*Emily’s POV (Morning, Sunday the 14th)

Well, Zayn’s album is blowing up the iTunes charts. It dropped on December 31st as planned and ever since, people have been buying it and sharing it like crazy. He never had a Twitter account before, but he created one when I told him it would help his fan base grow faster. Boy, was I right. Just in January alone, he got 50,000 followers! He’s gonna be a regular celebrity by the time this month is over.

He says I’ll become famous with him since I’m not just his songwriter, but his pianist and his girlfriend. I suppose that’s true. I’m just worried about all the hate I’m gonna get. I’m a tough nut to crack, but some things these people say can be really hurtful. Poor Zayn is so naïve. “You’re too great to be hated on.” he says. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

At 7:00am today, Zayn and Niall woke Kenzie and I up and told us to get ready to go out; we’re spending all of Valentine’s Day on a jam-packed, super fun, double date. We’re getting ready to go out to breakfast right now. I just helped Kenzie pick out her outfit. “Smokin’, girl! Ni won’t be able to keep his hands off of you.” I say as she looks at herself in the mirror.

“Thanks, Em. So listen, do you remember the conversation we had back when you had your pregnancy scare? About me waiting to have sex with Niall until I thought he was the one?” she says applying makeup. “Yeah, what about it?” I ask. “Well…depending on how well today goes, I just might decide that I’m ready.”

“Wait..you mean you think that Niall is the one?” I ask getting excited. “It could be.” she says before we have a mini freak-out. “But don’t get your hopes up. I could end up chickening out no matter how great of a time we have.” she cautions. “Yeah I get it.” I say. “C’mon, let me help you pick out your outfit!” Kenzie says taking my hand and running with me to my room.

We pick out my cutest outfit and she puts on my makeup for me upon her request. Silly girl. We head downstairs and ask the boys if they’re ready to go. “Yeah, all set. You girls have your bathing suits, right?” Niall asks. “No, actually. Are we going to the beach?!” Kenzie shrieks. “Yes!” Zayn shrieks trying to imitate her. We laugh and go upstairs yelling “Woooooo!”

We get our suits, towels, and sunscreen stuffed in our purses and we head out to breakfast. Mr. & Mrs. Horan are already out having a Valentine’s date of their own so we didn’t have to worry about explaining ourselves to Niall’s dad. I sure hope that he’ll eventually approve of him and Kenzie so they don’t have to sneak around anymore.

Anyway, we get breakfast at Ihop and it’s delicious. The boys pay for us after us insisting otherwise. “What’s the plan for activities?” I ask. “We talked last night and discovered something. For as long as we’ve been in LA, we’ve never gone sightseeing. Have you?” Zayn asks us. “Wow, we never have. I kinda want to though.” Kenzie says. “Me too. Let’s go see the sights!” I say.

From there, we go see the stereotypical sights of Los Angeles: the Hollywood sign, the walk of fame, Rodeo Drive, among other things. When at Rodeo Drive, Kenzie and I look at all the clothing and accessories that we definitely can’t afford. “One day soon, you’ll be able to afford it…and more.” Niall adds dramatically.

We laugh and reluctantly leave to go to lunch. We choose one of our favorite places: Jimmy Johns. Again, the guys insist on picking up the tab. It’s here that some people actually recognize Zayn! They ask him for his autograph and everything.

They comment saying that they bought his EP on iTunes and that they want to buy the physical version when it comes out and see him in concert. “Well thank you! I couldn’t have made the album without my songwriter though.” he says turning to me. “Oh my gosh, you’re Emily Taylor?” one girl asks me. Wow!

“Yes I am…you know me?” I ask surprised. “Of course! You’re in the album description. Didn’t you know? We’re all following both of you on Twitter.” another one says. You mean the description Zayn forbid me from seeing?“No, I didn’t see it. And now I know why.” I say looking at Zayn. The fans leave after we thank them and I confront him. “What the hell?!” I say.

“Okay look, I didn’t want you to see it because I knew that once you saw you were mentioned in it as not only my songwriter, but that I called it our album instead of mine, you would’ve made me change it.” he says. Damn it, he’s right. “That makes perfect sense. I just feel bad for taking half credit when you’re the artist! I just helped you.” I say.

“Em, I think I speak for Zayn and myself when I say that you helping with the music means that you deserve half credit; probably more than that. Without you we wouldn’t have been able to make the albums near as good.” Kenzie says. “Thanks, guys. You really make me feel important.” I say looking around at these wonderful people. “All right, enough sap for the moment. Let’s go to the beach!” Niall pipes up.

And so we leave the restaurant to head for the sand, beautiful ocean, and sunshine. We get there and change into our suits. We come out in our bikinis and the boys almost have heart attacks. “Oow! Is that my girl?!” Niall says. Kenzie blushes and goes over to him giving him a kiss. “You’re gorgeous, love.” Zayn says making meblush. “Thanks” I say looking down. He tilts my chin up and kisses me.

After they put sunscreen on us we decide to go in the water and play around a little. The guys wanna go further in, but Kenzie and I can’t stand up so they carry us on their backs. Multiple times the waves get high enough that they splash our faces. We start to see the waves getting even bigger so we go towards the shore. We end up getting into a water fight and the guys dunk us. It was such a fun time and we all probably got a bit of a tan.

We were there for a few hours so we’re hungry again by the time we leave. We decide to get dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack, another one of our favorites. This time when they’re about to pay for the third time, Kenzie and I literally take their money out of their hands and replace it with ours. “We refuse to have you pay for everything today!” I say hiding their money from them. “Fine.” they finally give in. They hand our waiter the money and look at the time. It’s about to be 7:00.

“So what do you want to do now? The night is still young.” Zayn says. “What else is there to do? Anything special going on tonight?” Kenzie asks, “Ooh you know what I haven’t done for years? Mini golf!” she says excitedly. “Sounds childish…but so fun. Are you two up for it?” Niall asks Zayn and I. “I’m game if you are.” I say to Zayn. “Let’s go, it sounds fun.” he says. We leave the tip and look for mini golf courses nearby. We find one about 20 minutes away.

When we’re getting our clubs and balls Niall heads immediately for a bright green one. “Embracing our inner Irishman, are we?” Kenzie jokes. “Don’t you know it.” he responds. Zayn and I both reach for a red one and our hands touch. I don’t know why but I feel myself blush. We hold hands all the time, yet this insistence has an effect on me. It’s just proof that almost 9 months into our relationship, we still have that beginning spark.

While there, we play as teams of two. A few times during the beginning holes, the boys “help” us putt doing that cheesy move. We assure them we can handle it but still call it cute that they tried that cliché. On the 7th hole, Niall hits the ball a little too hard and it falls into the little pond. The hole after that, Kenzie gets a hole-in-one, so she definitely showed him up.

On the 10th hole Zayn and I get a hole-in-one! We made it interesting about halfway through and said that whoever lost had to pay. Gotta say, we all tried a lot harder once we made that wager. It’s been a battle to the death ever since. It’s the 17th hole and both of us got a couple hole-in-ones so we’re neck and neck. It’s all coming down to the last two holes.

“You’re going down. Get your money ready.” Zayn says getting ready to putt. “We’ll see about that, Malik.” Kenzie says. Zayn putts and it’s super close to the hole. Niall gets ready to putt and I say “Don’t let it fly into the river, mister leprechaun.” He sticks his tongue out at me before he putts and it stops an inch or two away from our ball.

We both make it in with one more putt so at the 18th hole we’re tied. This hole solely determines who is paying. We all watch, tension building, as Kenzie prepares to putt. It’s the toughest hole yet: the windmill. It’s spinning so you have to hit the ball at exactly the right time. “You got this, lovely!” Niall cheers. She carefully hits the ball and it lands just in front of the opening.

“It’s all up to you, Em.” Zayn says giving me a kiss on the cheek. I don’t think or hesitate for a second. I just putt and the impossible happens. I hit the ball and it goes the same path Kenzie’s did, hitting her and Niall’s ball and sending both into the hole. “What?! So wait, does it end in a tie?” Niall asks. “I guess so. How do we decide who pays then?” Zayn chimes in. “Let’s just split it. Agreed?” I propose. They all agree and we each pay half.

“Who’s in the mood for something sweet?” Kenzie asks. “Actually I think I’m about ready to head home. You?” Zayn asks me. “Um…I guess. It has been a long day. I think we’re gonna call it a night, guys. Sorry…” I say. “It’s all right. We’ll get some dessert and then join you.” Niall says. “If we aren’t already asleep by then.” Zayn says.

We say goodbye and head home. “You must be tired if you wanted to go home already.” I say to him, “It’s only 9:45.” He leans in and whispers “I’m not really tired. I just wanted to end Valentine’s Day with some alone time.” he says with what I call his sexy bass voice. It’s just really low and melodious and he does it without even trying. Usually he talks that way when he’s turned on…oh. I know what he has in mind. “I getcha, babe.” I say kissing his temple.

We get home and it’s about 10:15. We walk past Niall’s parents’ room and they’re fast asleep. Still we slowly sneak into our room and I start to change into pajamas. “Whoa, what are you doing, sweetie?” he asks. “Changing into something that you can take off of me easily.” I say with a wink.

He seems to like the sound of that because he doesn’t answer. He just comes onto the bed where I’m laying, in his boxers, shirt already off, and immediately starts kissing me. Once he moves down to my neck I say “Happy Valentine’s Day, baby. I love you.” “I love you too, baby.” he answers before resuming kissing me.

It gets very heated very quickly but before I let it get too far into things, I stop him. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I ask hoping he thinks of it. “Oh yeah…can’t have a repeat of this fall.” he says before going to get protection. “You’ve been taking your pill, right?” he asks rummaging through his drawer.

“Yeah just like the doctor told me.” I reassure him. See, after our first time, we wanted to keep doing it but didn’t wanna risk anything so we both made some trips to places to get necessary precautions. You know what I mean.

Once he’s prepared, we resume and finish the night in a perfect way. When we’re done he rolls over next to me and we face each other. He looks at me in such a loving way while stroking my face.

Every time I look into those big brown eyes, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have him as my boyfriend, music partner, and in my life at all. I smile thinking about it again and say “I love you so much, Zayn. Thanks for discovering me.”

He says “Thank you for putting your faith in me since day one. I love you too, Emily.” before kissing my nose. I turn away from him so he can wrap his arms around me and he squeezes me tight. “Good night…Happy Valentine’s Day.” he says. “Good night, you too.” I say before we both drift off after what was indeed a jam-packed, super fun, double date.

Notes

Number 1 in the series of Valentine's Day dates you will experience in the next four days! Gotta say, Valentine's Day is my favorite section so far. As always, if you haven't I'd really appreciate some feedback letting me know what you think :) Until tomorrow, take care lovelies! <3