She sat on the couch, legs bent and hands around them, and staring her empty TV screen. He’d just shown up. A simple commercial, thirty seconds long, and it stopped her mid movement as she was arranging her things. She had stopped to watch the screen, in a trance at the man dancing carefree, and carelessly and perfect, and as soon as it ended she stayed there, stone still, eyes in a daze and an empty hollow in her heart.
Zayn.
A month now. A month since she left from his life. Since it ended, with the one person who she’d thought would change it all, who would be her forever. One month. Thirty days. Seven hundred and twenty three hours.
It felt like it was just yesterday.
Stephanie and Madison were great about it, ever since that day when she’d arrived home. They tried their hardest to keep her occupied, trying not to let her think about it too much, spending time with her whenever she was free, but they saw it too…The hollow look in her gaze, the weak smiles. The ghost stares. It worried them seeing her this way. They knew that she wasn’t alright, no matter how much she tried to convince them it was the truth. But what could they do? Stephanie had tried her hardest to assure her that it was the right thing. That Zayn was just another superstar who didn’t care about anyone but himself. She’d never be able to change him. That’s how they all were. It was good that she let go. She was doing them both a favor in pulling the plug. She would find better. And Jessie knew that she was right.
She’d find better.
…He was better.
He was the best.
She sat there, and the vision of him in her mind appeared again. She blinked the image away and stood up from her seat, grabbing her shawl from the couch and leaving the room. He’d left her for a reason. She had to forget about him now. He had to keep her thoughts away. She had to take him out of her mind.
***
Zayn sat in the room, hearing Louis speaking and not hearing a word that he said. Periodically Paul Higgins leaned over to tap his arm, and he turned to assure him that he was ok. He turned back to listen to Kevin, and in seconds his mind drifted off again. Had she seen the commercial? Was she thinking about him?
Evvy had told him that it had released today. 1.2 million views already. Everyone and their parents were watching it. Everybody.
….Was she?
What was she doing right now? She had to be working. She was probably with her models, Fashion Week was coming up soon. Her shift was right around this time. He thought of the friends that he met under her work, how much he missed them, and how much he wanted to pay another visit there. But he knew that if he did he would inevitably see the one person who he couldn’t. The person whose heart he broke. He couldn’t see her again. He didn’t want to. She let him walk away, she didn’t even chase after him when he left. Maybe he gave her the release she wanted. Well then fine. She wanted to leave, well, then go. He wouldn’t stop her.
He didn’t stop her.
Yet he wondered if he’d made a mistake.
***
“Hey Jess.”
“Hey Olivia,” Jessica sat behind the desk at the McQueen fashion house, taking out her folders and pulling in her chair. “How’s Leo doing?”
“Great, thank you so much for planning the wedding with everything you’re going through.” she smiled and nodded, grateful for that.
It was clear that she wasn’t going to hear the end of this break up for a while.
