[COMPLETED]
❝Death is inevitable. It's a promise made to us at birth.❞
Arielle is a studious young woman striving to be a chef. Her life is full of going to class, reading textbooks, and hanging out with her friends, until she meets Zayn. Zayn's an...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
➳ ARIELLE'S POV
Zayn walks out of the bathroom, leaving me to stand there alone for just a moment, gathering my thoughts. I turn back to the faucet, splashing a small amount of water on my face to collect myself. I focus on my breathing—in and out, in and out—and the flush slowly fades from my face.
When I exit, I find that no one's playing poker anymore. Everyone has their clothes back on and are standing or sitting around in small groups, chatting. I spot Zoe on the far end of the room—her tongue basically shoved down Nyjah's throat.
Zayn and Drew are missing from the crowd, which seems slightly larger than before. Snow approaches me and I shuffle, a bit awkward. "Hi," she tucks a strand of knotted hair behind her ear. Her tone is no longer slurred, and so I assume she's sobered up a little bit while I was gone.
"Hi," I copy, unsure of how to greet her, or how this is going to go.
"I'm Snow," she introduces. "Guess you caught that though."
"Ari."
"That's a pretty name. How long have you and Zayn been together?" The way she asks the question, I can hear the hint of confusion in her tone, as well as genuine curiosity. I believe it's fairly obvious that Zayn doesn't bring girls around his friends often—or, at least, they show up once and never again—but then again, I can't say that with absolute certainty.
"Why?" I don't intend for it to come out harshly, but it does, and I immediately wince, brushing it off before I hope she notices.
"I'm sorry, it's just that Zayn doesn't bring girls around. He finds them at parties or races. But I remember you from that party . . ."
"Wait, the party?" I turn my full attention towards her, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that was my party," she laughs lightheartedly. "Some party, huh?"
I stand before her, stupefied. I'm not sure why it surprises me so much, but it does. My eyes wander down to her track marks which are easily visible to the naked eye and uneasiness washes over me. Did Zayn sleep with this woman? Is she about to be another Kit?
I'm not assuming that because of the clear addiction issues, I think I'm just traumatized by everything that's happened with Kit. Kit is the only woman I've met related to Zayn's past, and I don't have a single good thing to say about her and now I've met Snow, another woman in Zayn's life. I just don't entirely know what she is in his life—past or present.
"Yeah, that was really fun. Actually, that's where I met him," I use my thumb to point to the basement door, towards where I'm assuming Zayn has gone.
"That's what I was told," she laughs again and scratches recklessly at her arm. "Look, I just wanted to say that if Zayn were to ever get tied down with some chick, I'm glad it's someone like you. You're nice. You're stable. You're good for him. He already seems different." She cracks a small smile at me, and I fight the urge to show the flurry of emotions that wash over me.
