Disguise♔ z.m

Epilogue

“I don’t think bringing me here was a good idea,” I give Frankie a weak look as she parks her car in front of Amigos.

“Niall and Charlie are already in,” she uses her phone screen as a mirror and makes sure her make-up is intact. “What are you so afraid of?”

“This place holds a lot of memories…” Though three years has gone by, everything seems just as it was then.

“Can you be more specific?” She leans towards me before turning off the ignition.

“It reminds me of Zayn.”

“But it’s been three years, Nora,” she holds my hand, trying to support me. She knew better than anyone else how it had felt to be me when I got into an accident and was on the edge of dying, only to get back to work and realize ‘Veronica’ was not there anymore, and was then replaced with another secretary who knew shit about it, just as I did when I was new. I don’t work at Harvey’s anymore; I quit last summer when my father offered me to work with him. And then, I met Charlie, who was, by the way, literally walking out of the pub for a smoke with Niall and laughing about something I couldn’t figure out from my position. His lean body rested on the brick wall as he took in a puff, a crooked smile forming at the corner of his lips. He wasn’t as built as Liam or slim as Zayn, he was in the middle, you know… not too much of both. He was ideal, with those sparkly green eyes like marcel and a darker shade of brown hair than Liam. He was like a little mix of everything. But, being with him will never be compared to being with Zayn. Zayn is just another dimension. When I found out he was being transferred to Italy (I figured why he knew so much Italian) i was literally wrecked.

I rest my head on her shoulder and quietly sob when the sharp pain rises to my throat.

“Going back to the past wouldn’t help you. Everyone has moved on, I guess you should, too.” She pulls away and gets out of the car, waiting for me to do same. Frankie has changed. She no longer had her punk sense of style; neither did she have lilac hair. She was now back to being a sandy blonde with more formal clothes and for Niall, he got rid of his lip piercings and got engaged to my best friend. I am to be her maid of honor, so I guess supporting her after all she has done for me is the least I could do. According to Frankie, people change when starting a family.

My phone receives a picture of my nephews (yes, my sister had twins) playing in the park while they are in for a vacation with my parents in Marseille, France. It will be a lie if I said my relationship with my family became weaker. For the past few months, we’ve been spending a lot of time together, my mother even got to organize my 26th birthday party. She no longer looks at me with shame in her eyes, she always gets to tell me how much she cares and how much she wishes she could turn back time, but I don’t want to turn back time or else I wouldn’t be who I am today.

“Hello beautiful,” Charlie kisses me on the cheek as he steps on the ashes of his cigarette and compliments my look. Niall goes on about how long it takes women to get ready while we get into the pub, the pool tables still looking exact as it did then when I was with Liam. I shudder.

Ever since that fight I witnessed between Liam and Zayn, Liam never really talked to me, except one time when he came over to my place to say sorry and hugged me longer than anyone ever did in the world, saying, “you’re special, don’t let anyone bring you down, you deserve so much more.” I wasn’t really shaken except for the bit where he was about to cry when I was saying goodbye. After that, he never called me, but Esmée says he’s been doing well and he’s back to the way he was before. Elle got promoted, just the way Zayn promised she would: she is a back-up dancer for singers like Ellie Goulding, Rihanna, etc. For a moment, I did get afraid Zayn wouldn’t help after her snitching on him, but I guess they got over it.

The first thing I do when I calm down is search behind the bar counters to make sure that ass of a bartender wasn’t there, which he isn’t, because only God knows what he’d bring up again. Charlie is a good person; he didn’t come with troubles and secrets. We met through a family and  friends gathering, where he and I instantly got along and our families had no problem because we sort of fit together. My parents were confused at first since they got used to seeing Zayn in Rome, but after several months, I told them Zayn moved away.

“What would you like?” Charlie asks, his hand hovering over mine.

“Sprite will be good,” I smile and rest my forearms on the counter, listening to the conversation going on by my side. The chatters get louder, I almost zone out when Niall says he has to say hi to some of his friends and take Frankie along. I nod and listen to Charlie continue the conversation about travelling to Marseille with me and surprising our parents. I laugh, and within a millisecond, the moment when my eye lashes flutter open and I focus on what is meters away from me, if my heart could move, it will be in my throat.

I see him, smiling like a little kid, with his tongue behind his teeth. His hair is scattered, sticking in random directions, and he looks like he has gotten more tattoos beneath his white shirt that is rolled up to his upper arms. He looks happy, and even when Charlie keeps talking, I can’t help but feel glad he’s ok. I decide to look at the people surrounding him, pints in their hands, cheering to what I believe is Niall’s announcement of his engagement. But, what I never thought of happening is seeing Louis, Liam, Niall, Marcel and Zayn surrounded in one spot, which only hits me now, that Zayn (veronica) had planned it all. That he was as well Brad, and Frankie was right when she said Zayn looked familiar. It spins in my head, just as it did then when Zayn told me he was a journalist.

He planned it all.

“Are you alright?” Charlie touches my shoulder.

“I am OK,” I fake a smile until he believes me and excuses himself to the loo.

I see Esmée, Elle and Monica as well and in addition a woman I’ve never seen before.

A pang of jealousy hit me. What if I actually never left Zayn’s and stayed instead? Would it have been different? Would I have the scars that I have now from the accident? Would I have ever met Charlie?

I then realize it doesn’t matter what happened then. What matters, is everything changed and we all moved on. We’ve all met new people, and maybe Zayn is already with someone else, but that’s the thing about life: we have to learn how to deal with the things. Three years has gone by, I have changed and so has he, so maybe, it’s time to just let go and be happy for others for the first time in my life. Zayn looks up at me, and he has this look that resembles the one he gave me when we first saw each other during the concert I went to with Niall. I smile at him, at least the only thing I manage to do before he raises his pint and nods, smiling, knowing this was it, this was all that was supposed to happen.

Thank you for the memories, Zayn.

Authors note:  DISGUISE HAS OFFICIALY ENDED! AND I AM CRYING BECAUSE I CAN’T HANDLE ANY OF THIS OH MY GOD.

I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STORY. IT HAD BEEN GOING ON FOR LONG AND I CAN’T HELP BUT THANK YOU FOR STICKING UP WITH ME AND KEEPING UP WITH NORA. IT HAS BEEN A ROLLER COASTER RIDE OF FEELINGS BUT IT HAS NOW COME TO AN END.

I LOVE YOU- ELISSA

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