XI

Elijah

I was super excited as we walked round the zoo and went to see all of the adorable animals. We even got to learn about their habitats and such. I found it truly fascinating and I told Zeke stories about my past pets and how I tried to convince myself that my cat was a lion when I was younger. I also told him about how I wanted to be a vet and he listened, genuinely interested.

He was being super sweet, holding my hand and kissing my cheek. I was having the time of my life and I took about a billion photos. An employee of the zoo even offered to take our photo and we were posed in front of the penguins. In one photo, we were stood normally with Zeke's arm wrapped around my waist. However, in the second photo, Zeke had picked me up unexpectedly and so the photo had Zeke stood proudly looking at the camera while holding me princess style as I wrapped my arms around his neck, looking up at him in shock.

Zeke had stolen my phone and ran off to the polar bear exhibit as I chased him yelling. Visitors of the zoo were looking at us strangely and, I mean, who could blame them. A guy with white hair, wearing a leather jacket and littered in tattoos and piercings, running away from a tiny guy with dirty blonde hair wearing a hoodie that was far too large on him who was yelling all sorts after him. I couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

When I finally caught up to him, I was out of breath and panting. I regained my breath and I tried to take my phone but he held it above my head. I jumped and tried to grab but I couldn't get it. I huffed and attempted to climb him to get it back but he just laughed and stepped back, pointing to his lips.

"A kiss in exchange for your phone back." Zeke flirted, jokingly puckering his lips.

I rolled my eyes at his antics and stood up on my tippy toes, placing a kiss on Zeke's chapped lips as I grabbed onto my phone at the same time. I was about to pull away but Zeke wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. I blushed and moved my head away from his lips, glancing around at the people around us looking at us. He chuckled and placed a kiss against my forehead before letting me go.

I saw he had changed my phone screen to the photo of us by the penguins and I rolled my eyes; all of that for a lock screen? I took his hand and got on my tippy toes, placing a kiss on his cheek before pulling him off to actually look at the polar bears, rather than to be stared at like them. I loved his shocked reaction whenever I kissed him first.

"What do you want to do in life? The band?" I asked, grinning up at him after telling him about my dream job as a vet.

"Yeah. I don't want to go to university; I get terrible grades and I wouldn't get in anyway." He shrugged, not seeming too bothered by it.

"I think you and the band can make it big. Don't you have that meeting, soon?" I asked, swinging our linked hands as we walked.

"That means a lot to me, Elijah. My mum wants me to go to university and since I'm in my final year before I'd have to go, I'll have to figure out a plan before then. I'll be moving out somewhere, I guess." Zeke ducked his head, shrugging.

"I'll be moving out too, to whatever city I decide to go to for University." I shrugged, squeezing his hand, "You'll find somewhere to live and it'll be great. Maybe you could flat share with one of the guys?"

"Yeah, that's an idea." Zeke nodded, but something else seemed to be going on in his head as he looked at me.

I jokingly stuck my tongue out at him to lighten the mood and he smirked, leaning down close to whisper in my ear.

"Do that again and you won't be getting it back."

"You flirt." I grumbled, hiding my blushing face.

"It's my nature." Zeke smirked, kissing our linked hands playfully.

We walked around like that for a couple of hours, looking at the animals and discussing our past, future and present. I got to know a load about Zeke and vice versa. He was a really good listener and I thoroughly enjoyed the way he told stories. His voice so smooth and deep that it put me in a trance where only he and I existed.

"How did you meet Bettie?" I asked, which made his expression darken.

"It's kind of a bittersweet story." Zeke sighed, "I was friends with her son, Johnny, before he died. Suicide. It was really tragic and out of nowhere, so it hit his family really hard. Bettie was distraught and so was I, but with everything happening at home with my mum, I didn't really have room to grieve. So, I started showing up to the movie theatre and got close to Bettie and met Dave."

Zeke kept his retelling of the story brief and I could tell he was getting emotional, thinking about it. I reached up and gave him a tight hug, feeling my chest ache for him. He had been through so much and was so strong.

We stayed there until closing time, just talking, and then we left hand in hand, getting on his motorbike again. He'd done more than just hint earlier that he was going to ask me to be his boyfriend tonight and that just made the entire night better as I anticipated the moment he would ask. I had been waiting for ages for him to finally ask me.

It was dark as Zeke drove us up mountain roads and I wondered where we were going. The only people who came up here were campers and hikers. I thoroughly hoped we were doing neither of those activities right now. He instructed me to close my eyes and I scrunched up my eyebrows together in confusion but obliged; closing them, although it was a bit scary when on the bike.

He helped me climb off the bike, still with my eyes shut and started to lead me somewhere. I stumbled a few times but Zeke made sure I stayed upright and I trusted him not to let me fall. He told me to stand still and ran off. I panicked but I could still hear him a couple of meters away. I could also hear what sounded like Danny, Jay and Dave, but I remained patient, not wanting to ruin the surprise for myself. I heard footsteps leave and then silence.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." I heard Zeke call.