We will meet again

Chapter 14

“Aly. I’m glad you’re back early. We should talk.”

What was Zayn doing, sitting on the floor in front of my room? Oh God, what if Kat is right? What if Zayn IS jealous I danced with that guy because he likes me?

“Zayn…” I opened the door and let him through first. Good thing my room wasn’t a complete mess.

“We need to talk about what happened yesterday.” He said without hesitating. “I know what I did wasn’t right, I just didn’t like how a complete stranger danced behind you.”

Probably not the best moment to tell him he flirted with me at the bar when we first arrived. I was confused. What did this all mean?

“You really grew on me. On all of us,” he quickly added. “You’re like our little sister; you know I have three myself so I’m very protective. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

See, Kat? Him in love with me? Pah! I knew it was just a misunderstanding. I smiled.

“I’m glad you set it straight.” I hugged him and he left.

In love… Pah!

Harry walked downstairs when he saw Zayn heading to the backyard.

“Zayn! Zayn wait! Did you get to talk to Aly? I saw her arriving a while ago. What did she say?”

Liam, Niall and Louis came out the kitchen and joined Harry and Zayn. They all headed outside where no one would be eavesdropping.

“So?” Liam urged, “Tell us!”

“I spoke to her. I told her that I felt like I needed to protect her. In fact we all would feel the need to protect her as she’s something like a little sister to all of us here. That’s what I told her and it was good enough for her.”

“Oh Zayn, why? Why didn’t you tell her the truth? Why?” Louis was noticeably disappointed.

“There’s no point in telling her the truth! She was perfectly ok with the explanation she got. It’s better that way.”

“So you’re never going to tell her?” A sad Niall asked. The rest of the boys knew he liked Aly a lot and Niall was very close to Zayn. All he wanted was for his buddy to be happy.

“No Niall, I don’t think I’ll ever tell her.” Zayn said, a sadness hanging in his voice too.

“Let’s go back inside before people start snooping around.” Liam said and they all headed back. That’s when Aly came running down the stairs heading straight to the kitchen.

She noticed the change in the boys’ expressions. She knew something was wrong.

The following days the boys seemed to avoid her. At first she made herself believe they were just busy, or that she was imagining things. But when she realized they interacted with everyone else in the house except her she was hurt. Good thing she would be leaving in a week.

The last week in London started surprisingly good. I had the next month already planned out. I would leave Monday morning and start to work on Lauren’s assignments the next day. Soph was going to pick me up at the airport and we would spend the day with Lauren in the hospital.

I got up and yawned. I lied back down and stretched. Even the weather was good today. I decided to take a long shower and dress in something pretty.

I walked to the living room 30 minutes later. I was met by everyone standing there in a huddle and deep in a conversation.

“Aly,” someone shouted, “there you are!”

“Yes… What’s going on?” I noticed Zayn was sitting with Rebecca on the couch. They started dating a while ago, but I didn’t pay too much attention. Can’t say I wasn’t hurt, but I couldn’t let my feelings show. After all, for him I was just his little sis.