Look After You

Chapter One

Perrie's POV

My life turned upside down.

Everywhere I go, I see or think about Zayn. I can't get him out of my mind. I tried so hard, but I love him too much. We still talk but we can't see each other, and it breaks me every time I see a picture of him. I just want to hug him, but I can't. I don't understand why we were forced apart.

What did we do wrong?

"C'mon, Pezz, we have rehearsals for our show tonight". I looked up and saw Jade, she had a sympathetic look in her face. She knew.

They all did.

"I'll be right out. I'm just fixing the finishing touches on my makeup," I said, grabbing my eyeliner to make it look real, though she probably didn’t believe me anyways.

"Okay, I’ll wait here with you."

"Thanks Jade. I don't know what I’d do without you by my side."

"No problem, babe. That's what friends are for.”

Soon, I was done pretending to fix my makeup and we were on our way to rehearsals.

"Hey, Leigh, what song are we doing?" I asked her, trying to focus on my work.

"Umm… ‘Always Be Together’," she replied, not even remembering that that was the song I had written about our friendships within the band, but also Zayn and I.

I sighed, but I just looked at this as if it was an opportunity to make it more emotional. Letting the listener in made the performance more personal.

(30 minutes later)

"Okay, Perrie, it's your turn for your solo," one of the girls said. They passed me a microphone and I gripped it tightly in my hand. "Just let the lyrics flow naturally like a waterfall, love."

“Be happy
And know that I'm
Watching
You travel far and wide
Waiting
For us to meet again.”

When I was done singing, I inhaled deeply to steady my uneasy breathing and that's when I saw him.

I saw Zayn and he waved his hand in my direction, calling me over to him. Since we were at the chorus, none of the girls would notice my voice missing unless they tried really hard to listen for it, so I scrambled off the stage and threw myself into Zayn’s arms. “Perrie, I missed you so much!” He whispered in my ears. His voice cracked when he said my name, and I knew my baby was on the verge of tears.

“I missed you, too! What are you doing here? You’re going to get yourself in a load of trouble,” I whispered back, blinking rapidly so I didn’t let my make-up smear. My hand combed through his hair, starting at his neck and working their way up.

“I was completely unfocused during rehearsals with the boys. I got Louis to cover for me while I came to see you. Remember the song, Perrie. ‘I would walk through the desert, I would walk down the aisle, I would swim all the oceans just to see you smile’. Whatever it takes to keep you with me, baby, it’s fine.”

I opened my mouth to speak when I heard Jesy ask “Where’d Perrie go?” to the other girls.

“C’mon, Zayn, we have to go before they find us.”

We laced our fingers together—I nearly forgot how perfect they fit and it was so comforting—and ran out of the studio. To be able to see his face and feel the wind as well as his fingers run through my hair was absolutely brilliant to feel again, as I missed it so much before.

We locked lips this time, in the small and abandoned alley behind the studio. I had so many great emotions flood my mind like a bad rainstorm, only the memories papercliped to the emotions made me crack a smile for the first time since. I felt Zayn grin a little bit too when his lips met mine, and it was enough to make me realize that even if we were doing wrong by breaking the rules, this was so right.