Vindictive

2

Lauren stayed the night so Zayn and her can have an all night rendezvous. When she woke up the following morning, he wasn't beside her. She trailed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, and then followed the aroma of freshly made coffee out into the kitchen. Instead of finding Zayn, she found a shirtless Liam pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning." he smiled. Lauren gave him a small wave, still exhausted from last nights events. She took a seat at the counter. "Do you want some coffee?" he asked. Lauren kindly shook her head no, "So, where's Zayn?" Liam raised an eyebrow, then sipped from his mug. "His cars out front," he pointed out. It was Lauren's turn to raise a questioning eyebrow. "Is he not here?" Lauren shook her head. "Atleast, I don't think he is.."

"Maybe he's out back, sometimes he likes to sit by the pool," Liam informed the confused girlfriend.

Lauren stood up and made her way out the patio doors. The lawn chairs were empty, and the pool unoccupied; the wind making ripples surge through the chlorinated water. No Zayn. There were woods on the side of the house, but why would he be out there. She let out a sigh, and turned around, she couldn't call him either because she remembered Zayn had told her about the shitty service.

Lauren pulled the balcony door open, and then she heard something behind hit hard behind her, when she turned around a bird was unconcious on the ground. She let out a squeal and Liam rushed over to her. "What happened?!" he panicked. Lauren pointed, at a loss for words with a trembling finger. Instead of reacting the way Lauren had expected, Liam sighed. "Don't freak out, it happens like five times a year. I don't know what attracts them, maybe because the glass is so clean." Lauren's heart was beating a million miles a minute, as she tried to catch her breath. "Do you think it's still alive?" she spoke, her voice low as she stared down at the bird, not even fluttering a wing. "Probably not.. they usually break their neck on impact," Lauren cringed at Liam's words. "I'm gonna get something to pick it up."

"Can we have a funeral for it?" Lauren asked, feeling as though the bird she'd never seen needed a proper burial. Liam seemed hesitant at first but then he nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure. I suppose so. Just let me just go get a shovel and an old shoe box." Lauren nodded as Liam disappeared back into the house.

The air blowing around was brisk, and all she had on were Zayn's black tshirt, and some of his sweat pants. She rubbed her hand up and down her arm trying to warm herself up. She stared around, trying to avoid eye contact with the dead bird. Liam came back out a few minutes later with a box, and a shovel.

After Liam scooped the little red bird into the box, they made their way to the side where the woods were. "So... do you live here?" Lauren asked Liam, as he dug a hole big enough for the shoe box to fit in. Liam shook his head, as he threw the dirt from the ground to the side of the pit he was digging. He found it silly to be creating a grave for a dumb bird that flew into the glass door, but if that's what Lauren wanted, he figured why not. "I usually stay here when Louis' out getting drunk, and brings home a random trollop." He took the shoebox from Lauren's hands and put it into the freshly dug hole. "Zayn doesn't mind. He even lets us stay here when he isn't here."

"Does he stay here a lot?" Lauren questioned, after she said a silent prayer for the bird, and Liam went back to throwing dirt on top. The converse shoe box disappearing. Liam waved his hand side to side. Sometimes. He lives with Harry, and they stay there sometimes, but they stay here even more."

"Why don't they just move in here? It has enough rooms."

"The service is shitty. We all thought about it, but we came to realize it's just a good place to stay when you need to make a get away." Lauren nodded, but said nothing more. "So, anymore questions?" Lauren shook her head no. "I didn't mean to come off annoying."

"Annoying? No. You're just curious. Can't blame a girl for that." Liam said. He patted the smoothed the dirt down with the shovel. "Any last words?" he asked, turning to the bright eyed brunette. Lauren shook her head. "You?"

"Actually yes. Little bird, rest in peace, and I really hope you weren't the bird squwaking at my window at six this morning. Amen." Lauren laughed, but felt bad for doing so.

When they emerged from the woods, Zayn was standing by the pool. "What's going on here?" he asked the two. He gestured to the shovel in his best mates hand. "This looks really strange.." Liam cleared his throat, and Zayn took Lauren by the hand, and pulled her over to him. "Another bird smashed into the window, and Lauren insisted we bury it." Lauren nodded.

"Nothing weird was going on. Lauren said as Zayn drove them to the hotel her and the girls were going to stay at. "Did I say anything was going on?" Zayn said, staring out the window, as he shifted to the next lane. "Well, no. But I just want you to be certain. Plus, we had a shovel. I mean, what would we be doing?" she laughed, trying to lighten the mood. She now had service, so she texted her mother.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" she suddenly turned to Zayn. He nodded, "Yeah of course."

"Where were you this morning? Your car was there, but you weren't." Lauren said.

"I was picked up by Perrie," he sighed. Lauren turned to Zayn, annoyed. "Your ex girlfriend? Why were you with her?"

"She texted me early this morning because she wanted help finding a car."

"Why couldn't she have gone with anyone else?" Lauren questioned.

"She wanted a car from the place I got my car from, and she wanted me to show her the way because she's shitty at following directions, and I didn't know the name of the place, so I kind of just pointed her in the direction." Lauren wasn't sure what was going on between those two, but she chose not to push the subject.