I sat straight up when I heard the familiar voice. "Oh hell no," I muttered. I pulled one of Niall's shirts off of the ground since I was still only in a sports bra then stood up from the bed. "Ex boyfriend!" I clarified as Niall looked at me. "I broke up with this asshole when I left Atlanta." Julian just smirked at me. "What the hell are you doing here, Julian? How did you know where we were?" Niall just stared between the two of us then pointed behind him. "I'm going to take a shower and let you guys talk," he said, clearly confused by the situation. I watched him walk to the bathroom and lock himself inside then I groaned, irritated that I had to deal with Julian.
"You're mom called me after you left her house and told me where you were staying. She was hoping we could fix things after how it ended." He peeked into the hotel room, checking it out before his eyes swept over me. I shifted uncomfortably and crossed my arms over my chest. "Our relationship ended because one of us couldn't be faithful, Julian, and that certain someone sure as hell isn't me." He rolled his eyes at me, "You were gone for two years. I was a teenager. What'd you expect me to do? Stay faithful while my girlfriend basically forgot me out in California?" I ground my teeth as he spoke. "You're the one who said we should do a long distance relationship! I called you everyday. You're the one who wouldn't even answer most of the time!" I had to clench my fists to stop myself from shoving him out of the room. "What are you doing here, Julian?" I asked again, doubting he was here to rekindle whatever we had when we were teenagers.
The hotel door across from ours opened and Maria walked out. She stopped in her place when she saw who was standing in my doorway. "What is this asshole doing here?" She asked, causing a small smirk to form on my lips. Julian flashed her a fake smile, "Nice to see you, too, Maria. I see you're still gorgeous as ever." He added a wink in which Maria replied by flipping him off. Julian turned back to me, ignoring her. "I just wanted to see how you're doing." His eyes wandered around the room again, "Clearly you're doing good if you're staying in this place." "I'm doing great. Now leave. There's no reason for you to be here." He tsked at me as he shook his head. "Come on, Hailey. You know you miss me. There's no need for you to act like you don't." I saw Maria frowning, glaring daggers at Julian's back.
Niall walked out of the bathroom in a towel and grabbed his bag from the ground, immediately frowning when he noticed Julian was still here. He mumbled a good morning to Maria before heading back into the bathroom. I sighed, knowing that I'd have to explain this to Niall later. I turned back to Julian and shoved him out of the doorway. I stood where he was seconds before and held the door in my hand. "You had your fun bothering me and my friends, so leave. I'm not playing whatever game this is." As I stepped back and began to close the door, he just shrugged. "Fine. I'll see you later then," He turned to walk back down the hallway to the elevators and I closed the doors.
I rested my back against the door then groaned in frustration. He was the last person I wanted to see while I was here. I'd have to talk to my mom later about why she would do this. I walked to my bag and pulled out clothes, so I could get ready to take a shower when I paused to rethink what he said. What did he mean he'd see me later?
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Maria's Pov
I glared after Julian as he walked down the hall and turned back towards my hotel room. Zayn was still asleep when I first got up to leave, but now he was wide awake. "Who was that?" He asked, curiosity written on his sleepy face. I sat beside him and he pulled me into his arms. "Hailey's ex. I hope he doesn't cause trouble between Hailey and Niall. I really want them to end up together. They deserve each other." I pouted at the thought of Julian ruining things for them and I watched as Zayn tried to hold back a chuckle. "What?" I asked shooting him a look. He shrugged, "I just think it's cute how much you care about their relationship." I leaned into him, resting my head against his shoulder. "She has just dealt with so much shit that she deserves some happiness, and I know Niall makes her happy."
Zayn scratched the scruff on his chin as he pulled back and studied me. "What about you though? What makes you happy?" I looked away shyly, knowing the answer he wanted. I playfully shrugged. "I don't know.." I trailed off, faking my cluelessness. He nudged me, "I know you do. Tell me." He pulled me into his lap to where I was facing him and I had to hide my blush as he lifted my chin to make me look him in the eyes. "Tell me," he repeated softly. I felt myself lean in to where our lips were almost touching. I gave in and smiled up at him, "You do."
A smile spread across his lips and his eyes flicked to my lips. His hand moved from my chin and moved to my hair as he crashed his lips to mine. I gasped at first, due to this being our first time kissing, but I quickly kissed him back. We only pulled away when there was a knock at the door. I cleared my throat and fixed my hair before getting up and walking to the door. It was Niall.
He raised his eyebrows as soon as he saw my swollen lips and smeared lipstick. "Sorry for interrupting.." He trailed off as he looked past me and into the hotel room. He looked back to me with a knowing look and continued, "Hailey wanted me to tell you she needs to talk to you, and the lads also wanted me to come steal away Zayn for a quick breakfast meeting about the tour, but if you guys are busy I'm sure we can all wait..." I blushed and shook my head. "No, no. It's fine. Uhh.. I'll see you later Zayn. You too, Niall." I tried to hid my blush as I moved past Niall and into his and Hailey's room.
As soon as I closed the door behind me and made eye contact with Hailey who was blow drying her hair, I spilled. "ZAYN JUST KISSED ME. IT WAS THE BEST KISS I EVER HAD." I watched Hailey's jaw drop as the blowdryer fell to the floor. "He what?!" She said as she picked up the blowdryer and set it aside. "He pulled me into his lap while we were talking about something then he just kissed me!" A smile spread across her face. "Oh my god! That's amazing!" She got up and hugged me. "Does that mean you guys are going to make it official now?" I shrugged at her question. "I don't know, Im doing better with this whole tour thing than we originally thought, so I think we will.." I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my face at the thought of it. "Good! I've been waiting for you guys to finally make it official! You guys are so perfect for each other." She went back to blowdrying her hair.
I smirked, "Speaking of perfect for each other, how are you and Niall?" Hailey playfully rolled her eyes. "Our FRIENDSHIP is amazing, though I think Julian got to him. He's been acting somewhat distant since this morning and I don't like it.." My face immediately turned into a frown. "I'm going to murder that Julian. He cannot get in the middle of Nailey!" She shook her head at me. "You seriously gave us a ship name??" "Of course I did! We both know its going to happen, so you might as well just accept it now!" She literally facepalmed. "Whatever, Maria. Believe what you want. Anyways, I called you in here to do my hair and makeup since I know you like to do it."
I squealed a little in response. I liked to give Hailey different looks than what she's used to so she can step out of her comfort zone a bit. I took the blowdryer from her and began working.Within 20 minutes, we were done and I helped pick out her outfit. As soon as she was dressed, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to face Niall. "Yes?" "Are you guys coming to breakfast with us?" Hailey and I both nodded and followed him downstairs to the complimentary breakfast. As we were walking, I could sense Niall was stiff and uncomfortable. I was curious on why, but my question was answered as soon as I caught sight of our table. There was Julian, sitting right between Louis and Harry. "What the hell is he doing here?"
