"Eavesdropping," calls Zayn from outside, "eh?"

"This is going on television," he grunts in response, "Shit..."

He wipes his sweaty brow. "And, why'd you decide to live on the fifteenth floor, again?"

"More like, why'd I fuckin' agree to this shit?" Niall asks, following him with another box. "Fuck," he lets a box fall from his hands and onto the couch. "The fuck've you got in here, Stevie?"

"Only all of my worldly possessions, Niall," she replies cheekily, blowing him a kiss. "So be very careful or it'll be your ass."

The boys laugh.

"I fuckin' missed her," Niall said that morning. "Forgot how cool Stevie was."

"Liam didn't," Zayn had laughed as his friends met him that morning at Stevie's place. "He's talking to Janis."

"I..." He stammered, "We just...We ran into each..." He scowls, "Fuck you, Zayn!"

"So defensive," laughed Harry. "Wow."

"I'm not--!"

Liam shook his head as the boys laughed at him.

"Whatever," he had said. "I'm not the one who's been married for ratings, remember."

"Low blow," Zayn smirked. "Does Jan, like, know how sassy you are?"

"Shut up, Zayn."

"I mean like, really know...? Because Stevie says--"

"Because Stevie says...?" Harry grinned, mimicking him. "What does Stevie say, Zayn?"

He laughs. "You'd know if you let me get a word in."

"That's not how we do things," Harry grinned. And he cocked his head, "How're you gonna fly, then?"

"Like," Zayn shook his head at the abruptness of this conversation shift, "what do you mean?"

"Y'know, with you being so attached to her and all."

"Can't do anything without Stevie," Niall snorted. "Things just don't change, do they?"

Zayn frowned deeper. "What do you mean?"

"She gonna come on all your flights?"

"You know she loves what she does, she'd never--"

"So, what're you gonna do then?" Liam added. "Cry all day in the cockpit?"

Niall's laugh was loud--like always. "Separation anxiety, eh?"

"Ha--! Like a Golden Retriever."

And as the boys laughed, Harry had kind of smirked a little wider, staring at his friend curiously.

"Married life suits you," he said. "Honestly."

"Random but," Niall nodded, "S'true."

"What?"

"Y'lookin' good," Harry had said. "S'like you had a good time on vacation. I just..." He shook his head, "Just hope you're ready for," he had shrugged, "y'know...the rest."

"Didn't know my sister was a hoarder," huffs Janis, blowing that thick honey-brown hair from her face.

"Really?" Edie pulls her pink ringlets into a tight bun, "I did."

"Ha-ha," Stevie replies. "I am not a hoarder."

"Then why do you have so much stuff?"

"These are the questions I'm asking," Liam interjects, approaching with more boxes. "Moving van's full."

"Yeah Jan, you hear that?" Zayn smirks, "Payno over there says the van's full. Maybe you should talk to him more about it."

Liam glares at him. "Shut up, Zayn."

"What?" He holds up his hands in surrender. "You did just say those words."

Niall smirks. "I heard 'em."

"We all did," Stevie laughs, struggling to hoist a box into her arms. "Liam," she laughs, "please explain to Janis what exactly you meant."

Janis giggles uncomfortably. "Am I missing something...?"

"Yes."

"Liam," Harry jerks his head towards her, "Explain."

"Please let me in on the joke, guys."

"I hate you guys."

"Liar," Zayn laughs, lifting the box from Stevie's arms. "Where does this go, babe?"

"Kitchen," she grins. "Thank you."

He hums.

And he motions between the rest of them. "Please, guys," he laughs, "Help Liam help Janis."

And he dodges a pillow, laughing aloud as he trails behind her into the kitchen.

"Your hair smells good as hell today."

"Yeah?" She walks towards a box and begins to open, unpacking. "It's my new Eden."

"Eden?"

"Eden. Smells like Pina Colada."

"I like it."

"Thanks" she grins, "I think you look kinda fine dressed down."

He sets down the box, nodding. And he looks himself up and down. "Jeans?"

"And the white tee," she nods. "With the tats showing, too?" She whistles, "Model for me one time!"

"Like that?" He grins, laughing that laugh with his tongue tucked behind his feet. "'Cause I might do it more if you like that."

She hums, "The Doc's add something kinda edgy to the whole picture, too," she nods. "So you."

"You're stroking my ego, love."

"You like it, though--Huh?"

"Hey, Stevie."

"Ya?"

"Give me a kiss, yeah?"

She leans forward, kissing him quickly.

"No," he whines as she pulls away, laughing, turning back to the box she'd been unpacking.

"Somebody's got to unpack, silly."

"Babe, seriously," he looks around, "Jan's right you're a hoarder."

"Am not! I totally am not!"

"No, but. You are. You so are, it's ridiculous."

"I'm sentimental!"

"Whoa. Same shit."

"Zayn," she laugh-whines, "You told me I could bring this!"

"I said you could bring some of this," he says, motioning to the boxes. "Like," he reaches into one and pulls out a silver spoon. "Babe, c'mon. Most of this I already have."

"Eww, but it's probably bachelor man-shit..."

"Stevie," he deadpans, "They're spoons."

"Shit men say," she snorts. "That's why y'all need women in your lives."

"True," he shrugs, and he lifts one of the boxes on the ground and looks around for a place to set it. "Shit..." There's something made of glass or something in this one. "What's in here? Weights? Bricks? Rocks?"

"Right, Zayn," she rolls her eyes. "There's rocks in there."

"Okay, but weights, then? Stevie, seriously..." He hoists the box and listens to glassware or whatever clang around. "Hoarding is--"

"I'm not a hoarder, babe. Love you," she looks up from the silverware she's unpacking. "Be careful."

"What's next? Cats? You need to watch that show, I can't let you become that."

"I won't, Zayn. God, you're so extra. Now, please be careful!" She exclaims, watching him balance the box on his knee and clang the items around. "Whatever it is, it's delicate."

"Delicate?" He hoists the box towards the countertop. "Yeah. Okay."

"Zayn, I mean, I love you and all, but if you break one of my Momma's pieces of China, I will be so--"

"Wait, what?" And the box slips from his fingers, the sound of dishwater clanging.

"Zayn--" Stevie rushes to the box. "What'd I say?"

"Back up," he twirls his fingers in the air, shaking his head, frowning. "You mean that...like..." he looks up, "now?"

Stevie is gingerly removing plates, now.

"I--" Now, she's confused--Like Janis in the living room with Liam. "What?"

"You love me?" He coughs out the words, "Stevie, you...? 'Cause the last time you told me that we were like, twenty-one and at uni and--" he laughs kind of desperately, "and I'm just trying to figure out if we were even...I don't know, I..." he laughs that little strained laugh again. "I don't know--"

"I," a small smile plays on her face, "I don't think I ever stopped loving you, Zayn," her eyes fall from his to the box, "If I'm being really honest with myself."

"So...?" He steps towards her. "Right now...?"

"I love you?" She shrugs adorably. "Yes," she smiles. "I do."

__

drama is coming

(I love drama hehe)

comment and vote. <3