mixed || n.h

36

zayn arrived at niall and november's apartment, his clothes were torn and his face covered with blood and cuts. november rushed over to him and gripped his face, careful not to touch the cuts. niall walked him over to the couch, giving him sympathetic looks.

"who did this to you? was is naughty boy?"

zayn wiped blood off his hands onto his pants, "no."

"then who was it? you know you can talk to us," niall insisted.

"it was some guys who work with him. i tried to convince him to leave chloe alone but he wouldn't listen to me. i just made things worse."

november bit her lip and looked up at niall, who was trying not to make eye contact with zayn. zayn gave them curious glances, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on, but nobody spoke up.

"well?"

"there's no need to protect chloe anymore, zayn. it's not your job anymore."

"what do you mean? did something happen to her?"

niall went into the kitchen to grab zayn a wet cloth, while november stayed by his side and examined the open wounds.

zayn pushed her hand away, "tell me what happened or i'm barging into her dorm and asking her myself."

november gulped, "i-i really can't tell you. i wish i could but-"

"but what? what could have happened that you can't tell me about it? is it that bad?"

niall walked back into the room, towel in hand. he handed it to zayn who thanked him, and placed it on his throbbing cheek.

"it really isn't our place to tell you, z."

"no, don't do that to me. just tell me already! i can handle it," zayn practically yelled but winced, realizing he was putting pressure on his cuts.

november looked up and niall who shook his head. it wasn't easy telling your best friend the person they're in love with doesn't love them back. although niall wasn't familiar with the feeling, he felt like his whole world fell apart when november just walked away from him the first time he told her he loved her.

"she.. had sex with someone else," november finally said, breaking the silence.

zayn slowly lifted the cloth from his face before setting it down on the table in front of him. he sat still for a moment, not saying anything, before he stood up and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

☄

chloe paced back and forth in her dorm, waiting for michael to return her calls. the two were really hitting it off, but what november had told her made her feel awful.

now that she knew zayn loved her, or rather, claimed that he did, she wanted to talk to him and ask him about it, but he had told her not to contact him. she now knew that naughty boy was the one making zayn act this way, but he could have told her that from the beginning.

there was a loud banging on the dorm door, making chloe jump in surprise. her roommate was staying at her parent's house for the week, and she knew it wasn't november, so she sat on her bed, waiting for the person to go away.

it was silent for a bit until the door handle began to jiggle. the door slammed open, revealing a beaten up zayn, key in hand.

"you really shouldn't have given me a key to your dorm," he closed the door behind him and tossed it to chloe, who's eyes were wide open.

"who did you fuck, huh? was he good? was he better than me?"

chloe shook her head, "n-no of course not."