When Worlds Combine - A WWC Sequel

52; Stoned, bar calls, and hopelessness

Zayn

"I think that if I had one day left on this Earth, I'd listen to Black Sabbath for every minute of the day."

"Lame. You're meant to say something incredibly inspiring, like you'd save children starving in Africa or donate all your money to those with cancer or something."

I snort, looking up at the ceiling as I lay on the floor of Emma's dorm. "Why the hell would I do that? It's my last day, not anybody else's."

I can practically hear her rolling her eyes. She sits on the floor, leaning against her bed with her legs stretched out over me. We'd been sitting like this for ages. She was bored and I was too high to even move. "That's exactly my point, Zayn. You're dying, but nobody else is. If you could help them live for even just a second longer, wouldn't you?"

"If I was going to help anyone live for a second longer, it'd be me," I state blankly.

"Have you always been this selfish?" She asks.

"Yes. But, for the record, I don't think it's at all selfish to do something for yourself." I rest my hands behind my head, leaning up a little bit. "It's my last damn day on Earth, I'll do whatever the fuck I want."

She sighs. "I suppose you're right. But Black Sabbath? Really."

"Actually, no. I'd probably do more than just listen to Sabbath. Ah, no. You know what I'd really like to do? What I'd really like to do if it was my last day on Earth?"

"What's that?"

I close my eyes, my lips spreading into a hazy smile. "I'd be in a band. My very own band. A band just like Sabbath, like Nirvana. Like Zeppelin. And I'd perform in front of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. I'd be on that stage, surrounded with a sea of fans, all there for my music. All reciting my lyrics back to me. God, that's it. That's how I'd spend my last day on Earth. Fuck, I'd die happily if that was the last thing that would ever happen to me."

I could just picture it, the lights, the music, the atmosphere. That would be the life. That would be the damn life, I reckon. You'd be the luckiest soul in the world if you got to witness that. If that was your job. Man, what a life.

"Do you think that musicians lose their love for music eventually?" Emma asks me.

I think it over for a bit. "You mean like Cobain?"

"Because if that was the case, I wouldn't ever want to be a musician. If it meant that one day I'd lose my love for music. Like, you're nothing in this world if you don't have music. You know?"

"True, but I mean ... I think Cobain had a lot of other problems. It wasn't just music."

"But he stopped loving music."

"He didn't stop loving it, he just stopped loving to perform it. There's a difference?"