I Don't Wanna Live Forever (A Zaylena fanfic)

Chapter 29 - The First Kiss, The Flashback, The Pain

As the party went on led by the surprise guest Dua Lipa, Selena was walking home, clutching her head. Her long dark brown hair was suddenly slowly becoming stained with the tiny droplets of her own blood. Zayn worried for her sake greatly and stayed by her side all though the long walk back to his car which followed by the long drive home.

During the long drive, a lingering haunting memory haunted Selena. When that mean guy grabbed her by her hair, the hard grasp brought back a repressed memory that was just as painful as the hair grasp and pain that the stranger inflicted on her at the party.

[Flashback]: Selena walks to the front door of the apartment that she shared with Justin. As she reached in the two heavy grocery bags to get the keys and open the front door to get inside, suddenly the dark apartment become lit as the lights switched on and an angry Justin awaited her by his chair. "Where have you been?", he said with his anger seething. "I told you, babe. I went out.", said Selena. "Are you sure? Are you sure you weren't hanging out with Loverboy?"

Selena scoffed, placing the heavy grocery bags on the counters. Carrying the groceries was exhausting but Justin's accusations were just as heavily exhausting and painful too. "Justin, how many times do we have to go through this? I told you, I'm not seeing anybody else--" SMASH! Selena's sentence was snapped short when Justin grabbed a glass and slammed it on the floor, scaring her. "BULLSHIT!", he screams. Getting seething mad and moving toward her. Selena tried to defend herself but he managed to keep the knife away from her, twisting her hand in the process. "Ow! Justin! What do you want!?", Selena shouts. "I want to know your faithful, that you're only devoted to ME and ONLY ME!" "Ow! I gave up everything for you! I had to give up my friends, my family because of you! Isn't that enough?", Selena begged. "No! It's NEVER ENOUGH! I want to know where you go! From now on, you tell me EVERYTHING! Where you go, what you do!", Justin shouts, restraining her. "Ouch, Justin!", Selena begged trying to fight him. "I want to hear your voice! Your inner voice. Your REAL voice! I wanna HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS!", Justin screamed. "NO! I don't want you reading my thoughts!", Selena screamed. She was in it deep. She was really fearing for her life! Justin pulls a death grip on her neck and arm. "HIDING SOMETHING from me?" he growls. "Ouch, you're hurting me!!", Selena cried.

"You HAVEN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!", Justin warned and threw her to the floor. Selena crashes on the hardwood floor, clutching her head and making it bleed. She turns only to be greeted with a fist in the eye from Justin. "NO!!!", she screams. And the flashback ends.

Back in the present, Selena tears up at the thought of the repressed memory, the thought of Justin hitting her in the eye with his fist coming back to haunt her. It was just too much. Zayn hopped over to the kitchen, the extra room where he kept an emergency first-aid kit and a blanket then headed over to Selena to check up on her. After a hour of intense therapy involving her wounds, she was okay. The bleeding stopped. Physically she was fine, now, but emotionally... "What's wrong Selena?" asked Zayn, seeing she's wasn't doing all right. Selena just finally breaks down. "I don't understand! How is getting hurt by bad people whenever I'm happy suddenly life's big plan for me?", she cries to him. "Sometimes, I feel like I've got bad luck because I ran out on Justin and that I should be paying for that." "No, no no, Selena. You've got your friends. Your family. Your music. Think about it. You've got good luck. Bad luck would've been if you stayed and something worst could've happened.", Zayn says to her. Selena blinks her eyes widely. He had a point. Looking back on their lives and the choices they've had to make, they've made some tough choices but still managed to come out strong. "Yeah. I've living the dream.", Zayn jokes. Selena laughs. "Do you ever miss One Direction?" "Sometimes, yes. It's just--" "All the rules?" answers Selena. "Yes.", Zayn says brightly. "Do you ever miss Perrie?" "Yes I did. I've shed my tears and still my heart's not broken." "Hmmm." "Do you ever miss Justin?" Selena paused. "Sometimes but then I look at you & Louie & see how nice you guys are and I realize that the toxic is just not right for me. The light is."

"You know what hurts me is that a guy like him could pick on a sweet girl like you." says Zayn. Selena blushes and smiles. "You know what else hurts me? Wanting you so badly", he said to her. Then he placed a calm hand upon her cheek, touching her gently. Then for a moment, they looked into each other's eyes, leaned in...then their lips touched and suddenly everything else felt quiet while just between the two of them, together it felt like a firework went off...