Disguise♔ z.m

Fifty six

“Nora, are you alright?”

“Will you be able to pick me up?” I rub my hands together as the cold creeps in. I stand by where Zayn lives, gathering all my confidence to silently make my way to his door. He had told me where he lived while we were in Rome: I never knew I’d need that information until now.

“Wait… where are you?” Veronica asks me. I hear her grunt, as though she has fallen.

“I’m at Zayn’s.”

“You’re at what!” She nearly chokes.

“I really need your help right now, so please pick me up; I’ll text you the address,” I rush out and drop the call, taking in a deep breath before pressing the button to his door bell. I wait quite a while before a surprised brunet opens up the door for me.

“Nora, wow… what a surprise to see you,” he holds on to the edge of the door, brown eyes no more holding happiness but fear.

I nod, looking at anywhere but his face. I had so much to say, I just did not want to waste more time on this. He invites me in.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone, so it’s a bit messy,” I follow his trail into the living room. He had a room picked out of a magazine, typical painting of black and white, with only a decoration of orange or red blooming out. A whole wall was dedicated to paintings… of women? Okay, moving on. The floor was covered with a white sheet, with some paint dabbed on it. I didn’t move further, I stood before the beginning of the sheets, while he stood on the other end.

“I know everything now.”

“What are you talking about, Nora?”

“I know who you are… I know what you did to Liam and I, I know why Elle was—“

“She told you?” He tilts his head, pulling his brows together, stepping slowly over the covered ground, dropping the plaid shirt that was earlier tied around his waist to the ground.

“Does it matter? What matters, Zayn, is you lying to me!”

“I wasn’t lying to you, I was trying to protect you,” he explains, still sounding soft, a meter or two away from me.

“By ruining every single chance of happiness I had?” I gesticulate.

“Every single chance of happiness? All I did was pull Liam away.”

“When you’re the same person who made us meet!”

“He slept with you, he used you, and he didn’t care about you!”

“And you did?!”

“Of course I fucking did, Nora,” he spits, walking in a circle.

“Was it because I had sex with him and never with you!?”

He walks over too quick to me; I nearly lose my breath when he stands up-close. “If I wanted to have sex, I could have done that with you a long time ago and you’d have spread your legs as easy as you did to him.”

Ouch.

“I am sorry, I take that back,” he tries holding on to my hand, but I disbelievingly look at him, feeling my heart crack. I wondered how much I could take, but this topped it. He had plainly told me how easy I saw, and maybe that’s why I’ve always been played around.

“Don’t you dare,” I yank my hand away from him, picking up my bag from the floor as I take my phone and dial Veronica. “Please, pick up the phone, please.” My footsteps gradually speed up.

“Don’t—“His phone begins to ring. He tries to hold my hand again, but I spin and yell for him to leave me alone.

I am almost at the door when Zayn’s ringtone stops and I begin to call Veronica again. “Fuck, pick up the call Veronica.” I murmur to myself, nearly biting my finger off. His phone begins to ring again. I turn to face him, and see his face become paler as he looks into my eyes. I look down at his pocket, holding my breath in. He removes his phone and looks down at his screen, biting his lower lip as he ends the call. My call declines, ending as soon as his finger stops the call and he shakes his head several times.

“I can’t believe this,” my eyes scan him from head to toe. My heart literally stops as everything becomes blurry in my head.

“Let me explain,” he is onto me again, but I let go, feeling uneasy, dizzy and nauseous as I try to understand how he and Veronica are—“Don’t leave, Nora, listen to me, you don’t—“Shame overwhelms me. I can’t bring myself to say it, because I know my tears wait.

“I have to go,” I battle with the door, finally running out, not caring how I leave or where I go to. I want to get as far as I can away from Zayn or whoever he is.

When I get to the curb, i feel how hard it rains and I instantly get soaked under the water, my mascara running down my cheeks.

“Where can you go to in this rain?”

“Anywhere away from you!”

He joins me, still holding me back. “Don’t leave, just come inside and I will explain everything to you.”

“How could you, Zayn, how could you?” It could have been a miracle if he replied. He felt heavy as I did. I wonder how I never figured this out. I wonder how I had no clue all this time that he was the one pretending to be Veronica. Why? Did my parents set him up for this, too? “At least tell me why you were pretending to be someone you’re not.”

“I am a journalist. They had put me up for it.” It’s final. In the rain, I walk, not getting into a cab or anything; I just walk, beginning to remember everything from day one. How veronica couldn’t touch me when we went shopping together, or how much of a look she’d give me every time I’d mention something that happened in my life when referring to Zayn or Liam. It’s all so confusing; I barely see where I am going to. I try to cross the street, no car whatsoever, or that’s what I think when I see headlights right by my side, and then, it’s all black. I feel a massive pain, but it’s all black. I don’t know if it’s the sky, and I really don’t know what is going on, but… a person hovers over me, asking me if I was okay? Am I okay? Am I really? I see darkness again.