Rebuilding Zerrie

Story Time

KLOE'S P.O.V.

There wasn't a single crumb Zayn didn't devour from my breakfast, or more commonly known as the pizza I had just ordered. I was guessing he was the kind of guy who eats when he's nervous. As he ate bite by bite, he told me about what happened with Harry Magee yesterday and about not telling Harry anything (which I agreed on whole-heatedly because, let's admit it, Harry's not the best in dealing with news) and about the car mishap.

"And you'll never guess who came out of the other car," Zayn groaned in frustration and covered his face with his hands to muffle his other moans.

Holy crap. I laughed at its simultaneous predictability and untimeliness . "Oh no," I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled. "You serious?" Zayn threw his back to the floor and nodded, ashamed. I couldn't help but laugh at how dramatic he was being but I willed myself to stop so he could go on with his story. "And then what happened?" I had to ask.

Zayn cleared his throat as he unfolded his hands from his face. Gosh, even if he was distressed and irritated, he still looked gorgeous. "I ran away!" He yelled at the ceiling.

"You ran away?"

"Do I have to say it again?" He whined like a fourteen year old girl as he strained to look at me while lying down on the floor. "I know I'm a fanny," he sighed. "You don't have to emphasize it." I forced myself to smother the chuckles to help Zayn get back on his feet again. I almost felt sorry for him if it wasn't for the fact that he was like my teenage daughter in her rebellious stage.

I slid my ass to on the floor to sit next to him and he rested his head on my lap as I looked down at him. "Alright, Veronica," I said jokingly, "Just let it all out. I'm here to listen." I figured if I were to have a pubescent daughter at the age of 18, I'd at least give her a name. Veronica just seemed to fit at the time. I've always wanted to have a child named after someone with a planet as a last name, like Freddie.

"I don't know what went on with myself, really." He shifted his head on my thigh, his hair tickling my skin a bit. Zayn let out a long sigh, "I knew there was going to be a point where I would have to see Perrie and talk to her about this but..." His voice trailed off into nothingness and he fond comfort in playing with the ends of my hair which were dangling just above his face. "But I guess I was just afraid."

A corner of my mouth lifted up. It was hard to imagine my idols being scared. What exactly is there to be afraid of except their crazy psycho fans that seriously discuss about methods to rape them? I tapped the tip of his nose with my finger. "Afraid of what, Ver?" He scoffed at the tiny gesture and repositioned again, mostly just resting his neck on my lap as well.

"Afraid that she wouldn't love me like she did before," Zayn confessed in dismay. He began tugging lightly at my hair and twisting his finger, allowing my hair strands to coil around them. If he only knew how his fangirls felt about him. If he only knew how we bear loving someone who we know will never know we exist.

"You know, fears aren't really real," I told him. His eyebrows furrowed as he untwirled my hair from his finger. "Fears are just stories we tell ourselves," I went on. "We really should stop living in fiction, don't you think?"

ZAYN'S P.O.V.

No words can express how right she was. Nobody was telling me that Pez wouldn't love me like before. Nobody but myself. And all the while the girl was talking to me, it sounded like the simplest thing in the world. For someone who had so many problems of her own, she really knew how to cheer someone up.

There were loud bangs on the door. "Hey, open up!" Louis shouted through the thick plank of wood.

The girl was about to stand up to get the door but I pulled her down. "Don't," I whispered so the lads wouldn't hear. "Perrie might be with them." But she just nodded and went to the door anyway. She stood there for a while, hand on the doorknob, not knowing what to say. She was a good girl. She didn't know how to be abrasive when she really needed to.

Once she finally opened the door after all the knocking, Louis spoke up. "Hi," he said surprisingly gently. "Would you like to take a minute to discuss the Good News of God?"

She could barely keep a straight face from Louis' impersonation. "What do you want?" The girl asked, trying to be assertive but really not even sounding remotely like taking control. "Zayn's not really in the mood right now."

"It doesn't matter if he is or isn't," I heard a deep voice ask. The moment the voice had spoken, the girl crossed her arms. Most likely Harry. "Modest is gonna kill us if we miss another day for the Asian interview thing."

"Besides," Niall chimed in, "Little Mix was running late for an album signing on the other side of town. They left even before we chased after Zayn."

So they were gone? I wouldn't be able to see them anymore? After almost two weeks of searching for her and trying to contact Perrie and I just let her go so easily? I was such a dimwit, I know but aren't we all fools in love? I got off the floor and went to the front door, where the girl and the other four were standing.

"I appreciate you trying to cover for me today," I told the girl, "But I can't put us in trouble again." I stepped out of her house and smiled one last time at her before leaving. "Thanks," I grinned. "You've given me a lot to think about." And a lot more to do something about.

DAY 12

KLOE'S P.O.V.

It was a drag having to convince my mom that 24 hours of rest was already enough for me, but with the help of my dad and the five lads, she eventually gave in. Trying to convince my brother, though, that there would be absolutely no "hanky panky" between Harry and I was like trying to explain the concept of dieting to Niall--almost impossible.

He only agreed on letting me go when I promised to wear jeans and a pullover and to never leave his side no matter the circumstances, except for when I had to go to the ladies' room. I wanted to tell him off, to remind him that I was 18 and planning on living on my own and moving somewhere far away. I was beyond my years unlike him, almost 30, unmarried, practically unemployed and still living with his parents.

But if I did, he might back out of everything, endangering the lads' careers yet again. I wouldn't want to be the one to blame and neither was anybody with the surname Sutherland. I slipped on a pair of skinny jeans and a pullover twice my size. It was pretty good timing that my brother chose today to force me into an oven for clothing because it was pretty chilly. It was pouring since about 3 in the morning and the sun never rose.

On the car ride, my brother had called shotgun, not for him, but for me though, so I wouldn't have any chance of sitting next to Harry who didn't even mind sitting at the back. To the short drive to the studio, Niall drove, in sunglasses and all, and we were able to catch up on some things. "So, how'd you know Zayn would be at my place yesterday?"

"Instinct," Niall answered, taking his eyes off the road for a second. "What did he tell you?"

I shrugged a shoulder and curled my lips downward. "Not much," I said, "Just about everything." He scoffed a little. Was it even possible for breathing to have an Irish accent? It was so adorable, I lost my ability to even.

"Did he tell you about Harry?" He asked, with a huge grin on his face, making his braces visible. I'm sorry, but I just wanted to get stuck in Niall's braces. Not in a sexual way, not at all. It's not that Niall's cojones didn't have me striving for life on the cold, wet pavement like every other Directioner but he was my best friend at the moment because Kiefer was literally at Harry's throat, inspecting for condoms or herpes or genital deficiency. Maegan, on the other hand, was confined in the hospital, fighting for dear consciousness for Pete's sake.

I'm just saying, it would be quite uncomfortable if I'd develop feelings for Niall now that he was my bestie. I nodded at him as he entered the driveway of Modest. "Like...?" He egged me to get into detail about Zayn's tales from yesterday.

"Like about not telling him that you got busted by Mr. Magee the other day," I explained, "And about my brother making me stay at home because of him, but I think he already knows about that." As he pulled over next to the van, Niall looked at me like expecting something more. "Wait," I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "Is there something he didn't tell me?"

Niall sighed as he pulled the key out of the ignition and took of his shades. "I tell you later," he licked his lips and jumped out of the car, shutting the door and leaving me inside while everyone else exited the vehicle, wondering what it was Zayn didn't want to tell me and why Niall took it as such a big deal.