°•

"Crissle, my office, please," Zayn peeked his head out the door, glancing out and then to her.

Crissle got up and walked past him. He closed the door behind them and she sat in one of the chairs. "Yes?"

"I'm going out for the day for something work related and I was just wondering if you wanted to come."

"If it's work related, don't I have to come anyway?" she asked in confusion.

He smiled. "Well, I was thinking we'd eat lunch and then do work related stuff."

"Really?" she crossed her legs, "you want to be seen with me?"

"Yes, Criss," he rolled his eyes, "I told you I wanted your company," he kneeled in front of her and rubbed her thighs. She only opened them slightly.

"What, Zayn?" she ran her fingers through his hair and he hummed.

"Come with me, baby?" he pouted and she snorted, "what?"

"You and pouting is out of the norm," she laughed, "but I'll go with you, alright?"

He grinned, reaching up and kissing her chin. "Thank you."

°•

"So, there's a business gala in a few weeks," Zayn announced over lunch. It was a Thai restaurant, one of Crissle's favorites, and they'd only been here for thirty minutes.

"And?" she pressed, taking a sip of her Coke.

"I want you to attend," he replied, "well, like, assistants have to come to cater to the boss's needs, but. I don't want that. I want you to come as my date."

"Really?" she questioned him with a look, "an actual date?"

"Well, not an actual date, because it's business, but. Yeah," he admitted shyly. Zayn Malik was shy. "We can go on an actual date one day...if you want."

"I do," she concluded twirling her noodles on the fork, "and, I guess I can go with you."

"You have to wear one of my collections."

"What?"

"One of my outfits. I made clothes about last year and you have to wear one of them."

"Zayn--"

"I promise they're not ugly!" he exclaimed with a laugh, "promise."

"Okay," she dragged.

"Have you..." Zayn sighed, "never mind."

"What's wrong?"

"Um..." he gave her a final smile, "nothing. Nothing, babe."

"What a chicken," Crissle joked, grabbing his warm hand.

"M'not," Zayn chuckled, "maybe just a little. For right now."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, baby," her heart warmed at the name he gave her. It sounded so foreign coming from him, but, in a way, it was so sexy.

"You're confusing me, Zayn."

"I know."

"Ugh," she scoffed, clutching his hand tighter, "you make me sick."

"Not at all sick," he smiled, "baby, you're beautiful--"

"I know," she smiled, "you're very handsome."

"Thank you," he sighed, pulling her hand to his chest, "I want to kiss you."

"Then do it."

"Can't," he pouted again, "you're too far and we really do have work to do."

"Well, then let's do the work so we can finish early."

"What a genius," he said sarcastically, "I wish I figured that out earlier."

"Come on, asshole. We have to go," she got up and so did he. Zayn left a tip and a few notes for the bill and they quickly walked out the door.

°•

"This is work?"

"Yeah, of course," he answered with a smile.

"How?" Crissle put her hands on her hips and looked at him, "and by the way, this dress is not cute, Zayn."

So Zayn lied when he said there was work to do, actual work, anyway. Their day consisted of going to the exclusive Malik clothing store so Crissle could try on dresses from the women's collection. The dresses were very nice -- most of them -- but how was she gonna break it to him?

She couldn't afford this shit.

"Yeah, not my best idea," he chuckled.

"What exactly are you looking for?" a sales clerk -- Tina -- stood on the side, catering to their every need. Her hair was cut short and pixie like, her figure tall and lean.

"It's for a gala," Zayn stood up and walked closer and stood beside the woman, "the business gala. What do you think, T?"

"I hate it," Crissle answered for the dark skinned woman, "I'm not wearing anything yellow and wow, yellow, Zayn?"

"Don't knock my fashion sense, I was young."

"Hmm," she rolled her eyes.

"Criss," Zayn held her hands in his, leaning down to kiss her nose, "come on."

"Zayn," her cheeks heated up, "we're in public--"

"You wanted me to show you off more, yeah?" he whispered.

"I never said that--"

"Well, I'm going to," he kissed her again, his hands moving to her backside, "now, go change into something else, okay?"

"Okay," Crissle smiled, turning back into the fitting room. There was a nude gown hanging on the rack and she quickly undressed to try it on. Her skin was sort of dark so the dress looked bright in contrast to her skin. She smiled at the way it fit, tight, until you reached the tops of her thighs then it fanned out to the ground. It was sleeveless and backless.

"Criss?" Zayn called, "are you almost done?"

"Yeah," she opened the curtain and walked out, looking down at her tummy, "Zayn I don't think I like how--"

"You look amazing," he breathed. Crissle looked up to see Zayn grinning from ear to ear.

"Really?" She tucked a curl behind her ear, "because, I was thinking--"

"You look great," he poked her belly, "and I like this, yeah? Gives me a little extra to hold on to. Beautiful."

Crissle blushed, looking down at her midsection. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "and if you don't like it by the time the gala starts, we can come back, alright?"

Crissle nodded. "But. But, I can't afford--"

"Baby, baby," he chuckled, "you're forgetting, its my clothing line. My store. One dress is not going to hurt my income."

"What if it does?"

"But it won't," he grinned, kissing her forehead and tapping her backside, "so, is this the dress?"

"I think so. For now."

"And if not, you can come back and Tina will help you again. No charge."

"Thank you," she was truly grateful.

"My pleasure."

"I fucking bet," she giggled, pushing his hand away from her ass.

°•

hey guys IM SORRY IM JUST SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORY I DUNNO WHEN ILL FINISH BUT I JUST LIKE WRITING ABOUT THEM

ALSO go check out my new story MAZ it's a college graduate type thing and I think you'll like it :)

and twitter was wild for like twenty minutes today...some z stans need to calm tf down

bYe xxx