Stumbling Upon This Thing Called Love

{Chapter 19} ~Zayn~

I get out of there just in the nick of time, because as I driving down the road, I see Annabelle's father's car coming down the other side. I duck down low and pray that he didn’t see me.

When I get back to my house, there's really nothing to do, so I crash on the couch for a couple of hours. I wake up to screaming, laughing, and food everywhere.

"You guys! Zayn's awake!" I recognize the voice as Louis. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath to prepare myself for what i was about to witness.

I guess Louis and Harry we're trying to be all domestic and bake something, but I guess they got side tracked because my kitchen was not covered in splatters of cake mix, sugar and M&Ms. Harry and Louis look just as messy.

"Look, we can explain," Harry says. I cross my arms and glare at him, waiting for this 'explanation' "It was all Louis's fault,"

"What?" Louis immediately cries. "You're the one that threw the first spoon of cake mix, don't put this on me!" 

The begin arguing about who started the fight, their words shoving themselves over each other, shouting to be heard.

"SHUT UP!" I shout. Their mouths snap shut and they look at me expectedly. "First of all, how in the bloody hell did you get in my house?"

"We all have keys Zayn, remember?" Louis says. Damn, I forgot about that. I'm going to need a new lock if this keeps happening.

"Now, you're going to clean up this mess," They open their mouths to protest, but I hold up a hand to signal that I don't want to hear it. "Then, you're going to get the hell out of my house and not come back unless invited,"

"But what if you've fallen and you can't get up," Louis says. Harry sniggers.

"Then I'll get a Life Alert. Now go clean the kitchen my housekeeper just cleaned yesterday,"

As they're doing that, I go to my bedroom to change into some pajamas and go to sleep. When I come out, the kitchen is clean and Louis and Harry are just leaving.

"Bye Zayn. Sorry about Harry's mess," Louis says. Harry shoves him in the shoulder, but says nothing.

I ignore that. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," 

"Bright and early," Harry chirps. i groan and they laugh. What's there to laugh about? Nobody likes waking up early. 

Finally, they leave and I have my house to myself again. It's pretty empty and quiet now, and I feel a wave of loneliness hit me. Sometimes, living on your own isn't all it's made up to be.

I only ponder it for about three seconds before calling Annabelle.

"Ello Zayn, good to hear from even if it is almost mid-night," She whispers into the phone.

"Sorry, i was feeling lonely so I called you. now entertain me,"

Her tinkling laugh travels over the phone. "Very demanding, aren't you? Why don't you entertain me?'

"Because I said it first. Ha!" 

"Whatever," I can hear the eye roll in her voice. "I'll tell you a story then,"

"Oh goody," I say sarcastically.

"I'm good at stories. Now listen,"

"Hold on," I get off the couch, turn off the lights, and crawl into bed. "Okay, now you can go,"

"Once upon a time--"

"Aw, don't tell me it's a fairy tale," I whine.

"Shut up. You're the one who requested a story. Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess that went by the name of Antebellum. She was aid to be the fairest woman in the entire world. She wanted to live her life to the fullest, but alas, there was curse placed upon the women of her family from long ago. the curse said that with every female that was born, she would be too ill to ever marry or have children."

"Antebellum wanted to fight the curse, but she didn't know how. She spent sixteen years of her life looking for a cure. At this time, she was also falling in love with a peasant boy from the village. There was nothing scandalous or taboo about it because no prince wanted her if she couldn't have children."

Okay, this story was starting to sound a little familiar. . . 

"She was in love with him--Let's call him Darren--and she thought he was in love with her. She even let him take her virginity, seeing as no prince would ever come for her," Annabelle's voice grew bitter.

"She thought he loved her, but as soon as the illness befell her, he left her, saying he didn't want to be with her any longer, in case she passed it down into his blood. She begged and pleaded for him to stay, but he shook her off and left he sobbing into her pillow. Just one day after he left, she died. They say she died of a broken heart,"

I am stunned into silence. The story was definitely about Annabelle, but how much of it was true? Obviously the part about her dying isn't, but which is? Did she really lose her virginity to some jerk named Darren? Was her heart still broken?

"Are you okay?" I finally say.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Her voice is shrill, even when whispering, as if ready to deny anything I ask her. "You wanted entertainment and I gave you some,"

"Yeah but. . . Is there some truth in that story?" I ask cautiously.

Annabelle lets out a forced laugh. "What? No! I just made it up on the spot, silly," 

"Okay. . ." I trail off. Bad move.

"What, you actually believe I would lose my virginity and break my heart to some jerk?" Anger has reared it's ugly head.

"No, I didn't--"

"Good!" She cuts me off. "Because I'm not that stupid,"

I wait. For what, I don't know, but I know she has more to say.

"At least I thought I wasn't," Her voice is small and quiet, and she sounds like she's on the verge of tears. I better word this carefully.

"Would you like to talk about it?" I ask gently.

"No, I'd rather talk about it in person,"

"Me too. But when?"

"Soon," Is all she says. 

"How soon is 'soon'?" I continue to question.

"I. . . I don't know," She sounds like frightened child.

"It's okay. We have to talk about though, okay? Promise me that if the memories or whatever ever come back to you, you will talk about,"

She doesn't even hesitate "I promise,"