the girls of the boys

ai

A day had passed since the sparks had flown within the house. Tensions were at bay and everything was as calm as it had been before. However, when the boys had a meeting with management and Simon, they were furious to see the blue discoloration on Harry's jaw. Harry tried to cover for Zayn but Louis hung his head and refused to speak up; last time he had given his two cents about an argument, when Zayn and Harry were arguing who got TV rights, he had chosen Zayn's side, and after taking his stance he had gotten kicked like a puppy and banished from speaking to either party for almost two weeks. Therefore, this time, Zayn was left defenseless and he had no explanation for Simon as to why he punched out his bandmate, with who he usually got along with. And Zayn was punished according to how Simon saw fit.

"This is so fucking unfair" he hissed as he dropped his beaten up knapsack on the floor by the door and crushed a soda can in his fingers. The combusting metal scraping his fingers and cutting open fresh and raw. He threw the worthless can onto the floor with a clatter.

"What happened?" Becca asked rising quickly to her feet and walking over to him. He was livid but Becca knew he would never lay a harmful finger to her

"They fucking took my smokes, they grounded me with no cigs for two days!" He screeched walking over to the discarded can and kicked it. The few remaining drops of soda spraying the cabinet and leaving small amber colored drips to slid off the wood and onto the floor.

"Wait, can they even do that?" She asked glancing over her shoulder at me and Louis. We were playing a team scrabble game against Kirsten and Harry. I glanced up and locked eyes with Becca, I shrugged but I really didn't know the rules of grounding a multimillionaire member of a boyband.

"Diagnosis!" Shouted Louis throwing his fist into the air and waiting expectantly for a high five. I shook myself out of my thought linked trans and gave him a half hearted high five and a bit of a condescending smile. He rolled his eyes and went back to studying the board. Kirsten was arranging letter on their little wooden prop and Harry whispered something into her ear. She giggled and moved another letter and asked him something. I rolled my eyes but I could tell if someone didn't give Zayn any attention then he would make us pay attention to his problem.

"Hey!" He shouted, slightly loosing his calm and cool demeanor, "You fuckers got me into this, now fucking get me out!" he said throwing up his hands at them in frustration, "Selfish bastards." He mumble added and shuffled over to the couches. Harry scratched his chin with his thumb and not taking his eyes away from the small lettered tiles shurgged at Zayn.

"Dunno man, maybe you shouldn't have punched me?" Harry said with a dry smile as he made millisecond eye contact with Zayn who was not amused.

"I'll hit you again, right here right now if you don't wipe your cocky fucking attitude off" Zayn replied hotly. Louis knew better than to speak up right now. He felt Zayn's hot eyes burning a hole through his skull but he kept his head ducked and focused on making little three letter words with the tiles.

"Hey man, calm down," Harry said glancing up at him with mock amusement, "that hot temper of yours got you into that mess"

"Don't fucking tell me what to do, piss off" Zayn replied hotly

"Would you back the fuck off?" Kirsten snapped back right after he got the last syllable off his tongue. Zayn scrunched his eyebrows and scrutinized Kirsten. He didn't have an angry expression on his face, it was more shock and bewilderment. Kirsten felt the same way inside, she had no idea why she had just said that to Zayn. Zayn was skinny but he could snap her in half if he wanted to, and easily.

"Zayn, you may want to lay off a little bit," Becca said softly behind him. "I'll get you smokes if you need them" she added quickly when he whirled around and loomed a good six inches above her.

"What so now you're on Harry's side too? Sarah? Louis? care to take a side?" He hissed wildly while staring through Becca. I shook my head violently and wrapped my hands around Louis' arm. He wisely kept his head down and maneuvered letters onto the board.

"Zayn, maybe you should go out and get some air" Becca suggested, gently ushering him by his elbow towards the door. Zayn fidgeted but complied and looked down at her. She offered him a small smile and pushed him out the door.

"I love you," he whispered before she shut the door. The door clicked into place and she whispered to the wood, "I love you too." When Zayn said I love you it wasn't like when the other boys said I love you to their girlfriends. Zayn really valued saying it and it showed vulnerability, something he hated admitting he had. When he said it, it was almost like a peace offering, or a reminder to Becca that even though he knew he was an ass hole, he loved her and only her. She had once asked if he ever told Perrie he loved her and he had looked at her for a long moment before shaking his head no. He said that Perrie had told him that she loved him but the words just wouldn't form. His lips refused to form the words for her.

Zayn had told Becca that he loved her almost a year after they had been seriously seeing each other. It was after he had planned a big date but all the plans fell through. He had gotten so frustrated he said that he had just wanted to be a good boyfriend because she deserved it and he loved her. He had blurted it, involuntarily, like a reflex, He just said it, "I love you." It was the best way she had ever experienced and she had kissed him so hard she smiled at the memory. She sighed and stopped leaning on the door. She stood up and walked back over the where Louis and I were winning. Harry and Kirsten had stopped really caring about the game and were more focused on kissing every time they got a word that was more that 3 points. I rolled my eyes but I knew they couldn't help it. Louis had told me the previous night that Harry had been worried that Kirsten wanted out of the fame and constant paparazzi bombardment but when he had asked her and she said she didn't mind it was like something was resparked and now they acted like they did when they first started dating.

Back when Harry was 20 and Kirsten was 17, Harry would carry Kirsten around and use anything possible as an excuse to kiss her. When they had first started dating, Becca was still only friends with Zayn and I hadn't even met Louis yet. Kirsten and Harry were the longest relationship of all of us and they had, literally yesterday, rekindled their affection which had been dormant for the final stretch of the tour. In the beginning Kirsten would always tell me how Harry planned elaborate dates for them and take her places and just be together, I had been pretty jealous, but when they stopped being as touchy feely as they had been before, and I began to worry. The were our great white light, carrying the torch for all of our relationships and if they capped off, it was like bad karma that would affect all of us. But they were back now, so I relaxed a little bit internally.

"Shit" Becca muttered, all of us looked up from our game, since it was safe to raise our eyes now that Zayn was out of the house.

"What's up?" Kirsten asked her, craning her neck around the embellishment of the chair to see Becca. She was holding a black iPhone 5s.

"Zayn forgot his phone here, how am I supposed to call him back?" She rolled her eyes in frustration until a loud buzzing interrupted her. She looked at her hand as if it was on fire.

"What is it?" I asked quickly.

"I think you mean who, is it" Louis replied cheekily and I gave him a little punch in the arm.

"IT'S ASHTON FUCKING IRWIN" Becca shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut. She held out the phone like a bomb about to go off that she had no choice but to explode with. "Someone fucking take it!" She screamed opening one eye and seeing the "slide to answer" illuminating repeatedly.

"Why don't you answer it?" Harry asked, putting a hand on his knee and looking back at the game board where he was assembling a new word. Kirsten nodded enthusiastically and turned back to conference with Harry about a potential word.

"Oh my god, I'm not worthy, SOMEONE" Becca called again

"JUST answer it! You're gonna miss the call!" I said frantically waving my arms. Becca looked at me with deer eyes and slowly dragged her thumb across the screen.

"Hello-o-o?" She asked into the receiver.

"Hey, this isn't Zayn" a giggle came from the other end.