What Makes You Beautiful? | h.s.

21: blast from the past

*Charli POV*

"Zayn?" Georgia asked, eyes going wide as she stared behind me at the brunette. "You're dating Zayn?"

"Yes?" I furrowed my brows, a small frown appearing as I looked between the two of them. "Do you two know each other?"

"Yeah, I-" Georgia started talking, and then stopped. She looked up at Zayn.

"Charli, can I talk to you for a minute?" they both asked at the same time.

I mumbled a quick 'yes' and stood up, turning myself towards the front door and making my way over to it.

"Charli, wait," I turned around to see Zayn following directly behind me, with Georgia a few steps behind him. I made my way through the front door and plopped down on the bench out front. "Charli?" I looked to my left to see Zayn sitting down beside me. "Babe..."

"How do you two know each other?" I averted my gaze from his, feeling the familiar sting of the tears forming in my eyes.

"I- we uh-" he stammered, trying to find his words. "We-"

"You what?"

"I..."

"Fuck Zayn, just spit it out," I seethed, turning to face him. "I don't have all day."

"We used to date when I lived here," Georgia softly said, sitting down to my right.

My eyes met his and they hardened. "You dated my sister?"

"I didn't know she was your sister then!" he said, raising his voice slightly. "I didn't even know you then!"

"You didn't clue in whenever I talked about her?" I questioned. "It's not like I had never spoke about her. You knew I had a sister."

"But honestly Charli, you always called her Peach. I didn't think anything of it," his hands moved to his knees, gripping them tightly. "You never called her Georgia."

"You think our parents named her Peach? Seriously?" I hissed, making myself cringe at how rude I was being towards him. "It's a nickname, Zayn!"

"Well at first I did, but then I assumed it was a nickname," he frowned, turning his head away from my gaze. "I know you don't like to talk about her a lot, so I never asked. I didn't want to pressure you to talking about it."

"You didn't think anything about us having the same last name?"

"No, honestly, that never crossed my mind."

"Because Rose is just such a common name in this city."

"Charli..." Georgia said, placing her hand on my shoulder, which I shrugged off.

"I'll get to you in a minute," I spat. I really shouldn't be acting like this, but I can't help but think that he's trying to hide something from me. Something important. "Zayn, I don't believe this."

"I'm sorry, Charli," he frowned, grabbing my hands in both of his. He rubbed his thumbs on the top of my hands in a soothing motion, which slightly irritated me more. "I never thought anything of it. I'm really, truly sorry."

I leaned back on the bench and shut my eyes. "Zayn, I just don't know how you failed to mention that you dated my sister."

"To be fair, it was seven years ago, and..." he sighed, releasing one hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "She never told me she had a sister."

I turned to face her, to see she was looking down the road in the opposite direction of us. "Really, Georgia?"

She slowly turned to face me, guilt written all over her face. "Charli, I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional."