Pause. Rewind. Play. (A Zayn Malik Fanfic)

Chapter 8: Explanation Time

"You what!" Tara exclaims. Megan and Sofie stare at me with opened mouths.

"Used to date?" Harry asks me quietly. He has a look of confusion written on his face. I bite my lip and nod. I get up from my seat.

"Girls, can you come to my room, please? Now," I state, putting emphasis on the word "now". They immediately scurry along and I follow after them, locking the door behind me.

"Well, did something slip from your mind when we became friends?" Tara snaps. "Maybe that you used to date Zayn Malik?"

"Tara calm down-" Sofie tries, but that just seems to make Tara even more angry.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Tara snaps. "How can any of you be calm about this? Ari has been lying to us for these two damn years!"

"She has a point, Ari," Megan says. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Because this is why!" I shout. I know Zayn and Harry are probably eavesdropping on us, so I lower my voice to a regular octave. "Then you would've seen me as the girl who dated Zayn Malik, not for me. I didn't want to get any special treatment because I didn't want it nor want it now. When I left Bradford, I wanted to erase everything from Zayn possible. And right now I want him out again,"

"Why?" Sofie asks. I don't say anything. "Ari, you can tell us. We're your friends." I slide down the door, burying my face in my hands.

"How will I know this won't change everything?" I ask. I hear the floor squeak next to me and see Sofie taking a seat next to me.

"Because we love you, we won't love you any more or any less for whatever reason happened between you and Zayn Malik. We just want the truth," she says softly. I sigh, lifting my face from my hands.

"Alright, I'll tell you," I say.

Liam's P.O.V:

"Where's Zayn?" Haley asks. Her and Niall just came back from shopping. Originally, Niall wanted to go alone to get a new pair of Supras. Haley chose to go with him, saying to run some errands. She only has a small Victoria Secret 

I and Dani are on the couch watching a film. I think Louis and Eleanor went out, but I'm not sure where. Harry and Zayn also went somewhere. I wonder where they are.

"Haven't seen him since he left this morning with Harry," I says, not paying much attention to them. Tomorrow night, Dani's flying back to the UK. Tomorrow morning, we're all going out for a breakfast, as a rare occasion the girls all have off around the same time. Eleanor's leaving sometime next week. I'm going to miss Dani a lot when she leaves, but she has her career to maintain and so do I. I do trust her though. We're pretty okay with not seeing each other for a long time because of our work, especially since we text, talk, and Skype everyday.

Haley's going back next month. She's on break from university, and then going back to study to become a teacher.

"I tried to call him. Did he take his phone?" Niall go to the bar and take out a can of cashews. Opening it up, he starts to munch on them. I hear the door open and then Harry comes in, going to his room. Zayn follows coming in. Without even giving a second glance to Haley, walks to his room.

We look at each other in confusion.

Excusing myself, I go to Harry's door, gently knocking on it.

"Go away, please," he says through the door. I try the doorknob, but he locked it. I move on to Zayn's door, doing the same.

"I'm not in the mood." Luckily, the door swings open, and I go in. Closing it behind me, I look at Zayn, who's sprawled out on his bed, looking at the ceiling.