classic » liam payne au

friend

When Violet walked into her literature class, she noticed something different. Thomas Rutter, the blond boy who sat to her right every single day, was not in his usual seat. Instead, it was a head of brown hair. Her eyebrows pulled together; curious as to whom she would be sitting next to today. She walked down to her row, and as she passed the boy to get to her seat, she saw whom it was.

“Zayn?” she asked and he looked up.

“Hey Violet.” He smiled at her.

“Don’t you usually sit… not so close to the front?” Violet asked, trying not to sound rude.

Zayn chuckled. “Yeah, but I figured I should change that. My marks aren’t exactly up to par.” He told her and she nodded.

“Oh.” Violet replied, moving past him and sitting in her seat. “Thomas usually sits there.”

“You mean tongue-tied Tommy?” Zayn laughed, nodded his head in Thomas’ direction.

Violet frowned. “That’s rude, Zayn.” She didn’t like the nickname some of the people in her lit class had given him. Thomas had trouble speaking in front of people and tended to stutter quite a lot, but he was very nice.

“It’s not a judgment, Violet. It’s merely an observation.” He shrugged, a sly smirk on his face.

“A rude observation.” Violet told him, setting her books down on her desk and readying herself for their lecture today.

Zayn Malik was your classic art enthusiast. Every time you spotted him outside a classroom, he had a cigarette between his index and middle fingers, earphones hanging out of the top of his hoodie, and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He was working on a different art project every week, and they never failed to impress. It wasn’t just visual arts he was interested, however. Zayn was the star of the school’s competitive choir (which Violet couldn’t understand since the cigarettes he smoked had to take a toll on his lungs and vocal chords), and also dabbled in the drama club whenever they needed a role fulfilled. Though Zayn was mysterious and usually fairly quiet, he was captivating. In fact, Violet had a crush on him the first month of her literature class last year. He was smart and handsome, the full package. Not to mention he didn’t ignore Violet, unlike everyone else, because of her love for music.

Although Violet wouldn’t exactly consider them friends, they were friendly towards each other and bantered when given the chance.

“So, I’ve heard you’ve been seeing Liam Payne?”

“What?” Violet asked, her head whipping to her right to look him straight in the eyes. “Where in the hell did you hear that?”

“Niall. He’s in choir with me.” Zayn said.

Niall. She’s heard that name before… Ah! Alexander’s party, the one Elizabeth brought her to! Niall was friends with Louis.

“How the fuck would Niall hear about that?”

“So it’s true?” Zayn grinned.

“No! It is not true!” Violet said quickly. “We’re just friends. Christ, we’ve only hung out twice. How do these things get out so quickly?”

Zayn ignored her last question. “If it’s not true then why is your face as red a cherry?”

“Would you piss off?” Violet hissed and Zayn laughed quietly. “Zayn Malik, you know I’m not the type of girl who sees boys.”

Zayn shrugged. “Violet Lundson, you’re a grown girl and you’ve got to start seeing one soon.”

“I do not. You’re not the boss of me.” Violet protested childishly. It was seriously bugging her that people were starting to get the idea that she and Liam were a thing. They were not, and they never would be! The idea was simply ludicrous.