The bodyguards in the building looked worried as Bloom walked out of the secret exit all soaked.

"I'm fine," She gave them a wide smile, seeing the alarmed look on their faces.

Damian groaned as she approached him. "I was about leaving, you weren't replying to any of my texts."

"Sorry, I couldn't text you under the rain."

"How did you get home?"

"Someone offered me a ride." She said biting her lips to stop the smile stretching across her lips.

"Someone?" Damian pressed raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Yeah, someone," she rolled her eyes.

"Are you familiar with this someone?" He asked.

She thought of the last few days and the kiss at the alley, she bit her inner cheeks to stop the hotness growing on her cheeks.

"Are you blushing?"
She kept a straight face immediately he asked.

"You know what? I think I should go in and dry up."

"Sure but this isn't over."
He said and opened the door for her.

She glared at him and went in, she leaned on the door immediately she closed it and smiled.

"Oh my God, stop." She slapped her cheeks.

"It was just one stupid kiss, don't think about it," She told herself as she undressed but she found herself blushing again at the memory.

She giggled and covered her face with her palms. "Stop." She grumbled like a child as her subconscious mocked her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Damian asked from outside the door.

"Yes, I'm good. I'm perfectly fine." She assured herself.

"I need a cold shower"
She mumbled to herself, feeling hot all over again.

Thirty minutes later she was wide awake on her bed, unable to catch any sleep. She hugged her puffy pillow and stared into space.

She moved her hand to her lips and touched it then smiled. She closed her eyes and replayed the kiss in her head. She bit her lip with a stupid smile and pressed her pillow to her chest. She never expected a kiss to mess with her head. It took an hour before she could sleep.

||

"Hey, wake up." Damian tapped her shoulder lightly. She grumbled and snuggled closer to her pillow. He smiled and started tickling her, she woke up laughing.

"Good morning dollface."

"Morning Damie." She said smiling with her eyes closed.

"Your dad is waiting for you in the dining."

"Dad is here?" Her eyes flickered wide-open.

"Yes and he sent me to get you, so you can both have breakfast."

"Yes! I will be out in a minute." she jumped overjoyed with the news.
He smiled and left her room.

She smiled as memories of last night clouded her head. "No," She rubbed her cheeks, she got frustrated and grabbed the smallest pillow on her bed to hit her face, hoping it would jumpstart her brain.

"Are you sure you're okay?"
Damian asked when he entered the room.

"Yeah, why didn't you knock?"
She asked and got down from the bed.

"I did but you didn't answer."

"I'm still feeling a bit sleepy, don't blame me."

"That's what you get for sneaking out," he told her and she scoffed.

"Let's go." she walked past him to the door.

She hugged her dad from behind when she got to the dining. "Hey, daddy!" She kissed his cheek.

"Hey princess, hope you slept well?"

"Like never before," She said spreading her arms.

"Someone looks excited."

"I'm just happy to have breakfast together, it's been months."

"Sorry about that, got a lot of issues on my table."

"I know, is the vice president even helping?" she mumbled trying not to come off as rude.

"He is." Her Dad smiled. "Enough about me, how are your classes going?"

"Great, I nailed all my tests last week." she gloated.

"That's good. There will be a tour here tomorrow, don't leave your room." her Dad informed her.

"But they're not allowed into the residence, so I can go to the kitchen, right?"

"I know but I need to be sure you're safe, whatever you need will be brought to your room."

"Fine," she frowned.

"It's just for one day, okay?"
She nodded and he smiled.

Bloom spent the rest of her day in the kitchen baking brownies with Aunt Matilda.

The next day, she did as she was told. She stayed in her room the whole day watching TV, drawing, sleeping, and surfing the Internet. She was sketching on her drawing pad when Damian came in.

"Finally someone decided to visit."
She murmured not looking away from her work.

"Sorry, it's been a busy day. The tourists today were plenty and your dad wanted us to keep an eye on the residence."

"Are they gone?"

"Yeah."

"What are you drawing?"

"I don't really know, there's just this image in my head," she mumbled, engrossed in her drawing.

Damian moved closer and looked. "Bloom?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop."

"Stop what?" she asked still drawing.

"Stop drawing that."

"I'm not done yet, I need..." She stopped talking when he snatched her pencil.

"Do you know what you're drawing?"
She stared at the horrific art in front of her, the Anti-sam mask was staring back at her.

"I...I didn't realize that was what I was drawing," She stuttered. The neon red mask from that night had been flashing in her head. The stitched eyes and mouth and how it stared directly at her as if it knew her.

"Have you seen it somewhere else except on TV?" he asked pinning her with his eyes.
She was silent for a while, contemplating telling him the truth.

"No."

"Where did you see it?"

"Damian," She groaned.

"It's not my fault you suck at lying."
She rolled her eyes in defeat.

"Where did you see it? Wait a minute, you saw it outside didn't you?"
She was mute.

"Damn it! I shouldn't have let you out."

"Nothing happened I swear, except the shooting..."

"Shooting?" He asked frantically.

"Ohh, did I say that part out loud?" she whispers with a sheepish grin.

"I can't believe you saw those lunatics. I'm not letting you leave the residence ever again."
He looked furious.

"Can I at least go out and say goodbye to the world?"

"No."

"Damie?" She groaned with a pouty face.

"If you're not worried about yourself, I am. You're the only family your dad has, please don't sneak out. You promised, Bloom."

She sighed in defeat, "Fine."

"I will get rid of this before your dad sees it."
He tore out the page with the drawing.

"Please Bloom, don't leave this building."

"Yes Sir," She said with a salute.
He smiled and left.

||
She spent the next few days having Jujitsu class, yoga class, homework, and more tests. She was so worn out before the weekend. Her dad traveled to Japan for a meeting during the weekend, she was used to his absence. Laura was away for the weekend with some friends from school leaving her alone and unusually bored.

She was tempted to sneak out, she tried to fight it but later gave in.
She grabbed her journal and went through her bucket list. She blushed as she ticked the 'have my first kiss ' off the list.

The list was still long, she wasn't sure she would ever get the chance to do everything on the list.

"Okay, what can I do tonight?" She asked scanning the list, it was now or never. She had to seize the opportunity before it would be completely out of her reach.

"Visit a mall," She smiled. She hid the journal and rushed into a cabinet in her walk-in closet.

She put on a black biker shorts, a white hoodie, and her converse. She arranged her pillows and covered it with her comforter, making it look like she was sleeping.

She knew all the bodyguards were having a meeting with the head of the security service at the West Wing. She switched off the lights and left her room.

She smiled as she came out of the tunnel in the dark alleyway that reeked of cigarettes and trash from the Diner. She started walking slowly towards the neighborhood but she stopped when she recalled his warning.

"Don't go," She whispered to herself. She didn't belong there and she had no business there.
She took another road, she used her phone's GPS to check for the nearest mall.

It was a fifteen minutes walk from where she was. She followed the direction on the GPS, she smiled broadly when she sighted a large building, it looked so beautiful with the lights from inside.

"Finally," She smiled as if she just found a treasure chest. She went around the revolving door twice before she finally made it in.

"Wow," She mumbled in pure amusement, turning around to look at the interior. She had seen many shopping malls in the movie and always wanted to visit one.

"So this is what it looks, woo!" She headed for the excavator relieved that it was something she could use.

She entered every store in the mall checking out every item that caught her eyes. She left the building after thirty minutes of window-shopping, she gave the mall one last look and headed right not quite sure where she was going.

She liked the weather, it was warm and soothing to the skin. The moon and the stars gazed down at her and seemed to be sharing in her happiness. She stopped in front of an Italian restaurant, she stared at a hot meal being served to a couple. Her stomach grumbled, she didn't own any money and she couldn't remember the last time she held one.

Someone bumped into her from behind. "Sorry," She apologized instead. She turned around to look at the person who bumped into her, he was already walking away but she recognized him.

She wanted to scream his name but realized he never told her.

She couldn't just scream 'hey' when many people walked down the sidewalk on the street. She thought of a random name which she assumed was his name. She decided to stick to West, he looked like someone named West anyway.

"Hey West!"
Few people turned to look at her but she ignored them and focused on him.
She was surprised when he stopped and turned to look at her.

"Wow, so it's West."
She smiled at him and waved but he didn't return it, she took a deep breath and jogged to where he was.

"Hi." she rasped.

"What do you want?" Zayn asked putting his phone away, his red hood covered his head and his hair covered his forehead almost shielding his eyes.

"Well, this is not your neighborhood, and nice to see you too."

"I guess it's now a daily routine for you to sneak out."

"I need to have some fun before I'm being shipped to a private college that's like a boarding school."
He didn't say anything but just stared at her face, she couldn't help but smile.

"Doesn't it hurt smiling this much?"

"No, you should try it too, it's not hard."
She stepped closer and moved herself up on her tiptoes, she placed one finger each on both sides of his lips then dragged it slowly to form a smile.

"See, not bad."
She said and stepped back. He chuckled softly and shook his head at her witty nature.

"If you didn't have anything interesting to say why did you stop me?"

"I forgot my jacket in your car, I need it back," She lied.

"Good news, I used it to clean a mess in my car."

"Then you have to get me a new one, it was my favorite." She frowned, crossing her arms.

"Do I have to when your father is..."
She moved quickly and covered his mouth with her small hand.

"I will forget about the jacket." She said in a low tone, looking around. He removed her hand and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Good."

"But I need you to do me a favor," she admitted.

"I don't do favors, forget it."

"Please," She said with a pout.

"No."

"Pleaseeee," she said doing the puppy-dog eyes. Her winsome act was annoying but she won.

He sighed and asked. "What is it?"

"I need a ride."

"Then get a cab."

"I don't own any money."

"How humiliating for a President's daughter."

"Don't say that outside, please." She murmured looking around if anyone heard.

"Oops, my bad." He said dryly.

"I don't know my way around the city and there's one last place I need to visit before I return home."

"That's why a GPS was invented."

"Come on, I only have tonight, after tonight I'm never leaving the house again, so I wanna make something good out of this night, that's all I'm asking for."
She explained calmly, her tone laced with sadness and curiosity. Zayn stared at her for a while as if debating with himself, he should be happy he won't be seeing her again maybe he would forget her.

"Wait here, I will get my truck."

"Really?"

"Don't get too excited, it might not turn out as fun as you're expecting."
He said and walked away.

She smiled smugly as she watched him.

||
Zayn searched for his key when he got to his truck. He had purposely bumped into her on the street. He was surprised when he saw her coming out of the mall, he didn't know she was that stubborn. She probably snuck out again and he wondered how. He tried to ignore her and not be concerned but he found himself following her.

"Hey, where have you been, man?"
Taylor asked, leaning on Zayn's truck.

"Around."

"Max is calling for a meeting and he sent me to get you."

"Tell him I'm busy."
He said dangling the keys.

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing dangerous, don't worry."
He got into the truck and started the car.

"What if is about her? What if they've figured a way to capture her?"

"Just listen to everything, if anything interesting comes up then give me a call."

"Wow, you're really not bothered."
He stepped away from the car as the engine roared, he nodded at his words and drove off.

||
Bloom felt her calves throbbing after waiting for ten minutes, she moved towards the direction he headed hoping to run into him on the way.

She stopped when she saw a nightclub, she could kill two birds with one stone.
"One more thing to tick on my bucket list," she whispered to herself walking to the entrance.

"Not so fast, your ID."
The huge man at the entrance stopped her.

"Why do you need my ID?"

"To check if you're up to 18."

"Oh, well...mmh, sorry I forgot my ID." she smiled sweetly at him hoping to win him over.

"I get that every day."
He glared at her and looked elsewhere.

She groaned and decided to leave as a blonde guy walked past her to the guards.

"You can go in," she heard a deep voice from behind her.

"Are you speaking to me?" She asked looking around her. Th nodded and opened the door for her.

She rushed in after screaming thanks to the guard not sure of the reason for his sudden change of heart. The loud music and colorful light greeted her. A big smile broke on her lips as she looked around her, bursting in excitement.

She was still marveling at the view around her when the blonde guy she saw outside came to stand beside her.

"I think you owe me a drink."
He said close to her ear making her jump.

"Sorry, you got the wrong person." she said curling her hand into a fist to defend herself if needed.

"I don't think so, I told my friend Charlie to let you in." he smiled.

"Ohh, thanks."

"It was nothing, I'm still counting on you to buy me a drink."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm really broke right now."

"And I thought saving your ass will get me a drink," He said with a playful tone.

"Sorry," She mumbled.

"I was hoping to get a free drink tonight but maybe some other time you will get me that drink. Have fun."
He raised two fingers in salute and disappeared into the dancing bodies.

She shook her head to the beat, swayed her hips slowly, and ran her fingers through her hair. She tried not to think of where she was or what she was getting herself into. She danced with a smile on her face getting lost in the rhythm of the music.

Zayn saw her as soon as he entered the club, he had looked around for her and was told by the guy outside she was inside after he provided a description. She looked different as she swayed her hips to the music with her eyes closed like she wanted to forget who she was for a minute.

He wanted to walk over and dragged her out of the club but watched from a distance with a small smile on his lips, he wasn't much of a dancer. He didn't like the way the other males in the club had their eyes on her. He reminded himself she wasn't his and he had no right to be jealous.

She stopped dancing and he watched her as she walked to the bar looking so happy. He decided to let her have a little fun before ruining it.

"Hi," Bloom chimed at the hot bartender who smirked at her when he met her eyes.

"Can I get a free drink, it's my first time in a club," she said with her best smile, she didn't know why she wanted alcohol maybe it was just the feeling of being in a club.

"Sure, anything for a Goddess," he said huskily.

"So, are you here alone?" he asked leaning closer, a smirk plastered on his lips.

She always wanted to flirt with someone and she couldn't help but smile in her head when she saw he was attracted to her.

"Yes," she said matching the tone of his voice. She traced his bicep with her fingertip just as she'd seen in movies.

"I get off in thirty minutes if you don't mind," he whispered staring at her finger.

She thought of losing her virginity, it was the last thing on her bucket list but she didn't want to lose it to a random stranger. She wanted her first time to be special and whoever she was giving it to should be worth it.

"I'm still waiting for that drink," she said biting down on her lower lip.

Shame on you, you're flirting with the bartender because you want a free drink. Her subconscious grimaced.

"I must admit you have a rare beauty, where you from?"
He asked as he mixed some drinks, she stopped her cheeks from heating up.

"My mom is Asian and my dad is American."

"Cool, so what is your name?" He asked pouring the drink into a glass cup.

"You will find out in thirty minutes." She whispered.

"Can't wait," he moved the drink closer to her.

"Thanks," Someone said from behind and took the drink.
Bloom looked up and was met with a pair of warm brown eyes.

"You found me, yahhh." She said dryly.

"I told you to wait outside. I left you for ten minutes and you already went clubbing." Zayn hissed.

She shrugged and gave him her trademark smile.

"Let's go," he returned the empty glass, glaring at the bartender.

"That would be $20." The bartender told him.

"Oh, I thought it was free."

"Wait, can we stay for a bit." Bloom cut in between the heated stare.

"No, I don't have all night," Zayn said.

"Please," She said with a pout.

"No, that doesn't work on me."

"It did the first time." She frowned and put her head down since her neck was starting to hurt.

"Dude, if she wants to stay let her."

"And who the fuck are you suppose to be?"
Bloom stiffened in her seat, she was starting to feel like those girls in movies two hot guys fight over.

"The guy giving her a ride home."

"Ohh great, you should've told me you found another ride. I will be leaving then."
Her face dropped not expecting him to give up so soon.

"Wait, I'm going with you." She said quickly, somehow she felt drawn to him and she had known him for a week. She couldn't choose a stranger over him.

"Sorry, I will see you some other time." she smiled at the bartender.

"Stop lying to him, we both know you're never leaving home again."
Zayn said and she shot him a glare.

"Don't listen to him."
The bartender nodded with a soft smile.

"You're a fool if you believed her," Zayn sneered and walked away.

She waved at the bartender and hurried after him. "Way to ruin my night." She grumbled behind him but he pretended not to hear her.

They forced their way through the dancing bodies but she stopped when her favorite song came up. He turned around when he heard her squeal, he scowled at her.

She started shaking her head, jumping and singing along.

"You gotta be kidding me," Zayn grunted.

"Come on, let's dance." She said extending one hand to him.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Are you normal?"

"We don't have all night." He dragged her out of the bar as she complained.
He let go of hand when they got outside.

"Gosh, you're such a buzz kill."

It was weird hearing that from her.

"Can you please be nice, only for tonight?" she asked and got into the car.

"So where do you wanna go?" He asked resting his eyes on her face that pulled into an annoyed expression.

"The beach."

"The beach? It's like an hour from here."

"So you can't take me?"

"I can if you're ready for a long ride."

"I'm in," she smiled.

"You're sure?" He asked turning the key.

"Yeah, I only have this night."

"Good cause you're so annoying and I hope we don't run into each other again."

"Are you still gonna be stingy with your music player?" she asked trying not to let his words affect her.

"You can use it, it's your night after all." She smiled and went through all his CDs.

"What was your deal with the bartender?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the dark road.

"We were just flirting and he gave me a free drink which you stole."

He snickered at her statement, making her stop her search.

"Wait, are you jealous?" she teased him.

"Ouch! I thought you knew me better than that, I'm disappointed. Jealous? There's nothing to feel jealous about, trust me."

She shouldn't feel hurt, but she felt something in her chest. She tried to brush it off with a smile.

"I know, I was just playing around dumbass. I was doing great anyway before you ruined it."

"You call that flirting?"

"I bet I'm better than you. I can't actually picture you flirting with any girl with that personality of yours, you will only scare them off."

She said feeling enraged and not knowing why.

"Right, that's not my thing."
He mumbled in a monotone.

She lost interest in the music and put her head outside the window relishing the cool air on her face and in her hair.

The rest of the ride was quiet.