The More I Try (An One Direction Fan Fiction)

The Porch (Chapter Twenty Four)

"Thalia Genevieve Eldridge! Who is this?!"

Mrs. Eldridge's lip curled up in distaste as she stormed up the driveway, clutching her mini-purse as if she was considering using it to club someone upside the head.

"Mother!" Thalia yelped, just breaking out of her scared daze. "Nothing's going on-"

"I didn't ask what's going on. Not yet. Now, who is this?" She repeated, her voice stony as she pointed to Zayn with a rigid finger only a inch away from Zayn's face.

That broke him out of his shocked daze.

"Hello Mrs. Eldridge, my name's Zayn Malik-"

"Who's this?" Mr. Eldridge interrupted as he came up, a little late since he wasn't set on racing up the drive at the sight of Thalia and a boy in the doorway. He wasn't as furious looking as his wife, actually smiling at Zayn before he introduced himself again.

"I'm Zayn Malik, nice to meet you Mr. Eldridge." Zayn said, putting his hand out to shake his. Before they actually got a chance to shake hands, Mrs. Eldridge had smacked her husband's hand out of the air.

"Wait a second, Zayn Malik- from One Direction?" Mrs. Eldridge asked, ignoring Thalia as she tried to butt in and explain- Zayn hesitating under a cold glare he did not expect.

From Thalia's sister, Zayn guessed that tons of sibling fought- but from Thalia's mother?

"Uh, yeah. From One Direction." Zayn answered sheepishly, rubbing his neck. He couldn't flip out on Mrs. Eldridge like he wanted to on Brenda- and the whole thing was just too abnormal from Zayn's perspective.

How could a mother be like this?

Maybe she was just over protective-

"And you're the boy Thalia went on the date with earlier today? Hm, I'd supposed she was lying- but of course you asked her out." Thalia's mother sighed, mumbling something else under his breath that Zayn couldn't pick up- but he assumed Thalia could, because she suddenly frowned.

"Mother, can we please talk about this later-"

"No, no we can't Thalia! You're really letting yourself go too far! Do you think being with him helps what the whole world thinks of you? Did you know that most of my usual friends are avoiding me because of you? You're making yourself seem like a bigger hopeless nobody than-"

Mrs. Eldridge suddenly stopped herself, barely catching her last word.

But anyone listening in would know what she going to say.

"Than before?" Thalia asked, her voice soft and wavering.

"Thalia, I- Well, ugh! Yes, Thalia! A bigger hopeless nobody than before!"

After struggling for a moment Mrs. Eldridge just burst out, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

"Let's just get that out of way then. For the past entire year- you've had no friends. You threw away everything you had, all your friends, all your old hobbies and achievements-"

"Everything I had? I had nothing more than a couple friends that wouldn't last more than a couple weeks, hangovers every Monday, bad grades and a future that probably would've involved sleeping on the streets!" Thalia shouted back, her eyes becoming watery again.

"Well, at least you had that. Now you have nothing." Thalia's mother spat at her, causing Thalia to stumble back a step. "You've ruined everything, Thalia."

Mr. Eldridge finally cut in, whispering in a frantic voice to his wife as he pulled her off to the side. She wasn't having any of it, fighting against his grip to get back to giving Thalia a tongue lashing that had been building up inside of her for months.