Unconditional

Chapter 3

I jolted awake, extremely startled, to hear someone yelling.

"LIAM YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! SHE WAS EVERYTHING AND NOW SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE FUCK WE ARE!" I quickly realized that it was Zayn.

"She needs to kno-"

"SHE CAN'T KNOW!" Zayn yelled.

"ZAYN CHILL THE FUCK OUT! WHY CAN'T WE JUST TELL HER?" Niall interjected.

"SHE NEEDS TO FIGURE IT OUT ON HER OWN. I NEED TO PROVE TO-" Zayn's rant was cut short by the phone ringing. I quietly crept to the top of the stairs, but out of sight. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I was too curious not to.

"Hello? Yes Mr. Watts. Yes! I already told you. SHE'S FINE! Amnesia? N-no. W-where'd you hear that? I-I...yes Mr. Watts," Zayn's face fell. "We'll be there in forty minutes," Zayn hung up the phone. "Prick," he muttered.

"Let me go wake Liz," I then heard Niall say. I quietly ran back into my bedroom and under the covers. There was a knock on the door before Niall came in and turned on the light.

"Liz? Wake up. We have to go out," Niall said in a soft voice.

"Niall, are you hiding something from me?" I asked.

"I wish...no. We just, uh, have to go out. So shower, if you want. There are some of your clothes in the closet. Put on something that'll keep you kinda warm cause it's cold out," Niall said, looking down.

All of the sudden, I felt dizzy again. And before I knew it, I was whisked back to the beach.
-
"HEY!" I screamed. Niall was burying me in the sand. We were in Malibu, California, on the beach. We were supposed to be filming the What Makes You Beautiful video, but we had started goofing off.

"SOMEONE HELP!" I yelled, cracking up. No one came.

"I'm almost done!" Niall looked at me with a crooked grin.

"I HATE YOU NIALL JAMES HORAN!" I yelled, laughing my ass off.
-
"LIZ! LIZ!" Niall was shaking me.

"The beach...," I mumbled. Niall looked puzzled, his eyebrow raised. "Malibu...What Makes You Beautiful! You buried me in the sand. You were supposed to be shooting but we started goofing off..." My voice trailed off.

"Yeah, Liz! Alright mate!" Niall shouted with glee. The other four boys came upstairs.

"What's all the ruckus?" they simultaneously asked.

"A memory!" was all Niall said. They erupted into cheers.

"About who...?" Zayn quietly asked.

"Me." Niall replied. "When I buried her in the sand on the set of the What Makes You Beautiful video!" Everyone smiled, except Zayn.

"Yeah. Malibu," I spoke up.

"Only Niall?" Zayn asked. I nodded. His face fell. "Nothing?" I shook my head, and Zayn stormed off.

"What's his problem?" I asked.

"You and Zayn," Harry glanced at the others, "were the closest. That's all."

"Oh. Oh," I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well...get out of here. I have to shower," I said, shooing them out.

"Maybe I'd like to see that," Harry winked cheekily.

"STYLES!" I scolded him.

Harry laughed and went downstairs with the others. I shut the door, undressed, and walked into the bathroom off my bedroom. I turned on the water and let the warmth wash over me. I couldn't help but think about the argument I heard between Zayn, Liam, and Niall.

I sighed as I washed my hair. Then I hopped out of the shower, dried off, and picked out clothes. I picked a Superman shirt, black skinny jeans, RayBans, and a sweatshirt, along with my Converse. I braided my hair and went downstairs.

When I went downstairs, the boys were all in the kitchen. All of the sudden, I fell, feeling dizzy again.

"Liz!" Zayn exclaimed, helping me up.

"I'm fine," I shook my head.

"That's not healthy, Liz," Liam frowned, and I snorted.

"None of this is really healthy, Li. But really, I'm alright," I insisted. He sighed in defeat, and we went outside.

"Shit," Louis swore, "we don't have a car."

"Yeah we do. In the garage. A black Beamer," Li replied. "Keys in the cup holder." Louis went into the garage and then pulled it into the driveway.

"Hop in!" he grinned crookedly.

We all got in the huge SUV. Zayn and I were in the way back, Liam and Niall in the middle, and Harry sat in the front. I yawned and stretched my shoulders forward, and I accidentally brushed my hand across Zayn's upper leg.

"Sorry!" I said, blushing and quickly looking away. I thought I saw him smile for the first time.

*ten minutes later*

"LOUIS, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THE FUCK WE'RE GOING!" Harry yelled, laughing.

"Yes I do, you bastard. Now fuck off!" Louis sassed Harry. We all started laughing, and Zayn was really, truly smiling. And it was beautiful. Then the DJ announced: "This is What Makes You Beautiful, by One Direction!"

The car erupted into cheers. Liam started the song in sync with the radio.

"You're insecure, don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or. Don't need make-up, to cover up. Being the way that you are is enou-ou-ough."

Harry started singing, "Everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but yo-ou."

Out of nowhere the lyrics poured out of my mouth.

"Baby you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed, but when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell you don't know. Oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful. If only you saw what I can see, you'll understand why I want you so desperately. Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe, you don't know, oh oh. You don't know you're beautiful, oh oh, that's what makes you beautiful!"

Liam, Harry, Niall, and Zayn all gaped at me. A tumble of curse words came out of Louis' mouth, too.

"How do you...?" Liam lost his words.

"I don't believe it. Another memory," Harry said. And I grinned. It really was another memory. Maybe this wasn't going to be that bad.