Gotta Be You

Chapter 17: Disaster Strikes

Zayn:I awoke at a mere 9:30 in the morning. Usually I would rub the sleep from my eyes before getting up and going down to breakfast at the hotel. Today though I had no other plans. It was exciting to pick up my IPad and hit the Twitter app. My feed was littered with responses from different fans. this wasn’t exactly new though. But on the first Tweet I stopped dead in  my tracks. The Tweet read

How could you not tell us?

A few others said things just the same. What was going on? Finally I found one from a certain follower that read

Check @BridgetteHotSpots’s Tweets right now

. My heart stopped. Jess was with Bridgette all night. What had gotten out? My first thought was

The secret

!Then I remembered Jess’s words from last night, “I won’t let it get out. I promise.” Jess wasn’t one to break promises. I click on the name. I looked down and found my username in her Tweets.

I know @ZaynMalik1D’s dirty little secret

. My heart stopped.

Jess: I got into the room at 10:30 to find Zayn standing waiting for me. “Hey,” I said happily once I saw his face. Then I noticed his expression. He was not happy. I may have gone far enough to say he was furious. I swallowed hard, trying to think of a reason for him to be mad. None crossed my mind.

“Have you checked Twitter at all this morning?” he asked bitterly. Was his anger really pointe toward me?

“I’ve been with my friends all morning,” I said, putting my suitcase to the side. “Should I have?” I asked.

“That’s an idea,” he said. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went onto Twitter. It didn’t take me long to find the Tweet that I knew he was talking about:

I know @ZaynMalik1D’s dirty little secret.

“What! How ?! She had been-oh no-I thought she had been asleep when I,” I stopped.

“When you told?! I thought you didn’t want to tell anyone, Jess?” Zayn said, growing more and more angry by the second.

“I meant to tell Cara! Bridgette, I thought, was asleep. You know I wouldn’t just tell Bridgette! We went over this last night!” I said, trying to make my case.

“I thought we covered that we wouldn’t tell

anyone

!” Zayn was almost yelling.

“Zayn! She saved my life and is the reason I am here with you right now and yet she doesn’t deserve to know?! How is that fair?!” I asked, yelling with him.

“It’s not fair because I have to keep this daily from getting out to the press and the first chance you get to keep it and you end up spreading it all over!” Zayn yelled. I looked down at my shoes. I felt like I was standing in my old house listening to my dad yell at me over being late or getting a bad grade. “Why do I even try if you are the one who wants the secret and yet you can’t keep it?!” Zayn yelled some more. My view flashed to a picture of the cream stained carpet instead of the rich dark toned carpet I was standing on. I was tuned out to Zayn’s yelling as I looked down at my feet. How much time had past? Minutes? Hours? In all truth it was probably only seconds that had passed. Finally I heard Zayn whispered something, “Dang it look at me! Jess Look. At. Me!” Then I say his arm reach out as if in slow motion and slap me. My husband slapped me.

Zayn:I did it out of impulse. It didn’t take me long to realize what I had done. Jess’s eyes flashed with something. Was it pain? No. It was terror. I started to breath deeply, knowing that if I said anything I could only make it worse. Jess’s eyes welled up with tears. Jess quickly turned, grabbing her suitcase and opened the door. I realized what she was thinking. She had to get out of here. She had to go fast. Before she was locked in just like when she was little. I watched her open the door and she left. I heard Louis open the adjoining door to the next room. “Aren’t you going to go after her?” he asked. I shook my head.

“No,” I said, “That’s not what she would want.” I turned and sat on the bed closest to where I stood. I’ve only ever felt that feeling once, but it felt like my soul was being ripped from my body. And now I knew she wouldn’t come back.