Zayn's POV
After texting Ariana my address, I quickly ran upstairs to change my clothes and brush my teeth. I was debating whether or not to put my contacts in and gel my hair well the doorbell rang.
"I've got it!" Harry yelled excitedly. I sprinted down the steps, taking two at a time. Thankfully I reached the door before him, and I swung it open. Ariana and Camila stood on my porch. My eyes bugged out as took in Ariana's out. Her skin tight crop top and skinny jeans left little to the imagination. Her toned stomach visible, glinting with a belly ring. I attempted to control my expression as Harry reached the door. He let out a low whistle when he reached my side, following my gaze. To help control myself, I turned to look at Camila. She was dressed in a loose fitting dress, a huge matching bow on her head. Though she was pretty and slim, she was nothing compared to the gorgeous, fit, being that stood next to her, in my eyes anyway. I shook my head, trying to clear it. I couldn't think like this. I'd just met her. She had a boyfriend. Just friends. First anyways. I didn't want to just use her as a rebound for Perrie.
"Come on in guys." I muttered, opening the door wider. They stepped in, Camila shutting the door behind her.
"Wow, this place is awesome." Ariana murmured, leading the way through my house. She walked through the kitchen, trailing her hand on the marble counter as we followed like ducklings behind her. "Do you live here by yourself?"
"Yeah." I answered. "But…"
Harry cut me off "He doesn't get lonely. I'm with him most of the time anyway. Or we're on tour. Or recording. Something new every day."
"That's good." She grinned at me before turning back to Harry. "I'm sorry, but what's your name?"
Harry looked taken aback and almost offended. He looked at me, I simply shrugged. "I'm Harry, Harry Styles."
"Oh right. You're in that band with Zayn! One Direction, right?"
"Yeah, that's the one…" Harry's shock was not masked in his voice. I wasn't kidding when I said everyone knew who we were. Most people spend a lot of their time reading about celebrities on the internet ot listening to the newest stories about them on T.V.
"That's really cool. I've heard some of your songs, but you guys should sing for me sometimes. I've always wanted to be a singer. I'm so jealous of you." She babbled happily, now leading our party into the living room. Harry sat on one of the smaller couches, while Camila sat on the larger one. Without hesitation-of course not, this girl never pauses for a second- Ariana took the seat next to Harry, who was shamelessly elated by the fact. He winked at me, cocky as ever. I was forced to take a seat next to Camila. Not that I minded. It was fine that Harry and Ariana were sitting together, so close their thighs were touching. No big deal. I ground my teeth together.
"Are you okay?" Camila asked, her brown eyes wide in concern. Clearly I had let my agitation appear on my face. I gave Ariana one last glance. She was already completely, animatedly, immersed in a conversation with Harry. It sounded to me like they were talking about cats. Ironic.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I turned back to Camila, grinning. She grinned shyly back. "So what do you do for a living?" I asked, interested, but not fully. My ears still perked to Harry and Ariana's conversation. Ariana was telling a story about a cat she had named Pumpkin, giggling the whole way. I reminded myself she had a boyfriend. She was just being friendly with Harry. She was naturally bubbly and giggly. I forced myself to shut my ears to them and pay strict attention to Camila telling me how she was a secretary at a law firm and hoped she'd eventually become a paralegal.
Two hours later and there had been little interaction between the two pairs. Though I'd liked Camila; she was sweet and quiet, I would have rather been talking with Ariana who was now laughing hysterically, her head thrown back carelessly, at some joke Harry was telling. I tried not to notice how her legs now rested haphazardly across Harry's, their bodies angled towards each other.
"Have you talked to Jason since you've gotten here?" I asked Ariana, unable to contain myself. I bit my tongue afterwards, instantly regretting it.
"Yeah. For a bit." She answered easily. I neatly dodged the glare Harry was sending my way. "We Skyped for a little this morning but he said he had plans, which loosely translates to: he wanted to game." She rolled her eyes.
"Ahh.." I said, before lapsing into silence.
"Zayn… Zayn… Zayn!" Camila said, waving her hands in front of my face.
"Huh?" I asked, breaking my trance.
"Ariana and I are leaving." She said, giving me a confused look. I sighed. She'd been here for two hours and I'd hardly gotten to talk to her at all.
"Really? So soon?"
"Yeah, I have work tomorrow. And Ariana does have to start unpacking some of her things. So we better go."
"Well I'll see you later then." Camila and I exchanged an awkward hug while we waited for Harry and Ariana to exchange numbers. They hugged as well, much less awkwardly then Camila and I, before coming over me and and giving me a tight squeeze.
"This was fun!" Ariana said happily, "We'll have to hang out again sometime!"
"Definitely!" Harry said, before I could respond. I clenched my fist.
"See you later guys." I waved as the left the house.
"Wow, she's amazing." Harry sighed when the door shut behind her. "And she told me a secret."
"What?" I asked quickly. How had Harry gotten so lucky?
"It's about you. I can't tell you." He grinned evilly.
"Oh Harry, come on. You have to tell me now." I groaned, annoyed. Harry was a very good secret keeper, that's why everyone went to him when they needed to talk to someone.
"Nope!" he smirked, popping the p. "You'll figure it out sooner or later."
I moaned. I couldn't help the happy fantasies that ran through my head. Maybe she was interested in me too, just a little bit. Maybe she was going to break up with Jason. It probably was nothing like that, but, hey, a guy can dream.
Ariana's POV
"That was fun." Camila said as we were driving home.
"It was." I agreed. "Did you have fun with Zayn?" I wiggled my eyebrows.
"Yes. Most of the time. He's really sweet and funny, but he seemed really distracted."
"Maybe he was just tired or something." I offered. Camila worried a lot. She was probably thinking Zayn thought she was boring. She was definitely the opposite of boring, that was for sure.
"Maybe. What's Harry like? I didn't get to talk to him much."
"Oh my gosh. He's so funny. He's probably the most hilarious person I've ever met. He's so genuine too, like he really cares what you have to say."
"He seems great. Even better than Jason…" Camila said hopefully. She didn't like Jason. She knew how much he'd changed me. I met Camila online in the ninth grade and I started dating Jason in eleventh grade. The other boyfriends I'd had made me happy all the time, and when they didn't I broke up with them. But Camila noticed that I wasn't as happy as I had been with the others once I started dating Jason. I was anxious, always worried he would leave me. He often made remarks that I assumed he meant jokingly but they always cut deep. I didn't break up with him though. I had an attachment to him. It made sense though. He was the most popular boy at my high school, who would want to lose that. So I put up with his jokes/insults and the anxiety of losing him. But it did change how I was. I became extremely depressed. I was very good at hiding it, but Camila was my absolute best friend and even though at the time we'd never met in person at that time, she figured it out. She begged me to break up with him, but I couldn't do it. I knew I should, but I couldn't. Sure, I'd said I would multiple times, but I never did it. I just couldn't.
I was a lot better now than I was at the beginning. I rubbed absently at my left forearm, remember the scars that had crisscrossed their way from my wrist to my elbow. I shivered as I remembered. That had been the lowest point of my life. I would never go back. I still had some depressed episodes where I lose my cool and cheerful façade, but most of the time I'm able to push bad things away. A smile can tell a thousand words, and also a thousand lies.
"No Camila, it's not going to happen." My tone rang with finality. I knew she cared about me and that's the only reason she brought it up, but I was very touchy to the subject and she knew that.
"Ari… I really think that you should just consider it. I mean, now you have an ocean separating you. The time difference and your classes are going to make it really hard for you to talk. You're hardly ever gonna see each other, maybe twice a year at holidays or something like that."
"We're not talking about this Camila. I'm not breaking up with Jason." I glared out the window just as rain started to drizzle down. Lovely. I thought as my bad mood worsened. I'd been doing so good with not slipping into this. I turned up the radio until it was blasting, signaling to Camila I wasn't going to talk about it anymore. I let the pounding beats flow through my head, dulling my mind. The long drive home was spent with silence besides the blaring radio.
By the time we were back at the house I was happy to find that I was almost completely over my fit. I was able to push all the gloomy thoughts deep, deep, down. I would deal with them later.
"Camz, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have flipped out like that on you." I apologized, frowning. I was disappointed in my actions. I tried to be, or appear to be, a very positive person all the time.
"Aw Ar, don't be upset. I'm really sorry too. It was wrong of me to even bring it up. I know how it is with you two." She gave me a reassuring hug. I squeezed her back tightly. I was so lucky to have her as a best friend and now as a roommate, I knew she would always be there for me and I was so grateful. Our display of affection had taken place outside, and it happened to be pouring. We were soaking wet as we trudged through the doors, laughing at our wetness.
Hours later and I had almost all my things unpacked. I was sitting on my made bed, looking around my room. I even put my twinkle lights from home up around the walls. I stared at one of the pale pink walls, letting the bad thoughts from earlier surface in my head. I let the tears flow silently down my cheeks. What would happen if Jason did leave me? What would I do? How would I survive? I wished I knew why I felt so unhappy with Jason. It wasn't all the time. When we were together and he was being nice it was the best. But now we were apart, an ocean apart as Camila had reminded me, and I didn't know what was going to happen. Her words earlier in the car had brought up all the worries I had been suppressing for months, ever since I decided to move to London. It was insane that I felt this way, but I didn't know how to control it. I ran a hand through my hair, letting it fall slowly around my face. The strands brushing against my cheeks comforted me, reminding me of the time when I was little and my mom would play with my hair until I fell asleep.
I told myself I would never shed another tear over Jason. I needed to get in control of my emotions for him. If we did break up, I cringed at even thinking out it, I would deal with it when I came to it. I would be strong, I had to be.
