Hard to Handle (A 1D Story)

Ch. 9 - Tweets and Swim Trunks

Chapter 9 - Tweets and Swim Trunks

“Ugh.” I woke up shivering, with the horribly distinct taste of tequila and rum mixture in my mouth. I sat up, blinking out the sunlight streaming through the huge window. Seeing as I had put on my pajamas at one point last night, I registered that I was alone in my bedroom, did not have a headache, and was also not necessarily that tired. That must mean…

I felt the insides of my stomach rebel against my epiglottis and I instinctively threw back the covers. Yup. I’m going to barf.

When I finished and shakily stepped out of the restroom, I saw Niall already sitting in the living room (that couch, crap) eating a bowl of cereal and watching daytime television.

“Hey,” I croaked, plopping down next to him. My voice was shot from the vomiting. “Where’d you get that?”

“Whole Foods.” He held the bowl out to me without taking his eyes off the TV. “Want?”

I peered into the bowl. There was an amalgamation of perhaps three different types of cereal – and you know Whole Foods doesn’t have the standard cereals I like. “No thanks.” He resumed eating. “What are you watching?”

“Nothing good’s on except talk shows. This one’s called The Maury Show, I think.”

I laughed weakly as the show returned from commercial. “Oh yeah, Maury… is funny.”

We watched a big black lady get into a fight with another from the audience.

““Staged.”” Niall and I said at the same time, and we laughed. After a while, he finished his cereal and asked, “Good time last night?”

I cringed slightly. “Yeah. It was fun.”

“Yeah? And Zayn?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Jen,” he shot me a sly side-glance and nudged me. “You’re forgetting he shares a room with me, now, aren’t you? We talk.”

“You talked?” I stammered, feeling mentally slow on the uptake. “Late – I mean, it was late – after-”

“He wanted to talk, and I heard him come in, so.”

I was silent.

“I think he wants to apologize.”

I rolled my eyes and groaned under my breath. “Ugh. I wish people would stop trying to apologize to me.” This house is ten times worse than college, I thought. At least in college when you hooked up with someone random, you could just avoid them on campus or start going to a different lecture section. (Or in my case freshman year, stop going to English I entirely…) There was no way to avoid anyone here.

Niall only shrugged and gave me a sympathetic smile. I realized from his silence that he was probably one of those guys who hated drama and actively worked to avoid it. Good guy.

“Thanks, Niall,” I said, patting his knee twice, and getting up to go find Zayn.

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“Jennifer.” Zayn sat up in his bed instantly when he saw me peer into his doorway. He’d been up, but fiddling around on his phone. He tossed it back onto the side dresser. “I was just about to come find you.” He gestured for me to sit, so I did.

“Look, Jen, I’m so, so sorry,” he started in without preface, wide eyes insistent and hands clasped in pleading. “I never should’ve tried anything last – I mean. I was just really, really trashed – I would never-”