Talking In Circles (Zayn Malik love story) *FINISHED*

Chapter Seven

Zayn's Point of View:

"She what?!" I shouted as Louis told me the words that made me smile. She liked me. Alice liked me. I smiled for about the millionth time.

"Yes! She just told me, but she told me not to say anything, so you can't tell her you know."

"I won't. But, what if I told you something."

"Yay! More secrets!"

"Lou, I'm serious here! I tried to kill myself for my last girlfriend, okay? And I'm so glad I did or I would have never met Alice. It was fate."

"Alice?" Louis asked.

I rolled my eyes in frustration.

"Yes, Lou. Alice! That's what she likes to be called!"

"Oh."

"I can't believe it." I said, sitting on his bed.

"If you like her this much, why are you here? Go lay down with her!"

"I-I can't."

"What? Why?!"

"I'm too nervous."

Louis grabbed my arm and draggd me out of the room. I was extremely excited about Alice, but what if she didn't like me as much as I loved her?

Louis dragged me into a room where I saw Alice sleeping. I smiled at how cute she looked.

"Get in there!" Louis whisper-yelled.

"Fine. Get out."

"Ugh, I can't ever watch." I rolled my eyes as he left and tried to lay down with Alice without waking her up. I wrapped my arms around her small figure and listened to her breathe slowly. It was calming me down and making me want to sleep, too. I didn't, though. I stayed awake and listened to her breathing. I held her tighter and brought her closer to me.

I was just about to close my eyes and fall asleep when I felt her stir. I smiled a little.

"You awake?" She yawned and nodded.

"Yeah." She turned to face me and smiled. I smiled back at her.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?" She asked. I just shrugged.

"I honestly don't know. Just for a while until we go back home."

I honestly didn't want to go back home. That means I would be miles away from her. I didn't understand, though. If she lived in Ireland, why did her parents send her to that place here in England? None of it made sense.

"Um, Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Why'd your parents send you here? You know, to England."

She sighed. "We were moving here when they sent me away. By now, their already living here. I just have to find out from Louis where they live."

"Oh."

She nodded. "Yeah. They said it was just easier to send me here than move me around. They said I'd be "adjusted" to everything better if they just sent me here."

I was starting to get curious. Her parents seemed like they didn't care much about her.

"Can I ask you something kind of personal?"

"Sure."

"Are your parents nice to you? Like, do they treat you right?"

She nodded again. "I guess. They don't starve me, I starve myself. Mostly everything is my fault. They definitely treat Niall different than they treat me, but that's because he's their child and I'm just a kid they adopted."

I felt kind of bad for her. From what she was saying, it still seemed like they didn't care much about her. That they thought she was old enough to take her of herself by now, but she really wasn't. I could see she was scared. I KNEW she was scared. Just by the look in her eyes sometimes, I knew. I just knew.

"You shouldn't be treated any different just because your adopted. When your adopted, your part of their family. They should treat you like family." I said, getting a little pissed. It just hurt me that she was treated different because she was different from them.

"I've gotten used to it. Nothing really bothers me anymore."

"That's horrible, Alice." I said, quietly. I saw tears in her eyes and I immediately felt like it was my fault she was about to cry. I saw her fake smile through the tears and it broke my heart.

"It's really not. It's fine. Everything's fine." She said the last part quietly, looking down at the sheets on the bed.

I pulled her close to me and hugged her tight. She was so small and thin. She probably weighed, like, nothing. She was almost fragile. I knew why she was so small, though. I had just heard her say it. She doesn't eat.

I broke the hug and just looked at her. I saw tears coming down her face already.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I shouldn't have brought it up." I said, pulling her close again. She just nodded and kept her head down. It hurt me that she didn't even have the confidence to keep her head up, it hurt me to see her crying, it hurt me to know what she went through, it hurt me to know that she starved herself, it hurt me to know she cuts, it hurt me to know she was treated horribly since she was just a little kid, it all hurt me. I never felt this before about anyone besides my ex.

The girl I tried to commit suicide for, the girl who I was in love and she broke my heart. Seems like one of those cheesy love stories, but it was true. But now, she doesn't matter. All that matters to me is Alice now. She made me smile a lot and made me feel less alone.

"It's okay, Zayn. It's okay." She said, quietly. I knew it was bothering her. I sighed.

"I'm really sorry."

"Zayn, it's okay."

"You sure?"

She nodded and laid down, holding onto my arm. I kissed her head. I wanted to tell her how much I liked her, but I couldn't. What if she didn't feel the same way? I sighed again.

"Want to get up? Go see what Lou and Harry are doing?"

"Sure. But can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. Anything." I said, smiling.

"Carry me?"

I smiled at her. "Of course, babe." I saw her smile when I said 'babe'. That's a new thing I'll be calling her.

"Thanks." I picked her up and was a little shocked when I felt how light she was. But, what was I expecting?

I carried her out to the living room and saw Louis and Harry sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey." I said, walking over to them. Alice wrapped her arms around my neck. I took it as a sign that she didn't want me to let go of her. I sat on the couch next to Harry and kept her in my arms, where she was laying across my lap with her head on my shoulder.

I saw Harry smile at us. He probably knew how I felt about her. That boy could read me like a book.

I looked down at Alice and smiled, fighting the urge to kiss her. Our faces were inches apart. Not kissing her was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Wait, it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

She smiled back, which made me smile wider.

"Love birds." Harry said, fake coughing. I rolled my eyes and blushed. I looked down and saw Alice smiling and blushing. Maybe she did like me back....