Rebuilding Zerrie

It's Cold Outside

KLOE'S P.O.V.

There was this weight on my chest that kept tightening and tightening my the second. My hair was soaking wet, along with my clothes and shoes. There were goosebumps running up and down my entire skin, enveloping me in its uncomfortable condition. In short, it was freezing cold from the rain.

The only positive thing I was feeling, which made up for everything else, was the memory of a touch. When Zayn grabbed my arm to wrap around his neck, how our bodies were touching just the right amount, how close his face was to mine just like that first night.

My family, excluding my dad who was always out on work, was sitting around our dining table, eating dinner. They all looked at me as if I were some kind of ghost. Or, at least, a poltergeist who meant only to mess with people's head rather than to cause harm. My brother, Kiefer, seemed devious. "I know that face!" He pointed at me. "What happened?"

All the girls rushed towards me, except Spring who was trying to parkour on the kitchen walls. She fell flat on her ass. I tried my best to distract myself from the squeals and screeches of my sisters and mother. The last thing I needed was for this to get in and over my head.

"I just took a cab home," I put it simply, leaving out a few, crucial details. "No big deal." I shrugged. I was still shivering even if it was 90 degrees in our house. Before they were able to mob the answers out of me I ran up to my room and peeled off my clothes.

I dried myself with a towel and wore some fresh, new, dry clothes. The blanket felt so warm as I wrapped myself around it like a cocoon. I closed my eyes and forced myself to drift to sleep. My mouth was wide open because there was snot clogging up my nose.

Right when I was in the state in between awake and dreaming, Maegan emerged from the door, causing my eyes to shoot open. "You have to help me with my college applications tomorrow, okay?" She requested. "I'm applying to nearly ten of them s I need all the help I can get."

Due to my sleepiness and the cold, I agreed before thinking it through. I just wanted the lights to shut off and for my sister to shut up. I drifted to sleep thinking of Zayn. If there was a possibility of me falling for him so easily in so many different ways, why wasn't there a possibility for him to feel the same for me?

ZAYN'S P.O.V.

DAY 3 (and counting)

The three of us were next to her bed. She was rolled in securely in her blanket as we tried to wake her. My hand rested on her forehead. She was burning hot! I combed her hair away from her face and brushed her forehead with my thumb. "Wake up," I whispered, "We have to go to a radio show today."

Niall, on the other hand, was handling it more aggressively. He was vigorously shaking her while calling her out. "Kloe! Wake up!" He yelled. "Wake uuuuuup!" Harry was staring at the standees and life-sized posters, seemingly aloof but he was at least a bit weirded out.

She blinked once, twice, thrice before opening her eyes. "Zayn?" She scratched her eyes which still had morning glory on the corners. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Little Mix is going on Monster Radio studio today," I explained, "I figured if they were all going to be together, it won't be so hard to talk." Monster Radio Studio wasn't far from where she lived. It was near Vegas Strip so it wasn't going to be a long drive. I knew she was coming down with something or maybe she already had a fever but we couldn't go without her. It was going to be useless if we spoke for her.

Groaning, she rolled over to face the wall. "It's too cold to go outside," she complained as she wiggled our hands off of her. Niall and I shrugged at each other and decided that it was time for drastic measures. On the count of three, we lifted the girl off her bed. She was much lighter than we expected although she did struggle a bit to get out of our clutches but she immediately got tired and gave up.

I felt a hint of sorrow, but ignored it. This was important and I knew she knew that. She was a strong one. It was her sickness complaining, not her. We set her down gently on the hardwood floor and rolled her out of her blanket. "Take a shower then dress up as fast as you can," Niall ordered but not unkindly, "The radio show starts in three hours and we need to get there early."

For a moment there, she lay down on the floor, unmoving. Her face was getting paler by the second. I panicked for a second, thinking she could be dead already, but she moved. She planted her hands on the floor to push herself up but failed, landing on her back. Niall and I grabbed a hand each and pulled her up to her feet.

"Thanks," she told us. Her voice was weak and hoarse and I could feel her warm breath on my face. She walked slowly to the bathroom across the hall while the three of us stayed in her bedroom, staring at our faces staring right back at us.

To help save time, I looked in the girl's closet to lay out clothes for her. Nothing too revealing. Something comfortable but still presentable to the public since, after all, there would be pictures of her everywhere. I heard a giggle and turned around to see Harry, staring at his phone.

"I'm just reading some of the tweets about her," Harry shared, "Some of these are really funny."

"Let me see that," I swiped the phone from his hands.

@5SecsOfStyles: That awkward moment when you like The Wanted more than Kloe.

I rolled my eyes, irked. Not just by Harry for laughing at something so shallow and so mean but also for the fans for being so shallow and so mean. They shouldn't have judged her. They didn't even know her. If they did, they'd know that she wasn't all that they said she was. She offered to help. She's suffering because of me. She's really trying to make up for it.

The girl went in her room, in a bathrobe and a turban twisted on her head. "Uhm, guys," she requested, her voice almost in audible from her colds, "Do you mind? I'm gonna dress up."

Without a second passed by, we were all out of her room, (sort of) patiently waiting for her to get ready. The heels of my foot were tapping against the tile floor. Harry was still reading the tweets and occasionally laughing. Niall was the only one that seemed worried for the girl. I would've been too if there weren't so much at stake.

We weren't going to get an opportunity like this again because Little Mix will continue touring and we'd start touring already in 25 days. We hadn't had much progress done yet and I was starting to think we wouldn't make the deadline.