It's Not Easy (Zauren)

Chapter 24: Christmas Evening

WARNING: Cutting scene. It isn't bad but if you don't enjoy reading that then you should skip the bottom of Lauren's POV.

Lauren's POV

I was playing princess with Sofi at Camila's house when Camila called for me.

"I'll be right back, Sofi." I smile at her and she nods. I walk upstairs to Camila's room.
"Yes, Camz?" I ask sitting next to her on her bed.
"The boys still playing basketball?" She inquires.
"Yep." I answer.
"Wanna go get snacks with me?" She questions.
"Sure! Are we taking Lana?" I ask.
"Who's Lana?" Camila wonders.
"My range rover. Duh." I say.
"How the hell was I supposed to know you named your car?!" She asks.
"Calm down. Geez, sorry." I respond.
"No, I'm sorry. Let's go right now before they open presents." Camila says.

We tell the boys we were going to the store and they just nodded and continued playing their one on one basketball game. I get in my car and Camila does the same and then we were off. I stopped at the nearest store here and parked my car. We entered the store and went to the snack aisle. Camila just picked up whatever and I let her because nobody comes between Camila and food. When we were in the line for registering out, something caught my eye. Zayn was on the cover of a magazine. They titled it, Zayn and his new girl? I grabbed it and skimmed through it until I found his article. I studied the picture of Zayn kissing somebody. It was a girl alright but it wasn't me. This girl had blonde hair. It was the same night that we went clubbing. Zayn straight up lied to my face. I wonder what he'll have to say when I confront him about this.

"Lauren? Are you getting that because we're checking out?" Camila asks.
"Yeah... I am." I reply. I hand it to the cash registerer and she added it to our items.
"I'll pay for it since this is mostly my snacks." Camila offers.
"I can pay." I say.
"I insist, Lolo. Those Ed Sheeran tickets must've costed a lot." She wasn't wrong.
"Okay then. If you insist."
"Are you okay? You seem down." She questions looking into my eyes.
"I'm fine, Camz. Let's go now." I answer after she pays for the stuff.
"You most definitely don't seem fine." She comments.
"We can talk about it at your house." I say.
"Okay. We better."

When we get back to Camila's house, I walked right past Zayn and ignored the attempted kiss he tried to give me. I ran upstairs to Camila's room and face planted onto her bed.

"Lo, seriously. What the hell is going on?" She interrogates.
"Where's the magazine?" I ask.
"Right here." She holds it in her hands. I take it from her and flip to Zayn's article again. I hand it back to her and she didn't even have to read to realize why I was mad.
"Oh my Godzilla! I thought he said he didn't kiss anybody." Camila infuriates.
"Looks like he lied."
"Confront that son of a gun!" Camila encourages.
"I can't right now. We just got into a happy place." I say.
"So you're just gonna deal and live with a cheater?" She asks.
"No, of course not. Can you get him for me?" I query.
"You know I will." She responds and leaves me again.

Why would he lie? He specifically told me he didn't. I don't even know what to think right now. He. Lied. Right to my face. Who does that? He might've been drunk but I know he remembers what happened. Then, I heard a knock.

"You wanted to talk?" Zayn asks coming in.
"Yeah..."
"Laur, what's wrong?" He questions grabbing my hands but I pull away. I grab the magazine and shove it in his face. He took it and studied it. His face was in complete shock.
"Explain that to me." I demand.
"Lauren.." He begins but never finishes.
"You lied to me, Zayn!" I shout in his face.
"I didn't want to hurt you." He says softly.
"That doesn't give you the damn right to lie. What hurts the most is not knowing and you let me kiss you! How could you?" I cry.
"I never meant for any of this to happen. I didn't want you to get hurt for my impulsive mistake." He explains.
"What's done is done. Please get the fuck out. Actually, you can leave." I say.
"Lauren, I'm truly sorry. Please, forgive me." He begs.
"We're done, Zayn! I want you out! Get that through your head!" I yell.
"Zayn... Please leave." Camila comes and says.
"I'm really really sorry, Lauren. I hope you can forgive me one day. I can't live without you. You're my source of happiness and life won't be complete without you." He says.
"Here. Take this back." I take off the promise ring and I throw it at him. He catches it and walks away.
"Are you okay?" Camila asks.
"I'm fucking fantastic, Camz. I actually just want to go home. Tell your parents I'm sorry. I'll pick up my presents tomorrow." I respond.
"Oh, okay. I'll do that." She says.