Liam broke up with Danielle two days later. Social media went crazy. Fans cried; omg we loved her. Zayn rolled his eyes at them. Fans rejoiced; we knew payzer was never real, liam is single whoop dee doo. Zayn rolled his eyes at them too.
Management had a two hour meeting with Liam, they asked him to go back to patch up with Danielle.
Liam asked them to go fuck themselves.
When Louis and Niall stepped up for him, and Harry said something along the lines of how long did you expect something that fake to last anyway,and Zayn sat back with his hands together in a silent prayer, management had to consent.
Liam won. They won.
—-
Or no, they didn’t. Not yet anyway,
Yes, Liam had gotten a new haircut and was wearing tight shirts that showed off his abs and muscles causing girls to lose their ground, Louis and Eleanor were still going strong in the public eye, Harry was having flings with bestselling singing super stars and making headlines, Niall was on the news every day because he did stupid things like rolling on the road or dancing shirtless in a park, and Zayn. It was Zayn’s turn to do something and apparently the donations he was making to charities, the sculptures he painted to raise money for trust funds weren’t enough. The something he had to do came in the form of a bubbly, high-spirited and bright blond named Perrie Edwards. She had almost the same history as his; auditioned for The X-Factor, put into a band, made it to showbiz, and had the same management. The only difference was that her girl band had actually won. But winning doesn’t get you success, you need fans for that, and you need promotion to get fans. She needed that. And Zayn said he would help when his manager asked him, he didn’t know then what the man had actually meant by helping her.
They wanted Zayn to date her. It was already planned. Zayn was to start bringing her up in interviews, and then gradually they would start dating and nobody would doubt a thing. At first, Zayn didn’t want to do it, every particle in his body said no. Liam had said no, he could too, and he would win. But Zayn wasn’t Liam, and Zayn wasn’t like any of the other boys. He was different, and he was different in so many ways than one. He was lucky to be here, he was lucky to be the one who took care of his mom and his sisters, he was lucky to have a life no other normal Muslim boy of nineteen had lived. And he knew their management would have no issue in kicking him out and telling him to fuck off, and he knew his boys would not continue without him, and he couldn’t do to this to them, he couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t say no, he nodded and walked out. In his heart he saw Liam when he did. Only Liam; the only thing he really did not want to be separated from.
—-
Being with Perrie was difficult but not so.
He had to kiss her once and that also for a moment for some picture that was supposed to confirm their relationship. He had a lot of promotions followed by an upcoming tour, so he didn’t have to stay with her for longer periods. Her band also helped by bringing their relationship in their interviews more than he did. That saved him a lot of lying. She used to switch on the possessive buttons of Liam, causing Liam to make love to him with a passion that Zayn wished for to never stop.
And lastly, Zayn felt comfortable with her because she was like him in a lot of ways. She wore what she wanted to, she said what she wanted to, and she wasn’t intense or dramatic, she was hilarious and fun. Before Zayn knew it, she was one of the people he cared for, a best friend. And he realized why Louis was okay with being Eleanor.
They were made to do some unbelievable things though, since the fans were too inquisitive and like always were playing detective, searching for clues, trying to uncover the true story behind their relationship. Zayn knew they would do that, it wasn’t easy to fool his fans. So, Perrie celebrated Eid with his family, spent Christmas with his family, because fans would believe when they saw her with his family right. Okay, so send her to shopping with his elder sister, make them wear the same coats. Have his cousins tweet about them, make him tell his mother to be all mother-daughter-love with Perrie, be bros with her brother, and- okay. He did all of that, and Perrie just tagged along, all bright smiles and a tinge of adventure in her eyes, c’mon zayn think of it as a screwed up dare, relax.
That is exactly what he did. That is exactly what kept him going. That, and Liam’s growls in the night and his whispers in the morning and his kisses when Zayn ran into his arms after coming back from attending Halloween with Perrie, and Liam wasted no time in ripping off his costume muttering, “Who the hell does she think she is going as Cat Woman when you are clearly Captain Jack Sparrow, stupid girl.”
Zayn had just chuckled, because how could he have let her go as Penelope Cruz? She wasn’t Liam.
—-
