Ladies First (Zayn Malik) Book 4

Chapter 23

Zayn's POV

“We need to tell him”

“He’ll be crushed”

“He’ll be mad if we don’t tell him”

“How do we know he doesn’t know? They talk all the time”

I hear hushed whispers as I walk into the room with a yawn. We’d gotten back from Australia late last night and everyone had crashed at my place. ”What’s going on?” I ask as they instantly shut up.

“Nothing” Harry says quickly, shooting the other boys a shut up glare. I frown slightly but decide not to press it. Someone would tell me eventually. Nothing stays quiet with us.

“Whatever” I say, pulling out my phone.

“What are you doing?” Louis asks uncertainly.

“Checking Twitter. Emily said they would be on Ellen last night and I wanted to see how it went.” I reply

“Can’t you just text her?” Liam asks. I glance at my watch.

“It’s like 2 o’clock in the morning. She’d be asleep,” I say, going back to my opening Twitter.

“Let’s do something else” Harry says, grabbing my phone.

“What the hell Harry?” I ask grumpily, trying to wrestle my phone away from him.

“Lets go get breakfast” Niall announces loudly. Everyone stops what they’re doing and I manage to grab my phone from Harry. I pocket it as I look over at a slightly scared Niall.

“Yea ok” I say with a shrug and I see a look of relief flash across all the boys’ faces. We head out to Harry’s car and pile in as Harry drives us to a diner nearby. When we walk in, I see recognition on some people’s face but it isn’t very crowded so we aren’t mobbed. We eat, and each time I try to get out my phone, one of the boys pulls me back into the conversation. I was beginning to get suspicious of just what they were hiding. We pay the bill and start heading out when Harry makes me turn around.

“Hold up a second” he says and I look over to see him taking pictures with a few fans. I nod and sign a few autographs and take a picture or two with a few fans that hesitantly approach me as I wait for Harry and the rest of the boys to finish. My eyes wander around the diner and they land on the newspaper rack. I still as I read the title off The Sun. ‘No, it’s not true. The Sun lies. They claimed we died for god’s sake’ I think to myself as my mind takes in the picture of Emily and Chris together.

“Zayn?” Niall asks hesitantly before the boys see where my sight was directed. Their lack of speaking confirms my suspicions. This is what they were keeping from me.

“You already knew didn’t you” I accuse.

“Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else,” Liam says quietly, his eyes flickering to the group of girls who were standing warily a few feet away. Their curious gaze covered by a scared expression. But I didn’t care.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I say, my voice getting louder.

“C’mon mate, calm down” Louis says, resting a hand on my shoulder but I quickly shrug it off.

“You guys are supposed to be my friends. Friends tell each other things. They don’t try to keep it from each other” I fume.

Zayn” Harry says but I shake my head.

“Save it,” I say, walking out of the diner and heading down the sidewalk. I needed time to think. I couldn’t be around them right now. How could they not tell me? Better yet, how could she not tell me? I was so mad and I couldn’t even figure out who I was mad at. The boys for not telling me? Her? Or myself for thinking that there could be something between us.

Emily’s POV

I lean against Chris’s chest with a sigh as my eyes scan the tweets.

“Everything will be fine babe,” he says.

“I know… I just… Why do people care so much about our personal lives?” I ask and I feel him shrug slightly beneath me.

“They don’t do it to be mean. They’re just… dedicated,” he says.

“You’re right,” I say with a sigh, looking up at him as he presses his lips onto my forehead.

“Besides, tons of people have suspected before we were even together” he adds. I laugh, nodding my head as I remember the first trip to the park for lunch.

“I guess they knew us better than we knew ourselves” I say teasingly, shutting my computer and placing it on the table. “Want anything to drink?” I ask, standing up as I head into the kitchen. He shakes his head no so I start making myself a cup of hot chocolate. Despite being inside, the late winter cold still seeped into the apartment. As I wait for the milk to heat up, I check my phone to see if Zayn had responded. Of course he hadn’t. It had been two weeks since the Ellen Show. Two weeks since the last time Zayn had tweeted me, skyped me, facebooked me, or even texted me. Not that I hadn’t tried to talk to him. But it wasn’t exactly like I could track him down like I’d been able to with Chris. Zayn was on another continent. At least for a few more days, I remind myself. In a week’s time, he’d be here and I’d make him talk to me if it was the last thing I did. The microwave rings and I pull out the milk, dumping in the hot chocolate packet, stirring it. I walk back into the living room, trying to hide any signs of being upset about the whole Zayn thing. I plop down on the couch and put my frozen toes on Chris’s legs.

“Shit” he yelps jumping at the cold, quickly pushing my legs off him.

“But my feet are cold!” I jokingly whine.

“Then go put some socks on or something,” he says with a laugh. I stick out my tongue at him and tuck my feet under myself.

“So how’ve you been? I feel like with the whole tour and working on the album, I haven’t seen you in forever” I say, blowing on the hot chocolate to cool it down.

“I know. It’s been so long,” he moans. “We’ve been alright. Working on our album also. We’ll be releasing our first single next month.” He says with a grin.

“Next month?” I tease, “We’ll be releasing our second next week. A little behind aren’t we?” I ask jokingly. He chuckles.

“Well not all of us released a single the day the competition ended. Besides, we didn’t want to release the same time as you. We’d hate to steal your thunder,” he adds jokingly.

“Yea sure. You’d steal our thunder” I reply with a laugh. Chris smiles, his nose wrinkling in the process. The simple moment is interrupted as Chris’s phone goes off. “Who is it?” I ask, as he checks his phone, typing up a response to whomever texted him.

“Lily” he replies, flipping shut his phone and looking up at me.

“You two talk?” I ask surprised.

“Yea, why?”

“I dunno.” I say with a shrug. “I just… I haven’t talked to her since the tour ended. I kinda just figured you didn’t either.” He looks at my face for a moment before beginning to laugh.

“You’re jealous,” he says. “You’re jealous that I’ve been talking to another girl.”

“What? No I’m not,” I say instantly. “Why would I be jealous?”

“You totally are. I can see it in your eyes.” He says with a laugh. “Now you know how I felt seeing all the stuff with you and Zayn” he says with a satisfied smirk. I stick out my tongue but curl into his side more, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.

“Zayn was only my friend.” I reply.

“And Lily is only mine” he says smoothly.

“Fine” I murmur but I can’t shake the uneasy feeling. Was I only friends with Zayn? Were we even friends at all anymore? And if Lily is Chris’s equivalent to my Zayn, was there something more than friendship going on there? Whatever was happening, left me feeling guilty, and left me with a sinking feeling in my gut like something was going to go wrong. Calm down Em, I think to myself. Nothing’s happened yet.