Zita (Niall Horan AU)

Four: Barney the Dino-Agent

Four

Arriving home didn't feel any different. I thought it would, but it didn't. I was expecting to come home feeling just like a new woman with the ability to take a massive breath of fresh air so I could finally smell the roses along with all the big things to come.

Instead all I saw was the absence off my Dad's car in the driveway along with a note taped to the letterbox from the postman saying we missed a parcel delivery. I dread finding out what sort of strange piece of furniture my Dad has ordered now to add to his collection currently cluttering up the house.

Hm that's strange...I wonder where Dad has gone? There was no use in me racking my brains too much, it is already perfectly obvious where my Dad had headed to.....yep, another business trip. Not a word about it to me, nothing. I'm still in his bad books anyway, so I shouldn't have expected too much. Well at least it means my Mum should be home some time soon, it's been weeks since I've seen her.

I twisted my key into the lock and let myself into the house; nothing had changed since I left this morning, not like I should've expected it to. Well, a girl can dream.

Setting my bag down beside me, the first thing I did was jump onto the couch and close my eyes. Today was extremely stressful and I was exhausted, it wasn't even lunch yet and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed until September. I still couldn't believe I had been accepted into Cambridge, this was definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me. For that brief moment when Mr Britman was shaking my hand and telling me how well I'd fit in at the school, I actually felt wanted for the first time in my life. For once I wasn't being told what to do, it was my choice to apply for a place in the University. I wasn't being dragged home every time a person even looked at me, no I held a few conversations with a few different people - not all of them were pleasant - but I was actually communicating with genuine people. So what if those people didn't all necessarily have the best personalities, they were still real people. Not people who are leading a double life and pretending to be something they're not just so they can say they work for the government, only in the comfort of their own home of course, or else they'd be risking the wrath of a heartless assassin paid to finish them off. You think I'm kidding? I wish I was.

"Rozita is that you?" I heard the familiar sound of my Mother's voice ringing through the house.

"Yeah," I called back, my voice slightly strained due to the fact I was still lying down on the couch. My Mum came walking downstairs, probably from working in her office in the loft.

"Hi Roz-" She paused when she couldn't see me, my whole body being blocked by the side of the couch I was currently lying on.

"Rozita?" Mum called again, heading towards the kitchen. Her eyes were searching around the room from what I could see around the side of the couch and she had a confused look plastered on her perfectly made-up face.

"Mum, I'm here," I sighed, eventually managing to pull myself up so I was visible from where she was stood. I could see Mum physically jump out of her skin as she turned to face me, mouth agape and hand against her chest trying to catch her breath.

"You scared the life out of me! What were you doing sprawled across the sofa?"

Couch. We aren't all posh here.

"Thought you'd be used to getting caught off guard," I said under my breath whilst rolling my eyes, now sitting up fully and facing forward on the couch and in the direction of the TV, therefore my Mum couldn't see my annoyance. I could sense a scowl on her facial expression behind me now.

"Where were you?" She said calmly in attempt to change the subject. I tried to get comfortable on the couch, sitting on the chair but facing towards the wall. There was no point in looking at my Mum, she never looks any different, no matter how long she's been away. I can bet you now that she'll be wearing the same style of black pencil shape dress to suit her perfect figure along with a dark blazer, usually in a wintry shade of purple or red and pair of matching heels. Not to mention the usual dark purple lipstick she seems to be obsessed with because it 'compliments her hair colour'. My Dad on the other hand, he just comes back from a business trip looking a little bit more grey than he did before he left.