Cold Comfort »Z.M.« ✔️

5."... What was he talking about?"

He leaves us three in shock. Well, not only us three. The whole class is silenced by this.

"What happened, Kayla? What was he talking about?" Cheryl asks curiously. Tears well up in my eyes. How could he?

"About my parents." I whisper to her and take my bag. Stand up. I lose my balance a bit, but Liam grabs my arm so I'd stay in place.

"Let me take you home." Liam pulls me in his chest and whispers in my ear. I nod. We both go away. Damn, I didn't even get to start my first day at all. It wasn't like I planned it would be. He ruined it. He ruined my happiness and reminded me of them. Of my parents. He knew I did this to forget, but he reminded me of them.

Liam took me home, skipped one lesson and then went back to school. I stayed home. But now, after the LSD wore off I realise that Zayn just wanted to help, but he just lost control and spat it all in my face, just because he was angry that I wouldn't obey him. After about seven hours since I got home I hear a knock at the door. I open the doors to Cheryl. She hugs me. What is she doing here? I don't need her pity.

"Hey, can I come in?" she asks. I hum letting her in. I close the doors. She kicks her shoes off.

"Can you tell me what happened? You seemed in a pretty big shock when he said that last part." she quietly says. I nod my head as we both go to the living room. We sit on the couch.

"So.. My parents got shot. On the street. I was with them, I saw it. They died in front of me and I did nothing. So grandma signed those documents about taking care of me and everything else." I explain to her, "I wanted drugs to forget what I saw and that I didn't even try to help them." I explain why I asked for drugs. She hugs me again.

"I'm so sorry. He's such an idiot, he did throw it all in your face. That wasn't right." she quietly draws a conclusion. I hug her back.

"It's okay now. It's true. My life is ruined. And I'm ruining it even more." I answer. She pulls away and shakes her head.

"Stop saying that. LSD doesn't make you addicted to drugs." she insists that Zayn wasn't right. I nod. For my surprise, Liam and Zayn joins us in the room. How can they be so quiet?

"Hello, girls. Kayla, C'mere." Zayn says opening his arms for me. I shake my head. He gets me up and pulls in a hug. I can't resist so I hug him back.

"Zayn, you spat it in her face and now you can't have any balls to say at least sorry?" Cheryl shouts at him. Zayn looks at her and then at me.

"Sorry, Kayla, for being honest. Is it better, Cheryl? I don't think so." Zayn answers. I hug him tighter and sob in his shirt. What a bitch he is.

"Why do you do this to me?" I cry out. He also hugs me tighter. How can he hold me in his arms and be so mean at the same time?

"Because I want you to get stronger." he simply answers. I clench my teeth.

"Let me be weak, I don't want to be strong." I insist. He chuckles and slowly begins to draw invisible circles on my shoulder.

"Oh, I'm not the one you can tell to give things up, because I won't stop until you get a hold of yourself." he answers. And I feel bad for it. I won't ever feel good about it, it's just not me.

"Liam! Say something!" Cheryl shouts. I let Zayn go and look at Liam. He looks at me as well.

"Something?" he questioningly answers. She gets up and takes me by arm.

"We'll be home before ten." she notifies. And that's when they both stop us. Liam pushes her out of the house and stays with her while Zayn pushes me back in the living room.

"Do you even understand what drugs do to your body? You're ruining your life! Yeah, sorry, I shouldn't have said that your life is ruined already, but you have to understand that it is ruined and I just want you to make it right!" Zayn yells at me. Why is he even yelling at me, I don't understand! Well, I understand what he's saying, but why? Why is he being nice to me and not others? Maybe because Liam is my cousin? Because I'm related to Liam and not just one of the girls from school that he fucks.

"Would you care about me if I wasn't Liam's cousin?" I ask out of curiosity. He freezes. Seems like he even stopped breathing. And that is the best question, because now I know he's doing it for Liam and not me. He just backs off a little, but then just disappears. Runs away. I look down and whisper 'knew it'. Ruth comes in the room.

"Hey. Zayn was here, saw him. What did he do?" she asks quite demandingly. I look at her.

"Nothing at all. We just talked, he apologised for insulting me today." I answer. Even if he's a total bitch right now, I won't tell her about drugs. She nods and goes away. I run back up to my room and wait for something. Don't even know what or who. Zayn's gone, Liam too. Slowly time passes while I lie in my bed thinking about my mom and dad. They were too young to die. I am the only child so I don't have any brother or sister to comfort me. Only Zayn knows the feeling when you lose someone you love as far as I know. I take my phone and am about to call him. But I freeze. I don't call him. I know he is with Liam and after our argument he probably doesn't even want to see me anymore. I put my phone down and stare at the ceiling. Damn, I just noticed the drawings. There are flowers and little hearts. Oh, how cute. Slowly I get up and strip out of my clothes and get under the sheets. I take my phone and put an alarm to seven am so I could get ready to go to school in time and wouldn't be late. When I put my phone away I hear it vibrate so I groan. But I ignore it. Slowly I fall asleep. Not to mention that someone kept texting me and then calling, and then texting again.

After a while I wake up again. It's dark outside, but I have a night light on. I take my phone. It's eleven pm. Great, how long did I sleep? I unlock my phone. Fifty seven messages from Zayn, forty nine calls from Zayn and twenty from Liam. Whoops. I open my and Zayn's chat. The last message says 'Okay, I'll just pick you up tomorrow to school. Make sure you're ready before eight fifteen.'. I literally smile at his text. I quickly respond with 'okay, see you tomorrow' and put my phone next to me on the pillow as I wait for his reply. Soon my phone vibrates what means someone is calling me. I pick up, because I know it's Zayn.

"Hey. Where have you been? Only now replied." the familiar voice fills my ear. I smile at his voice.

"Well, I was sleeping. What are you doing?" I ask. He clears his throat.

"I, uh- I'm.. Kind of.." he stutters. What is he doing that he can't tell? That must be something hard for him to tell. Or he doesn't want to.