Walking In the Wind // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 5

~Awh, we had some good times, didn't we?~

AUGUST 3RD

When Zayn opened his eyes, he debated for ten minutes on whether he had simply passed out from exhaustion or went to sleep. Maybe he hadn't slept at all, and that was the scariest question of all. His body needed sleep to deal with the emotional trauma that today would bring.

The laptop was right next to him, practically on top of his stomach as he slept. On the screen was the email that he had gotten about a week ago, and the reason that they were in Boston, Massachusetts. Zayn had been looking through every email that he had ever had, as one does, and came across one that he had had back in his MIT days. A time he had mostly blocked out.

The email wasn't recognizable, but the second that he began to read, he knew who it was. The tone was too familiar, even if his name wasn't until the end. It was Hunter Grant, his first true love.

Hey Zayn,

I just wanted to say that I heard through the grapevine that you got married somewhat recently. I'm really happy for you. You have to know that that's all I ever wanted for you. Zayn, I really hope you found what you were looking for all this time. I'll always love you. Congratulations!

-Grant

It was like hearing an old song and remembering everything. Like a smell from your past, or a photo album. But it was just an email, and there Zayn was, in his sophomore year at MIT, hoping his math professor would notice his thirsting attempts, despite it being against school policy. And then he was falling in love. There was the New York trip, in his head - the beach, his foot, and the ring.

As he read it for the hundreth time, Zayn knew, as he did the first time he read it, that he had to get closure. He had left Grant without so much as a goodbye. Maybe if he had called the right number, it would have been enough to stop him from going to South America. Would he have been happy by now, in that alternate narrative?

For Zayn, it wasn't hard to find the high school that Grant worked at, and to get the schedule for the day. He was planning on going there after the last bell, blending into the crowds without getting a visitor's badge, and finding his old love. Like Chicken Little said, "Modern Mallard says avoiding closure can lead to molting, and I'm already small and on top of that, I don't think I can handle being bald."

Harry hit the screen as he rolled over, and immediately opened his green eyes to frown at the friend he was sharing the bed with. The covers were almost all on him, leaving Zayn with goosebumps all over his exposed skin. "Too early," Harry mumbled. And he was the early riser. Jet lag will do that to you, I guess.

"I'm gonna leave right now," Zayn responded in a whisper.

"Thought you were going at two or whatever," He rubbed his eyes.

"I need some alone time." He had been forced to tell Harry the reason that they were in Boston, and by default, Niall also knew. Harry was probably unaware of how big of a deal this was for Zayn - facing his problems instead of running away. He had run away from the hearing with the academic board, run to South America, and when that was too much, ran to New York. And hadn't he just run away after the failed wedding to Luke? "Six o'clock. At the airport. I'll get a bus."