CHAPTER 5 – DEEP BREATHS

Georgia's P.O.V

I realised that I had sat in the same position for nearly half an hour, just staring at the table, my heart pounding in my chest.

It had been a month since Zayn and I's first date at the park, and of course we were now an 'official' couple. Well, not really, as Zayn insisted that our relationship stays secret. I wasn't complaining. I came to the brilliant conclusion that going out with Zayn was the single most stupidest thing I've done in my whole entire life. How could I possibly manage to go out with a celebrity without the world knowing about it, therefore the family that I had left behind? It was impossible, yet I still went out with him anyway. And now, I came to one of the most crucial points of my extremely disastrous relationship – he wanted me to meet the guys. I was surprised that I had made it this far, really, without the issue coming up. But now that I was here, I was more than a little concerned.

Of course, I had thought that possibly Niall wouldn't recognize me, so I stupidly agreed. Now, it was an hour before Zayn picked me up, and I hadn't thought of one thing that could get me through today without it ending in disaster.

I picked myself up and got dressed. Before I knew it I was crying, and I must have stayed there for a long time because I heard the intercom go off, and I was still bawling my eyes out. Getting up, trying to control my sobs, I pressed the button.

"Hello?" I said shakily, hoping that Zayn hadn't arrived yet.

"OH MY GOODNESS IS THAT HER?" someone shouted, and it definitely wasn't Zayn.

"Shut up Louis! Hey babe, let us up please?" Now that was Zayn. Shit shit shit!

"Sure thing… here you go. Take your time, I'm running late" I said. The shock that they were all there, much sooner than I expected, sobered me up. I felt like screaming, but there was nothing I could do. I went to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face and tried to cover up my red eyes with some more concealer. Just as I'd fixed my hair, I heard multiple knocks on the door. Taking a deep breath in, I crossed my fingers behind my back and opened the door.

Immediately I was attacked by several different people, one almost jumping on top of me.

"GUYS! Stop it, you're suffocating her!" I heard Zayn yell. Slowly, the pile of bodies peeled off me and I could breathe properly again. Looking around me I saw 4 incredibly good-looking guys, with Zayn standing in the middle, shaking his head.

"We discussed this on the way over! You can't just jump on someone like that, seriously!" he said, walking over to me and giving me such a sweet kiss. I reached up and hung my hands around his neck, kissing him back. Someone cleared their throat behind us, and he released me, standing by my side. I saw that the boys had made a line behind Liam, who was looking at us with a smug expression. I couldn't help but blush and look down at my feet.

"Hello! I'm Liam!" he said, shaking my hand. I replied with a shy hello.

"Hi, I'm Harry!" the one behind him said, winking at me and kissing my hand. I felt Zayn turn his head, guessing he was death glaring Harry, because he suddenly blushed and made his way to where Liam was standing.

"HI I'M LOUIS AND I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT YOU!" someone said, for I was once again enveloped in a suffocating hug. Laughing, I hugged him back. Letting go, he mumbled a smiling sorry and walked over to the other boys. I glanced up at an exasperated Zayn, and turned back to the last member of the band.

There he was, standing there and smiling at me. He looked exactly the same as he did a year ago. I took a sharp breath in, but luckily no one heard. I felt my eyes begin to water, so I blinked rapidly trying to contain them.

"Hi. I'm Niall" he said, and hugged me. I nearly stopped breathing. He didn't remember be. He had no idea who I was. I battled very hard not to let my tears fall. It hurt so much more than what I thought it was going to. I didn't even feel relieved that he didn't recognise me and I was safe – it just felt like someone had torn out my heart and stomped on it.

"Hi" I said quietly, managing to smile. Zayn looked at me, a little concerned, but none of the other boys noticed.

"Well, now that you've met everyone, let's get going!" he said, holding my hand and pulling me down the stairs. I glanced back to make sure the door was closed, and I saw Liam closing it while whispering in Niall's ear. I gulped, suddenly feeling paranoid about the whole situation, and turned back to Zayn.

"I didn't expect everyone to come pick me up!" I said quietly to Zayn.

He looked down at me, smiling, and said "They wanted to surprise you. I agreed if they promised not to be… well, them, but obviously that didn't work out so well"

"It was definitely a surprise." I said, leaning my head on his side as he wrapped his arm around me.

We all piled into the car, a little squished seeing as there were 6 of us in a 5 seater car. I got to sit on Zayn's lap on the way there, while Louis drove.

"So where are we going, guys?" I asked, trying to sound positive.

"Just to Harry and Louis' house. I'm pretty sure we would attract a lot of unwanted attention if we went anywhere public" Liam said.

"Oh, right. Oops!" I said, hitting myself on the head. Liam laughed, and Zayn rubbed my head, saying "Don't hurt yourself!" I laughed at him, stuck my arm back and ruffled his hair. That was pretty stupid, seeing as I was sitting on his lap and was completely at his mercy.
"You'll regret that, Georgia!" he shouted, and immediately began tickling me to death. I was laughing so much I had tears in my eyes and my stomach hurt. I could hear all the other boys laughing around me, and Zayn saying "Say you're sorry!"

"Alright!" I gasped, still being tickled, "I'm sorry! You've got the best hair I've ever seen, pretty boy!" I yelled, much to the amusement of the others.

"That's right. Don't you forget it!" he said smugly, patting me on the head while fixing his hair at the same time. I rolled my eyes and leant back, resting my head on his shoulder. Niall was looking at us, a smile playing around his lips. I wanted to cry right then, tell him who I was and that I was sorry, but of course I couldn't. So instead I fell asleep, waiting for Zayn to wake me up when we got there.

Zayn's P.O.V

It was a little bit of a drive from her flat to Harry and Louis', and typically, she fell asleep. When we reached the house, the other guys got out and went to prepare the snacks for the movie day they had planned. I gently moved her off my lap and woke her up with a kiss. I felt her start awake and then relax as a smile slowly spread her lips. I pulled back, looking at her beautiful face.

After our first date I had already memorised all her features; the way her hair changed colour in the light, going from a light brunette with a hint of blonde to a gold colour with a touch of red. It really was the most interesting hair I had ever seen. Then there were her eyes, which also changed colour. She was like a chameleon. In the morning they were a hazel brown, like mine, but by night time they had a bit of green in them. More interestingly, one night when I had stayed over a bit late I told her that she was like a chameleon, with all her changing features, and she just laughed and said,

"What, my eyes? Yeah, strangely enough they used to be a really dark brown until I was about 15."

They were my favourite things about her, but then there were her lips. They were big and full, and always looked pink, even when she hadn't been biting them too hard from thinking. I wanted to kiss them all the time.

"Babe?" she said, and snapped me out of my daydream. She had a concerned look on her face, and turned her searching eyes to meet mine.

"When Louis greeted me, he said that he'd heard so much about me…" she trailed off, now biting her lip and she thought. I gulped – I knew where this was going. When she called me that first time before our date at the park, she had insisted that I told absolutely no one, not even the guys. She hadn't wanted to explain over the phone, and I didn't really see the big deal in telling them. So I did, and managed to keep their knowledge of her a secret until today. Bloody Louis I thought, cursing that silly boy's big mouth.

I looked back at her and her eyes were full of accusations.

"You'd already told them about me, that's why Louis knew so much about me! And I hadn't even told then my name, but they already knew! You promised on our first date that you wouldn't tell them! Why did you lie to me?" she exclaimed, and I could tell she was going to get angry.

"Well, I didn't think it was such a big deal. I mean, they're like my brothers! And besides, you never did explain like you said you would, so how was I to know it was such an issue?" I said, not unkindly, coming over to stroke her cheek. I hated seeing her angry, especially at me. I saw her looking at me in an unsure kind of way, biting her lip again as she thought over something. Slowly, she relaxed at my touch and I gave her a quick kiss, pulling her out of the car.

"Come on! The boys are waiting for us." I said, dragging her up the steps to the front door.

Georgia's P.O.V

The boys had planned a big movie marathon, from Disney movies to horror ones that I could hardly watch any of, always burying my head in Zayn's chest. They had all gone to do something or other, most just to the bathroom but I think Liam went to the store to get more popcorn. It was already 9pm, and sleepy-head me was feeling a little tired. Just resting my head for a little bit, I thought over what I had found out in the car.

Zayn had lied to me. But in his point of view, it was just a little white lie, because I had purposely avoided telling him why he couldn't tell anyone about us. And more importantly, Niall hadn't had one suspicion the whole time. I guess I had my chameleon features to thank for that, seeing as Niall hadn't seen my eyes after they had decided to change colour one day in person, just over Skype, and my hair was much lighter in Australia, where it got a lot more sun to naturally bleach it. I must look like a totally different person, because I had also ditched my glasses and gotten contacts that I put in every morning. No wonder Niall didn't recognise me.

But right now I was really tired, and I just wanted to rest my eyes for a little second… not too long…

Zayn's P.O.V

When I came back from the bathroom, I found Georgia laid out on the couch, fast asleep. I chuckled and shook my head. Not wanting to disturb her, I picked her up and carried her up the stairs to my bedroom, laying her down on the bed. I kissed her forehead gently, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked so peaceful when she slept. I walked out quietly and shut the door, going back down the stairs to the other guys, who were hunting around the place with a concerned look on their faces.

"What's going on?" I asked, confused.

"Um… well, we may have lost your girlfriend. She sort of just disappeared, and now we can't find her." Harry said sheepishly. I just laughed at them and flopped back down on the couch. They were a little alarmed at my not-so-concerned reaction.

"Relax, she fell asleep so I took her up to my room. Come on, now we can watch the real scary movies!" I said, grabbing the bowl of popcorn. The other guys joined me, and we put on some other horror movie. About half-way through I heard little footsteps coming down the stairs, and a sleepy looking Georgia stood in the doorway, a blanket wrapped around her and an embarrassed look on her face. I beckoned her over, and she shuffled towards us, lying next to me all curled up like a cat with her head on my shoulder. After about 5 minutes she was asleep again, breathing softly. I wrapped my arm around her and rested my chin on hers. I looked over and saw Louis watching us, a smile on his lips. He started to speak, but I put my finger to my mouth, looked pointedly at my sleeping girlfriend, and continued to watch the movie until we were the only ones out there, everyone else having gone to bed.

I again picked her up with me and laid her down on my bed, pulling the covers up around her. I climbed in behind her and cuddled her back. She mumbled slightly and turned around, a smile on her lips as she came closer and snuggled into my chest, my arms around her. We fell asleep like that until very late in the morning, where Liam had to wake us up because Niall was about to eat the rest of breakfast and we would have gotten none. She tapped my nose and got up, walking down the stairs on unsteady feet, obviously still a little asleep. I chuckled quietly and went after her, catching her hand before we made it to the bottom, where she turned around and kissed me, to a choir of 'awws' from the boys.