American Dream (Zayn Malik AU Fanfic)

It's going to be okay

"Baby, what's wrong?" 

She looks up into his bright blue eyes and smiles. "Nothing, now that you're with me."

He wears a sad smile as he's dressed in all black. "But I can't stay long, baby." 

She furrows her eyebrows as her bottom lip is out in a pout. "Why not? I miss you, Brian." 

"I miss you too, baby. But I can't keep doing this. You can't keep doing this." 

"Doing what?" 

"Sleeping. Sleeping just so you can dream about me. It isn't healthy for you or for your friends." 

"I don't care. I want to see you, Brian." Cecilia says as she wraps her arms around him but they just go through him. "Why can't I hug you?!" 

He sighs. "Because I'm not really here, Lia." 

She shakes her head. "Don't say that, please."

"If I ask you to do me a favor, would you agree?" He asks her, smiling. 

She nods. "Of course I would. I'd do anything for you."

"I want you to fall in love again."

"No—"

"Cecilia, I want you to fall in love again. I want you to be happy. I want you to live your life and move on." 

"Brian—"

"Who was there holding you during my funeral?"

"Zayn." She responds. 

"Who has been by your side since that day, a month ago?" 

"Zayn." 

"It's time for you to move on." He says, one last time.

Her eyes widen as he starts disappearing. "Brian?! Brian, no! Brian, please don't go!" 

"Cecilia? Cecilia?!" 

"Brian!" 

"Lia, it's me! Lia, wake up!" 

"Brian!" 

"Cecilia!" 

Her eyes shoot open as she looks around her frantically, her heart pounding through her chest. 

"Cecilia, love, it's me." Zayn whispers, as he looks at her worriedly. 

"Zayn..." She whispers. 

"It's alright, love. I'm right here. I'll always be here." He says as he wraps his arms around her. 

She rests her head on his chest as she sighs. "How long?"

And he knew exactly what she meant. "Depends on how long you let sadness take over your body. You know...you don't have to feel guilty if you smile or if you're happy. He would want you to be happy." 

"You think so?" 

He nods. "It took me a while to understand that and I don't want you going a year until you understand that you can be happy. Are you dreaming of him?" 

She nodded. "How'd you know?"

He smiled. "Well, two things. Same thing used to happen to me. I always used to dream of Perrie. I would actually take sleeping pills so I could sleep and dream of her. And you kind of said his name a few times so I guessed that you were dreaming of him. But let me tell you something, I had Louis to take care of me and you're going to have me along with everyone else to take care of you, alright? I'm going to stay next to you until you start laughing again, until I see that beautiful smile."