"Hey Andy, come here for a minute" called out Quentin.

She stacked up the papers on her desk, got up and approached him. Zayn was sitting next to him and they seemed to be in a deep conversation. They stopped and looked up at her.

"Listen so what I wanted to tell you the other day was that we are going to have to put up a play and this year I wanted it to be something different. I was asking Zayn here for ideas and since you are going to have to be closely involved with the play I was wondering if you had any ideas of your own."

"Er what do you mean closely involved?" she asked.

Quentin sighed, frustrated with the fact that people weren't on the same page as him. "Zayn can't organize a play all by himself and he needs help so as you are the editor in chief you will be helping him, I'll handle the work for that duration of time of course." he explained patiently.

Andrea frowned, "Okay" she said, wanting to say more but not sure how to formulate it into words.

"So I'll leave it up to you guys to decide," said Quentin clearly indicating for them to go away.

Zayn got up and smiled at Andrea as he went past her. Andrea smiled back awkwardly and followed him. She was not sure exactly what had happened only that she was now going to be spending more time with a guy she hardly knew.

~

"So do you have any ideas?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah a few" he said as he sipped his coffee.

"What are they?" she prodded further.

He looked at the menu and asked "Do you want to try some blueberry muffins? I heard that they make them quite delicious here". Zayn and Andrea were sitting in a café two streets away from the university. It was a quaint little place that she hadn't heard of before. It was quite pretty too, tastefully decorated with flowers and blue wallpaper. But the aesthetics of the interior was wasted on them as they chose to sit on one of the tables outside.

Meanwhile, Andrea sighed in frustration. "What?! I did tell you I was hungry!" Zayn said.

"Which was the only reason I agreed to come here. Besides, I thought we'd have made some headway now in discussing the play."

"Why are you always so uptight about everything?" He locked his eyes with hers. The delicate features on her face took on an incredulous look.

"You should learn to loosen up and let go."

"Wha-"

"I bet you've never done anything for the heck of it in your lifetime. Tell me, how do you live like that?" He continued as if oblivious to her reaction.

She narrowed her eyes "I do have fun. The only difference is I know when to draw the line."

He raised an eyebrow a skeptical look on his face. "Really? Tell me the last fun thing you did."

"Well it certainly wasn't that god awful date" she said, a smirk on her face.

"He had an amused smile on his face and once again I apologize for that and as for my question.."

"Uh" she struggled. After two minutes she still couldn't come up with anything.

"See what I mean?" He got up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Come on" he said as he placed some money on the table.

"But we've got to come up with a script by tomorrow." He gave her a look. "I guess we could do it later." She said giving in.

She followed him not sure of where they were going. "Where are-"

"It's a surprise don't ask" he said turning around and winking at her.

"You could be an axe murderer for all I know", she said, quickening her pace so that she was walking next to him, "Why should I trust you?"

"Well, at least it'll be the most daring thing you would have done before you died." He shrugged at her as she rolled her eyes.

They reached the nearest subway station.

"Please don't tell me you're taking me to a club because that is the most cliché thing in the book of booo-ring."

Zayn chuckled. "Good because I thought so too. No, where we're going is someplace different."

Andrea sighed in relief. She didn't know how to explain to him how much she hated and feared clubs. The number of people, the loud music and most of the grinding and drunken dancing and the open make out sessions, where people looked more like they were trying to eat each other's faces, frankly scared and kind of disgusted her.

They got off at the next station. It was getting quite dark and the air was nippy. Andrea felt quite glad for her coat. They walked for a few blocks. "Are we there yet?" she asked with growing impatience.

"Patience grasshopper" he said in reply.

They turned the corner at a designer boutique and continued walking along the narrow back alley. There were no streetlights here and Andrea unconsciously moved closer to Zayn.

"This is getting creepier" she whispered.

"Do you want me to hold your hand?" he whispered back with an innocent smile

"Nice try but no."

They soon came upon a wired gate that was locked and had the words keep out 'PRIVATE PROPERTY' written on it. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "Please don't make me climb that!"

"Proving my point is becoming easier by the minute." She shot him a glare, as she handed him her bag and began the arduous task of climbing over the gate. The gate was at least seven feet tall and she took every effort to not look down and instead focused on her footing. The gate creaked and gravity threatened to pull her down but she kept at it and finally jumped onto the ground landing on her feet, on the other side of the gate. She looked up to triumphantly smile at Zayn on the other side but she didn't find him there. Terrified she spun around.

'He could not have left me alone! Freaking hell! He even has my phone! Crap crap crap!' While Andrea was having a mini heart-attack, Zayn emerged from the shadows holding her bag in one hand and a smile on his face. He approached her from the back and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and clutched his collar.

"What the hell is up with you?!" She screamed huffing, but secretly relieved that he hadn't left her all alone.

"Hey, if you'd waited to listen to me then you'd have probably been enlightened upon the existence of a secret entrance in the hedges", he replied sagely.

She contemplated upon screaming at him but then she thought better of it and she released him and grabbed her bag. "What is this place?" she asked grouchily.

"Prepare to be amazed" he said in an ominous voice, as he started up on the small hill.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Really?"

"See for yourself", he said as the reached the top. He gestured to the scene that unfolded beneath them. Andrea's face went from skeptical to amazement within a span of two seconds. The sky was bereft of stars, the absence of the moon making it darker. The solitary source of light was the city that spread out beneath them and it seemed to go on forever. The lights in the houses twinkled from afar and she could faintly make out the evening traffic moving along the streets. She could make out the tall skyscrapers from afar glittering, the city lit up in its evening splendour. She took a deep breath in and looked over at Zayn. He seemed equally mesmerised.

"It's beautiful!" she murmured.

"I know", he replied, as he sat down. She followed suit. They sat in silence observing the throbbing city- as if it were an organism, alive and kicking.

"Do you come here often?"

"No, only with the occasional hot head." she tried to glare at him but ended up smiling.

"Do you know the people who own this place? How did you come across it?"

"Actually I can't be given full credit for finding this place. My friend, Louis, and I happened to find this place accidentally while fooling around, waiting for his girlfriend, who works close by, to finish her shift. And no, I don't know the people who own this place. I only know that they hardly come here and the one time that they did, they brought their dog along and it chased Louis and I out of this place."

She laughed. "Are you afraid of dogs?" she asked.

"Not really" he replied, "especially considering that I own one. What about you?"

She shrugged noncommittally. "Suffice it to say dogs and I don't get along at all. So now that we're here, let's at least make the effort to get to know each other better."

"Well, what do you want to know?" he asked smiling, as he lay back on the grass.

The more they talked the more Andrea found herself warming up to this boy. This boy, who'd embarrassed her, annoyed her and most of all lit a spark in her that she hadn't felt for a long time. She smiled contentedly as she heard him talk about his interests, his hobbies and the most trivial things like whether he preferred the biscuit or the cream in an Oreo. For the few hours that they were there she let herself relax and forget about her commitments and schedule, and for the first time in forever she found it easy to do.

~